RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission 28: Akuma

Where the fleshy exterior was peeled away, the layers of diamond-coated plating and sheet metal folded away with it. The thick Neutronium below required another pass by the Nepleslian weapon. When the HEAT lance again struck the inner plating, bright pink light that was more saturated than the pale hull shone through in pricks, then all over when his work was complete.

The armor team could begin to see the inside of the Mishhuvurthyar ship as William opened it up. The only movement was the quick dripping of a brown liquid from the ceiling. The barnacle encrusted floor led out to become a bridge and a three way junction over a brackish pool. They could see down one of the hallways which was clear save for something was hanging from the ceiling.

The skin William had cut through had begun to flap with the release of air that came out in a quick hiss at first, then a breathy hurling of air and whatever detritus that was light enough to go with it. Chunks of ichor from the floors and walls belted out at the armor team closest to the hole in the hull. But as much as the viscera of rotted flesh had a way to get out of the ship, the Kaiyō team had a way in.

Aiko watched patiently from within her Kirie as William cut his way through the Mishhuvurthyar ship's grotesque, bio-organic hull plating and alloy reinforced support structures, waiting ready nearby with her own Aether Beam Carbine. Despite the weapon's name its function amounted to being a larger version of the Star Army's tried-and-true Aether-Saber Beam Rifle and was likewise a weapon purpose built to breach enemy hulls. Luckily, the Nepleslian exchange officer made quick work of the Ghullfrashirv's pink sphincter door and lead the way inside through the enemy ship's vile sputum as it jettisoned out in his face.

With William's mammoth Cyclops at the front, the princess waited for the rest of the team to hop through their unlocked door before she slid into the Mishhu vessel last with her own oversized power armor. She surveyed the ship's lifelike interior, now mostly decompressed and vacated of its ambient atmosphere, and saw the junction before them.

"Shutting power down from engineering is preferable to taking the command center," Aiko advised, her voice low and steady over squad comms. But she knew the living corridors and hallways of the archenemy's ships often changed from one to another and existed as esoteric labyrinths only known to those Mishhu provided the networked knowledge to navigate them. "Nonetheless, whichever comes to us first will suffice. Stay together and move out."

She gave no order as to who should trailblaze for them. Aiko knew Zelphon — or rather Anchor — was both willing and experienced enough to take point, but that William was already up front. And that Valkyr, who'd already served with the Kaiyō years ago, was well equipped to fight up close and make first contact with the enemy. There may have been a branching path before them, but there would be only one way forward regardless of who among them stepped first toward those unknown dangers that lay ahead.

Ketsurui's announcement elicited a smirk from Molli, who always welcomed competition. "I'll send ya the deets of m'shift as soon as we're back, Tinny," the Nepleslian sounded supremely confident as she rocketed out of the Kaiyo with the others.

The endless expanse of space was something Molli greatly welcomed despite its ever-present danger. She was far from the constant noise of a starship, with only the gentle humming of the Mindy's aether jets to soothe her. With a breathtaking view of the planet in the distance, Molli almost considered their immediate surroundings a picturesque place for a zero-g date. That is until they drew nearer to the Mishu ships, which were an ugly splotch on the surroundings.

When Molli's steel boots landed on the hull, their weight caused the soldier to briefly sink into its fleshy mass. Seeing chunks of it float off as William cut in wasn't helping her stomach, either. "Ugh... M'glad I skipped brekkie," she said, reaching for her aether katana, which unfolded and activated with a brilliant glow. Molli dug the blade into the hull and slowly sawed an opening opposite William. The kalamari arm system extended outwards, its squid-like arms latching onto the hull to brace the Nepleslian to it as she worked.

Morgana lagged behind a little bit, allowing the others to get some way across the gap between before launching herself. The assault drones linked to the wing hard points twitched slightly before emitting a violet light from their rear, and the force of her launch overwhelmed the inertial dampeners slightly in her suit and pressed her into its back. The extra thrust they gave allowed her to close the gap between her team mates, small dots with rapidly shrinking numbers marked their positions. She cut thrust when she determined she'd reach the target just behind them and then drifted the rest of the way. A thought wiped the numbers, clearing her display of only the friendly markers, and the red outline of the target vessel growing ever larger. The rumble of her thrusters died, there was only the barely audible hiss of the suits life support system that broke the moment of tranquility.

