RP: YSS Heartbreaker [Mission 3] Call My Name And It Feels Like Home

Ayame-class Cruiser, Engineering

The only certainty about the shape on the screen was that it was not a Nekovalkyrja or known Mishuuvurthyar variant. If anyone was especially observant, they might have noticed the humanoid's face bore a resemblance to the Oni of legend. Unknown to the crew of the Heartbreaker, an android stood over the Mindy worn by Hoshitomo Rin. The android scanned the Mindy for any signs of Mishuuvurthyar physiology. "Scan complete. Mishuuvurthyar parasite not detected. Occupant is unharmed." The android intoned in perfect Yamataigo.

Its focus shifted to the unknown entity on the bridge. "Unknown alien lifeform on the Bridge." The android warned as it turned towards the hallway, walking quickly towards the nearest maintenance shaft. It calculated the most efficient route to the Bridge, and activated its anti-gravity. Floating into the access shaft, the synthetic being accelerated towards the Bridge at top speed, navigating the corridors expertly. It would be there in a matter of minutes to eliminate what it thought was a threat to the ship.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

As soon the screen showed the downed Mindy in Engineering, Hasewega was already making a beeline out of the bridge. She could feel her stomache from everything; This was already was a turn of events she hoped wouldn't happen and now the Shoi was already in danger. She was already failing her part of the mission and it they hadn't been the ship for more than half an hour. She shook the thought off, it was time to start acting like a soldier and protect her crew.

"Blesi-Hei, with your permission I'd like to go down to Engineering and secure the area with the Vekimen." She stopped for a moment to acknowledge the chain of command, the whisper of her voice elevated to a more serious volume and tone.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Docking Ring

Skade was amused that Ingrid thought that she needed a babysitter. That’s what I got these for, the Neko thought as she released the drone bits from their hanger, while turning on her CFS to keep them charged. She kept back four bits to stick to her and Veronika, and sent the other eight bits out to keep an eye on the hallways that led to their position, while she worked.

As she listened to Edtoto’s commentary, she got a nagging sensation that she was forgetting something. How are the ship’s systems going to react to an alien showing up on the bridge? Before she could voice her concerns, it was too late. Thankfully, the Technician was smart enough to get out of the lift before gravity came back online and nearly erased all the work she had done. Dang it. And now my Mindy has blood on it.

And then Rin’s signal was cut off. Rin-Shoi? Son of a… “Does anyone know what happened to Rin-Shoi?” Skade asked over the radio. Once the situation had been relayed to her, motioned Veronika to follow her, then said, “We’re going to go down the lift Rin was talking about earlier and get to Engineering that way. If you run into anything, keep it busy until we can get behind it and fight it from both sides. We’ll do likewise. Also, if someone wants to call the Heartbreaker, that would be advisable.”

After she said this, the Neko started running down the docking ring, the way Rin had disappeared earlier. I just hope the XO is alright, she thought as her bits flew in an elongated cloud around the two Mindys.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

Ingrid followed Hasawega onto the bridge as it flickered back to life. As the gravity returned, she dodged a hunk of metal falling metal, but caught a giblet with her forehead. She whimpered with disgust and picked the chunk off her helmet. She studiously avoided looking at the broken bodies on the bridge, instead staring at the main screen. When Rin's transmission cut out, she radioed, "Shoi? What's your status?" and asked her AIES to bring up her suit's telemetry.

She continued watching the main view screen as it flashed the scene in engineering and she froze up. Rin—the biggest badass she'd ever met in her life—was down and some sort of legendary monster was tromping around in engineering. The rest of the crew leapt into action and pulled her out of her horror through induction. Hasewega made for the exit and Ingrid made to follow her before Skade broke in over the radio. Ingrid's action was halted as she paused to answer, "The shoi is down! She's in engineering and there's some kind of humanoid in there with her."

Her hesitation must have halted Hasewega who asked permission to investigate. She looked around herself in an attempt to appraise the situation. Her eyes stopped on the main screen and the words written across it: "ACCESS RESTRICTED."

"Wait, Sara-hei! Hold the bridge for now. Set up firing positions with Edtoto." She turned to Bettie and, pointing at the screen, she asked her, "What is that? Why have we lost access? Can we get any other cameras?" She then interrupted herself to respond to Skade, "Roger that, Skade. Use caution, we're going to hold the bridge until we can figure something out here."

