RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission 28: Akuma

Fighting the Mishhu felt like trying to swat every drop of rain in a storm. For every volley that cooked a chunk of the swarm, at least double that number replaced their fallen. Thankfully, Molli and William's weapons were suited to the tight confines of the hallway that the Mishhu were forced to traverse. The wide spread of a shotgun and the near-ceaseless volley of a chaingun stemmed the chitinous tide from a tsunami to a trickling stream. They wouldn't threaten the team anytime soon, but that was a tenuous state that depended entirely on how much firepower the Nepleslians could keep putting downrange.

For her part, Molli took the time to step out from behind William's shield and return to the familiar confines of the ceiling. It'd help divert fire from his shield so that the entire hallway wasn't concentrating on one target and give her more opportunities to shoot rather than duck behind cover. It was working, as some of the guns were plinking into the Mindy's shields, gradually causing the condition indicator on Molli's HUD to shift from bright green to bright yellow. In return, more plasma cones vaporized the tiny crab-like creatures that propped up the Advanced Mishhu.

Another of Molli's kalamari arms reached for the aether katana at her hip, drawing and slicing at a group of diving Crabs skittering up the wall, cleaving them in twain. Beneath her helmet, a thin trail of blood trickled from one of Molli's nostrils as her efforts to coordinate the Kalamari arms holding the shotgun and the sword, as well as her own arm with the pistol, which were all shooting and slicing at separate targets. A growing headache that was a precipitation of a future migraine pounded in Molli's skull, leaving little room for banter.

These things needed to die, and any lapse in concentration could let them slip through her and William's bulwark.

The defenders were starting to gain ground, despite William and Molli's efforts. Something needed to change and fast. Crab-type mishu were surging their way. They'd be overwhelmed by sheer numbers at this rate.

While his shoulder mounted railguns continued to fire, he reached back and grabbed two fragmentation grenades. "Frags out!" He yelled pulling the pins and hurling them down the corridor towards the advanced Mishu and the crab types. With one massive hand he pulled Molli back behind him and activated his other forearm shield and slamming it next to the other, effectively blocking the rest of the corridor from the incoming explosion.

The two grenades detonated, showering the corridor in shrapnel and ball bearings flying at incredible speeds, ripping into any unprotected targets. Many of them slamming into William's own shields.

Zelphon was starting to feel the pressure from the enemy push. It seemed that no amount of firepower was enough to stop the enemy. She read about Mishhu and how they would continue to fight despite the odds and it was down right scary to see in person.

She took a few deep breaths and knew what had to be done. Her wings up till now had been tucked in tightly against her. Slowly her wings spread wide and revealed what she was holding onto. Her wings flared out, light from the weapons around her giving off god rays. Full extended it was a site to behold. Like the angel of death, mounted under each of her wings was racks of dumb fire rockets. She planned to put the extra real estate gifted to her to show those Mishhu who was top of the food chain.

"William, don't stand tall." Zel called out over comms. The sound of latches echoed as one of the rockets released and shot down the hallway right after the grenades of William had gone off.

"No, that would introduce too many variables outside of our control," Aiko said back to Morgana via proximity comms after processing the scientist's proposal. "Our orders from Taiyou-taisa remain the same: to cut main power for this ship and thusly disable it. So I want you to cut their power now and then, if possible, overload specific conduit junctions so that the Mishhuvurthyar cannot bring aether generation back online in our absence. If you cannot do so from that terminal then find out where we can shoot this thing to stop it from supplying the ship power.

"Still, you ought to save your plan for another day and another fight," the princess added. "Tactical spontaneity of the like would serve the Star Army well in a larger and more chaotic engagement."

A subroutine within Aiko's Thought Armor IES prompted her to the damage Aratani and the others were taking, and she brought up the same condition reporting monitor to check out how the rest of the squad was doing. And then she took a peek through Zelphon's viewpoint and witnessed the mass of Crab-Type Mishhuvurthyar packing the tall corridor and charging their way down upon her soldiers. That information, combined with the constant battle chatter buzzing across her communications channels, made their situation all the more precarious.

