RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 27, Part 4] The Sleeping Giant (YE 39)

PA Bay

Well, that had certainly been unexpected! With a deep blush, Jax watched Tsuguka float away, coughing a little. It did make him wonder, however.

If a crate of some simple axes and clubs got him a kiss on the cheek, what would a batch of rocket launchers get him?! He should have figured that weaponry was the way to get her attention.

Unsure of what to do, Jax perched himself next to his own armor, modified with custom ear and tail slots. Boy, was he glad he was staying aboard the ship! Studying the robots was fun, but he didn't want first-hand experience.

YSS Eucharis, PA Bay

Much of Junko's reaction was to twitch her eyebrow when Tsuguka called her performance admirable. The immediate response from her brain was fuck you, fight me. Until she'd killed every enemy, strangled every last Kuvexian and Mishu and burned every last trace to cinder, nothing she did was admirable. But she was smart enough not to vocalize the fact.

But their were children present.

She pat the new kid on the shoulder. "Relax, we were all new once. Just gonna tell you what we've figured out works. Squad takes care of its own."

"Now, the forearm guns'll tear through Rixx, but they'll take more work to get through anything with serious armor." Junko continued. "Personally, I'd second the ASBR for you. Its a solid rifle that can double as a perfect melee weapon whenever you need to get close."

"For the suit, three capacitors will give you practically instant teleport recharge, but even just one will boost the charge rate to seconds. Just two is honestly a bit overkill, and it cripples your flexibility in the field if you don't have other options." Junko advised. "If you want to round yourself out, I'd throw a barrier module on the back so you can take hits and avoid them at the same time. Support bits are going to be very handy this mission, though, since we'll be relying on them to map out the branching pathways as we explore. Leg module I might throw on some countermeasure pods, or offensive missiles."

"My first combat op was technically back in the last leg of my training, back on the Orochi. We were shot out into the black to board a Mishu capital ship and stop a battle group from attacking the planet below. Even with fighter cover, the first wave got tore up by interceptor craft and their missiles." Junko explained. "Counters kept me alive through all that, and I haven't been convinced to swap yet."

Power Armor Bay

At first, Noriko held the initially poor assessment of the other Neko at a low probability of being accurate partly out of a lack of data, but also partly out of hope.

"I...I see." Her feline ears drooped as she listened to the other woman speak, making sure to frown just like when one of the training staff got news of her pet dying. It was hard to see a cute girl look sad, but given how absolutely perfect every single Neko tended to look, the sorrow that Noriko exuded hit as hard as a punch to the gut. Unlike in most circumstances however, the newest Neko certainly felt this way. Baka Bakka. Bunch of fools. Though, not entirely, the more she thought about it; there was something that came out of this for certain. "Do we have any Mindy 2D's?" her rich, almost seductive voice slowly picked up as she seemingly learned to hope again. "Maybe I can adapt its forearm weapons to our Mindy 4s in time for the mission."

From memory, the latest Mindy 2-4's forearm weapons were based off the older Ke-M2-W2910 on the Mindy 2-1H, and only had anti-armor and stun settings. The M2-2D's forearm weapons however....the Ke-M2-W3500 series could kill, stun, and slice with its aether wristblades. The more she thought about it however, the more she realized something.

"Maybe I should just take the older model," Noriko mused, her blue eyes glancing around the hangar for one.

It even had integrated nodal support drones.

Power Armor Bay

Being a near-baseline Nepleslian well into her fifties, Tan Ann Pan's physique wasn't a miracle of science. She begun her morning like she did every morning on the ship, whenever possible: Running non-stop on the treadmill. Even if she had to wake up early for it, it wasn't a ritual she liked to abandon for long. It did mean she wasn't in great condition for the morning training Tsuguka had planned in place of routine cleaning, but she showered and arrived after breakfast without any thought of playing hooky, or drinking something to take the edge off. After all, someone had to be the responsible one in her family, and as the only surviving member who hadn't fled Yamatai decades earlier, it had to be Tan Ann Pan, by default.

