RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission 27: The Crimson Levy

Kuvexian Undersea Base

To Aratani, one thing was clear. They were about to be found out by the Kuvexian enemy.

Her own photonic array had activated to stealth herself, but the Golem's as the ID-SOL was deep in cyperspace was not. Even if they didn't see the Mindy, they would see him and be found out as a unit. She couldn't imagine the extensive outcome of such now, not without the use of the Nepleslian time bending apparatus. The many layers in which it would be damaging to have the brightly uniformed Kuvexian rub their eyes and identify them would come second nature to a pessimist like Yaeko back on the stolen ship, but Aratani's forte had always been more armor adjacent. Rather than mull on her deficits, though, Aratani's mind did go to armors.

"Elysian!" Aratani whispered sharply into comms. She wasn't simply saying Zelphon's species, though. "Your Elysian Mindy! Spread your stealthed wings, Zelphon. Hide Captain Sanders behind them!" Aratani was looking at the wings of her cadet comrade but with renewed vigor as her hands went wide, demonstrating what she needed of the winged woman. One eye and her gun still on the Kuvexian cocking her head in their direction.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

Ah crap, they had been spotted. Though guns were not blazing so it would seem they had not confirmed them to be hostile. Seeing through her zoomed optics she could tell this was a woman. This is one of the few rare times she wished Alastair was there to do something stupid like woo the guard to be on his side. She then let that thought go and decided if she should be the first to start blasting. As she was about to lift her weapon, she got a ping from Aratani.

Zelphon rolled her eyes slightly at the thought of using her wings to hide them. Then her eyes widen that this was in fact a wonderful idea. An idea that only one of her abilities could do. She would be the one in this very moment to save the day. She instantly had her wings stealth as she moved into position. She kept her eyes on the target downrange to see if she would just forget she had seen anything. She snugged up close to them both. "Get comfortable, my wings are only so big," she said over comms to them both.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

The suspicious Kuvexian crewman took a few plodding steps down the corridor toward the Yamataians. Leading with her flat snout, the alien woman's aquamarine face tilted as some predatory critter would while trying to understand a view its mind couldn't comprehend. Her body followed behind her head, more like a slug than a snake, until she stopped. She spent a few more moments gazing directly at Aratani, Zelphon, and William with her glassy black Kuvexian eyes and then turned around to walk back in the direction of her squad gathered in the atrium.

Zelphon's Elysian-pattern Mindy may have been bigger and more cumbersome than any Nekovalkyrja. Very much not as suited to close quarters operations or clandestine sneaking as most of her Yamataian-born counterparts were in the Star Army were, which very likely was part of why the fleets so much preferred to use Ningyo Heiki personnel for combat operations over the conquered angelic race. But here, the size of Zelphon's wings — and the photonics array that, by necessity, had to cover every extra square inch of mass that protected those wings — was only a boon.

For only an instant had the Kuvexian seen two Star Army power armors and one ID-SOL in his Golem standing there. But the Elysian's wings, acting as a big screen that projected the ochre walls and brassy door that should normally appear there unblemished, obscured the Yamataian rescue team from sight with the help of her AIES' adaptive visual processing systems. Aratani, too, wrapped up in volumetric camouflage that bent light around her Mindy, helped conceal William as he worked on opening the door.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

William finally broke through the encryption, finding a simple question. 'Change status? Yes? No?' He was about to hit yes when he heard shuffling behind him. The cadets were hiding him from view. 'Very clever.' He thought as he waited. Once the Kuvexian had finally moved away, he let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Good job you two. Opening the door now." He replied telepathically.

Selecting yes, the Captain unplugged from the panel and slid his helmet back into place. "Let's move," he ordered, moving through the door as soon as it slid wide enough for him to pass through.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

With the Kuvexians off their trail for now, William and the two cadets under his charge slipped through and into another room. The door they'd come through closed automatically behind them, shielding them from view without the need for volumetric trickery.