"Team, retreat into the engineering bay with us," Aiko ordered. As thirsty as the princess was to dive into a stampede of gargantuan Mishhuvurthyar monsters upon seeing them through the eyes of her allies' armors, the wide halls and vaulted ceilings on this deck didn't provide a suitable battlefield upon which to fight them and caused Aiko to think twice about satisfying her burning desire to enter the fray. "Hold them off as steadily as you can and then shut the doors," she continued, seeing the blast shutter control panel beside the threshold of where she and Morgana had just entered.

"We cannot fight them for long but the choke point here will afford us all a better chance of surviving until the aether generator is disabled so we can teleport out!"

Shock and momentary panic filled Molli's thoughts when she felt something pluck her off the ceiling by the neck. Seeing that it was a hand and not a tentacle alleviated that fear, but it was replaced by the absurd embarrassment of being moved around by the scruff of her neck like a kitten. Crouching low behind William's shield, with little room to maneuver the kalamari tentacles, Molli pressed the shotgun to her chest and struggled to eject its magazine, pull a fresh one from her butt pouch, and awkwardly work it into the empty well. Holding it under her armpit, she let out a grunt and pushed down on it with her chin, just in time for the explosion from Will's grenades to send shockwaves that floored the young Nepleslian.

Around that time, the princess's orders came crackling through comms, and they were orders Molli was all too happy to carry out. The Nepleslian opened a channel to bark her reply, "On our way, Highness!" Picking herself off the ground, Molli ordered her suit's AI to run the node subroutine, and several tiny drones folded out from the Mindy's legs, forming around her like floating rain droplets. The soldier gave Will a sharp nod, "Y'heard 'er, let's cut a trail!" she shouted, gravitating back up to the ceiling and brandishing her weapons again.

Gradually, she would march backward while focusing fire on the enemy. Her foremost concern was keeping any from getting too close to Will. The nodes that the Mindy's AI controlled fired in bursts alongside Molli's aether guns, adding just a little more firepower that could be crucial in getting them out alive.

"Aye ma'am, it shouldn't pose any problem," Morgana responded promptly, activating the necessary systems on the console.

Her strategy required minimal adjustments. In fact, it was simplified as she could overlook the major safety interlocks and simply circumvent the fuses. First, she began ramp down of the Aether core. Then, utilizing the residual, she unleashed a surge through the control cards linked to each accessible device. She began with propulsion, followed by navigation and heat dissipation, and concluded with the initiators of the Ather generator which once it was fully ramped down should prevent a speedy restart.

“Done.” Morgana said after tapping in the last command. “The components just need a few seconds to cook.” She grabbed the SMG and shouldered it. “Should see sparks soon.”

The Science officer stepped away from the console and took cover behind a bulkhead, ready to fire at the entrance to engineering after the others made it in. She directed her larger drones out in the corridor to cover the combat team’s retreat. Her Assault Drones were expendable. They hovered in the hall, high up so as not to impede the progress of those retreating and fired hot Aether lances down the corridor. Meanwhile the small NSBs maintained their vigil over the surfaces of engineering.

The relief Aratani felt at Aiko's orders was tenfold. She held down suppressive fire that she knew wouldn't be enough as she backed away from the encroaching Advanced and its minions. The Nepleslians held down even more, but were focused in the opposite direction, so it took her a moment to safely abscond from the fighting. She watched as a red flare rockets shone down on the crabs from the Elysian's wings, lighting up the strange netting-like intricacies of the corridor in a horrific fashion, showing that even behind the crab and Advanced, more troops were coming to their position.

Once in engineering, she looked from the console nearest Morgana to the failing power relays, then back to the scientist. The other Shoi didn't want to jump in for the scientist, but she did want to be sure the sparking was not something an NMX engineer could mitigate later, once they were off the ship. She set up on another console and pointed out the control cards for the fusion generator to Morgana even as she took almost identical steps to what Morgana had done despite not having seen her do them.