She clenched her teeth and looked down the hallway towards engineering. It was ironic. The more everything seemed to be going out of control, the more she found control of the situation resting in her own hands.

She spoke to the away team on the bridge, "If we can get the cameras back on, we can track our monster and get the upper hand. If not, we'll have to try to pincer it with Skade. Bettie, look at the system, and see if you can make heads or tails of it. Tell us what it needs."

Ayame-class Cruiser, Docking Ring

It took a moment for Veronika to react to the debris clanging into place inside the shaft. "...Bettie!" She gasped, reaching out ueslessly before regaining her composure. She readied her weapon and nodded in response to Skade's plan. She followed the other Neko, glancing at each lift as they passed only to find them fully clogged and useless. Finally, on the other side of the ring, they found one that was mostly clear. It was easy to zip through the fairly wide opening visible, the two of them emerging into a corridor that was itself half filled with debris from the lift shaft. It seemed likely that efforts had been taken to steadily clear this one, while the others had been used as frantic, panicked escape routes.

As they neared Engineering, the signs of battle Rin had described began to appear. Marks left by small arms fire on the walls and floors, bodies of crew members strewn about. The walls were scorched from intense heat closer to Engineering, the corpses burnt and partially fused together. Thankfully the smell couldn't make its way through their helmets, although the sight was unappealing enough.


Ayame-class Cruiser, Engineering

The door opened at their approach, revealing a nearly untouched interior. A pair of bodies were stacked in one corner, the nearest control panel wrecked, but the area otherwise seemed undamaged. The Mindy was right where the others had seen it fallen on the main screen, laid out in front of another station that was detailing the current power supply status across the ship. This close the suit was happy to respond to friendly communications, showing Rin's name and rank floating nearby like they would expect. While they couldn't see her through the helmet at the moment, the Mindy could tell them she was unconscious but otherwise unharmed.

Engineering was otherwise empty. Unknown to them, the android had left well before they'd arrived, the maintenance shaft close enough but nothing that would register importance to them at the moment. It continued unopposed through the ship, soon to emerge into the corridors outside of the Bridge.


Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

"Veronika!" Bettie had a similar delayed reaction, frozen at the sight of the thing on the screen before she realized how they had been cut off, and where her partner was likely heading. She fretted, squirming in place, until Ingrid's questions finally got through to her. "H-huh? I don't...Vee's the smart one, she deals with this stuff! I don't...don't..." She shook her head, but was eventually convinced to poke at the nearest computer while the others were scrambling to prepare their defenses. "It just says we don't have the authorization to access security features. It recognizes me as Star Army, but we're not crew members...it says another crew member already gave it orders to stay locked down." She was scowling inside of her helmet. "The MEGAMI isn't online, or we could just explain ourselves to it. What's left is way more basic. We're stuck dealing with everything, like, manually...?"

Edtoto continued to screw with the systems on the computer, scowling a little at what was happening. Was someone seriously requesting to go scout a foreign ship, and take the alien with them? The scoffed to herself. As much as Yamatai probably wouldn't like it, she was better off here in the Bridge. Kiraten were the work horses, Sivaro were the problem solvers. "Never send a Sivaro to do a Kiraten's work... I respectfully decline that request. I may be geared up for fighting, but the Sivaro are Scholars and Scientists. What you would call Nerds I think? Physically, we are the weakest, thinnest, and least suited for combat. Especially given I am female. No, my time would be spent much better if I were to continue working on this" She explained, looking at the computer for a little while.

"If I could get through to a base code, I think I would be able to break into the system" Edtoto started up again, looking around. "I have been reading up on your computer software coding and the like in my free time. If I am to understand it correctly, this ship is not connected to your FleetCom and is simply running off whatever it was running on previously, which also means it hasn't been updated with your continued anti-hacking" She babbled on, starting to check other computers that were locked down.