Now on the other side, they were confronted with a chamber that was decorated much in the same way as the atrium and hallway they'd come from except this one was lined with alcoves that contained twelve sets of diving equipment and a massive pressure-locked hatch. The floor here was a brass grate that shined a polished golden color on its top edges even as verdigris gunk tarnished the nooks-and-crannies between its one inch grid pattern. There were a few tool lockers with glass panels that showed off the equipment inside, too, between and among the drysuit storage cubbies. Clearly, this place was some kind of maintenance or escape module the Kuvexians used to access the outside.

There wasn't much use in staying there, however. And of the two paths to the left and right side of the diving lock, only one of them led toward Andres' signal. To the left, the sounds of a few marching power armors grew further away, likely more enemy investigators who'd scrambled in response to the Yamataians' flashbang entrance.

The Star Army rescue squad had little choice but to proceed in that rightward direction lest they aimed to take the really long way around to save their lost comrade. So through the next door they went, William still in the lead, and down another corridor. This one lay on the facility's exterior and was lined with windows all the way between the two rooms it connected. Outside, they could see beautiful coral growths on the sea floor and, if they paid attention enough using the magnification settings on their power armor optics, all of the dazzling tropical sea life that Hanako's World was known for — silvery and colorful fish alike, eels, crustaceans, and bioluminescent anemone — still somehow spared any pollution or destruction at the hands of Kuvexian exploitation.

It wouldn't take long for them to approach the next chamber. There was where Andres' signal was located, as well as where all of those Kuvexians had marched out of to investigate their arrival. Aratani, Zelphon, and William could all see that its doors stood open, and doubly that the enemy search party hadn't returned. And they could hear mellow jabbering between what each Mindy's audio sensors recognized as to distinct voices, both speaking in the ugly Kuvexian tongue. No power signatures were detected within the room ahead, so the occupants were most likely unarmored crew. Probably seabase technicians more than fighting mercenaries.

Zelphon, William, and Aratani remained undetected for now. Access controls like the one William had used minutes before sat on the wall outside the open door, and they could see clear though their destination to another open threshold (so the third that they first spotted enemy soldiers come through likely was too).

Andres was so close, only steps away. At least the multitude of Kuvexians who'd been with him were gone for now.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

William moved quietly along the corridors. Much quieter than his large frame should be able too. The years of training as both a samurai and a marine were paying dividends. As they reached the room with the missing cadet, he heard the Kuvexians inside. Holding a finger to his lips he spoke into their minds again.

"Quietly. Let's not blow our cover quite yet. Melee weapons. You two use your camo and silence them." He drew his two hand cannons. "I'll hold out here incase we have any unexpected company. Now move," he ordered taking up a position to watch for anyone else coming up the corridor.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

Even with Andres so close, Aratani didn't like the idea of them all entering the room and having no means of escape. She wondered if the pressurized hatch in the other room could be used by the small team to leave the undersea base if teleporters didn't work. Her mind toggled with the controls as if she were there before William gave his order and when he did, something else fell into place.

"Captain, you could hack this terminal for the doors, right?" Aratani asked, thinking of how many entry points there were in Andres' holding room and how beneficial it would be if that were to change.

She let her question be blown on the wind, though, as she didn't follow up with the ID-SOL's response. Instead she tiptoed as gently as her Mindy would allow and followed the noises of those jabbering near Andres. The pair of Kuvexians were going over some minutiae that would soon pale in significance to the Yamatains arrival, no doubt. Her aether beam saber rifle swung in her hand like a knife in her palm before the pistol grip settled, albeit in a backwards hold. Flickers of hard light shimmered and stabilized over her other hand's knuckles and a blade had formed over her armor as if formed by a flurry of magic. She stretched her fingers below the newly formed knife and with them held onto the sights of the backwards-facing rifle.