"There can't be any chance of their secondary propulsion coming in handy. Even if they can't use their aether weaponry, maybe the fusion generators can power the positron cannons in a last ditch attempt to knock the Kaiyō down." Aratani said.

Even as she spoke, the starship had fired one of those main guns and sent a burst of heat energy through the aether generator as it took power from it. The tax on the engines in their bludgeoned state had made the room not just filled with sparks, but filled with bright pink light as the aether jettisoned from one of the sweeping tentacles of the main power. It dissipated into a small water fountain of aether bubbling out of the system.

"Hai, Chusa!" Hildr moved up beside Aratani, Muyomi, and Isuke and laid down suppressive fire from her SMG as well, spraying into the enemies and covering her teammates as they fell back into Engineering on Aiko's orders, ending up alongside Molli as the rearguard. She intended to be the last one inside, and once the others had moved out of the hallway, the neko targeted the heaviest armored elements in the hallway and let out a salvo of five missiles from her shoulder launcher and another salvo of five missiles from each of her leg-mounted offensive pods, then ducking into engineering with the others.

Slamming her back up against a bulkhead, Hildr panted for breath, her heart racing from the rush of combat. She tried to slow her breathing, closing her eyes briefly to clear her head. Then she was popping back around to continue suppressing fire into the hallway, also freeing all four of the Sylph drone pods from her back to float and fire into the hallway in supporting, pinpoint shots at any targets of opportunity.

William ducked at Zelphon's warning watching the rocket streak dangerously close to his shoulder. Dropping one of his shields, he continued with the barrage of fire, until he heard the order from Aiko, then Molli urging them to get a move on. "Aye aye." William called, standing tall and dropping both the shields which allowed him to bring both chainguns into play. The fire in the hallway double as he slowly crept backwards towards the engineering door.

Almost there... just a little further. William had expended a lot of ammo. They needed to get out of here and fast.

Once he was through the door and the other's were behind him, he set the railguns on his shoulders to full auto and overrode the safety on his chainguns, which were giving an overheat warning and added his fire to the fusilade. The amount of fire going down the corridor was deafening, as hundreds of rounds flew down range in a matter of seconds. "Get this door shut!" William ordered.

All at once, the Ghullfrashirv-class Mishhvurthyar ship's power gave out as Morgana's directives came to fruition. Luckily for the Star Army fighters, now all safely inside the biomechanical engineering bay, the cascading power failure happened after one among them used the doorside console to prompt its blast shutters shut in the face of those stampeding Crab-Type monstrosities. More pinkish aether energy whipped around and through the tentacle-like power conduits as the lights faded, flashing orange and magenta sparks as the Mishhu vessel's circuitry fried out.

The science officer's deft plan seemed to have worked — as well as Aratani's quick thinking about the backup power — because the Kaiyō's away team found themselves in a darkness that was only illuminated by the bubbling aether glow and little electrical fires that resulted from Morgana ensuring this phase of the mission could be called complete.

But Crab-Types knew no concern for such technical matters and still came at them unabated, crashing into the blast door only just closed in their path. Even in the low light (or perhaps on thermal vision that all of their power armors were equipped with), the Yamataian soldiers could see the great claws of their Mishhuvurthyar hunters rend though in an attempt to crush forward and consume their Star Army prey.

So now it was certainly time to leave.

On the dorsal hardpoint of Aiko's Kirie Thought Armor was mounted a prototype transport module the princess had requested be constructed following her experiences on Hanako's World with the YSS Asamoya and its Transfer Chamber. The large, curved half oval backpack's casing matched the Kirie's graceful lines despite its size, and sat nestled between the twin cannons mounted to the big power armor's shoulder. This heavy lift device was intended to replicate the Asamoya's revolutionary but long-forgotten ability to simultaneously teleport several smaller power armors at once, including those without the ability to do so like the M6 Daisy and William's Nepleslian Cyclops, allowing Thought Armors to further bolster their assigned squad's tactical movement capabilities.

"Standby for transit in five," the princess called across comms, warning them of what was to come.