When she finally managed to get something... A screen /not/ showing that it was locked down, she sat down again. "Plus, why would you put someone who is wearing armour countless decades old when everyone else able-bodied and such is wearing super hightech armour that allows out do something no creature of my biological calibre would have a chance of out matching. I should probably stay where I am

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

Ingrid stared at Bettie and stammered, "You're not—Veronika is—I sent both of—SHI-IT! Form with Sara-hei—go!" She looked at the entrance to the bridge and the firing lines that Hasewega was arranging, but found Hasewega alone, watching the door. She looked around for the Vekimen, and found her still at the computer consoles. Edtoto reminded her that she was a scientist and engineer and Ingrid found herself nodding. She replied, "You're right, Edtoto. Sara-hei," she called out, "keep us covered. Delay it or distract it, or if it wants to talk, just, uh, talk to it, I guess."

She moved to the one working console and leaned over Edtoto sitting at the console. She opened communications and said, "Blesi-hei to Heartbreaker. Sitrep: Hoshitomo-shoi is incapacitated in engineering, Skade and Veronika are checking on her. The Vekimen, Sara, Bettie and myself are on the bridge. We caught a glimpse of an unidentified humanoid in engineering and we believe it is coming our way. We're locked out of the ship's systems, can you assist with cracking or override or command codes or anything?" To Edtoto, she said, "Let's get this thing cracked."

Ayame-class Cruiser, Maintenance Shaft

With no obstructions or enemy combatants in the maintenance shaft, it only took a few minutes for the android to reach the Bridge corridor. It attempted to connect with the ship's systems to get a camera feed of the bridge before proceeding. It managed to make a limited connection, enough to get a video feed of the four of them on the bridge. Three Nekovalkyrja and an unknown alien. The android was completely silent as it traveled directly towards the group.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

There was no attempt at communication with the four of them. The Nekos were the biggest threat. It was fully aware of the capabilities of well-trained Nekos. The element of surprise would be vital. It would incapacitate the three and then eliminate the unauthorized alien either way. The android rushed into the Bridge, palm extended and weapons set to stun.

Up close, the android's appearance was clearer. It was nearly six feet tall and appeared to be in a Star Army uniform. On closer inspection, it was obvious that the body was merely painted to resemble a uniform. A patch on his chest displayed the logo of the Army of Infinite Blades. The android's eyes were small slits that glow blue. The face looked like an Oni mask with an angry expression. A curious part of the design was the fingers. It had three fingers and a thumb on each hand.

The first shot was fired the instant Sara was in sight. A scalar field that could incapacitate even Nekovalkyrja and disable electronics.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

Hasewega was silently observing the entrance before the intruder rushed in. Her rifle raised to meet the threat but she hesitated, spotting what seemed to look like a Star Army uniform. She wasn't about to shoot a what she thought was a friendly till she noticed the patch and face of the android before pulling the trigger. She managed to ring a shot off on the aggressor before being hit by the scalar field. Everything went bright before it felt like her body was seizing up, barely having enough strength to lower her rifle before firing off several more shots in to the deck as her grip tightened around the rifle before collapsing as her muscles gave out.

She wanted to get back up. She wanted to get back up and keep shooting to protect the team but her body disagreed. She simply collapsed to her knees in pain before falling forward, feeling everything going dark.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

"Funabashi here. Hoshitomo-Shoi has been retrieved and is being escorted to the nearest available exit for extraction by the Kourui. The Taii and Ochiko are working on securing access to the ship's computer as we speak. Her orders are to protect our guest and evacuate her and all crew members ASAP. Investigation or recovery of the Ayame-class Cruiser is no longer a priority."

Bettie moved away as Edtoto took over at the computer, leaving her logged in as the Neko for now. The display was displaying only the most basic of information, similar to the treatment the alien was used to receiving aboard the Heartbreaker. It was responding politely to their queries and attempts, without giving access to much of anything truly interesting. It would take the alien a bit of poking and prodding to get it to cooperate, but things were moving much more swiftly than when Ochiko was overseeing everything directly.

The tall, imposing android strode onto the Bridge with purpose, pausing at the door to blast Sara, sending the Minkan to the floor in a twitching pile. She had a few moments to think about that patch that she'd seen as she fired. Triangular, red, with something like a W or E in the middle. Why did it seem familiar? The shot from her LASR struck the android center mass but at an angle, leaving a nasty gash before the projectile ricocheted away. Bettie had been hurrying towards the door to reinforce their defenses, crying out as Sara went down, raising her weapon as the other's uselessly shot the floor. She rapidly sprayed projectiles in her foe's direction, forcing the android to retreat back into the corridor to the side of the door to escape. Bettie stood near Sara's fallen form to continue covering her, sending out a wireless plea for Ingrid or any other crew members to assist her in pinning down the android.

