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

Power Armor Bay

"Call me Heisho obvious, but it's not gold..." The low, prowling voice of the red lynx spoke bluntly out of nowhere, pacing past Candon's shoulder with a severe, utterly cold look on her face. "That means the Kuvexians didn't build this, but they probably did this, doesn't it, Chusa Saiga?"

Tsuguka had taken to walking around naked during drills now, evidently finding even the modesty of a skin-tight bodysuit an unaffordable luxury. Despite it being physically impossible as a feature of the Nekovalkyrja's design, three months of nothing but constant training certainly made those muscles look bigger than ever. They were constantly tense, on edge. Waiting for the moment this became their second Mishhuvurthyar war.

A glance over to Junko said all that needed to be said. They were respected, and she trusted them physically, but the soldier entirely agreed with the intelligence man on the drama front. The hows and whys could come later.

"Freyja, is your body operating up to a suitable potential?" Green eyes reviewed Freyja as one might a squishy filling that simply makes the Mindy operate. Tally number three for giving the azure woman she actually liked a hard time, for literally no reason, yet again. But that was Tsuguka. They were both infantry, so they both should have the same standards. "If you're feeling sluggish, please pick a heavier weapon. The suit will compensate."

Some beige Gartagen thing the size of a family car was here, too. Couldn't say she knew enough about the technology to trust it. Armour service pistols were slotted into her own PA's shoulder ports now, but even with the signature shield and applique plates, a Mindy still looked tiny compared to that hulking great thing, regardless.

The blonde cat boy's aspirations of a relationship couldn't have had any worse timing. With Freyja being the singular other infantry member, and yet only just over her pregnancy, the oni-heisho had taken it upon herself to push her body harder than ever, mentally and physically. A fluke kick through an airlock door wasn't good enough anymore, this situation demanded that power be available on a daily basis, as far as she was concerned, now.

This Kuvexian empire could be many times bigger than anything they'd even encountered before. There was no more time for errors. No more time for working on feelings.

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

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

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"I am fine either way," Hanako replied. "If you join them, try to make sure things are organized and speedy."

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?"

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"Of course," Hanako replied. "It is entirely possible some of those scavenger ships will attack us or that they will call for assistance from the Kuvexian military. They may have already."

Power Armor Bay

"That's a good point, Toyoe-heisho," Saiga nodded, glad she was up on the latest intelligence. Not that Tsuguka was ever behind on anything—these past few months, the Geshrin commander had come to believe she was one of the most qualified soldiers he'd ever worked with—from simulated combat performance and skill as an NCO to maintaining her distractingly perfect physique. It was unfortunate she was one of Hanako's finest. Had this been any other assignment, he would have already tried to convince her to accept a future transfer to the Tokutenku. She certainly belonged here, though, so the idea never grew beyond that.

"You're probably right, but we shouldn't necessarily assume it's not Kuvexian," he continued while he worked on calibrating his Mindy, toggling a few icons on a volumetric display he'd brought up beside the armor. "It's being scavenged by what appear to be countless drone craft. Maybe they already took all of the gold back home—they do seem to value it a little too much. Whether it's theirs or they wrecked it, this thing demonstrates the immense power of both its creator and destroyer."

Bridge,

"We certainly could use someone on the ship working on tracing this things path back, finding out where it come from and what it had been doing prior to being destroyed. Of course if you want to join us on the surface there is just as much archeology to do to find out why this place is abandoned instead of re-purposed. We should also try and find where this place was built, and where it was headed before being destroyed... not to mention the time-frame. I can not really tell how old this is just from a surface scan, however if we could place it as years, decades, or hundreds of years old then we could certainly have a better understanding of what we are dealing with... I should go get ready."

Wazu would excuse himself to head down to the armor bay.

Power Armor Bay,

Bronzi was one step ahead of him, having the Hierophant already powered up.

There was also considerably more nudity than what he remebered SAoY ships had.

The red one was certainly making a strong showing. Was it weird to look? Was it weird for him to look? Maybe it was weird not to look?