With their predetermined rally point from which they'd begin the next phase of their mission already keyed in, Aiko began spooling up the experimental teleporter's transit algorithms. In the Kirie's CIES, she selected each member of the squad to come along with her and, even with William's gargantuan "breakthrough armor" along for the ride, there was plenty of room to spare within the module's mass limit. The maneuver would certainly burn out Aiko's own ability to teleport again but would save the rest of them a charge on their smaller Mindy 4 jump packs.

"Conveying now," Aiko said, having not given any sort of countdown. One of the Crab-Types seemed ready to make it through the torn door to get at them as much from its own effort as that of its fellows slamming its body forward viscously from behind.

Then they were in space.

With the rendezvous point set already, most of the team knew where to go and those that didn't were swept up in Ketsurui Aiko's imperial embrace. The space outside of the battlefield of Yamataian ship versus Mishhuuvurthyar squad was dazzling. Whatever weapons fire was doubly illuminated by the shrapnel that meandered slowly away from the battered and broken Pillager cruisers and reflected off of large panels and tiny shards alike. The team could see hundreds of battlepods jettisoning out of the ship they had just been on and into space or to make planetfall.

The Fuji-class had been using the Pillagers against the Ghullfrashirv Escort by hiding behind them and using them as cover even as they shot down the cruisers one by one. The Escort's weaponry could have truly destroyed the wily but lonesome Kaiyō, but with the Ghullfrashirv's internals hammered down by the away team, the Kaiyō was free to cease its furtive maneuvering around the wreckage and stare headlong at the powered down escort. The beam of bright teal may have surprised the away team if they weren't already prepared and from their vantage it was like seeing a sun suddenly turned on as the rend in space time let in the powerful particles from their own universe. The pale haze above the terraformed planet of Nebel nearest them paled, as did every battlepod and piece of shrapnel. The Kaiyo's bright aetheric weapon from its main gun suddenly was all there was to see in that space as the Escort it had been shooting into seemed to crumble from existence and then all at once, it disappeared under the bright blue weapon's glaring beam. The teal light ceased as if folding into the bulge at the front of the Fuji-class and all was still.

"Phase one complete," Boss' charming —if not subtly fervent— voice spoke in their comms. "Sending the planetary location that most of the battlepods are congregating towards now."

"Hey hey team! That was good work! You all exceeded my expectations!" Hoshi also spoke up and Aiko could see it was from inside a Mindy. "The Aingelians on the other hand... Not so much. I'll fill you in when we link up, but they're sending their people to Nebel. Something tells me they're just as surprised by the Mishhuvurthyar presence as we are, but be prepared for anything—even an ambush. Something's not adding up." She was coming out of the Kaiyō's power armor bay door but went around to the cargo hold once outside of it to check the drop pod for William's Nepleslian armor was being brought out, too. With no shields, the hulking Cyclops would need it to get to Nebel.

With their ship MEGAMI and captain's words fresh in their minds, the away team would know to begin moving towards Nebel. The planet the Aingelians had been terraforming for the past century had hazy lavender and deeper amethyst cloud layers that wrapped around the planet like a jewel-toned shawl. Peeking through, especially around the hemisphere, were widestrips of green pasture lands and even blue oceans. But the Mishhuvurthyar were descending near the meridian of the northern hemisphere where a pair of twinkling lights poked through the cloud layer, even from their vantage in space.

Molli trained her weapons at the door within the sealed-off room, which buckled under the weight of a sea of hostile Mishhu. If it wasn't for Princess Aiko's level-headed direction, making the soldier believe there was a plan, Molli would've prepared to make a final stand. Instead, she filed in beside her for the promised transport. At the exact moment that the fortified steel door appeared to rent under the Crab-type's fervent assault, the squalid interior of the enemy ship blinked out of existence, and Molli was staring at it from several miles away. The only sounds the young woman could hear were her rapid breathing and pounding heart rate.