It didn't last long as she flipped over in space. The drones twitched again before igniting once more, this time adjusting her velocity so she would make safe contact with the enemy ship. She impacted a few meters beside the main group with a thud, the Mindy and her knees absorbing the extra velocity her deceleration burn couldn't dispose of in time. She got to her feet and kicked off the hull once more drifting parallel to it towards the main group.

raz said:

"Shutting power down from engineering is preferable to taking the command center," Aiko advised, her voice low and steady over squad comms. But she knew the living corridors and hallways of the archenemy's ships often changed from one to another and existed as esoteric labyrinths only known to those Mishhu provided the networked knowledge to navigate them. "Nonetheless, whichever comes to us first will suffice. Stay together and move out."

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"With the hull breached it should be easier to get a bearing on the reactor. I probably won't be able to get a map of the whole ship, but scans should get deep enough to give us an idea of where to go." Morgana said as she climbed through the breach into the hell which was simply the ships interior.

As she spoke she had already begun her scan using her Mindy's onboard systems. The navigational overlay obscured much of the squid ship's interior, a feature which Morgana was silently thankful for.

Zelphon watched as the contents of the inside of the ship were blown out into space. She almost tossed her cookies at the sight of the ooze and nasty. For the first time she could see why Alastair liked everything clean. She'd personally want to scrub her armor to get this ick off. It was at this moment she was sad she had not brought a flame thrower but made a note to do this for the next mission.

As Zel touched down on the inside of the ship, he pulsed the trigger of her chain gun. A light hum came from the weapon as she looked around the area. She was curious how long before company would show up to check on the large hole they just cut into the hull. "I will admit, this is worse than I expected." She took a step and could feel her armor sink into the floor. The ooze and popping sound was very unsettling. She took the end of her weapon and poked the floor like a kid playing with slime. "Welp, once you have a bead on the reactor, let us get moving." He shared with the team over comms.

Hildr had shot from the Kaiyō as soon as the airlock doors had opened, joining the vanguard of the suits heading out into the void between them and their target. For the duration of the trip between the two vessels, the red-haired neko took in the vast space outside of the ship, both freeing and crushing around her. The only sounds that she could hear besides the intermittent communications between the away team was her own breath and the blood rushing in her own ears. The same heat of rage and disgust that she felt in the operations room started to rise again in her heart and gut as the Mishhu ship came closer and closer into view.

Realizing that her musings has started to carry her into the rear of the pack, Hildr boosted forward to catch up with them, landing alongside the others while the breach was made. She kept a watch out as the team descended into the ship one by one, until her turn to enter the strange craft was up. Taking a steadying breath, the neko slipped into the wound to enter the ship.

Inside, Hildr took up a position to cover the other wing pack equipped trooper, Morgana. She peered around the bowels of the Mishhu ship, the aim of her SMG following her gaze. She felt on edge, tense like she hadn't felt in a long time, her fingers flexing in her armored gloves on the grip of her weapon.

The walls were slick and pink and extended outwards in some places like welts from a burn and had spindly growths like fingers extending outwards too. Up top were where the bright pink lights hung alongside a humanoid cadaver whose limbs and torso had large craters in the flesh. As they passed, they could just make out the body was grey skinned and devoid of hair, but their face was locked in a yowling scream of pain, now silent. A bug skittered from their body and to the ceiling then along the wall, seemingly following the armor team as they delved further into the Mishhuvurthyar ship.

Though there wasn't much the AIES of the Mindy could do for Morgana as she tried to get a lay of the land here, the mindy's wide band spectrum could make out details where normal visuals failed. That led them to another sphincter-like closure along their path. This one had a viscous ooze coating it and as they approached it, it spread from its center orifice and opened for them to pass through.