Before and after she'd operated on Natsumi and Victory the night before (the former a physical operation in the medical center's operating theater, the latter more psychosurgical, and could be said to have been all in her head and the ship's computer), Tan Ann Pan had spent the rest of her evening in VR simulations, with and without Candon Howard Suites. Although she was satisfied with the results of her simulations, it hadn't come time to announce her results, or even draft her conclusions. With another mission incoming so soon, and preparations for it already underway, it didn't seem she was going to have a chance to finish what she'd started at the debriefing. She'd kept notes, at least--they'd come in handy if she were to die, this time.

With as much of her routine as she'd kept, she didn't arrive to the armour bay as early as the others. Although she shared a room with her squad leader, Tsuguka, this didn't give her much inside information, nor had the time they'd spent silently in the recreation room, with their very different aerobic routines. It was hard to tell what caught her attention when she entered the bay. Being sightless by preference and having effective air sonar from augmentations, she frequently had the appearance of looking at everything and nothing, and this was one of those times. It was essentially accurate.

Having not brought aboard any weapons (and not wanting to test Tsuguka by showing up with a broken wine bottle), Tan Ann Pan had requested a GP-12B rifle from the ship's armoury to use for the training session, still hoping it wouldn't come down to a box of hammers. The hand axes that were also in the box didn't reassure her. Rather than wait idly until the session started, she moved on after entering to check on her armour, which likely needed a modicum of care after her crash landing the day before.

Wardroom

Saiga-chusa was already there when Takumi arrived, surrounded a few by volumetric screens projected from his multi-function bracelet as he sat in the far booth nearby the ship's bookroom. Without an assigned bunk recorded anywhere in the ship's records he had few other places to do work when he wasn't on the bridge with Hanako and the others. One might wonder if the Geshrin commando ever went to sleep, though none of his shipmates could say he ever seemed without rest. Perhaps he'd worked out some kind of bedding arrangement with one of the night shift crew members like Cherry. Or perhaps he really never slept.

"Ohayō, Shoi," the SAINT officer called over with a quick wave before gesturing to the seat across from him so Takumi felt welcome to sit. "I was just going over the recommendations in your message. Let's finalize those details now."

Medical Lab

Next, Victory was able to be removed from the hemosynth tank as well, and was soon standing there nude, wiping her face with a towel. "I guess yesterday was a rough day for me, the last thing I remember was the shuttle crashing. But I checked the serial on my body and it's still the same one. I hear there is a supply ship here?"

Hanako nodded to Victory. "Yes, they sent over some cargo specialists last night. The ship waited overnight for us and is still here."

Victory nodded. "I will speak with them. Permission to go shower, ma'am?"

"Do what you need to do," Hanako nodded. Victory ducked out into the passageway wearing only a towel went to the shower by the armor bay.

The Shosho turned back to her First Officer. "Because you were healing, I had Chusa Saiga plan the next excursion to the machine world," Hanako told Natsumi. "If you want to go down there again, you should coordinate with him."

Setting his now drained paper cup to the side for now, Takumi nodded politely before taking the proffered seat. "Thank you, Chusa," he replied while settling himself down, "and so far, it has been a good morning. As for my recommendations, I know that some of them might seem... unconventional, but if we are going to get anywhere studying this strange new world, then we will need all of the help that we can get."

His own mood was still a bit down after reading how poorly the last mission had gone. However, Takumi had faith that the Eucharis crew could make a comeback this time around. After a brief pause for this minor retrospection, the science officer continued, "Be that as it may, I do believe that Mr. Howard's addition to the away team would be beneficial as his engineering prowess could potentially help us understand the alien structure."

After giving his input, the Minkan remained silent for Saiga's reply. Besides the fancy bracelet, the intelligence officer seemed to be practically the same as when they had talked last night. Takumi briefly wondered what he normally did during downtime... that is, if Saiga even takes downtime in the first place. For all anyone knew, he could be a robot of some sort with the schedule he seems to keep.