As the Kaiyō used the vulnerability the away team created to turn its impressive weaponry on the Mishhu, Molli couldn't help but stare in awe as the starship they'd fought in was engulfed in a brilliant beam of azure firepower. Unable to turn away from it, the silence of space gave her a moment to reflect on the prisoners they'd left behind. They weren't 'real' people, according to the dossier that covered the Mishhu's cloning practices, but to Molli, they screamed like real people when they'd burned them alive; they looked like real people as she observed the fear and desperation in their eyes. She wondered what it was like to be born into a life of suffering, to be powerless to escape it, to spend the last moments of your miserable existence in abject terror as you were incinerated -- your entire being a byproduct of a conflict you could never understand.

Now that she thought about it, it sounded a lot like the life of a slum-dweller in Funky City, a 'real' person, according to the civilized galaxy.

When the Kaiyō's beam silently dissipated, Molli observed the area that the now-atomized Mishhu vessel once inhabited. Part of her hoped that the humans aboard didn't suffer in its destruction, while another quietly lamented the loss of her metal arm. A hand felt the stump where it previously existed; would the Star Army install another? Given how hard she fought to advance their interests today, it'd be the least they could do. It was a selfish want, ill-befitting of a Star Army soldier, but Molli could never shake her un-Yamtaian selfishness, and she couldn't make the longing for her lost limb go away.

The captain's cheerful voice chirped over their comms and pulled Molli out of her quiet ruminations. Their job wasn't finished, so Molli set her aether burners toward the atmosphere of Nebel, where battle pods from the Mishhu vessels rained down like putrid drops of rain. "Makin' m'entry," Molli said with minced words that she hoped hid her nervousness.

Molli trained extensively for atmospheric entry in a Mindy, just like any pilot. As she followed the rest of the team in their formation, the muscle memory from the countless simulations was already kicking in. That didn't mean she wasn't devoid of trepidation as she broke through the uppermost layer of the planet's atmosphere, wherein her suit helpfully pinged a reminder of the rising temperatures that threatened to incinerate the young pilot if she didn't slow her descent. Splaying her limbs out and turning her aether burners to a level position, Molli took it slow until the rushing of wind was discernable from the helmet's audio receptors.

In many ways, Nebel felt like Molli's first home; the shimmering skyscrapers that cut through the clouds were eerily reminiscent of Funky City's topography. Even millions of miles from home, people liked to build their skyscrapers. "Where're we touchin' base, Highness?" she said over the suit's communication channel.

William let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding once the away team was safely at the rendezvous point in space.

Watching as the others moved to their orbital insertion point, his tactical link updated with a green diamond icon burning towards his position. "Thanks Hoshi." The Captain said to himself as the pod came into view.

The Power Armor Orbital Drop Pod was originally designed and provided to the Berserker Company due to their frequent need for rapid insertions onto enemy held worlds. The pod was shaped like an octahedron, the lower half of which was elongated to form a sharp point. The upper portion had four stabilizing fins to keep the pod aerodynamic. It was painted a gunmetal gray, with the Company's emblem stenciled on the side. As the pod approached, William intercepted it and popped the hatch, climbing inside. The interior of the pod had multiple clamps to hold the armor in place during the descent. Linking to the pods external cameras, he was able to see the planet below them, and a new HUD popped into the ID-SOLs visor.

"Berserker Actual, beginning descent." He said into the squad channel. With small maneuvering thrusters the pod, he turned towards the planet below. As it entered the atmosphere, fire began streaking by the pod, making it look like a new comet in the sky. "Terminal velocity achieved, terminal velocity achieved, terminal velocity achieved." The robotic voice of the pod's computer kept repeating as William burned his way through sky. Once the fire had subsided a loud 'thunk' was heard as the drogue chute deployed and began slowing his descent. As the pod passed 10'000 feet, small explosive bolts detonated, cracking the pod in half and allowing William to begin his free fall. "Pod separation successful." He called.

Firing his thrusters, he picked one of the towers to make his landing. As he neared the top he applied max thrust and dropped onto the roof, causing the ground beneath him to crack. "I'm dirt side." The Nepleslian said to Aiko and Hoshi as waited there for the rest of the team to arrive.

