RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 28.2] Kuvexian Invasion - Breakwall (YE 40)

Destroyed Plumeria, 0.62 light-seconds away from the Eucharis

Today sucked. The Kuvexians warped in on Hanako's World, somewhere that although he didn't like to frequent too much due to how pale his skin was, was somewhere that was still quite a beautiful place, he had to admit. It was not a prime terror target in terms of logistics -- though if successful, it would crush the empire's morale.

Well, that was the Sharie in a system over, proverbially speaking. Currently, he had a threat sized around the size of a Chiaki he had to deal with.

This one literally.

The little ship had successfully strafed the Plumeria's turrets that he was on. Any simple analyst could tell that all weapons the away team had would just deflect off of the little ship's hull, and as a result, nothing stopped it as the thing smashed into the side of his ship. Hellishly incompetent. That was such a stupid error, although at least now their whole ship was filing out through the sides in various armors.

Luckily, he had the magical thing named technology on his side as he flew into the wreck of his ship and wired up MEGAMI's backup batteries to a few point defense turrets, linking the turret control to his helmet. He linked his helmet to the ship's failing comms console, sticking MEGAMI's backup battery into it as well, wiping off the hemosynth that spattered across the screen. Meanwhile, his Sylph pack's drones were racing out through the wrecks, analyzing what was still usable. His NSBs swarmed around him, a disposable shield of safety.

Then he broadcasted his SOS message from the relative safety of the wrecked bridge as he pointed his gun out towards where the enemies would come from.

"This...could be better," he told himself. "Record data for future use. This primitive turret control interface may be useful in the future."

Yoshida shivered as she was FINALLY fit for battle once again. Though she was not whole, she would be fully capable of combat for the time being. "No... no stimulants needed... here..." She grunted, and did a quick systems check, meaning, a few light stomps and stretching. Soon satisfied, she nodded, and hefted her Aether Gattling Rifle once more, ready to tear something up. The problem was her head had been a muddled mess throughout this, and she had throughly lost track of the combat situation. "Yoshida Kokoro here... ready for duty again." Her voice, somewhat strained, came over the comms.

"Requesting... status report, and... a deployment location." From what little she knew, the Eucharis was in trouble. At least, to an extent. And the away team was probably on an enemy ship by now. So... She knew not where to head off to right away- to the away team and provide support? Or here, and defend the eucharis from... whatever unknown threats it could be facing at the moment.

49% Of A Capital Ship

"Yoshida-Heisho, Chasan-Hei and Setsuya-Hei." Tsuguka-Heisho recontacted the members of wing B immediately after her comrade's beleaguered response. They needed all the manpower they could get, if this was going to work. "We have made entry into this capital ship hangar, but there are multiple enemy armours still at our location. Please teleport to my transponder location and help secure the area... Use my sensor feed to find an open space."

The noted sensor feed quite clearly showed Tsuguka's point of view, blocking an enemy laser blast with her angled shield. She then bayoneted the wielder in the stomach, until the form was but a mess of silent metal and spark-burned blood globules.

"The enemy is disorganised." Dispassionate. Still preoccupied looking for a more valuable officer in the crowd. "Expect close quarters combat."

Partially destroyed enemy ship

As Matsuvo exchanged fire with the enemy, he was able to bring his barrier shield systems up properly. Now he would be far more durable as the CFS style shielding began to warp space and protect him from incoming projectiles as he moved from cover to cover. Projectiles that would have hit him were sent around him instead by the shielding component. This surely was causing the enemy no end of frustration, and Matssuvo intended to capitalize on his advantage while it lasted.

He pulled two grenades off his suit, one scalar pulse and one EMP. By using the two different grenades, Matsuvo figured he'd have the best chance of frying the enemy power armors and leaving them to be dispatched at leisure. The pins were pulled and the grenades were thrown. They pinged off a wall behind the largest concentration of enemy power armors that didn't have a comrade too close to it.

The enemies scattered but it was too late, and the grenades went off. Wasting no time, Matsuvo whirled out from behind his cover and advanced, firing all the while at the disoriented and disabled power armors with the 6 remaining weapons at his disposal, 5 from the Kalamari manipulators, all targeting independently, and one handheld. Two enemy armors went down in bursts of Aetheric energy, sent spinning through the gravityless environment until they bumped against walls.