Around the corner, the android took stock of the situation. Its connection to the Bridge cameras still showed their positions, giving it time to plan another push inside once Bettie stopped sending out bursts of fire. As it waited, the gash across its chest was already starting to close, edges smoothing over and pulling together to slowly seal the wound.

Meanwhile, Edtoto finally managed to pull up some relevant information, the firefight only slightly distracting. The computer still wouldn't give her full control, but it did notify her that another crew member was currently connected to the Bridge cameras. As the Vekimen finally found something she could control, the android suddenly found its view of the Bridge cut off, as access to the ship's cameras was denied to it. Edtoto was starting to find a few more helpful options, like being able to open and close most of the doors on the ship, including the one to the Bridge. It was also begrudgingly granting her access to the airlocks, the gravity and power control Rin had already accessed, lights and life support...


Heartbreaker, Bridge

Tsukisaki Valesti furiously scowled at the main screen as she worked, connected to the other ship via SPINE, with assistance from Ochiko. The same symbol that had caught Veronika's attention and disturbed Rin enough that she ran off by herself to investigate it was plastered across the screen. Similar to the scene on the other ship, "ACCESS RESTRICTED" was written in large, red letters underneath the logo.

Edtoto finally got into a system that would allow her to try and bypass the locks. It took her a few minutes to finally get the right set up down, figure out the base language enough to finally crack the lockdown on the ship. She had Camera control, Door Control, and other basic ship controls. It was a start, and it was enough for her to deal with this problem.

"Clear the hatch!" She shouted, force removing the droid from the computer systems. She knew she would have to fight it, but ow she was in she could. Her only concern was that she was facing an AI that was likely able to process information much faster than her. It was like a chess game where they got 12 moves to her one and they started white.

Once she was sure the doors to the bridge were clear, she slammed them shut, and proceeded to play her game. "Ingrid! You need to do something because I won't be able to keep the android out of the systems for very long. This is an unfair system, I don't have any computer assistance right now" She called out, her fingers already having to go fairly aggressive on the keyboard. "I need a full rundown on the suit integrity of everyone on the ship. I also need full access to the radio's. I need to properly communicate with the team I have access to basic ship systems and /trying/ to reprogram the security systems to go gainst the android. Might need to shut down gravity and see if I can void atmosphere from the adjacent hallway"

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

The android was surprised when the camera feed was suddenly cut off. The doors slammed shut in front of his eyes he knew what happened. The unknown alien had hacked into the ship's systems. It was beginning to experience anger for the first time. Instead of reacting recklessly as a human might, it considered the options carefully.

Multiple scenarios were predicted. The doors could be melted with the excess heat from its reactor. By the time it broke through reinforcements might arrive. Meanwhile, the entire ship could be under the enemy's control. The alien couldn't possibly resist a cyber attack for long. Once the door was open, the android would disable the other Nekovalkyrja and eliminate the hostile with its vibroblades to minimize damage to the ship. couldn't be allowed full access to the ship's systems. Self-destruct protocols would be engaged if that happened. A twinge of some unknown feeling stirred in its chest at the thought of self-destructing.

In a matter of seconds, the most efficient course of action was decided. The determined android connected to the ship's systems and began forcing its way back in. The alien was pretty good, but ultimately still limited by biology. A pitched battle in cyberspace began that was impossible for Edto to win. After the initial struggle, the android was cutting off access to the systems one by one. Every time it seemed like Edto would get into one system, two more were closed off until she was completely locked out.

The doors slid open and the android charged through the doorway, firing another scalar blast at the Neko guarding the Bridge. It barely slowed to see if the blast made contact. A vibroblade slid out of its right arm and began to hum as it powered on. It ignored Ingrid and rushed the alien, swinging the deadly blade at Edto with impressive speed. The blade struck her in the upper arm and barely slowed down when it made contact with bone.

Edtoto cursed how wrong she was with her metaphors. With the lack of computer assistance and the lack of true knowledge on the system, the android was able to win the game before she could properly move. He would pop up in a system, she would reject him, and she wouldn't be able to access other systems. When she tried to guess he was eve faster. On an unfamiliar system, she was screwed... But in a way she already knew this was going to happen. She knew she was going to lose. She knew she was only going to buy the team maybe a few seconds to get their jobs done.