As Aiko began the count down to transport Morgana had her drones begin to pull back, still firing lances down the winding paths of the corridor and moving erratically to avoid enemy counter fire. One by one in quick succession they peeled off, back into engineering and shot up, over the group before swinging around and latching on to the racks on Morgana’s wings. The following seconds seemed to be an eternity the skittering of dozens of angry Mishhuvurthyar and thousands of parasites reverberated through the door.

Then her stomach fell through her feet as she was suddenly weightless, in orbit above Nebel. She turned to see the ship she was just aboard, just in time to see the Kaiyo’s aetheric weapons cut its now defenseless hull from bow to stern, ejecting a combination of plasma clouds made from exotic particles, white hot shards of hull and red viscera from its internal structure. She drifted for a moment simply watching the display as it began to disintegrate under the Kaiyo’s onslaught as her Mindy automatically prepared for atmospheric entry.

As she began to hit atmosphere, she turned to face the heat. The wings of her suit extended to slow her descent. Blue plasma formed at the tips and began to grow inwards over the surface as the air got thicker. For a few moments it looked as though a Phoenix was descending over the planet. The descent eventually slowed to a reasonable multiple of Mach and Morgana drew her wings in and pointed headfirst with her thrusters flaring, cutting through the air and only at an altitude of 2000 feet did she relent. Her wings spread once more and she pulled up, gliding the rest of the way to the rendezvous point. She only used the thrusters to keep her aloft when her speed dropped below stall and came to a gentle rest on the ground.

The first phase of Aiko's planetfall saw her utilize her Kirie's CFS to make initial breakthrough of the upper atmosphere, thus bypassing any possibility of atmospheric burnup. Truth be told she could have guided herself in safely without it, but was not in the mood to partake in selfish thrills right then with so much more of their mission still ahead (including all of those Mishhuvurthyar battle pods that'd come down before them). But once Aiko's Kirie was past the reaches of Nebel's mesosphere, she deactivated the armor's combined field and glided in with thrusters, jetting ahead of a steamy contrail that traced the purplish sky behind her.

"Stick close to where Captain Sanders landed," Aiko ordered, partly in reply to Molli's query. Her Nepleslian friend had made the first touchdown with Morgana following soon after, so the princess figured it was best for the team to adjust to least maneuverable armor among their company. "Keep a keen lookout for hostiles," she continued. "Hoshi-taisa will provide further directives as to our next objective after everybody is accounted for."

The pointed lower half of William's drop pod had punched into the spire like a barnacle attaching to a pillar on a pier. Except instead of being under any kind of water or cloud line, the team were high above it, some dozen or so miles above sea level. Here and there, the pale clouds parted and they could see specks of ground far, far below. The spire itself was an inky black metal that had long arches and openings at almost every level. The misty haze that rolled across the planet flowed through the building as if it had been built more for the environment than those living within it. Moisture sprayed out as it hit the building in a few rare places, but for the most part glided seamlessly in and out of the spire's alcoves and egresses and its hollow center. The crew could see doorways to rooms that were taped off by billowing semi-transparent carpenter's sheets as well as strange statues that hovered in between levels near floating stairways.

What was more pressing to look at, though, were the Mishhuvurthyar pods that Molli had watched rain down. The putrid turn of weather on Nebel had not just been from battlepods, but from escape pods as well. A new sight from the NMX were the Nekovalkyrja clambering out of them and into the building alongside glimpses of an Advanced-type here and there. A familiar sight to the away team could be seen at one such escape pod further below them was a wine red Mishhuvurthyar carapace, dappled with mottled greys and hemosynth ports that they had been fighting earlier and that Molli had lost an arm to. The Enhanced and hulkingly huge Mishhuvurthyar was outside of the building and pulling NMX Neko by the half dozen from an escape pod that had crashed through an opening of the building before moving lower to another just a few floors down.

Above them, though, battlepods razed the quiet cloudline with the sharp droning buzz of their engines as they commenced shooting on the landing party. They flew about freely but with intense purpose, like agitated wasps around a nest.