On the other side of it were two NMX Nekovalkyrja that were looking up from underneath dull grey berets to the hulking blood-colored Mishhuvurthyar between them. They changed their focus to the Star Army personnel on the other side of their doorway. Their eyes and mouths betrayed the shock of seeing the Kaiyō team but their expressions quickly changed to focused malice and one of them leapt towards the wall on the other side of the opening. The other slung her rifle around her torso and began shooting, blooming the scene with bright blue particle beams aimed at the foremost armors.

The Advanced's multitude of beady black eyes were hard to track, but its spindly tentacles were easy to follow the movements of as they all swarmed upwards as if they were simple long locks of hair floating underwater. At each end were claws and maws—all pointed towards the armor team. In an instant its chitinous upper shell lowered and became its shield as it barreled forward to the most forward of the team, Zelphon and Hildr, at an incredible speed.

For a moment Zelphon forgot she was standing inside what one could describe as the digestive track. A spark of excitement had run up her spine and out to her wing tips. In her prior mission she hesitated when faced with having to end a foe. This time however there was no pause, only the sound of a release clip as it dinged off her breast plate. Out from under her wing she pulled an incendiary grenade. Time slowed to a crawl as she counted down the cook time. She pulled herself back around the door corner as the grenade hit the muck on the ground. She gave Hildr a push to ensure she was not in the door way. "Fire in the hole." She called out to the team.

A moment later a red plum burst forth out of the end of it before it exploded. The room filled with hot lava like plasma. Zel then spun on her toes and faced back towards her foes. The barrel of her shotgun started to bark out fire towards the Mishhu as they charged. Her right side shoulder weapon rang out, dakkadakka, dakkadakka, dakkadakka towards her foe.

As Molli sheathed her katana and entered the ship, she was struck by how foul its interior was. It was a grotesque mockery of a starship and a monument to the cruelty of its makers -- makers she was now eager to splatter across the wall in a hail of heated plasma buckshot. Those violent thoughts sharpened the Nepleslian's focus to a keen edge, drowning out the horror around her with the promise of retribution. The mission was obviously the priority, but that didn't mean they couldn't enjoy tearing these things limb from limb.

Luckily, the strike team landed an opportunity to make the squids pay for their crimes as soon as the first flesh door opened and the occupants on the other side opened fire. Rather than duck low and to the side, Molli leaped up to the ceiling and drew her plasma shotgun in one smooth motion. As the floor on the other side of the room was coated in lava, Molli crouched low and activated the aether burners on her Mindy, which sent her sliding across the ceiling and into the room with a brilliant stream of fire trailing behind her. If the Mishu believed they could intimidate her, they were about to learn just how fearless she could be.

From above, Molli let the arm grasping the plasma shotgun trail down over the charging Advanced, and she breathed deep just before pressing the trigger as it passed under her. A flame of aether burst onto its chitin, trailing from the barrel that flew up from recoil. Molli had already sped well past it, her sights re-centered on whatever had managed to survive Zelphon's incendiary grenade. The Nepleslian was going to favor the one already holding a rifle, since it presented the most immediate threat.

Morgana stood to the side of what passed for a bulkhead aboard the grotesque ship. Her eyes darted around the targeting data projected on to her helmets heads up display, a kaleidoscope of red and green silhouettes marking enemy positions fed from the assault.

As her team members executed a dynamic entry, leaping through the doorway with violence of action, Morgana maintained her composure, choosing strategy over haste. From the intricate wing assembly of her suit, one of the assault drones disengaged with a soft hiss of hydraulics. It hovered in the air, and began spinning along its longest axis. At its core, an aether beam aperture glowed ominously, pulsating with contained energy.

With a sudden high-pitched whine, the drone fired, unleashing a contiguous aether beam. The beam, a vivid streak of blue and white energy, lanced through the spacecraft's organic wall, aimed at the advanced type lurking on the other side.

After entering the ship William attempted to ignore the grotesque interior, along with the lifeless bodies which were now a permanent fixture in the ship's walls.

When the NMX Nekos and Mishhuvurthyar appeared, the Captain had just enough time to throw up his forearm shield before Zelphon's grenade exploded, showering the corridior in fire.