Once he reached close range, he switched his handheld Aether Beam Carbine to close combat mode, extending the blade and igniting it and did the same with Aether Beam Carbines and Aether Beam Saber Rifles mounted on the manipulators. Now he approached the enemy armors, and engaged them in close combat with all of his blades.

Eucharis

Yoshida nodded- and took flight from the Eucharis after navigating its halls to the nearest Airlock- one that was in the schematics, or a recent addition due to the troubles of battle she cared not. Though Tsugaka wished her to teleport inside, and yoshida also desired this, she still needed to close the distance, and that meant flying across what was now surely a no man's land. "One... step at a time... I guess." She gave herself a strained grin and took off like a shooting star- if she could help it she wouldn't attract any undue attention to herself untill she actually arrived just barely within range of the capitol ship, but she hoped that when she did, that it wouldn't be too late.

Space

She quickly regained her own rhythm as she rockeded in the void, randomly changing directions, seemingly kicking off of invisible walls, and other relitively nonsensical maneuvers all in the name of avoiding any long distance assaults. And so she sailed, and sailed further. Occasionally, even having to dodge things heading her way. But in the end- she made her entrance.

48.5% Enemy ship

Teleporting into the midst of heavy combat within Tsugaka's view, stabbing her plasma blade through the headplate of the nearest armor, and using it as a shield as she finally took fire herself- what little the armor didn't catch was fairly easily absorbed by the Barrier module shield system she was using. After only a moment of that fire, she rocketed forward and used that now defunct chunk of metal as a battering ram- but rather than use it as her only attack, followed up with an Aether gattlign rifle to the side of the head, and hooking its leg with her own to sling it at another enemy, where upon she took th etime to spool up her Gattling rifle, and fire back as she went through her usual acrobatic routine to avoid fire- but with the added bonus of zero gravity inside a starship meaning that there was an ever increasing amount of things to hide behind. Of course, when her pink stream of death poured from the end of her gun- it didn't offer quite that same level of protection to them as it did her.

YSS Eucharis
Bridge

Arria nodded to Hanako, before turning back towards her console. "Eucharis armor team, be advised. There are several small craft escaping your position. Shosho Ketsuiri suggests capturing some of them for analysis of the Kuvexian's computer systems. If you can find something on the ship you have boarded, that should also suffice as long as it is sufficiently intact." Her words were as ice cold and professional as a commander's. One of the Eucharis's photonic arrays punctuated her relayed suggestion by sending a bolt of deadly energy right through an unfortunate pilot's fighter, obliterating the whole craft instantly. Poor thing didn't see it coming.

"I'll send them a hail in a few seconds, Shosho - let's hope that their computer systems are compatible with ours, or it might be a bit difficult to make any sort of headway electronically." The hail was sent out on command - though, for the time being, Arria made sure the Kuvexians could only see her face; the data was also being streamed to Hanako's own mind. A brief look around showed that too many of the people on the bridge were looking nervous, and that would put the Kuvexians at a psychological advantage. Her neutral face would be helpful here - though if Hanako wanted to override the settings it would take a millionth of a second's thought to change.

While the hail still searched for a connecting signal, something new showed up on Smith-Hei's display. "It seems somebody's calling for help inside of a wreck. Their weapons appear to be functioning, but their MEGAMI is reading as K.I.A."

48.89% of a wessel
Setsuya received the order as she was reloading, the spent magazine from her LATR floating for a moment, as a full one was slapped in. Then grabbing the spent box magazine, and placing it into a empty magazine pouch.

Using her thrusters to reorient herself towards the ship she replied, "Hai, preparing for transport."

The young, but tall neko, calculated the best place to pop in near Tugs. Considering it was going to be close quarters, she switched her weapon to SMG mode. Hopefully despite the 10 round capacity, it would be adequate. If all else, she still had her aether katana.

>>>Transport Module Charged<<<

Finally finding where she wanted, Setsuya plotted her point of rematerialization.

>>>Transport In Progress<<<

With a quick command the world shifted to inside the hangar of the Kuvie capital ship....what was left anyways. Her rifle automatically coming up on instinct to track available targets.