"Shoi Isuke, Belmont, Aratani alongside Hildr-hei on the battlepods!" Hoshi called as she landed next to the scientist on the building. Both of them had needed to avoid the turret fire from the nearest battlepod that had passed by their position and the captain was expediently moving towards the mostly void center of the building to get away from the battlepod's next attack. She started the process of dropping floors with her LATR pointedly swiveling as she cleared each one.

"Shoi Faelan, Molli-hei, target any Advanced-type you see and for now avoid the Enhanced you've met before at all costs. William and Muyomi-heisho, back them up. I'm finding what's bringing them all to this building with you Ketsurui-chusa." To the whole team she said, "Remember our mission to stop whatever they're constructing from proceeding so don't get lost in the sauce and be prepared to regroup. There's one," Hoshi said to Morgana and Molli's team just four floors down from where they had inserted. It was pulling at a stock of equipment and guns that had piled out of its crashed pod.

You only ever get one first mission, and this one was certainly going to leave an impression. A part of Isuke hoped this wouldn't be the norm of missions abord the Kaiyo, but another part of her thought it would make things really interesting and exciting...

At least being on the ground felt more familiar and natural to her compared to the alien interiors of a Mishhu ship. Admittedly, her prior jobs didn't involve heavy ordnance firing at her. At least she was much better protected in a Mindy then just casual wear.

"Yes ma'am!" responded Isuke, quickly moving to join up with Hildr-hei. "If we're looking to stop construction, what's the most vital target we'd look for...?"

Off the top of her head the idea of anything that would do constructing or materials would seem apt, but she wasn't exactly versed in the art of Mishhu construction techniques...

Molli touched down on the roof, but the battle pods above swiftly made it shudder from the impact of their automatic gunfire, pushing Molli to leap off the building to avoid taking unnecessary hits. One of the battle pods tried to follow her, and its bullets traced a jagged line across the wall as it tried to pin down its erratic target. Even as she focused on finding an opening, it was impossible to ignore the pods protruding from the skyscraper like stubborn ticks. Instead of sucking blood, they were bumping NMX Nekos and Mishhu squids inside, some of which also took potshots at Molli. A nearby opening appeared, and the Mindy pilot took the chance to jettison into it.

Inside the skyscraper, Molli landed inches from a nearby wall. The clouds that gently filtered into the skyscraper shed precipitous moisture over her helmet visor, which was instantly disintegrated by its shield. The interior was spacious for a skyscraper, but the floating skyscrapers next to long falls gave Molli severe concerns about the credibility of Nebel's architects. Gunfire echoed throughout the building, some of it from weapons she recognized as Yamataian, pulling Molli's attention back to the mission.

Pressing her back against the wall next to the opening she'd flown in on, Molli's Kalamari arms extended, and she handed them her shotgun and katana; the pod system installed on Mindy's leg rebooted and reformed its cloud of floating turret above her head. "Got split from ya, Will," Molli said over comms, "Ticks wanna cut m'down outside. Can y-"

An NMX Neko emerged from a distant doorway, her rifle trained on the sound of Molli's voice. The fog likely contributed to its initial burst hitting the wall inches from Molli's head. Thanks to the Mindy's UWB radar, Molli had no issue tracking her target, and her aether shotgun's retort shred into the NMX soldier, splattering her against the wall. "Naffs in th'building. They got m'number," Using the Mindy's wings, Molli cleared a path to the fallen NMX soldier in the blink of an eye, "Gerrover here as soonsya can, Tinny!"

Something was thrown into the room, prompting Molli to round the opening into the next room and face three more NMX troopers, likely the remnant of the first one's squad. They opened fire as soon as the frame of the Mindy came into view, and the foggy room soon became a lightshow of orange and green flashes as both sides exchanged gunfire. Two NMX met the same fate as their comrade: cut apart by the concentrated cone of Molli's shotgun, while the last was bisected diagonally by her aether katana. Molli's shields had taken a beating, but systems were still at operable levels.