When she finally conceded defeat, she needed to prepare. She was part of a firing line, and while she could decline soldier jobs previously, there was nothing else to do. She could only fight at this point. She got up to prepare her weapons for a fight and watched the door shoot open. The speed at which the android moved baffled her. She raised her arm to shoot at it, watching the others on the bridge fall from what looked like non-lethal strikes. Her side-arm cleared her holster just as the Android got to her, and she pulled the trigger. Something was wrong, though...

Her helmet exploded into a cacophony of alarms and warning, red lights and messages flashing. She stumbled back at the sound, bringing her hands up to remove the front plate of her helmet to get these alarms away from her. Her left hand unsnapped the locks, leaving her confused as to why she couldn't find her head with her right hand. Relief showed on her face as she finally got the helmet off, looking up at the Android who was likely standing not far away.

She looked at how his body was splattered in blood. Was she hit? Again, she brought her hands up to check herself, and couldn't find anything with it. For that matter, she was starting to feel a dull throb in her right arm. She brought it up, to see there was nothing there. Her look of relief was quickly replaced with a look of confusion, before she saw her arm, still holding her side arm, twitching on the ground.

The effect was immediate. Those close enough could see the Lizards pupils shrink to pinpoints as she connected the dots to her situation. Her breathing grew short and rapid as she looked down at her arm, then at the android. "I... I needed that..." She mumbled, stumbling and falling to her hand and knees. "What... What am I going to do without an arm? I need that arm..." She continued her voice far from the calm, direct tone it had. She reached out and grabbed the severed limb, trying uselessly to reattach it to her body. Her only saving grace was the smooth, microscopic cut provided such perfect conditions for her veins and arteries to spasm and shut down which stopped her from bleeding out.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

The android incapacitated Hasewega quickly and was gone. Ingrid had no chance to react to the lightning strike and aimed her LASR at the doorway as Bettie laid down suppressive fire. She brought up her energy cloak shield and sidled across the room to where Hasewega fell. She kneeled and checked the santo hei to see if she was still alive. She satisfied herself that Sara-hei was still breathing as Bettie paused her pinning fire. She radioed, her voice eerily calm in the brief silence but firm in its exhortation, "Skade, come to the bridge. Now. Heartbreaker, Sara-hei is down but stable."

The lull was broken by a burst of activity from the android as it rushed into the room again and blasted Bettie. She tried tracking its movement and sent a burst of fire chasing it as it darted across the room and severed Edtoto's arm. Arming a missile in her shoulder-mounted launcher, she put another burst of LASR fire onto the android letting her AIES do the fine tuning, hoping to drive it away from Edtoto enough that she could start using her heavy ordnance.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Docking Ring

Ugh, Skade thought as she and Veronika made their way towards Engineering. The gruesome signs of battle were clear, though what they were fighting wasn’t as clear at the breakneck pace the Nekos were traveling at. Maybe it’s the thing that hit Rin? Who knows.

Ingrid seems to be handling things well though, the Technician thought as she heard the scientist’s orders. At least as well as anyone could be. If we don’t royally screw up anything, she’s a shoe in for that shiny Good Conduct medal. The Santo Hei shrugged. I just hope I do well enough to get my stripe back. “Roger that, Ingrid,” she replied back.

Oh, sweet, the Neko thought as the XO’s Mindy came into view. Rin is okay. I’m still wondering how she got taken out, but at least she’s fine. Pulling up the ship’s schematic, she started looking for a way to rejoin the rest of the away team. Hmm…there’s this maintenance shaft that looks like it heads up to the bridge. But are there any open shafts on that level?

Before Skade could com Ingrid, all heck broke loose. An android? Sara’s already down? Well, so much for not screwing things up. Turning to Veronika, the Technician put an armored hand on the other Neko’s shoulder and said, “Don’t respond on coms. This android thing might have access to our frequencies. You're going to take Rin-Shoi up to the shuttle, then come back to me. Once you get back, we're going to head up that maintenance shaft,” pointing at the one that lead up to the bridge, “which should spit us out right next to the bridge. It must have been the route the robot took to get there so fast. I’m going to look around here while you get the XO to safety.” Smiling, Skade slapped Veronika’s arm and said, “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

After the other engineer went off on her quest, the Technician went to the control panel that Rin had apparently been accessing. Maybe there’s some kind of virus on this thing? She thought as she put Rin’s Mindy into a sitting position. Well, that’s why you don’t send an XO to do a technician’s job. Pulling out her communicator, she set it into an isolated state, so she would be protected against any viruses, plugged it into the control panel, then used it to open up the interface. What she found was mostly what Bettie and Edtoto had found up in the bridge. Hmm…manual access, eh? The Neko cracked her fingers, brought up the communicator’s virtual keyboard and started typing rapidly. Let’s whip up something real quick.