When she came upon from behind the technicians, she pounded the butt of her rifle towards the back of the seated crewman's head. After contact, she let go of her temporarily two-handed rifle. In a quick motion, she brought the solid volumetric knuckle knife from the rifle and towards the other standing Kuvexian's neck. In the moment she noticed his splotchy green patches of color over his blue skin and the way some of his white hair fell down over his collarbones, just below where she was cutting. She knew he would die, but she also knew so many had already died and so didn't act with hesitation or remorse. She just hoped he did so that she could turn her attention to Andres and finally rescue their abducted classmate.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

Zelphon tagged along with the team. She made a point to look over her shoulder as they moved through the different rooms. They were safe for now but that could change at a moments notice. She was curious once they got to the poisoner how they would escape. She had heard from Miko what happens when one transports holding a body not protected by armor. Lets just say she was not in the mood for jelly today.

Zel had pulled her knife and was ready to spring into action and stabby stab. However, Aratani moved quickly and before she took a few steps forward the killing was over. She let out a sigh of relief once it was all over. While she knew what had to be done, she was also glad not to get blood on her hands. She took no pleasure in killing from the shadows even if this was the most effective way. She sheathed her blade and went to check on their classmate. She had her scanners out checking for something that would indicate the place was bugged with an alarm.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

Aratani's targets may well have felt something was amiss in their final moments, only hearing the stealthy shuffling of the Nekovalkyrja's Mindy 4 and thinking twice of its unfamiliar sound when she ended them with killer precision. Thick blue blood oozed out and across the console from the seated Kuvexian's face after his body went limp and slumped forward in response to Aratani's blow, flowing across the dimly-lit buttons and toggles on its interface panel before dripping onto the floor beside him. The second Kuvexian who'd died to the Nekovalkyrja's hard light knife kill was carried down and laid onto the deck more gently by Aratani before she released him. Even though his alien eyes were a solid deep, dark blue and looked nearly as black as the watery abyss around them, the Academy cadet could nonetheless tell when the spark of life disappeared from his gaze to leave it cold and vacant.

Her grim work now done, Aratani was free to examine the room with Zelphon and search for their lost classmate. It appeared to be the control room of this particular facility. There was a central square of interface consoles set in a few feet away from the walls, which were themselves lined with various screens and gauges. And smack in the middle of the room was a boxy table with flat brass sides that matched this particular lair's now-familiar motifs. Normally, it looked like something a holographic map and readouts could be projected above. But its glossy black glasslike surface, scored with scratches and scuffs from years of heavy use, currently sat dim and unused for its intended purpose.

At this moment Andres' Mindy 4 lay across it. He looked completely unrestrained yet remained unmoving, perhaps sedated or knocked out. Several thick cable wires extended from analog controls along the rim of the table and were connected to i/o ports at the Yamataian suit's neck and wrist, which Aratani and Zelphon would know were standard on all power armors of its type. Maybe the Kuvexians were using their computers to somehow keep Andres locked inside his own armor.

Zelphon's visual and sensors sweep for alarm triggers wasn't very fruitful. This was a military facility, so it probably definitely had some sort of alarm. There were a couple of CCTV cameras in opposite corners of the room, and the Star Army rescue team had seen a few more like them as they traversed the station. This room was where those security feeds likely ended up, though, and the crew here had been too distracted to monitor them with enough attention to notice the two Mindys and William's Golem. Beyond that, nothing stood out. The Yamataians' arrival a few minutes prior had already alerted this sea station's personnel to search it, so it seemed pretty unlikely that another alarm would call them back now.

Zelphon and Aratani could see clear down the hallway to the Atrium from their current position. And if the Kuvexians still milling about there decided to look their way, they'd probably be able to see the two Star Army soldiers (and William once he followed them in). Still in the hall where their party had infiltrated from, the Nepleslian captain could tell no one was coming up behind him, but could see at least two Kuvexian power armors approach the control room's third doorway far opposite his.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

Once Aratani had silenced the two Kuvexians inside the room, William rushed in and smacked his hand on the controls, sealing them all inside. "Good work, Aratani. Zelphon, check Andres and get him prepped for evac. Aratani, check the room for any intel we can bring back." He ordered, drawing his sword. Using the heat modification on the sword, he ran the blade over the seem, welding the door shut. "In the meantime, I think I want to poke around in their systems again. See if there is anything I can break."

