RP: YSS Miharu Mission 3: The sound of machina

Kai almost flinched as the SLAG rounds went off close to him, silently curing the damage it had caused him, much more damage than those knockoff machines had been. Cursing silently, he continued forward, following Nyton's orders as closely as he could. He noticed his Magaizine was nearly out of Ammunition, so he switched to full auto and unloaded on the enemies before him, then quickly grabbed a new magazine, replacing the old one with military precision.

" ... " Yukari gazed back at Yuzuki. It was more like she was looking through her, scrutinizing her for a brief moment while she put her flashlight back. But the Shosa's eyes softened, and she dipped her body a little in a small bow.

"Continue with your repairs, Yuzuki-san. We require Miharu to be in the best shape possible. The Taisa expects no less." She did not rise from her bow, but instead deepened it, and without waiting for Yuzuki, she held her arms out for a hug.

Except, it was not a hug for Yuzuki. It was for the corpse of the sprite.

For a few moments, Yuzuki felt as if she were in some sort of limbo. The figure bowing before her seemed uncommon and surreal. She was taken aback. Was it respect for the dead that the Shosa was showing? Was it respect for her? More than a little conflicted, Yuzuki finally managed a sort of half-bow, struggling to return the honor she should have given, first.

"Hai, Shosa-san."

The body passed hands.

As she squeezed by through the hatch into the engineering compartment, she felt a twinge of hesitation. Had the Shosa been offering to carry the body? Had she been offering comfort? Honestly, Yuzuki could not tell. But she wanted out of that space. The image of the abandoned sprite floating silent and gruesome in a mist of her own blood was haunting her.

'Ozuno-san' she sent, reaching out for someone else, for once.

'Hai, Yuzuki-san?'

'Find a high-pressure hose and resupply the gravimetric cooling system, then reconnect the primary power bus. After fifteen minutes, repressurize the compartment and report to the bridge, all gravimetric systems green.'

'Hai!'

Floating near the heat-warped deck grating, Yuzuki looked up at the welders, who had finally finished their work. The hole had not been as big as she had first assumed it was. The automated hull repair machines were already taking over the damage control team's efforts from the outside. Someone had run a few trouble lights into the space and it was starting to look like it was supposed to, again, if you could ignore all the debris.

A couple of the other sprites stopped work to view her, and it was when she noticed them that she realized how shitty she looked and felt, again. Suddenly she had the urge to remove her helmet, to find some place to relax and calm down, but there were other damages to the ship that would need checked by a technician.

The day wasn't over yet, even if the immediate danger to the ship had been dealt with. Weary, she started to float out of the space, but stopped halfway through the door and turned back.

"Shosa-san," she found herself saying, "Do you need any help?"

"Yes sir!" Takuma shouted, pulling the small trigger as far back as the frame would allow it to go. He could feel the force of the detonation ripple throughout the gun as the round escaped speedily out the front of the barrel.

Once the round turned to a mass of smoke and debris, Takuma lowered the gun and quickly followed the Assault Team while sending the next round into the chamber.

Yukari had followed Yuzuki out into the engineering compartment. She held the slack body of the sprite in her arms, with blood having spotted her AMES, too, including a few drops on her helmet.

The sprites who were wielding and repairing stopped what they were doing and looked at the body. Yukari looked back at them, just behind Yuzuki.

The Shosa's eyes were hard, but a layer of wet softened her gaze. She shot glances from sprite to sprite who looked at her and the body in her arms. She could not feel for long the things each sprite was feeling.

"Junko-san died doing her duty," she said in Yamataian, across an open channel, darting back and forth among the sprites. "She died working to save this vessel, and the Empire.

"She died to save us."

She paused, and brought her eyes down to Junko, then up to the rest of the sprites. "More will be said when we have time to properly honor her death. To continue talking, or staring, would dishonor her."

Now it was the sprites' turns to fling their focus wherever seemed most likely to evade guilt. "Am I understood?"

"Y-yes!" one of the sprites on the floor squeaked. She was one of the older ones that had been newly created; she was perhaps 20 minutes older than Junko.

"The Taisa requires Miharu's strength to match Miharu's spirit." Pause. "Am I understood?"

