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

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

If nothing else, Mehitabel lacked the spine to hound senior officers over there problems... She merely nodded, murmuring 'hai' softly to Natsumi.

"Remember, Yamashiro-taii, as clerk, I'm available to you any time for work assistance, just like Ketsurui-shosho," she adds in an equally low-tone, before retreating towards the rear of the bridge to follow the situation, "Or anything else."

Machine Planet

Alerted to the drone, Freyja gave it a quick glance before returning to scanning the area. The others were alerted to the potential threat, and they knew much more than she did. If it wasn't shooting at them at the moment, she didn't care about it. She advanced a little further, looking for a sign of Rixxikor or Vanguards.

"I like it. Good job, Jackson-heisho. I nominate you to name all new discoveries. Any objections?" She asked. The casual banter kept her from getting paranoid. This time she was worried mainly about the Shosho. If any fire came towards Hanako she was prepared to act as her personal shield. In a way, she felt it would make up for what she did to Natsumi.

Machine Planet

"We have no way to be sure, but I have to assume it saw us, Hanako said. "After all, it seems likely in the first mission to this world, this or a similar drone spotted us." Since all her her away team was watching the horizon for the "vanguard" robots that the drone was probably talking to, Hanako decided it was up to her to find a way into the machine's interior, preferably before robot aggressors arrived to repel their intrusion. In 30 seconds she found a crevice in the mangled metal by mapping with stealthy ultra wide band radar and laser beams. It was barely big enough to fit even the slender form of a Mindy armor into, but wider inside about 2 meters wide. She crawled into it head first, squirming and twisting and rotating her hips to the perfect angle and finally emerged into a dark passageway. "I think we have something. Unfortunately we are running into that doorway size problem again," she said, referring to the Gartagen mecha being unable to cram in last time. "On the other hand, our murderous robot friends are also too big to pass through the hole."

Bridge

Natsumi could see the scout drone seemed to circle the area where the team had landed, perhaps going back for an additional look. Charisma then zoomed the view out suddenly and some robots could be seen approaching on the surface.

Machine Planet

Junko fought back the urge to snort-giggle. Part of her could tell the optimism was intentionally laid thick, that was directly upbeat even by her standards. Still didn't mean it wasn't adorable. "No objections."

Junko followed the Shosho as she picked a direction. Kept an eye open up and wide because this would have been perfect for a sniper to show up. As Hanako wriggled in, she resisted the urge to just plant her foot on her and push. It was difficult, though. How often could you get to brag you kicked a Keretsui's ass?

She did kneel down and give her a shoulder shove through, given she was vulnerable while she tried to crawl in. "Ma'am, I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but next time volunteer me to go first in the dark, cramped ruins if you please."

Machine Planet

"No action against the scout-drone - understood," Noriko replied, staying on point and following the Princess. Despite being a grunt, she understood some reasons why Hanako would not want to act against it. The destruction or capture of the drone could - 'In the name of Chiharu, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!' the young Neko wanted to scream, eyes bulging as her commanding officer wormed through a narrow choke point first.

"I concur with Hasegawa-hei," the snowy haired Neko calmly replied. Squirming her own way through the narrow confines, she added, "As a pointwoman, I believe I am supposed to be shot at first, while you are supposed to die last Shôshô." So far, everything she knew from the books was being tossed straight out the airlock along with common sense, and Noriko was becoming more and more uncertain.

Machine Planet

Tan Ann Pan winced with anticipation as she watched her commanding officer navigate the way ahead. It was less for Junko's reason than for her own. Though she considered herself very trim, that was by Nepleslian standards, and she was still more than half again Hanako's size, and likely no better than half as supple or flexible. As soon as she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself getting stuck at the hips or shoulders.

"Perhaps we can make it a little bigger, without letting in all these mechanical chaps." After Noriko's legs cleared the gap, Tan set her rifle at her side, stepped forward and planted her feet. She reached with both arms to test whether her Mindy's strength augmentation could tear the metal wall enough to give her (and certainly, Saiga as well) another six or so inches of clearance, trying not to bite her tongue as she dug her armoured fingers in and applied pressure uncertainly, to the metal on either side.

Machine Planet

"Pan, I have a better idea. Stand back." Junko advised, gently trying to pull the medic away. When she was clear, she brought up her ASBR and lit the blade. "After all, we brought power tools."

Double checked that Hanako and Noriko were out of the way, first. Then she got to work cutting at the rubble. If she was careful, she could cut an opening just big enough to let a humanoid crawl in without issue. So long the Vanguards hadn't come up with a smaller attack platform in all that time, they'd be good.

Metal Planet Exterior

Behind his helmet, Jax was positively beaming. A small tear of joy formed in his eye.

"Thank you. I am honored." he replied simply to Freyja with an overly-exaggerated bow.

Now, to come up with a name for the scout drone...

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

Natsumi saw the change in the drones flight pattern, then Charisma zoom out the sensor view and reveal the approaching robots. The snowy haired executive officer frowned and bit her lower lip as she leaned closer to her control panel.

"Charisma, details on those robots?" she requested of the ship's AI, then keyed the channel for the landing party.

"Shosho, there are robots approaching your location, feeding sensor data to you now"

YSS Eucharis
Bridge

Ooh, something to do!

Takao spoke a soft 'Hai' and locked the probe, beginning a sensor track and pinning the readout on his console. The Minkan's hands relaxed over the console as he let his SPINE do the heavy lifting for him. Numbers poured through his mind: bearings, pitches, engine outputs, and weapon readiness identifiers. Takao looked over to Natsumi with a neutral smile.