As Molli and Morgana opened fire, William braced his flaming lance for the Mishhuvurthyar's charge. With his lance and shield up the two railguns over his shoulder began to whir, adding even more fire to the fusilade already going down the corridor.

As soon as the Mishu was in range William's lance shot out. At the same time, he dropped his shield and jammed his claws into the beasts chest, opening fire with his chaingun at point blank range. To keep from being thrown backwards, he ignited his numerous thrusters pushing back against the monster and hoping to throw it back into the NMX Nekos.

It certainly was different being inside and seeing a Mishnu ship over reading about it or being taught about it. Honestly, a little unsettling but not as bad as she was expecting. On the other hand, an actual Mishnu lived up a bit more to the horror stories.

Although she had some odd feeling that in a completely different kind of situation, you could mess with the appearance of that Advanced-type and make some kind of marketable plushy good or something. It would certainly be an improvement in the looks department... just idle thoughts in the back of her mind as she raised up her Mindy's PAAR-40, and helped add to the firepower being flung at the target.

Hildr crept forward down the fleshy hallway alongside Zelphon, her SMG gripped tightly in her hands as they came to the sphincter-like doorway. Grimacing under her helmet as the orifice entryway opened, the red-haired neko then found herself face-to-face with the enemy for the first time, the sight taking her aback for a heartbeat.

Hildr knew of the NMX nekos, of course, but seeing them firsthand was a different thing entirely, and the thought of having to fight them gave her a pit in her stomach. It would be like fighting one of her own. The sight of the massive Advanced Misshu, on the other hand, made her blood run hot with fury. This creature was the true enemy of their people, and in that moment she resolved to cast the monster down with her own hands.

Bracing herself, Hildr pulled the trigger of her SMG and sprayed the trio of enemies with a burst of aether beam pulses, sweeping her aim from left to right down the corridor. As her firing arc ended, she felt the push from Zelphon at her shoulder and briefly glanced to see the primed grenade in her hand. The neko spun to the side of the doorway and used it as cover from the detonation wash, using her left hand to unsheathe one of her guntō. With a snarl from beneath her helmet, Hildr whipped back around into the corridor, sword raised to meet the charging Advanced head-on while blasting at it with her SMG.

From her position at the back of the squad, Aiko shifted her attention behind them to ensure that any enemy reinforcements wouldn't get the drop on them should they come scrambling out to meet the Star Army infiltrators. Owing to the big Kirie Thought Armor that Aiko wore everything around her machine was already seen with perfect clarity in her mind's eye, but she lifted the suit's right arm and pointed her Aether Beam Carbine directly down the corridor behind them, leveled and ready for whatever extra threats might come their way. Even so, the head of her Kirie still looked forward, staring down the Advanced-Type confronting her squad a few meters away. The Aetheric Pulse Cannon on her armor's right shoulder hardpoint dropped from its idle position pointing upward and aimed back to cover their rear, too.

In the cramped confines of the Mishhuvurthyar escort ship, there wasn't much the princess could do to to close the distance between herself and their foes. But even from her distant vantage, the hefty 50mm Gauss Cannon affixed to her Kirie's left shoulder hardpoint could pivot enough to find a quick target lock square in the middle of the Mishhuvurthyar's carapace dome. Luckily taller than most of her comrades, Aiko's Kirie had little trouble finding a firing solution that avoided slamming a gauss spike through some intervening friendly. So she made the shot without hesitation, sending a single round toward the biggest adversary in front of her.

For now, the princess did not worry much about the trio of enemies before them and was confident that the Kaiyo's armor team could handle the obstacle. Still, their fortunes could easily change if enough fiendish Nekovalkyrja and their cephalopodic overlords came to overwhelm them.

"Concentrate your fire until the beast is down and then mop up its thralls," Aiko said coolly, more as an encouraging affirmation of what was happening than any sort of order. "There will be more soon. The objective remains within our grasp as long as we manage how many are alive to fight back while we move!"

If time had slowed to a crawl as Zelphon counted down the seconds of cook time for her incendiary grenade, they sharply accelerated after she had thrown it. It had bounced against a slimy catwalk without rails until falling off its edge. When it did, a small chorus of worry erupted from one of the holes in the rows of pits, then the murmurs exploded into a choir of screams as it erupted into plasmatic plumes.