Footsteps from below grew louder, and Molli prepared to hold them off until her backup arrived.

By now Zel was in the zone and going through the motions. From the ship till land fall it was all just a blur of actions. Her senses had taken over and were guiding her every action. Now was the time to act and thinking would only lead to delays in actions. Those delays would lead to a very poor outcome for her.

She moved into position above Aiko who had deployed her Kirie's CFS. She would ride in behind her as they punched into the atmosphere. This also afforded her to be ready should enemy attack them in flight. Her focus could be on the area around them and leave the heat shield to Aiko. As she descended her eyes widened at the sight of all the battle pods. In the moment she figured that once the ship was disabled the mission would lighten up. However the rain of fun seemed to stretch out in all directions. This ground battle was about to get interesting.

Zelphon came in hot, her Mindy making hard contact with the ground. Even before being told she had already started to target the battlepods. She watched as some would take a good hit and spill the contents out into the air. She could not help but smile as the NMX and Mishhu skidded across the landscape. It might not kill them but it sure was enjoyable giving them some much deserved road rash.

"Copy." She called out to the order. Her wings flared open and once more her weapons were exposed. A clank later and more missiles screamed into the sky. Like fireworks she watched as each missile connected with a pod, a loud pop sound filling the air. "Like popping bubble wrap." She said over comms with a chuckle.

Once William had received his marching orders, he turned to Muyomi. "Let's roll Jôtô Heisho! We got Mishu to squash." He called. As he did, the Captain activated his thrusters and began skating across the rooftop toward Molli and Morgana's position. That was when he heard Molli's call that she was pinned down. "Hold on. We are on the way."

Examining the tactical link, he saw the icon for Molli below them. The NMX forces that had her pinned down were in a room at the far end of the hall. Which just so happened to be a corner room of the building. It gave the ID-SOL a wicked idea. "Peio, get over here!" He called.

"Injured?" Muyomi asked, not really on William's wavelength nor able to get full diagnostics from his armor like she could for the rest of the team. Her movements were quick as she tapped her feet along the building's floor while also using the suit's thrusters to take bounding, flighted leaps toward the Nepleslian's bulking Cyclops.

He turned as Peio bounded towards him and, with one massive hand, plucked her out of the air. "I have an idea. Grab on." He said as he deposited the medic onto his back.

"A-alright!" The hands of Muyomi Peio's Mindy grasped at first his shoulders, then the latches between William's helmet and armor. Careful not to release the hookups, she held on as best she could and gave him a nervous but ready confirmation that she was on and there to stay.

Once she was latched onto his armor, William turned towards the edge and jumped.

As they fell, the Cyclops fired its thrusters and managed to hover just outside the building. Backing away several feet, William held out both arms and let loose a salvo from both chainguns to soften up the wall. "Keep your head down!" He called as he launched himself and, by extension, Muyomi, directly at the wall.

With battlepods behind and above her and Mishhuvurthyar below them dotting the building, Muyomi didn't have much choice but to keep her head low and avoid fire. But when she saw William blow out the side of the building in front of them, she realized she would have to do so for a different reason than she thought.

"Are all Nepleslians as crazy as you?" she asked just after he launched forward.

All William could do before crashing into the wall was laugh. With both forearm shields raised, the Cyclops burst into the room, holding the NMX that had pinned Molli down.

The Captain skidded to a halt in the center of the room, raising both arms and unloading his chainguns into the NMX that were climbing the stairs at point-blank range.

From his back, Muyomi crawled off slowly, then all at once as the ID-SOL started hacking away with his chainguns at the NMX that had followed in their sister's footsteps to pin Molli further down. Meekly, she thought of asking Molli if the other Nepleslian was okay, but she could just check her Mindy readouts for that. Instead, she hung back and watched the hulking man mow down the enemies.

William turned and looked back at Muyomi. "Sorry about that. Thought the less you knew of the plan, the better." He then looked at Molli and smirked. "Cavalry's here. That Advanced Mishu is a few floors down. Let's get moving." He called as he began trudging down the stairs to the next floor.