"Main weapon systems ready, can close to effective range at any time."

In a change of tone, Takao looked to Mehitabel and spoke telepathically, "I'm worried about Natsumi-Taii, I hate to see her this way. I believe we should try and cheer her up once the operation concludes."

Machine Planet

Freyja's eyes weren't on the Shosho, so when she turned back to see Hanako disappearing into a crevice she had to stop herself from reprimanding her. Thankfully Junko was reacting already. She floated over to the crevice and turned around to cover them while they made the hole bigger.

Natsumi's sensor data came in and she turned in the direction of the approaching robots. "Maybe do that a little faster Junko-hei. I'll defend while everyone gets through. I suggest you move quickly." She said, readying her ABSR and Aetheric Pulse Cannon. Just in case the robots didn't immediately identify them as enemies she held her fire. At the first sign of hostility, she would lay down covering fire.

Machine Planet

Wazu wasn't quite ready to disembark, instead waiting for some space to open up before sending his scout drone in.

He then deployed his final scout drone, and sent the small camera-equipped device out towards the approaching robots. The intention was to move it in close and see if they attacked it.

Machine Planet

Hearing Jax mention her scanner, Masumi came out of the daze of following Tsuguka and listening to and carrying out Hanako's orders. She had made it through the gap in the rock before it had begun to get cut into and was now tilting her head in helmet as she began using the CIES on the LSP she carried dorsally. She made a quick sweep of the environment in front of herself, Hanako, and Tsuguka.

"Conducting wide range passive scan and remote scan. Saving active scans for Shôshô 's orders." She knew the active scans would alert some types of enemy scanners and didn't want to make that judgement call.

Machine Planet

Ice-cold killer robots on four legs, each the size of cars and covered in armor, converged on the rim of the huge gash in the metal planet, but they appeared to have trouble navigating the terrain of twisted metal so they didn't come down to where the away team was. One of them shot Wazu's scout drone without even stopping to look at it. On the surface the robots kind of milled around trying to figure out the best way down or to get a good shot.

From the Eucharis' view from above, the robots could be seen building several new structures using a glowing nanotechnology-like spray.

Machine Planet Interior

Hanako pulled a floating flashlight out of her butt-pack and activated it so she could get a better view of the corridor. "Everyone inside, but watch our six."

Metal Planet, Crator

Candon gripped his rifle tighter as the robots began closing in, his LSP showed their movement in vivid detail. The order to go underground was welcoming but the enclosing forces would catch them eventually.

"Suites to Eucharis," he radioed as he moved toward the opening, "if the conditions are right I'm requesting some artillery support on those incoming hostiles."

His LSP would begin scanning the enemies to assess shield strength, armaments, and armor density.

Machine Planet Interior

Masumi looked behind her and scanned Candon's visual feed for the ability to get down and get down fast. Maybe it didn't look like it would turn out well for him in her eyes for good reason or maybe she was getting overly concerned and worried for no reason at all. The thoughts didn't cross her mind, though, as she focused on the mission vitals.

"Suites-heisho, clear the surface!" She turned back towards Tsuguka, then looked to Hanako and chimed, "Waiting on those scans to compute... Is there electromagnetic interference that we're getting?"

She eyed the feed from Candon, still, though. Her eyes flickered to Tsuguka's on the other side of her HUD while she did. She wasn't about to get tunnel vision during a mission.

Machine Planet

As the machines descended outside, picking and clawing at the small gap, Noriko couldn't help but feel their eyes on her back.

"Taking point," the snowy Neko spoke, taking the lead down the corridor. Even though she was in far more danger from whatever was going to be lit by Hanako's light, it felt uneasy and uncomfortable having to trust the others to watch her six. After all, everything she had heard up to this point was unsatisfactory. But there was no point in it - their bodies would buy her the time necessary to respond if they failed properly monitor the rear or to keep them at bay. Keeping weapons front and at the ready, she advanced.

Eyes sharp, the Neko stayed frosty.

Machine Planet

"Oh, hey, I was right! Whaddya know?" Jax sighed as the vanguards tried and failed to hit them with their pot-shots. He waited patiently as the team filed into the hole, then followed suit. He landed lightly on the floor below, then retrieved his FAR and a floating flashlight.

"Go ahead and start recording this for later." He told the drone.

[Of course.] replied the bot in its smooth, feminine voice as it hovered above his right shoulder.

Machine Planet

Wazu would start marking targets, and sending the targeting data back to the Eucharis.

"Natsumi. We might need a hand down here. The anti-armor turrets should be sufficient to deal with these from the Eucharis' position."

The robots would be on them soon, and it wasn't like the Hierophant could fit into the small tunnel. He'd also have a hard time keeping pace with the Mindy's if he tried dismounting, so for the time being it seemed prudent to hunker down and wait for the robots to be dealt with... though he'd unsafe the weapon turret, and get ready to intercept any incoming fire.

Bronzi pushed the Heirophant as hard as he could. The machine was bulky, and he had not intended to come on this mission due to the machines size. However, conditions were never ideal and he would have to be flexible and do his best not to cry about it. The Heirophant moved past the crack and towards the larger entrance they had initially used.

"Ay we can take da back door like we did da last time. Unless ya got a betta idea smarty guy."

"Hey did Vishta send you any new messages? Rumor has it she's uh....lookin fer a husband...."