[Destination Reached]
«Threat LVL ^30%»

"Itatski-Hei on station and ready to support."

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

A transmission came in from the Star Army's commander, Ketsurui Yui, and appeared on the main screen of the Eucharis. "Attention, First Expeditionary Fleet. This is Taisho Yui. At present the combined efforts of the 1XF and Sixth Fleet are unable to hold against the Kuvexian invasion force due to their numbers. In the interest in saving our remaining ships for a future battle under better circumstances, I am ordering you to make a tactical retreat as soon as feasible. Ships and assets that cannot move should be scuttled to prevent capture of our technology and personnel. If you are in imminent danger of being captured, do not let them take you alive. Escape or rely on your mind backups. We will re-group in the Virginia Star System. I am also giving the order for all civilians in the Ketsurui Military Sector to evacuate immediately until such time the Star Army can restore Yamatai's control of that area. I know this may be upsetting to you all as we have become accustomed to victory but we have a job to do so I need you all to stay focused and prevent further losses. We will have our revenge. Yui out."

Hanako felt sick to her stomach. She knew they were heavily outnumbered and the Kuvexians had a major advantage because of that, but she was emotionally unprepared for the painfulness that came from having to back down and abandon her adopted home planet, which she had represented in the Senate and which bore her name as its discoverer. Her face was all pink and her eyes were watery. All the attempts she was making to hack into the Kuvexian ships were discarded as she sat in her command chair feeling anything but in control of the situation which was falling apart.

"Helmsman, plot an FTL course to the Virginia Fleet Armory. Weapons, keep hammering at anything that is targeting us. Arria, please get the armor team onboard and also that survivor," Shosho Hanako ordered.

Hanako finally came back to the hailing frequency and started over again. "Bastards," she whispered under her breath.

(OOC: @Primitive Polygon and other armor team players please NPC the Kuvexian ship's defenders as needed )

YSS Eucharis
Bridge

Smith's waterfall of hair shimmered almost blindingly as she nodded coolly. "Noted, Shosho. Charisma, I may need assistance." Even as she spoke, the smol Caelisolan's hands deftly flew across her console, switching several of the smaller cannons in the Eucharis's arsenal to automated control. The Megami's machine mind was perfect for precisely leading shots for intercepting missiles and other ships, but a living gunner had an extra degree of unpredictability perfect for taking on other, actual people.

...Assuming the Kuvexians were people. Savages is what they are now. At least the simulations help.

"YSS Eucharis to armor team, we have been ordered to retreat when possible. Please return to the gunship A-S-A-P! Repeat, we are retreating!" Her voice filtered out to the Mindy-clad soldiers sharply, calling them to return to safety. "We are under orders to retreat and prevent the capturing of any technology or soldiers as possible. If you cannot escape, do not get captured."

Two of three. A shot glanced off the Plumeria's shield, making the Elysian waver briefly. Three shots of return fire streaked through the void in response, slamming into the aggressor's hull and rupturing several decks, a stunned soldier in an unarmored suit flailing wildly as they were forcibly (and rather uncomfortably) defenestrated. ...Two of three again. Damn.

Arria's attention turned to the one survivor Hanako pointed out. "Survivor of YSS Sensou, November-Golf X-Ray-One Five-Five-Two, do you read? We are retreating. If you can move, you are to rendezvous with the YSS Eucharis immediately. We are point six-four light seconds away from your position, thirty degrees below your stern and thirteen starboard. You have eighteen seconds to escape before the Sensou's wreckage will be annihilated."

Target locked on the YSS Senosu's twisted, bleeding hull, the Eucharis's fixed, aetheric weapon array was charging to scuttle her remains fully. Eighteen seconds was a long time... But so, so short.

YSS Sensou

That was certainly not an ideal situation. Emil performed some fast calculations in his head, silently cursing the fact that he was so far from his rescue ship. If they were within 100km the exit would be easy; a simple teleport would guarantee him escape.

There were also a lot of hostiles between here and there. An escape pod-no, that would be asking to get hit by some high-caliber weapon’s lock and he’d be dead. Maybe a diversion...if he trusted in a diversion, he could make it to the Eucharis in approximately 2 seconds, which still exposed him to a lot of fire.