Wazu pulled out his Datapad, "Run Tracking Calibration." The datapad would glow green and he'd hold it up. While Bronzi moved around the weapon turret that was placed on its right shoulder took aim at the pad. He'd move the pad down low, then side to side... There was too much other stuff to do, and he didn't really have time to trick out Bronzi's armor. He'd need to have a talk with him at some point. Maybe add a few heat radiators on the back while there was still time.

His attention was focused on the Heirophant for the moment... but he couldn't help but let his thoughts drift. How'd he let three months pass without so much as talking about the armor team with Candon and Tugs? He barely had more options in mind for how to resolve the Rixxikor problem.

"Bronzi... We should add ground penitrating radar to the legs of that thing... and swap out the reactor... and overhaul the weapons and put a drone pack on the back... We are probably going to need some computer stuff too... Be sure you grab a space suit, and I will be sure to bring more datapads and some cabling. No telling what is in that computer down there."

Bridge

Natsumi closed down her station and got to her feet. "I will joint he away team" She said with a curt nod, then was off, striding from the bridge. Once out of the command center, she kicked in her gravity control and jetted along the passageway and down to the power armor bay, already starting to undo components of her uniform that would not be needed while in armor.


Power Armor Bay

Natsumi entered and bee-lined for her Mindy. It had been some time since she had taken the trusty old armor suit out and quickly started getting herself ready to go.

"How are we on getting ready to launch?" she asked, spotting Saiga and Tsuguka immediately as she folded up her uniform and putting it away. She selected the standard weapons loadout and a teleport pod and bolted them onto her Mindy as she listened to the response.

She then started squeezing into her Mindy, getting her legs into it's legs and sliding into the smooth padded interior of the suit, before sealing it up around herself, feeling the tight fitting suit press in all about her, becoming an extension of herself as it came online, connecting to her through the SPINE connection on the back of her neck.

"As soon as everyone is ready, we'll be heading out" she said and detached herself from the power armor storage frame.

YSS Eucharis
Bridge

Mehitabel indulged her hovering habits a while longer, though not literally since the gravity was turned on. There wasn't enough space to spread her wings within the confines of the bridge let alone actually use them for propulsion. However, as the crew cleared to action stations she disappeared from the command center of the ship. Decamping with her limited equipment she joined the flow of personnel in the zero-g corridors.

YSS Eucharis
Wardroom

The second best place on the Eucharis to really spread out and get some work done was around the hibachi within conversational range of Lime, or whomever else was on duty at the time. With the rest of the crew preparing for boarding it meant the space was empty. So she sat in silence with the glow of volumetric displays surrounding her.

Power Armor Bay

Masumi clicked her heels together and raised her hand to a salute when Chusa, Nitô Heisho, and Taii, respectively, had entered the bay. Each time besides for the last, she had resumed a ready position. This last time, though, she approached the superior officer.

"Ready, willing, and waiting for command," Masumi vociferated in an even tone over comms. Then, she looked to the Chusa and then the Nitô Heisho present, nodding tersely as if to let them know she respected their authority just as much.

Eucharis, PA Bay

"We'll... we'll talk." Junko nodded to Freyja, her expression blank.

She hadn't quite expected it to go like that. The hit, sure, and she'd been ready and willing to take it. The kiss, though, was like the first time all over again. Physical joy so vast, so powerful, it could only be experienced rather than comprehended.

Then the other shoe dropped. It... hurt? It hurt, a dull ache that sharpened the more it rattled around her brain. Freyja... Freyja wasn't at fault here, though. But it was too much, the implications and the consequences and the sudden reality that her squadmate had a child on a warship.

With a quiet affirmative to her superiors, she turned and went for her suit.

She climbed in and sealed it up in one smooth motion, now second nature. Slipped the helmet down and sealed the neck. Here, in the suit, all she had to be was a soldier. Her nerves quieted as the armor insulated her against the universe, against herself.

She could process everything later. After the mission.

She did a quick check of her armor, servos clicking and panels shuttering. Satisfied, she went to the weapons locker. Went with a ASBR, in a taste for a classic. Then she picked out the two plasma sabers she'd fabricated while she was isolated in the armory yesterday.

Once she was satisfactorily kitted out, Junko took position on the bay floor.