As Molli surfed alongside the ceiling, she could see that underneath the fat catwalk were rows of pits with people that were clawing out their hands towards her. In one of them near the doorway, some of the plasma from the grenade had jettisoned out of it onto the catwalk, making it hard for the rifle-wielding NMX Neko to not step in it while shooting. But the grenade had also sprayed its plasma payload into the pitcher it had fallen into. Humanoid and Nekovalkyrja now laid dead in that one and the screams from those in pits around them filled the long room. The people inside roared furiously as they excitedly tried to get a peak at those fighting their enslavers.

Molli could see one other thing: another hulking Mishhuvurthyar at the far end of the room, having just floated down from a zero gravity passageway.

The NMX Neko holding a rifle had shot, mostly hitting the raised shield, just before Molli's continued bullet stream found her. She ducked away, but with no cover along the catwalk, she eventually fell. Her body tumbled off the walkway, falling the three feet until landing on the lip of a one of the cages. Hands wrapped up around the bars holding them in their vats, feeling for any keys or equipment on the dead NMX's uniform.

"YOUR END DRAWS NEAR!" None of what was going on behind the charging Advanced Mishhuvurthyar seemed to matter to the beast as it bellowed out into their minds and wrapped its flowing tentacles in front of it, grabbing onto the ankle of Hildr's Mindy as it did. From above the hulking Mishhu, Molli had already managed to hit its chitin, creating steaming holes in the hard armor. The Star Army fighters at the forefront like Zelphon and Hildr's spray of SMG hit it even as it attacked them head on. Its assault continued as its bladed tentacle was chipping away at the joint of Hildr's leg where it had gotten hold.

Some of its outer tentacles snapped around wildly then dropped towards the floor, pieced apart by the firepower coming from the Elysian's shoulder weapon and Hildr's handheld. Tentacles bounced off of William's shield as he drew it, protecting those behind him. When the ID-SOL struck out with his aether lance, the Mishhu both pulled away and sent a flurry of tentacles towards the side William was on, creating its own shield. When William struck it with his claws he was mostly just slashing at the vestigial tendrils and no internals. But when he shot through those claws, the Mishhu swayed belligerently, obviously wounded.

It was then that Isuke's chemically propelled PAAR shots started hitting it and it swerved about, giving the Nekovalkyrja next to Isuke an opening. Aratani shot out as well, continuing to shoot at where Isuke had hit it even as it latched out towards the Nekovalkyrja, Aratani, and pulled her body to throw her deep into the long room behind it.

Despite such, it was still putting up a fight, having slashed outward at the visor of Zelphon with the same type of bladed tentacle that had just gotten through the chink in Hildr's armor at her leg. The Nekovalkyrja could feel dull slicing at her ankle. The feeling was warm but uncomfortable as hemosynth from her suit rushed in to begin healing the wound even as she could feel the blade move slowly but deeper into her muscle and tibia bone as the creature pried open the plating further. Zel's and Hildr's combined firepower had hit more than just tentacles and struck into where enough of the tentacles had been blown off by them to hit the fleshy internals.

The bulkhead Morgana was behind was thick as a Yamataian vessel's despite its fleshy appearance. The continuous purple beam disappeared into a hole it bore into the internals and stayed there for a long time. Though it could shoot for a sustained two minutes, it needed less than a quarter of that to shoot through and into the area of fighting. Morgana was able to reposition the beam during that time to perfectly impact the Advanced Type when it made it out on the other side. When it did,

All this coupled with the barrage from Zelphon, Hildr, William's claws and lance, Isuke's automatic rifle power, and Molli's and Aiko's earlier shots into its top chitin, the creature slumped. The sole NMX survivor had been using the now fallen Mishhuvurthyar as cover but immediately was pushed back and onto her back, hit by the last of the away team's shots.

"Priority Alert. Response team reports active intrusion in organic materials holding bay. Identification Star Army. Quantity Seven. Mobilize. Converge. Eviscerate."