Removing his helmet once more, he moved to a nearby console and plugged the cord in behind his ear. His surroundings faded slightly as he immersed himself in the Kuvexian's systems. Immediately, he began searching for any information that was pulled from Andres's suit. He needed to make sure there was nothing usable left for the Kuvies.

With that done, the ID-SOL dived deeper. He looked for something that would turn this whole underwater base into an underwater tomb. He just needed to find...

With a grin, William began working on cycling all the internal airlocks to open and locking them there. Once that was done, he attempted to set all external airlocks to open as well after they teleported out. With any luck, the whole place truly would be underwater.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

Zelphon heard the command to get Andres ready for evac. "Copy, I shall secure them." She called to him in reply. Zelphon wasted no time to give a quick look around before moving towards Andres. She took her time to check vitals. It would not be out of the question that the Kuvexians might rig something bad to happen should Andres be disconnected. She was most curious why they keep them inside the armor. Were they trying to gain more details and used the armor as a means to further dig. If she could find no reason not too, she'd disconnect the cables.

"Getting them ready, going to take a few moments for me to complete this task." She called out to the team.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

Aratani's inner monologue was pure bliss as she thought how much she would love to follow William's orders. Tinkering with some crazy Kuvexian technology hooked up to one of her own Empire's armors was something a much younger Koizumi Aratani could only dream of doing. Her fingers splayed excitedly as she started accessing her armor's scanners. Then her hands fell as she saw Zelphon simply starting to unplug Andres' armor.

"You're so boring, Zelphon," Aratani said under her breath, but there wasn't much weight to the accusation.

Spirits dashed, Aratani tried to tell herself it was for the best. Hadn't she been worried she was leaning too much on her intrinsic interests instead of those that normally drew white panels? Huffing a bit, she went to the control center, stepping and leaning over her past prey to do so, and began looking around for anything that they could take back to their Kirie pilot turned captain on the YSS Asamoya.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

Within the Kuvexian systems' cyberspace, William could find few traces of important information on Andres' captured Mindy 4. After all, the Interstellar Kingdom's war against Yamatai had lasted for five full years, during which time the enemy's intelligence apparatus had collected a wealth of information on the Star Army's ubiquitous power armor. Not to mention the fact that this Duchy of Zzmyrneh here on Hanako's World was but a single remnant of King Kalapom's once great Kuvexian empire. So there was little value for these mercenaries who'd captured Andres to actually gather much data from his Mindy, much less send any information along to Quallox Vaibal or other Kuvexian corporations for development of future weapon systems that they could ill afford to purchase.

Plus, William's plan was to make this undersea base a watery grave for any Kuvexian inside it, so whatever intel he may have missed would be destroyed and lost should he be successful in his endeavor to make the sea rush in to claim it.

To that end, his cyberspace avatar continued onward through the base's computer systems. Scouring the command center storage drives for captured Mindy information had been quick and easy, but his path forward from there would take more time as he navigated different branching sub-systems and the bridged connections required to accomplish his goal. Unlike the first door he'd hacked earlier during the team's close call with the Kuvexian crewman, there was a strange lack of intruder countermeasure programs impeding his work now.

But he didn't have much time to consider that. Only one of the three doors leading into the command center had been closed, welded shut by William when he slipped in. The path to the atrium where they'd first teleported in was still wide open, as was the door directly across from where the Star Army rescue team had entered and ambushed the Kuvexians left behind while their comrades searched.

In that threshold now stood the golden form of a Kuvexian power armor with another in shadow behind it, the edge of its silhouette glittering around its darkened bulk.