Well, then, using a slightly...uncouth expression, time to eat shit.

He triggered the launch of the Soul Survivor Pod, whispering a “sorry” to his crew. He then launched as many escape pods as he could from the bridge, as a method to cover his escape.

Then he teleported, perfectly 100km away, straight towards the Eucharis. He flipped on his CFS to maximum speed for a few milliseconds, letting the inertia-defying system vault him out at maximum thrust. He changed to Turbo Aether Plasma, reconfiguring CFS to maximum shielding. It was a crude method of trying to keep oneself alive by moving at maximum possible speed in a Mindy while having maximum shielding, but on a straight path, it was probably the best shot he had at survival.

Kuvexian Warship, Unknown engineering room


A pair of aether beams sliced angrily through the paneling of the room as Candon held his three armor clad attackers off. Of the three attackers only two were really trying to fight in the cramped compartment while the third held back to line up a shot from his aether machine gun. All three of them danced an intricate ballet of death, aether blades shredding the once clean white walls.


How he'd jumped into the wrong room he had no idea but he was committed to the brawl for at least the next 30 seconds, lest he risk another overheating situation. In a fray of noncommittal attacks an opportunity presented itself and Candon surged in for the kill, but to no avail as the assailant ducked beneath the vicious stabbing blades as they pierced deep into the wall. Reacting by instinct Candon's sword found his hand as he batted off the second swordsman's opportunistic attack on the almost disarmed Yamataian but only to be tackled against the wall by the Kuvie he'd originally tried to stab.


Forget overheating, he wasn't going to die here.
The twin nuclear reactors whined harshly as they redlined, filling the noisy room with their own sound. Thunderous booming drowned out all other noise as the two graviton projection devices began pounding the attacker with wave after wave of compressed gravity in rapid succession, launching him off and launching him down the corridor. The skilled Kuvexian soldier performed a perfect mid-air recovery as Candon used his gravitic propulsion to get back on his feet.


Not a moment after he regained his footing his threat alarm chime, finally in time to actually help him in a close situation like this. He twisted his entire body toward the gunner behind him as he raised his arm, a gravitic barrier forming just in time to deflect a stream of Aether fire. A lucky save by any means but not so fortunate for the attacker who'd followed his mid-air recovery with a mad-dash, last-ditch charge towards Candon as the majority of the deflected stream of bolts found their way into his chest. Blood sprayed as the slain brawler fell dead.
Two to go.


A quick glance back toward the gunner and swordsman said it all. Even with faceless helmets their reactions were completely transparent, the gunner was naturally shocked to see the results of his friendly-fire in the swordsman wasn't going to risk moving any closer to the gunner's firing line now. It was the perfect moment, Candon threw his hand toward the gun sending wave of crushing gravity. The gunner pulled the trigger just as the barrel imploded on itself and a blinding pink flash engulfing the big gun a moment before a massive explosion erupted through the wall.


In a moment they were all adrift in space, hurting but alive. The fight was back on as the swordsman drew his last aether saber, seizing the moment as Candon was now floating without a weapon. He spread his arms aside casting a wide gravitational field around the newly-formed cluster of debris. The swordsman found himself being pelted by chunks of metal as he approached. Expertly slicing through the weaponized refuse and letting his shields take the hits, all the while Candon's anxiety rising as his sword was still not in his hand yet.


It was too late to wait for his Kokū Ken, the charging Kuvexian swung his saber to sever the torso of Spectre. With a bright flash of his teleporter the swordsman cleaved through only empty space, his enemy now behind him! Shouting with furious resolve to live Candon grabbed the helmet of his attacker and pulled it back to deliver the strongest gravitic punch he'd ever thrown directly into the throat of the skilled Kuvexian soldier, so ending the engagement as the gunner was nowhere in sight.

Arbitrated said:

Repeat, we are retreating!" Her voice filtered out to the Mindy-clad soldiers sharply, calling them to return to safety. "We are under orders to retreat and prevent the capturing of any technology or soldiers as possible. If you cannot escape, do not get captured."

Click to expand...