Medical Bay

Natsumi nodded at Hanako as she wrapped herself up in her towel. She was glad to see Victory was well again. The calm expression on her face faltered a little as Hanako mentioned the second away mission and possibility of her joining it.

"I think.." she said, her voice lowering, "I will stay on the ship. I'm not wanted on the away missions by the crew..." she looked away from Hanako, hiding the embarrassment and pain that crossed her face from the Shosho, "I'm sure there is something I can do to better help you here aboard the ship"

Power Armor Bay

Glancing around the power armor, the husky voiced Neko sighed.

"I guess not." There weren't any Mindy 2D's for her to use, or even cannibalize for parts. That meant Noriko had to make do with whatever was on hand. "I guess I'll be using the Aether Beam Saber Rifle after all," she mused. "Thank you for the advice Junko. Tsuguka." Though her voice was deep and rich, her demeanor was focused. Cold even - Noriko was solely fixed on what lay ahead. Their mission. Always having the physical blade on the ABSR at all times was a hindrance, but, it did have its uses once combat began, that was for certain. Already, the white haired Neko began getting herself one, nevermind the extra bulk.

After all, she could drop it if she absolutely had to.

Wardroom

"Jax's inclusion on the away team is more than acceptable," Saiga replied, making note of the choice on one of his screens. "He's armored up before and would be the first person to analyze whatever alien tech we retrieve, anyway. So long as Hanako-shosho has no problem with it, he's yours."

The SAINT chusa didn't speak for a moment, not having much to say. But since Takumi was here and would be the second highest ranked member of the squad, now was as good a time as any to fill him in. He'd already communicated some with Tsuguka, the armor team's actual on-the-ground commander according to doctrine, and hashed out most of a plan for Metal Moon Round 2.

"We'll be inserting via one of the damaged sections of the target structure," Saiga explained, bringing up a little holographic moon beside one of the work screens he had open. "No shuttle this time. We're going to try for as quiet an insertion as possible."

Clandestine infiltration was part of what SOFT groups were trained for, after all. Yesterday's foray hadn't even given them the opportunity to execute a breach like they had so many times during VR exercises over the three months they'd spent in-transit. So today, he intended to let Tsuguka lead her team and give them the opportunity to actually perform in the way they'd been taught to perform.

"You and I are going to let them do their thing," Saiga continued. "The combat team protects the rest of us and leads the excursion. They don't need a couple of officers telling them to break a charge, so try to keep any impulsive orders to yourself." He flashed Takumi a grin before asking, obviously rhetorically, "You'll know if any direction from above is needed, right?

"But that brings me to letting them know when they'll need it. Since you're specialized in the sciences, it's your job to keep an eye out for anything that'll provide us with worthwhile intelligence," the SAINT officer said. "Everything looks interesting to the layman, but you and Jax should have a better eye for it than the rest of us. So when you see something, say something and Toyoe-heisho will know to halt and protect the position of interest until you two can log it, secure it, or strip its information. Don't forget about checking out any murderbots we might bring down, either.

"Any thoughts so far, Shoi?" Saiga asked, just as much to take a breath as to solicit the junior officer's input.

"Thank you, Chusa." Takumi nodded in thanks as he mulled over the rest of the briefing in his head. He had read the reports of the confusion in authority from the previous mission and did not wish for a repeat episode. Just to reiterate what he was understanding, the science officer replied, "So you are in charge of the mission, and then Miss Toyoe takes over from there if combat occurs?" It was probably over-simplifying things, but hopefully that assessment wasn't too far off course.

As for his and Jackson's duties, it seemed both straight forward and complex at the same time. The viridian-haired Minkan could only imagine what kind of things they would find down there, but Takumi didn't let himself get lost in that train of thought for long. After processing everything, he finally answered Saiga's last question, "I like the plan so far, sir. You know what they say about when the plan hits the enemy, though..."

He chuckled a bit before continuing, "I will do my best to not slow the group down while also finding anything that we might deem worthwhile. Securing multiple samples would be important as well, but I do understand that we will be on a timeline. If these robots have some sort of computer core, salvaging that might give us some clues as well." He didn't need to mention that actually figuring out what the computer core looked like or where it would be in the chassis might be the hard part, though.