YSS Eucharis, PA Bay


Bronzi held the sealing procedure on the Heirophant as Saiga spoke. He smiled at the man as he spoke of his....girth. With a wink at him Bronzi spoke back. "I've been livin on Yamatai fer three years, every one love muh girth, Chusa-kun." Bronzi held from closing up. "Tha name's Bronzi, Hand of the Gartagen Empress, Here to observe the war as her eyes. Pleasure to meet Yamatai's finest." He said to Saiga. "Looks like tha breifin is off." He said eyeing Natsumi. Bronzi in his years had never experienced that. A mission being called and no breifing. "Blind runs are always eventful. "He said looking back at Saiga.

Bronzi soon found his blue eyes following Wazu who was also running systems checks and being very critical and self depreciating for not modifying the Heirophant. But it had been a busy three months, and Bronzi at the end of his skills, new title and authority was a grunt. He'd work with what he had.

Wazu's suggestions were sound. "Aye." was the response Wazu would here. "We neva added ground based radar cause tha Machine comes stock with vibration detection and Sonar for undaground battle. New powa core wouldn't hurt tho, armor modification, scientifc suite in that tech area. Err, this old edjia armor I go on acts as a space suit...even has grav boots fer a space walk..neva been a fan of dat. Sura did upgrade the computer system....but its a civilian grade Yamataian hard drive...." Bronzi snorted. "Still gonna be a POS no matta what tho."

Bronzi stopped from looking at his system's checks. He could smell everything in the room, including the..pheromones. He then leaned forward out of the exo, flagging Wazu over. "You ready to get in the shit?" Wazu was great under pressure, Bronzi knew that. But he could smell the distraction in the room. It hung over the room like a thick haze. "I can ride solo, and you can manage the scanners remotely, no shame in dat."

Power Armor Bay

Tsuguka just nodded along with the Chusa's observations, respecting his caution over the scenario. She had come to expect that sort of in-depth thinking of Saiga, but it had always come across to her as a little ironic, considering he was a highly trained soldier that looked a bit like an unassuming office clerk himself. Typical SAINT, to recruit a guy like that.

"...We should have asked to borrow the Takumi..." Was her eventual sarcastic answer. It wasn't like they had a lot of choices, tactically speaking. Slipping into her armored suit was a quick, seamless showing of a procedural accuracy. She'd done it so many times now, that she barely broke eye contact with the superior before clasping the helmet on. "...or six or seven Yamato. That would be most agreeable."

Mindy was incredibly clean and polished, but untouched in terms of paint or flavor. Truth be told, she hated the standard blue embellishments, and would have preferred pure, flawless, unbroken white.

Without any forewarning, she then turned to Wazu and gave him a stony gaze through the transparent visor panel... Then, nothing but a simple pat on the shoulder. There wasn't really a rhyme or reason to their relationship, but she did want to ask him about some Mindy customization ideas later. Maybe when he was less busy with the beefcake lizardman.

Masumi, now that was a weirder connection. Candon's personal scientist. Had still barely spoken to, or made heads and tails of the woman, but she knew they slept in the same room... Suspicious?... Sent her back an approving nod, anyway.

"Yamashiro-Taii." A salute of her own, offered to the petite snowball officer. There was spy-level unassuming, and then there was Natsumi... "I believe Saiga-Chusa was just about to begin the briefing."

Everyone was here. The bay was absolutely packed today.

Chaos on the Eucharis, as usual, then...

Power Armor Bay

Masumi looked over the chaos and her lips tightened together as she prepared for what was to come mentally.

And then, something struck her. She turned at the waist and went into her butt pack, rifling through it while muttering to herself incoherently.

She then beelined for her rack, set the Mindy on it, and pulled herself out of it. Her bare sienna chest bobbed with the motion, looking as if each one would hit her chin at any moment. Then the pads of her feet were against the power armor bay's floor as she trotted off to the exit, towards the med bay.

Masumi shot Candon a glance and telepathically told him the situation, "I left something in the med bay..."

As only her dark naked behind was visible while she walked through the doorway, she shot out a rhetorical question, "Cover for me?"

Sakura-type Medical Bay

Masumi popped her head through the doorway first and her pink hair fell in long, thick strands down towards the floor of the entrance.