Over the choir of battle, it was hard to make out but some of those at the back like Aiko and Morgana would be able to focus on the echo of words that sounded like something between Yamataian and snapping guttural words from a nearby comm system. The pair could already see the walls turning dark as a swarm of bugs crawled along the walls towards them.

Try as she might, Molli couldn't erase the image of prisoners burning alive in a pitcher full of plasma from her mind. The Mindy's aether burners might have taken her past them instantly, but the soldier could still see their terrified expressions and smell the pungent odor of melted flesh in the cramped confines. Collateral damage was part of the job; Molli had learned that in basic training, but it didn't make the carnage they inflicted on innocent people possible to ignore. "Watchyer fire!" she crackled over the comms in a clearly shaken tone, "Y'just cooked some jailbirds!"

With the rifle-wielding NMX taken care of, Molli killed the burners and dropped down to the catwalk as another hulking Mishu reared its ugly tentacled head. Again, her voice crackled over the radio, "'Nother squid," she said, raising her shotgun with a scowl. The faces of those incinerated prisoners were still fresh in Molli's mind, innocents that these abominations put in the line of fire. The realization that a wayward blast of shotgun fire could cut more of their lives short prompted Molli to lower her weapon and then set it on her suit's magnetic holster. In one smooth motion, the Nepleslian drew a rapidly unfolding aether blade before priming the hemosynth fluids that made up the Kalamari arm system installed on her Mindy's back.

After running down the catwalk, Molli's aether burners pushed her off the guard and into a rapid flight toward the encroaching Mishu. With six synth arms flailing in preparation to intercept its tentacles, Molli let out a guttural roar--as if to challenge its fallen comrade's prior declaration--and raised her blade in an attempt to drive it hilt-deep down into the loathsome creature's gullet.

Zelphon paused as the Mishhu slumped to the ground. She was breathing hard as her weapon stopped blasting and the blazing hot end cooled. She was a mix of both fear and pleasure of what had just taken place. This was one less Mishhu in the world and kept her team mate Hildr. She was still amazed the amount of damage this creature had taken. She read Mishhu was no joke but to see this killing instinct in person was chilling. She had little doubt it wanted her dead or worse, a host.

She overheard Molli call out regarding her friendly fire. At first she gave it some thought but did not dwell on it long. This was just what could happen in the heat of battle. "Roger," she called out over the team in a flat voice. At a bare minimal she told herself the Mishhu was the one who tossed the grenade into the pit. Weather that was true or not the world may never know.

Her moment of calm had quickly ended as another Mishhu entered the stage. She started to formulate an attack plan which was quickly cut short. She watched as Molli had jolted forward towards the Mishhu. If there was one thing she remembered from training, one does not hug a mishhu else they get the bad touch. She quickly popped the magazine out of her shot gun and replace it with hardened AP rounds. She took aim and sent round over the shoulder of Molli. If it was going to get her friend, it would have a bad time doing it she thought. As she moved closer, her shoulder mounts also targeted the creature, ready to fire with a clear shot.

The respect with which Molli treated her blade was not reciprocated by the massive beast that took her blade into its belly like a bear would take a punch from a toddler. In a darkening swarm around the Nepleslian its tentacles raised and then descended. Some of them wrapped around her torso and hips while others affixed to her suit's arm system while a sole one affixed to her hand and struggled with her until it had pulled the aether katana out of its self. With multiple tentacles wrapping around the kalamari arms, it snapped the extra limb. Chemical compounds and hemosynthetic fluid spilled out from the shorn tube. The Mishhu's tentacles had already begun working on the next kalamari arm and flailing around her, searching for more weaponry to pull off of her or perhaps more of the arm system, jealous of her pseudo tentacles. All the while Molli was being pulled closer into the bowels of the beast by the many slick green tentacles tightening around her. Somewhere deep within it her armor had grazed something hard and sharp. She was also leaving the room of vats, being pulled up and into the zero gravity passageway along with the Mishhuvurthyar.