Wardroom

"Hanako has designed me the officer in charge of this mission, but Toyoe-heisho is the soldier in charge of our tactical direction — just as I've assigned you to head-up the technical aspects of our operation," Saiga said, answering Takumi's request for clarification. "SOFT 408 won't always be able to rely on me or Yamashiro-taii or any other officer to lead them, and have been trained with Toyoe in charge as per Special Operations Fire Team doctrine. So unless I need to adjust our strategic direction or represent the Star Army of Yamatai to foreign agents, I'm just another gun. Tsuguka has my full trust in the matter and we will all follow her lead.

"If you have any suggestions that'll better prepare us for when we hit the enemy, now's the time," he added. "Rixxikor are easy, if not predictably unpredictable. Those combat machines are another story, though. Scalar pulses didn't seem to have a particularly strong effect on their operation, but perhaps there could be a way to neutralize whatever the Rixxikor used to lure them if we run into that again. You should have access to yesterday's sensor logs, so if you have time to look those over and notice anything that you can make sense of before launch it'd certainly be a boon."

Power Armor Bay

Tsuguka gave a sour look over having her projected feelings go apparently ignored by Junko, green eyes sparking with the regular incredibly furious expression. But the internal mechanics were still rather still cold. Still a completely separate entity.

In the end, they decided to simply cross her arms and mull the soldier over, researching them by observation, rather than pull rank. Technically a breach in protocol... But, what motivations were really at play here? Did the foolhardy attack she heard about on the YSS Orochi, effectively throwing conscripts on masse, effect the then-young Nekovalkyrja's perception of authority? Blaming her and Candon's training regime was an obvious overreach, in hindsight...

Yet, if Junko cared as much about self-preservation as much as their mutual old friend Shiho, then why the dangerous preferance for melee attacks?...

Perturbing. Most perturbing.

Also, probably about time Tsuguka re-examined her own perspectives. What objectives, or even sensibilities, really mattered all the way out here?

Wardroom

A digital presence brought itself into contact with the two officers, little but an icon with a voice, but a stern one none the less. The red lynx actually nodded her real head to Saiga, despite the fact he couldn't see it. That was befitting for the superior of the pair.

~"Chusa.... There is certainly a psychological element at play here, but I'm not sure how to address it. The great majority of the Rixxikor aren't out enemies, yet..."~ A dour tone. It was clear from her reports that she didn't directly approve of Natsumi's attempted negotiations during the last mission because of the tactical liability, but didn't really see the nuisance bugmen as a problem that needed directly confronting, either. At least not until the next mission, where the choice had been made for them. ~"...Well, much like with the Freespacers ten years ago, it seems that the Star Army is still by-and-large stuck treating every alien encounter like a large scale fleet battle... In future, if we could be very specifically clear on our stance for the factions at play here, I think that would be most helpful. Changing such a stance mid-mission was fundamentally the result of our conflicting opinions."~

~"It may also be an idea to equip a Daisy or two, with your permission."~ A small look back, remembering the equipment request for an alternate PA that Noriko had made. ~"We still have ten in storage, and in my experience, they are more than tough enough for this sort of task. I'm concerned about what else of our technology the enemy can counter. Right now variety is the only defense I can reasonably suggest."~

Power Armor Bay

"Nobody expects you to know all this day one, its fine." Junko waved off Noriko's apparent guilt. "I only figured this out recently, having a talk with Suites-Heisho. Fiddles with his rig a lot, so he knows a few things."

...Why was Tsuguka staring at her like that?

If she didn't stop, Jax might start getting jealous. What, did she want to mother all over the newbie? She could say something to the kid if she wanted, then. Anything that might indicate what was going on between those ears.

She wanted to say pigtail braids. Those were iconic. It was kind of sad to see them go.

Oh, right. Back to the ninety-niner.