"Sounds about right," he muttered as he took a moment to view the battlefield. It was true, there was no winning this battle. They simply didn't have enough guns to match this level of attrition.
"Dammit!" he swore as he quickly ejected the fuel cells of his wing mounted reactors. Retreating was suddenly a great idea.


Residual heat from the emptied reactors began bleeding into Candon's back as he accelerated at full throttle back to the fleet, a pair of small nuclear explosions covering his retreat toward the nearest allied ship he could reach, broadcasting an SOS the whole way. They would need fire and medical personnel ready by the time he came crashing into their armor bay

Partially destroyed enemy ship

Matsuvo was engaged in close quarters combat with several enemies. Three enemy soldiers were engaging him with Aether Sabers, and two more were maneuvering around the small space, taking potshots at him. Normally the melee battle would have been over quickly, with the enemies which were disabled by his grenades earlier having been cut to shreds already. However, it appeared that either the Kuvexians were attempting to get out the same way that the Power Armor team had tried to come in, or they just really wanted the Yamataian Power Armor team dead.

In any case, five new enemies had shown up as he had finished dispatching the last of the disabled power armors and had begun to attack him. He was outnumbered and in a bad situation. He had to remedy this somehow, and the first step would have to be getting rid of a few of the enemies in melee with him.

Mat turned, disengaging his blades which were engaging one of the Kuvexian and threw them off balance. He then kicked off of that enemy and switched his left Kalamari mounted Aether Beam Saber Rifle to beam mode and the Aether/Scalar SMG back ( Which was also mounted on one of the left Kalamari arms ) to pulsed fire. He bathed the enemy that he had kicked off of in a quarter-second long burst of fire from the SMG and then followed up with a single beam from the Beam Saber Rifle to center mass, punching through the Kuvexian's chest and sending them drifting.

With his left side now free, Matsuvo began to engage the remaining two enemies who were in melee combat, attempting to keep them between himself and the two other Kuvexians. After a moment, another enemy fell under his blades and that left only one enemy in melee combat and two at short range.

However, at this point, his shields were nearly depleted, and it was time for him to disengage and fall back with the rest of the Power Armor team. Matsuvo began to jet away from the enemies at a relatively low speed, leaving behind two presents. Two more grenades, one scalar and one EMP.

As they went off, he flipped himself over both all three of his major axis of movement so that he was flying backward (facing towards the ceiling of the corridor) and used two of his Aether Beam Carbines in beam mode to land a shot on each of the enemy armors in one seamless motion before continuing the flip to return to the standard facing-downwards-and-flying-forwards style of flight.

Suddenly Mat was alerted to an energy signature building up behind him. His Mindy's computer system identified it as damaged Aether reactors in the enemy suits, and as he passed by the other members of the Power Armor team, he radioed to them "Time to go, people, it's about to get very hot over here!"

YSS Eucharis
Bridge

Majime's stop sign red brows pushed closer together as her pale cheeks seemed to swallow into her mouth, leaving sharp shadows beneath jawbones that were set under scolding and icy blue eyes. She lifted her chin during a sharp and loud intake of breath through her nose and her expression tightened before her pink, glossy lips pursed to speak.

"Charisma, put comms from the weapons operator on a two second delay and analyze them for integrity to the SAoY Regulations. Thank you, MEGAMI." Ikigai Majime said tersely.

As her words had echoed in the manic bridge atmosphere, the XO stepped over to the weapons operator's station. She coughed in her own throat and held in her breath before letting out her words.

"Santoô Hei Smith, the MEGAMI knows the Regulations, as well as the crimes of the Star Army of Yamatai. Tomorrow you will, too, because tonight your 24 YE old Caelisolan brain will retain what it did not in basic, specifically that it is a crime to "un away from the enemy or act in a cowardly manner.'" Majime had sent an info packet to Arria's console on such things. "Proceed with your duties until your CO has issued Readiness Condition Three. You no longer need to hail the enemy fleet, I will take over that process. That means now, ordnance needs you," her voice snapped as she looked from Smith to her console, then away from the volumetric display and to where she was walking.

"Helm, I want you to continue on, as the Shôshô ordered. Very fine maneuvering, so far!" The XO said before she turned her body back to her own seat, stepped to it, and put her hand on the top of her console, before looking to Hanako.