Zelphon hadn't yet had much time to check over Andres encased in his Mindy 4, nor had Aratani been able to see any hardware worth ripping out for later examination. Both Aratani and William had their backs turned to the control room's interior and encroaching enemy soldiers, but the Elysian cadet almost immediately noticed them. Leaning over Andres' armor laid supine on that table, Zelphon was soon greeted by the leading Kuvexian soldier aiming the muzzle of his rifle up and at her face from only a half dozen feet away.

"Connntact!" the Kuvexian soldier bellowed over his right shoulder to his comrade beside him, his thick Kuvexian accent drawing out the middle consonants in that sluggish, ugly way they talked. His eyes kept glued to Zelphon while he spoke, though, and his blue skinned head with a mauve tuft of hair on top quickly shot back forward and toward the Elysian girl. "Bonus today's gonna be beeg!"

Immediately, even before he could fire off a shot, the clatter of heavy footfalls atop the base's brass grate flooring could be heard echoing down upon the command center from all directions. There was no more time to strategize or make plans or gather intel. William, Aratani, and Zelphon had to either run or fight.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

"This isn't good!" Aratani shouted to her comrades as she hurtled over the fallen Kuvexians. "We're going to have to take Andres back now! You got him, Zelphy?"

Her trajectory was plainly to William, lost in cyberspace as he was and unable to teleport even if he were in the real world due to his Golem's limitations. The only silver lining was that she would now get to feel what it was like to travel through the folds of teleported space with a Nepleslian armor. But that was a small joy compared to the imminent danger they faced. She wasn't happy about it, but she readied her teleporter to carry the extra load of the ID-SOL as she pulled on the Nepleslian's helmet. With no time to adjust the chinstraps, she gripped onto the back of the armor's neck to keep it in place- interestingly in the same area she had been eyeing when in the Asamoya's transfer chamber.

"You got this!?" Aratani called to Zelphon with a lilting tone of a nervous cheerleader. She able to get a potshot off straight below the mauve tuft of hair on that bellowing Kuvexian with her free hand as it clutched her aether beam saber rifle against her hip. In the next instant, she and Captain Sanders were still under the sea, just no longer in the hostile aquatic base.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

So close. He was so damn close...

William had been working his way through cyberspace, next thing he knew there was a jolt as the plug was pulled mid dive. His vision went black and he had an immediate ear splitting headache. He had just enough time to register his helmet getting slammed onto his head and sealed into place before the world shifted.

There was a brief moment of weightlessness before the water displaced by the teleport slammed into him. His already throbbing head felt like he had been smacked with a tank, dropped from orbit right onto his head...

The captain faded in and out of consciousness, he wasnt sure exactly how long for. When he started to come to, all he could see was Aratani. "W...what happened?" He finally asked, a slight slur to his words. "Where's Zelphon...? What about Andres!?" He asked, his words coming faster and with greater urgency as his mind started to reboot itself.

Kuvexian Undersea Base

"I'm coming," Zelphon called out over comms as her teleport activated.

In the moments leading up to the teleport, Zelphon looked towards the Kuvexian staring down the barrel of her demise. She overheard Aratani call out to the team which snapped her back to her senses. She was already leaning over Andres which made the next step simple. Her teleporter fired up and hoped all the numbers were put in right for this to work. She had hoped to not need to be in a rush when doing this type of evac but now was not the time to worry about the details. For without a doubt they were going to get cut down should they stay behind.

Her senses came back into being as the teleport faded away from around her. She blinked a few times, seeing she was no longer on the enemy ship.

YSS Asamoya

With an airy rush of bubbles, the Star Army rescue team materialized into the sea some 83 kilometers away from the Kuvexian installation they'd just escaped from. This predetermined rendezvous point was only about 15 meters beneath the surface. By now it was nighttime in the corner of Hanako's World where they had ended up, with the waning daylight that once cast magnificent sunset oranges and pinks over the seafloor reef they'd seen through the undersea base's big windows giving way to a clean, sublime moonglow that sparkled down through the waves above them.