"The Mindy 4 is an objectively better suit, even with the feature streamlining. We got Daisys, but the M4 can do everything it can and more." Junko caught back up with her. She did approve of her choice in the forearm projectors, for obvious reasons. Only way she'd be without a blade is if someone literally removed her arms.

Note to self: Revisit the aether blade boots concept later.

"Anything the M2 projectors can do, your ASBR can do." Junko walked up to a locker and pulled one of them out. "Switch here for beam, again for rapid pulse. This lights the blade. It can also stun with third button here."

"Pretty sure most the bells and whistles that got taken off the last iteration were done because, well, we already had tools that replicated them like that." Junko re-racked the rifle. It made sense, at least from a design perspective. Redundancy could make a suit already packed with features unwieldy. Not to mention far more expensive.

She looked over to Tsuguka. "Ma'am, think we'd have time to fabricate the old style projectors and install them before we head out?"

She doubted it, but might as well ask.

Power Armor Bay

Masumi's eyes flickered between Tsuguka and Junko, then to the newest snowy-haired Neko. What was this all about, she wondered. Her body felt centered and concentrated, perfectly in tune with itself and her armor. All of this information she was processing decreased her mind's focus. Inside of her suit, her pink eyebrows pushed together and she listened to Junko speak before sending a telepathic message to Tsuguka, knowing the infantry Neko could handle processing more than one set of conversations at a time.

"I don't know if my position as Suites-heisho's..." Masumi began, then trailed off. She looked at Tsuguka more fully. "I would appreciate it, Nitô Heisho, if you allow me to accomplish the task of 'sticking with you'. Anything you care to ask of me or would have me know before we are in the field?"

Medical Lab

Hanako paused for a long, awkwardly silent moment to consider Natsumi's response. "Fine, you can stay on the Eucharis," Hanako finally said, sounding vaguely disappointed at Natsumi wanting to avoid going back to the metal planet. "I am putting you in charge of the ship while I go myself. Do not let Eucharis get destroyed. The Sakura was destroyed while I was not on board, and I felt like she ship was my friend who I should have been there for at the end, but was I unable."

The Shosho didn't wait for a reply, she just left the medical lab and went up to the wardroom to attend the pre-mission briefing. Part of her actually wanted to get violent down there and take out her frustrations on some hostile robots. Bloodlust? It must be the Yui in me, she thought to herself as she entered the wardroom.

Power Armor Bay

Freyja walked into the armor bay in time to catch the end of the conversation between Junko and the new girl. She thought the way Junko was acting towards the young Neko was incredibly sexy. Not wanting to interrupt the question, she brushed against Junko on her way to her Mindy and sent her the sensation she felt when she saw Junko being motherly. It was like a warmth that she felt all over, including some rather intimate places. ~"Seeing you be so cute with the newbie makes me feel like this,"~ she said telepathically.

As she passed she smiled and felt a calmness wash over herself. This is how it should be, she thought. I have to show her how much I need her. She made plans to do just that after this mission. For now, she had to make sure her armor was ready.

She walked to her armor and inspected it, starting with the helmet. While she worked she contacted Tsuguka telepathically. ~"You wanted to see me, Heisho?"

Wardroom

Saiga smiled at Tsuguka's little sprite when it appeared near him and Takumi. It was an entirely unnecessary addition — a simple text or voice message from her brain to his communicator would have sufficed — but that would obviously have been so un-Tsuguka, so the veteran SAINT operative welcomed the holographic bauble as something to be expected.

"A lack of trigger discipline and a cool head were to blame for the last mission's errors, not any sort of 'conflicting opinions' regarding our rules of engagement," he replied without hesitation. His 'opinion' on the matter was long since settled. "The Rixxikor are to be viewed with suspicion but not immediate malice, so don't fire upon them unless they've fired or it's absolutely clear they're going to. Had any of us known that Yuuki-hei's engagement with the Rixxikor was the result of her personal frustration rather than an assault on her person then I doubt the matter would have escalated as it did. But we did not know her motivations, so there was no choice but to join her in eliminating the threat to Yamataian lives.