A few minutes, an anxious Veronika, and an angry order from Ingrid later, Skade was ready. Thanks to Edtoto and Ochiko’s work, the android’s access port was easy to find, especially since it was down here in Engineering. And since we don’t have to worry about recovering the ship now, it’s time to test my new malware. “Skade-hei to Heartbreaker,” she commed as she put the finishing touches on the virus. “Be advised that an e-war package is about to be delivered to the enemy combatant through the ship’s network. It might cause some issues if you’re connected. Skade-hei out.” Don’t want them to give me an order not to do it, she thought as she pressed the enter key. You know, since I already did it. She then rushed up the maintenance shaft with Veronika and the drone bits floating around them. I hope my time was well worth it and no one was killed in the meantime. And that I didn't just jinx anything.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

Edtoto steadily found herself forced back out of the systems she had accessed, until she had finally lost all control. That was when the android made its move. Bettie fired a burst as soon as it reappeared, striking its torso, but the machine didn't even slow down. She was left in a twitching pile next to Sara, who was just now starting to stir as Ingrid checked on her. The scientist's first round of return fire sent consoles sparking, and jagged trail across the wall as she lagged just a split second behind the android's path. The next round struck home, however, as the android stopped moving to disarm their alien friend.

The humanoid machine spasmed and twtitched as its shell was further shredded, sparks flying from its torso. It was besieged by error reports and damage indicators, but this was only slowing it down, and not threatening to long term operation. Edtoto fumbled in front of it as the android struggled to finish her off, and Ingrid attempted to lock on with something that would end the threat without catching their VIP in the crossfire.

All of the distractions of system failures and stuttering movement left the unknown android open to another avenue of attack. Since it had worked so hard to put all of the ship's systems under its control, Skade had found it surprisingly easy to sneak in her hastily compiled virus. It was about as subtle as expected from her taste in music, and similar to her contribution to the previous mission in other ways. The android was suddenly bombarded with data noise and requests from every system on the ship that Skade had seen the android controlling, bogging it down enough for its systems to automatically soft reboot to purge all of the annoyances.

The machine only froze up for a few moments, but that was enough to make a difference. Skade and Veronika arrived just as Sara was rising to join the fight, as the android returned to full consciousness to find more weaponry pointed its way that it had expected when coming up with this plan. The image that had been frozen on the main screen finally changed, surprising everyone assembled with a view of the Heartbreaker's bridge.

"All Star Army personnel, stand down immediately and cease all hostilities. This is a direct order from Taii Tsukisaki Valesti, commanding officer of the NS-U1-107427 YSS Heartbreaker." The crew members were all a bit confused, both by the order itself and the Captain's introduction. They were all well aware of her rank and assignment, after all. The android also seemed to be reacting peculiarly. "This is a formal restatement of our orders from Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Himiko I of Yamatai and Taisho Ketsurui Yui to provide support to the alien known as Edtoto Nar Sivaro, representative of a friendly species known as the Vekimen which have been designated as endangered and under the protection of the Star Army of Yamatai. Your previous orders to render aid to Officer Sivaro and abandon the Ayame-class cruiser to return to the Heartbreaker still stand."

By this time, Bettie had begun to stir, and Veronika immediately lowered her weapon to assist her partner. The rest of the crew could see the familiar sight of their Captain scowling at them through the screen as a tense silence was left after her overly formal explanation of things they were all already well aware of, which didn't seem to be doing anything to help their alien ambassador from bleeding out. Unknown to any of the anxious soldiers, a little light inside the injured android's head quietly switched from red to green.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

The android's face plate retracted revealing an emotionless humanoid face. His vibroblades shut off and slid back into his arms. It turned towards the screen and saluted the Captain, replying in perfect Yamataian. "Taii Tsukisaki Valesti. Prototype Android, designation Kinzuko no Byakko, accepts your authority as Captain of the YSS Heartbreaker. Mission from Empress Himiko acknowledged. Rendering aid to the endangered alien of the Vekimen species known as Edtoto Nar Sivaro." The android turned to the injured alien and examined her. As the bleeding had stopped, he determined the best course of action was getting her to someone with knowledge of the Vekimen species.