The ocean was calm here, and softly jostled the power armor clad squad while they waited to be picked up. Within their sealed military grade combat suits, William, Aratani, and Zelphon couldn't feel any of the crushing water pressure around them — still substantial to unprotected divers at this depth — and were doubly free from the harassment any Kuvexian soldier could levy against them for the time being. They rocked weightless in the water for a time (not more than two or three minutes) before the Asamoya's silvery-white hull, a darkened shadow that came all at once toward them from obscurity in the dark evening sea, homed in on their signal and swept them to safety.

Boss, Aiko's trusted MEGAMI transplanted from the Kaiyō II, had taken the helm's controls and drifted the Asamoya's trajectory to scoop up Andres and his rescuers in one graceful maneuver. At over 200 meters long, the Himiko-class Light Cruiser barreled down upon the armor team from where it'd been waiting submerged and then shifted sideways, maintaining its forward vector toward the little grouping of Star Army soldiers so that they'd end up passing gently through the ship's port side armor bay.

It may have been a jarring time for Aratani, Zelphon, and William to see the gargantuan bulk of a starship set upon them in the tranquil abyss so rapidly. Or perhaps it wasn't a surprise at all to any of them. But whatever the case, the three found themselves rolling or sliding rump-first onto the Asamoya's glossy black deck with their retrieved cadet in tow as salty ocean water sloughed off the surface of their armors and onto the floor in wet strokes trailing behind them. Brightly lit, the ship's familiar walls — pristine save for the sooty weapons scoring inflicted earlier when the Kuvexians attacked — welcomed the armor team home to safety in a blink as quick as they'd seen when teleporting out of the enemy's underwater bunker.

Aiko was standing there waiting, having entrusted the bridge to Boss and the cadets on duty there, her arms crossed in anticipation. Beside the princess were another two Nekovalkyrja cadets, one of whom was the sole medical student among those midshipmen in her class. Shoi Kohosei Dr. Asana Kondo along with the other girl immediately, scurried over to Andres first while Aiko strode up slowly behind the pair of first responders and peered down inquisitively, clearly glad their ordeal was almost over.

"Take us further below," the princess called out aloud, letting Boss and those on the bridge know to send the ship back into hiding before it could be found again. Everyone could feel the Asamoya's momentum shift while Asana and the other Neko were already hard at work connecting medical diagnostic devices to Andres' armor while attempting to open it up. "Are you three alright? Your return suggests everything went smoothly."

Of course, it had not all went smoothly, but from her place commanding the Asamoya the princess didn't know that. Before William, Aratani, or Zelphon could answer and give their initial report or even a weary chuckle about their troubles against the Kuvexians, the cadet doctor began mumbling something with dread in her voice. Asana seemed to be frantically fumbling around Andres' armor in search of its quick release.

"Chusa!" Asana prompted, her tanned brow crinkled beneath the pale mauve bangs that hung in front of her face as she leaned over Andres.

"Report, shoi," Aiko said, turning to regard the commotion. She could only assume the worst now — that the kidnapped cadet had died — but did not betray any concern yet. It was a captain's duty to remain stoic in the face of all tragedy.

"Sarna-kohosei," Asana said, having slowed her hands and found the helmet release on the Mindy 4 laying on the deck beneath her. "He isn't here!"

With that, the doctor toggled Andres' armor to open its helmet. The faceplate hinged open to reveal an empty hemosynthetic flesh lined skull, filled up about an inch with some amount of seawater that had managed to leak inside.

Aiko looked down her nose at the hollow shell Zelphon, Aratani, and William had come back with. She didn't say a word, staring unmoved at what should have been their prize. And then she stepped off toward the armor bay's exit, not looking back for a moment as she thought about the myriad of possibilities that now confronted her and the ship she was only supposed to command for a simple taxi mission.

"Ketsurui-chusa, we need you on the bridge," came a concerned cadet's voice over the ship's intercom, unaware that Aiko was already en route. "There's a real weird transmission going out."