"Santo Hei Tan Ann Pan, have you moved the science scanner?" Masumi asked the medic, looking around. "Wh—" she started her statement, but didn't finish it until she had picked up the scanner and held it close to her nude chest. "What are you still doing here? We have a situation "planet"-side. We're likely briefing in the power armor bay at this very moment."

Power Armor Bay

"Its size is quite impressive, yes," Saiga said back to Bronzi as he began unfastening his Type 35 jacket. "You Gartagens are lucky to have created technology that compensates for your otherwise diminutive state of nature," he added, referring both to the alien's robot and his atypical physical size. "I'm honored that you're tall enough to breathe the same good air that I do."

By now, he'd shed and stowed most of his uniform—all but his standard issue black-with-a-hinomaru boxer briefs. Getting undressed and suited up was a matter of routine for the SAINT officer, having sortied so many times before. Not that he had to get undressed, really. As a non-Neko, Saiga didn't have the luxury of a SPINE connection and the closeness that skin-on-Mindy contact provided. Still, nudity was far more comfortable than having a duty uniform bunch up between him and the armor's core for what could be hours.

Like Tsuguka, three months of constant training had given Saiga's already impressive musculature more bulk. Unlike her, though, the phenomenon was physically possible and more than an illusion. As far as this ship's crew went, the state of his physique was probably only second to the red heisho's, against which few could ever hope to compare. Back before this tour on the Eucharis he'd done more directing SAINT soldiers in their operations than actual infantry work, so wasn't surprised with the progress. He didn't stand around immodestly for long, though, and was locked into his waiting armor only moments after stripping and stepping into its legs.

"Most of us are ready, Taii," Saiga said to Natsumi from behind his Mindy's smooth armored face. It was easier to be direct with her like this, almost as easy as addressing her over comms, and he regarded her now with less concern. "I'd expected you to give whatever briefing is required, but if you'd like me to I will certainly oblige. But barring any last-second additions to the team, we are ready to launch on your order. Whether we have a pre-mission conference is your choice, Taii."

Bronzi tilted his head, observing Saiga for a moment. "Shame you Yamatians haven't." Bronzi quipped back referring to the... unfulfilled state Saigas standard issue boxer breifs in a room filled with beautiful naked women.

There was a pause and Bronzi let out a gruff laugh. "Ya, my people are smol. Prolly why these machines are so big.

Medical Bay

Tan Ann Pan raised her eyebrows, flipped over her datapad, stood up, and shelved it, walking out of the medical bay. "'Planet'? This is the first I've heard of it." She didn't comment on the scanner, or the nudity. Without using her eyes, or very high frequency sounds, it was hard to tell whether the other crew members were wearing clothing or not, and that was for the best. This way, there was less motivation to ask questions.

YSS Eucharis, PA Bay

Candon would begin the process of donning his armor once Junko and Freyja had reached a less hostile state. Shoes and shirt were done, back to it. His pants were now folded nice and neatly with his black boxer briefs off and following suit.
His own musculature may not have been as well defined as Saiga's and certainly not Tsuguka's but it resembled what he was, a warrior. His abs only hinted at the washboard appearance of a guy that worked out, his abdominal muscles were trained to take punches and thus were far less pronounced.

Normally he wouldn't care to be comparing his own physique to anyone else's but lately he was starting to feel a bit inadequate. Not that it was a realistic idea, his body was specifically intended to mimic a Nepleslian and did well at that but since the idea of dating was reintroduced to him he'd been feeling almost insecure. He'd never admit it but it kept nagging at him.

Now watching Masumi 'shake it' again was nothing new to her roommate who was now helmetless in his armor. There were times he swore she did things like this on purpose to try getting a reaction from him but this bold display also made him equally believe it was just Masumi being herself.
Either way, he was just glad he was already armored before the show.

Power Armor Bay

Masumi's pink eyebrows knit together as she entered the power armor bay with Tan in tow.

She scanned the room to assess the current state of things and said out loud, but to herself, "Good." The briefing was not underway. Her excursion to the nearby bay hadn't shaved off too much time from the allotted minutes to prepare.