"Hailing the enemy fleet, now, Captain. I am determining where the answer is coming from as best I can with Charisma's help while leaving an hole for you to work with in their incoming, you'll see it..." She looked to a volumetric screen on the bridge as a new composited mapping of the battlefield arrayed itself and began moving and zooming in. When Majime had secured a spot, not where the signal was coming from, but of the enemy ship with her team inside, Majime redirected her face's attention to a nearby screen and that one's mapping area was of the general battlefield. This one was where Majime had asked the ship to display where the signal was found to be coming from, at least once she had been able to speak with someone of importance.

Charisma spoke in the bridge, "I have a frequency for you to comm out on, but nothing is being sent to us, yet."

"This is the First Officer, Ikigai Majime-taii, of the Star Army of Yamatai gunship, the YSS Eucharis," Majime said in Nepleslian with an overly grandiose tone over comms with a sharp facial expression that did not match her voice. Speaking to the leader of an enemy fleet wasn't something done often on the battlefield, but it was certainly something taught in War College. "And I am not asking, but telling you that it is not I that will be speaking to your leader, but a member of your enemy's most prestigious and only ruling Clan. She is an actual Princess, though she is best known for her military career as a a Rear Admiral, or Shôshô, in our language and is Captain of this warship, the YSS Eucharis. I demand to speak to someone of no lesser prestige and rank than this internationally recognized woman!"

Majime looked to her bridge and seeing no to few eyes on her, cast an apologetic glance to Hanako, a rare countenance for her.

"I am sure you understand," she said to Hanako's mind as she spoke to her encrypted channel. Her expression changed to a soft, comfortable smile for a quick instant before she added, "I won't always put on so many airs around you, Shôshô."

The cold blue eyes of the XO shifted and she focused on her mind's eye, to see if the comms' signal had become a two-way street rather than the one-way one it had been while she spoke. Her gaze was set, focused both on the maps and Hanako's place as captain on the bridge in her peripherals.

DETERIORATING SHIP

Setsuya had been firing on fleeing enemies, covering her teammates before the order to retreat came over the comms. As the others prepared to exfil, she volunteered to be the last man out. Covering the others while user her LATR in SMG mode to suppress enemies. Her transporter was now rigged to trigger as soon as the last person was out, unless manually triggered sooner.


YSS-EUCHARIS

"Hai ma'am, adjusting course now.", Kai acknowledged as his hands quickly moved across the controls, adjusting speed and direction.

The minkan planned to take the ship in an arc around the hulk they had been using for cover, to allow the armor teams enough time to teleport aboard. He began to edge the ship out from behind as the Eucharis picked up speed. He wished he could give them more time, but they had orders.

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

Hanako rushed to wipe her eyes with her sleeves and then fanned her face with her hands to try to dry her eyes. She checked her appearance in a volumetric mirror quickly before connecting to the Kuvexians on the line Majime had opened. "This is senator Hanako, I represent the star system you have illegally invaded."

"Your claim to this star system is not recognized, and cannot be unless you join the Kuvexian Kingdom, which I can arrange...for a price. Otherwise I have a deed to this Star System certified by the Royal Bank of Kuvexia. Additionally I am charging you a renter's fee for occupying it...and you will be billed for the ships you destroyed today, their crews killed, and the cost of salvaging the wreckage. I have here a public accountant that..."

While the enemy leader droned on about money, Hanako silently started connecting to the Kuvexian ship's computer over the open communication line.

Rapidly Exploding Enemy Ship

After Matsuvo had passed by the bulk of the Eucharis' power armor team, a deadly chain of events began to unfold within the depths of the ship. The exploding Aether reactors from the enemy power armors had set off a chain reaction with other nearby combustibles and power sources, all of which formed a matrix of vein-like structures leading to the main reactor of the enemy vessel.

Explosions began to follow in his wake, and the angry, roiling maw of hot Aether and explosions quickly approached the majority of the Power Armor team. It was clear that if they didn't follow suit, they'd end up cooked in their armors. Suddenly he flashed past one of the other relative newcomers to the Eucharis, Setsuya was her name if he remembered correctly. A Santô Hei. What was she doing? Hadn't she heard the instructions to pull back?