Having been thrown into the room by the now dead Advanced, Koizumi Aratani lifted herself off of one of the grates above the pits and took in what Molli had said. She fired from the cannon on her shoulder warily. She could easily hit Molli, wrapped up by Mishhu as she was, and aimed only for its top chitin. At this close of range, the bright green slug found its mark alongside Zelphon's on the hard, leafy-colored carapace milliseconds before it had absconded up the passageway.

"What is that?" Aratani breathily whispered as she had seen pinkish sand spill out from where the plasma slug and AP rounds had hit the Mishhuvurthyar.

"Mishhu's got one of ours!" she said much more readily into team comms as she rushed over to the passageway, ready to follow after both her comrade and enemy. She looked back, though, towards the back of the pack and Ketsurui Aiko. "Orders?"

William smirked as his claws found purchase on the Mishu's tentacles, and his rounds punched through. "Look at that; its end did draw near." He said to himself. Turning to face the newcomers, he saw Molli getting pulled into the wall.

He moved up to Aratani, firing his railguns and chain guns at the newest Mishhuvurthyar who chose to accost the team. Once there, he opened the command channel with Aiko. "I'll go after your wayward recruit." He said before turning his spear on the opening that Molli had been pulled through.

He stabbed his spear into the wall, widening the opening into the zero-G passageway before he dove in after the Nepleslian. "That ain't yours, you big bastard." He said, firing his thrusters, closing the distance between him and the Mishu that had taken Molli. William chose not to engage with his guns, knowing the mishu would use Molli as a shield. This would need to be settled up close, and his armor was explicitly built for such an engagement. Once he was close, he'd use his spear to slice the tentacles holding Molli. Once she was free, he'd have more options for dealing with it.

When the darkened wave of skittering Mishhuvurthyar servitor bugs pulsed over the walls to the squad's rear, Aiko directed her little mecha's full attention and firepower toward it while marching the Kirie backward. The Aetheric Pulse Cannon mounted to her armor's right shoulder sprayed out a hail of vibrant pink energy darts, joined by additional pulses of white hot aether machine gun fire from her Forearm Weapons — both held out forward behind balled fists to blanket the corridor with cleansing death — to track and kill as much of the seeker swarm as possible.

The princess' one-soldier fusillade ripped visceral lines through the oncoming Mishhu bugs, sending meaty chunks of their orangey insides splattering through the damp, dimly lit hallway. Although these little Mishhu bioforms posed little threat to them directly, they were already providing their overlords with valuable real-time intelligence on the Star Army team's disposition.

Ametheliana said:

"What is that?" Aratani breathily whispered as she had seen pinkish sand spill out from where the plasma slug and AP rounds had hit the Mishhuvurthyar.

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Aratani's hushed question caught Aiko's attention, prompting the Kirie-clad warrior to reach out with her digital mind and connect her big armor's CIES to the other soldier's Mindy 4. It only took a split second of seeing through the eyes of Aratani's armor to recognize that the monster that had Molli in its clutches was no mere Advanced-Type. This one was bigger, badder, and far more dangerous with an ability to regenerate and phase its body parts with one ultimate goal. Only to destroy and consume whatever crossed its path.

"Hunter-killers will converge on our location imminently so we must press ahead now," Aiko conveyed, letting the rest know what she'd heard translated by her armor's systems from the enemy's blasphemous tongue. Her voice did nothing to betray the urgent concern she had for the thing that they had to 'press ahead' through. "Assist Berserker in freeing Byrne-hei. Focus on severing its tentacles in unison and pull her out. The Mishhuvurthyar holding her is Enhanced and will quickly overwhelm her without our assistance — and the rest of us as well. After she is released, cast it into the fire pit Anchor created with her grenade and throw every last bit of firepower you can onto its body. That is our only hope of defeating it."

Aiko continued to retreat and cover their path from the back, still raining her aetheric wrath across the enemy scout bugs, but shifted her Kirie's big body again so that her left shoulder could swing its mounted Gauss Cannon around and let loose on the new foe once it was in her sight. And once it was, she didn't simply fire once as she had against the Advanced-Type. Instead, Aiko did not cease sending 50mm hardened alloy rods in three round bursts at the Enhanced Mishhu until Molli was out of its grasp.