She looked to Candon in his armor, helmetless but not unimposing in his own right, and gave him a stern look. One would think it was almost a look of chastisement towards the SAINT operative, but her next two words made it apparent Masumi's own actions were the reason her sapphire eyes were smoldering.

"Thank you."

She didn't know if Candon had indeed covered for her or prolonged the time before the briefing in order for her to get the scanner, but it meant the world to her that it was possible he had. She turned to him to speak again.

"I shouldn't have forgotten my equipment, Suites-heisho, I am back and..." Oshiro Masumi spent a moment to get into her Mindy before she finished her sentence. "Ready."

YSS Eucharis, PA Bay

Candon shrugged, "better to remember before launch than in space." He commended.

"I think everyone is here now," Candon announced, despite having had nothing to do with the briefings timing.

Power Armor Bay

Masumi donned her helmet and assumed a ready stance in the bay for a second time in the past few minutes after she had turned towards where Natsumi and Saiga were located. She was positioned to gain as much as she could from their words and body language.

The soft interior of the Mindy felt gentle and unassuming against her dark skin and she let her eyes slide to each member of the away team before she would look to either Natsumi or Saiga spoke over comms. She noted everyone's speed and readiness, or lack thereof.

PA Bay,

Wazu was certainly in shape,

However that shape was a lot less defined and a lot rounder in places than the shape of many of the others on the ship. Unlilke the others, he had to really put forth effort to build muscle mass. Long stretches in a ship usually meant that he didn't quite have the same level of definition that a Nepleslian would have. Even longer stretches sitting down and studying meant that he also didn't quite have the same level of definition as a Yamatain.

He was, only human,

A shortcoming that was made all the more clear when a Mindy power armor put its hand on his shoulder.

He would turn to look at the armor... and since his attention had been on the Hierophant, he had no clue who was inside. The local network wasn't even pulled up on his Datapad at that moment so he wasn't able to quickly check. He would give the armor a slight nod, hopeful that there was some kind of understanding there, before his attention turned back to

"Bronzi! Play nice." He said, not burdened by how he stacked up to the others or by having seen Masumi's rear as it moved by.

Bronzi said:

"You ready to get in the shit?"

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"We are about to go poke what looks like a mini-matrioshka brain. Back home they would literally kill for this." Wazu checked his datapad again, and ended the calibration test, "I need to get stuff... We can work on the armor later. Sonar might not work so well if there are air pockets under the surface and the Eucharis seemed to pick up a few of those. Also make sure you're ready with the head-part to that armor...also, I have something for that." His speech was getting faster and faster, Wazu getting just a bit excited about heading down there. "I will be right back!"

Wazu would run back to his cabin, dumping his duffel bag out onto his bed. He would then scoop up his datapads, his voidwalker suit, his emergency helmet and a small tool kit into the back before heading back to the Power Armor bay while texting a message to Jax.

Jax,

Can you help me with a few things? I need some training grenades, Type 32 flash lights, caster tape, and some ration packs.

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Wazu certainly could have gone to the kitchen himself to get rations... but the yellow one was scary.

Eucharis, PA bay

Junko remained almost perfectly still with everyone shuffling around. Didn't seem particularly ruffled with people going this way and that and an apparent lack of communication. She'd hear orders eventually, and she had her suit on. More than that was gravy, really.

She did notice going into the suits bare, though. Less in particular interest and more as a pattern. Maybe nudity was infectious or something on this ship. Maybe later she'd go to the mess and the cooks would be only wearing aprons.

"So what do you think will happen when someones suit is breached? Or they need to hop out of it?" Junko asked in Tsuguka's general direction. Vaguely remembered her saying something about contaminants a ways back.

"Jumping out of the Mindy mid-mission whilst it's still covered in contaminants... That's the only reason why I started wearing one..." Tsuguka just looked at the ceiling for a moment, hands on the small of her back, before shrugging and meeting Junko's gaze again. Sometimes she just had to accept when her preference for uniformity was in itself inefficient. "But I guess you are right about just using the Type 31 uniform, if we really had to."

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Tsuguka seemed... stiffer than normal. No, more like she was already in combat mode before combat. Dedication was fine, but pressuring herself on top of other factors? She meant well, but that could make someone crack faster in the long term.

Another thing to keep an eye on.