He turned around, wasting precious time to make it back to the other soldier. "Setsuya Hei, what are you doing? We've been instructed to fall back and this ship is about to become a graveyard. Follow me if you don't want to get boiled alive in your Mindy!" That was all the time he had to spare now, as he could no longer keep track of any of his teammates.

Matsuvo's sole focus was now navigating the complex wreckage at high speed, all while the deadly Aether explosions nipped at his heels. He whirled in complex aerobatic patterns, evading wreckage pieces, whirling around corners, to find he was approaching...
A dead end. He hadn't been checking his sensor map during the rush to escape. It was too late to turn around now, his only option was to blast through. His weapons blazed and spat angry bolts of Aether, heating and then melting the hull plating just enough. When he was just about to impact, he switched his handheld weapon to sword mode and cut through the heated armor, emerging on the other side in a fountain of molten metal.

Hopefully, Matusvo thought, Everyone else got out too. As he thought this, explosions poured out the hole he had made, and the ship began to buckle and distort. His teleportation module was charged, and he winked out of existence, and then back into it by the Eucharis, just in time to see the enemy ship go up in a great blaze of Aether.

Mid-Space

Emil looked back at what his sensors registered as a "dangerous heat and radiation level." Behind him, a fireball of Aether was blazing, with an unidentifiable figure flying out. That soldier wasn't in the worst position, being covered by Emil's deployed swarm of escape pods, the proverbial wool over the enemy's eyes serving both of them quite well.

Emil relayed to the bridge, requesting access onboard the Eucharis. That name...a ship fitting of something heroic. He knew the flaws of Hanako, the propaganda spread about her always having a little truth in the mountain of lies. Just another person, she was. Just another person in a sea of people where it's sink or swim.

Enemy ship/Space/Eucharis

"Retreat?" The black cat thought to herself in wonder, the word echoing in her mind. The star army hadn't retreated from a system for as long as she'd been alive- and she was quite cetain herself that most battles she had participated in ended in victory. But an outright retreat... She gritted her teeth, and gripped her weapon tighter before loosening it once again. There wasn't enough heroism in the galaxy for one neko in power armor to take on a whole fleet alone. She only hesitated a few, short moments before taking off, rocketing off- in the process, braining a kuvexian that had been as in her way as it got. There wasn't anything she could do now- so she left, leaving a slightly less impressive, and short trail of destruction as she took the shortest, most direct path out of the unstable, soon to explode wreck, and performed her typical, but unusual acrobatic dance across the stars on her way back to the eucharis.

YSS Eucharis
Bridge

Arria grimaced as the old neko went around shutting off her communications. Oh sure, someone might say that it wasn't truly disabled, but instead a two-second delay. Sure, they'd be right - at a time like this, a two second delay is actually very much worse than no communication at all. Arria's voice in someone's ear helps her think for them, which means they can focus on staying alive and taking enemies down as updated orders come in. Two seconds in a firefight of any kind is such an obscenely long time that the soldiers are better off improvising...


So she grimaced, and shut up. The Eucharis's weapons thrummed furiously through the scarred starscape, bombarding the enemy fleet relentlessly - making some breathing room so the various friendly power armors making for the Eucharis could get into her open armor bay. And naturally, she was listening to me for that. Maybe she should be more concerned on the battle itself instead of her personal campaign? The wars are probably older than she is, anyways!

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

"If you would excuse me for just a moment," Hanako said, and put the alien asshole on hold just as his mouth started to open to object, cutting him off, and leaving the stars and tactical overlay on the main screen, showing Star Army forces making an organized effort to escape. "I used to be a communications officer and I know that communication through shields isn't something easy to do. They have to have a 'window' or some sort of frequency trick to allow the signal to pass. I have analyzed the frequencies used and I was able to come up with a pattern using Charisma's matching algorithms. And I am sending it to Smith-Hei's panel, and I am going to have Cherry install a modulator immediately to allow us to 'tune' our aether weapons to match. When we come out from behind this hulk I want you to target the enemy command ship's power shield systems, power generation systems, and propulsion in that order. When the enemy shields fail, the armor team will immediately board the ship's bridge using teleporters and secure the ship. At that point we can try to pass for Kuvexians and foil the invasion until they figure us out. Everyone got it?"