It picked Edto up and put her over its shoulders. "Abandoning Ayame-class cruiser as ordered. The Captain will be pleased to hear that all Mishuuvurthyar onboard have been eliminated." The android seemed to ignore the rest of them as well as the ones it rendered unconscious. It proceeded to exit the room carrying Edto, presumably headed towards the Heartbreaker.

Edtoto continued to try uselessly to attach her arm as if she were some machine, finally dropping it. She was wheezing heavily, looking around at the crew but unaware of what was going on. She could feel people talking, but it all seemed garbled. Her vision was blurring as well, only vaguely aware of the colours and IR around her without the ability to really identify the differences. She wasn't aware of the Taii currently speaking to those in the bridge, and probably looked rather pathetic sitting on the deck, freaking out and clutching at her new stump and holding back sobs.

"Ingrid..? Sara..?" She wheezed as she was picked up and rather unceremoniously thrown over a shoulder. They were the only two other than the captain she had any real contact with and the only ones she knew were immediately around. "I... I need my things!" She stated, weakly pointing as the android walked away. "I need my gear... I need my arm" She continued, slumping against the android back. She didn't even know it was taking her, but she was glad the shooting had stopped. That would be enough for right now.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

Ingrid's AIES was putting rounds dead on target causing sharp sparks, flaking debris and pwinging ricochets. The android ignored this all and made a motion to finish off Edtoto, but suddenly halted. Ingrid held her fire and examined the battered thing while Hasewega got up and Skade and Veronika arrived. Ingrid felt the adrenaline in her veins grow stale as she stared down her gun at the android. She was almost able to think clearly again when the machine twitched back to life. It made no threatening movements, but she felt like she was being judged in a clinically logical way. She was about to pelt it with another burst of LASR fire when Tsukisaki-taii managed to get her face on TV.

Ingrid was surprised. She was itching to pull the trigger on her LASR again, but Valesti's detailed self-identification implied a certain gravity---like when her father would address her by her full name---and she held her fire. Feeling like a scolded child, she lowered her weapon slowly. She started when the android snapped its crisp salute, accepting the order Tsukisaki-taii issued, and watched utterly befuddled as he hefted Edtoto over his shoulders and strode out of the room.

She looked around her at the battered away team. Bettie was beginning to come around, Hasewega was on her feet again, albeit staggered, and Skade and Veronika had arrived. She holstered her gun and glanced at the screen. "Heartbreaker medical bay, prepare to receive wounded. Edtoto Nar'Sivaro has lost an arm, and she's bleeding badly. Bettie-hei and Sara-hei have sustained scalar blasts, but are upright." She then said to the group, "Veronika, you go help Bettie, please. Sara-hei, lean on me if you need to," She looked at the shaft they had entered through, now clogged with debris. "Skade, lead us out the way you came in. Or..." She gestured pathetically at the trail of blood that Edtoto had left behind as she was carried out. "Let's just get out of here."

Exhausted, she began moving out along with the rest of the team.

Ayame-class Cruiser, Bridge

As her senses started coming back to her, Haswega was already back up to a kneeling position and had her rifle trained on the android before Valesti was appeared on screen and issued the stand down. Her senses were still dull as everything had a bright blow around and sounded like she was underwater but she definitely tell it was the captain speaking and lack of anyone shooting the android was enough for her to know what was going on. As the android took off with Edtoto, her shoulders slumped down and posture went from rigid to tired.

Everything felt stiff as the minkan rose to her feet. Being hit with a scalar blast did a number on her as she groggily took a step forward, her body still weakened from it. She could barely hear Edtoto speak, catching only the last part about an arm. She silently waved off Ingrid's offer as waddled over to the bloody limb and picking it up. She was too sore and shocked to notice Edoto was an missing arm and trailing blood or that the android just took off the ambassador. She simply dragged herself off the bridge and followed the blood trail, running off of adrenaline and willpower for the time being.