"I trust such issues won't crop up again this time around," Saiga said, very clearly demanding it even though his voice hadn't become angry. "Maybe you can guide them to live up to your embodiment of the Nekovalkyrja ideal, Toyoe-heisho," he added. That last part was a genuine belief. Neko were killing machines designed to unquestioningly perform their duty with discipline and grace, and the red lynx had yet to disappoint him in that regard.

"As for your request to include Daisy armor on the team, I am reluctant to approve it," he continued. In his long career as a non-Neko soldier, he'd used the Daisy more than any other power armor in the Star Army's inventory and loved the machine with all his heart. But its day had certainly passed. "Our Mindy 4s have superior armor quality and shield strength and can equip the same equipment that any Daisy can. The Daisy on the Eucharis are not the 1B refit and thus cannot perform with sufficient agility in a vacuum, so will be at a greater disadvantage during the present operation. If you can find convincing reason for their deployment, though, I have no issu—"

Saiga rose to his feet and snapped a sharp salute. Hanako had entered the wardroom.

"Admiral on deck!"

Power Armor Bay

"Candon-Heisho's problem is that he's too good and he knows it. I've spent years fishing him out, and it never got any easier for me either, so no worries. Just need to keep a tail on him whilst he does his thing. It's still technically his team, and he'll call us if he's about to try anything, well... Overambitious..." Tsuguka met Masumi's slightly nervous interactions by seizing the pink-haired woman's shoulders, thumbs settling across the collarbone like some kind of diagnostic procedure. Arms perfectly straight, allowing their eyes to examine the scientists' condition at length. By the end of it, their expression read simply 'you are operational'... Was this... Reassurance? "As for anything else you can do... Well, your Mindy already has the leader pack equipped. I hate to use you as a simple scanner and spotter for the team, but your expertise does make that service logical. Do you feel comfortable correlating that kind of information on the fly? Giving us a map of enemy density, that kind of thing?"

At somewhat the same time, Saiga was responding to her queries, returning a message to her mind's eye. It was odd how they had become so trusting so quickly, but the arrangement was working well.

"My Nekovalkyrja ideal?..." Was the one thing Tsuguka muttered out loud, taking a moment to consider if that was an illogical concept or not. They weren't perfect beings by any stretch, but the daughters of Yamatai were certainly an genetically engineered work of fiction, an ostentatious attempt at some kind of grandiose ideal... How could any of them really separate the propaganda from the simple concrete reasons for their existence?...

Damn it! Finding out the meaning of life and implementing it was not supposed to be part of a common soldier's duties!

~"Understood, sir."~ Was the basic reply, freeing up his attentions, presumably to speak to the Shosho. She had good experience with the Daisy, and that was this ship's Daisies in particular, but they could talk more about that later.

Real-world speaking; Freyja was here now, too.

"Oh, Yuuki-Hei. Yes, I would like to go through the team briefing formally now. You may suit up, or remain as you are." A small nod of respect towards the blue neko mother. Tsuguka wanted to make them feel at ease, but had a poor history with empathy. Best to just soldier-talk them instead. "Within the new team structure, you will be a 'grenadier' along with Junko-Hei and Noriko-Hei. This means acting somewhat independently, and scouting in force. Do you follow?"

Was going to mention the new grenade requirement, but her hands were full?...

Huh... Were they still holding onto Masumi-Hei?... Yes.

Tsuguka just kept standing there, dark skinned neko at arm's length, only moving one set of fingers down to the side of the ribs for better pulse readings. It made her hands comfortable to remain occupied.

Power Armor Bay

Oshrio Masumi had stiffened and slowed her breathing as Tsuguka took her by the shoulders and once Tugs was below one of her protruding breasts, the Neko being held inhaled sharply.

Too good? Masumi wondered what Tsuguka meant by that. And he knows it?

Masumi might just spend years fishing Tsuguka out for that statement alone.

The pink-haired Neko kept her helmeted head focused on Tsuguka and kept her body immobile while Tsuguka went about her business, regardless of the internal panic about just what Tsuguka meant in tandem with Candon's words that morning: "You don't even know me," he pleaded...