"Yes!" More of the sprites responded.

"Junko was repairing the gravimetric engines. Someone is handling this?"

"Yes!" Ozuno-san declared.

"Good. I expect success from all of you." Yukari paused yet again, then snapped, "Wakarimashitaka?"

"Haw!" the sprites all replied with a shout.

Yukari nodded stiffly. She then looked to Yuzuki, as the rest of the sprites redoubled their efforts.

"That applies to us too, Yuzuki-san. I trust you."

Yuzuki waited at the door, listening to the Shosa talk, but not responding. Almost in awe, she watched helmets for a little while, before finally settling her attention on the Shosa with the attention of a bug drawn to a bug light.

"Hai, Shosa-san. I am honored."

That was just about it. She was bodily weary and feeling light-headed. It wasn't the sight of blood that was bothering her. There were thoughts floating around in her mind that she couldn't quite cope with, and a lasting, residual guilt that was worming its way steadily into her conscience. She didn't know why, it just bugged her.

'I think I am going to go work on the fabrication bay,' Yuzuki sent, carefully. A part of her wanted to stay, and a part of her wanted to do nothing but find something to do alone. 'If you need something, though.'

Hang in there just a little bit longer. Yoroko thought as her eyes flicked over here orange shields, regretting having taken the counter-measure missile pods instead of the leg capacitors. Then the charge started again, Yoroko was no more than one step behind Kai, and two behind Nyton as she moved to clear the room. When Nyton and Kai swept into the entrance she automatically swept her rifle out to the side prepared to engage any hostiles that appeared trying to flank the group.

As the support team returned to the hangar, Tom acknowledged Sora and directed the captives to the Hoshi.

"Ok. Facilities on the Hoshi are operational. Our medical crew will take good care of you. Please file into the Hoshi in an organized manner so that the staff may perform their duties efficiently."

With that, he reopened communications to the support team.

"Ok everyone, we have to hurry back now and get the rest of the prisoners. Confirm you are ready. We depart together. We may encounter enemy fire so have your weapons at the ready."

Tom reloaded his LASR as he awaited the team.

"Engineering crew, we may then have an opportunity to repair this other ship here if we have the time."

With his attention pressed towards the unfortunate former slaves, Sanjuro had little time to do anything other than work. It was lucky, extraordinarily lucky that the slave holding area had not seen any more action since their first encounter here...the possibility had played through Sanjuro's head grimly for every precious second he spent treating his patience. The Doctors focus was not without its benefits, however; he was nearly done checking the last of the patients the Support Team had left him. There were a lot of serious injuries, enough to have Sanjuro question just why these prisoners were even kept in such a state instead of discarded...but it wasn't Sanjuro's job to analyze how his foes went about running their slave pens. Although most of them were in no condition to walk, they were all stable enough to at least make the trip back to the Miharu with a healthy amount of assistance.

However, Sanjuro could not ignore his makeshift nurse any longer. The armored medical officer turned over to Wazu for a moment before standing up and walking briskly over the patients he had been working on. '...adequate.' Sanjuro said, glancing over Wazu's handiwork. "I am finished treating the serious injuries. I am going to call for assistance in transporting them to our ship...I suggest you stay in the area and leave with the patients. It is safer in our vessel."

When he was finished explaining the plan to Wazu, Sanjuro turned around and followed through with it. "Freeman-Juni," Sanjuro spoke into his suits' communication systems, his voice still as flat as ever, but with heavy breaths of exhaustion peeking out now and then. "The critical patients have been stabilized at the moment. Requesting orders as to their transportation back to the Miharu."

Takuma's bazooka shot roared down the vertical passageway, visiting devastation to the neko-androids. Subsequent shots from the rest of the team members covering for the support team and the extraction of the prisoners finally seemed to be withering down the last remnants of the wave.

However, their opponents showed no intention of going down silently. Of the dozen of so metallic nekovalkyrja drones, one fired from a grenade launcher, striking deeply amongst the group with a psionic grenade. While most already knew of he threat it posed and scattered, Yuri was caught on the edge and was left to drop limply like a swatted fly.

Nimura, still on point, was quick to whirl around and catch the falling samurai trainee's Daisy with her shield arm, but doing so exposed her at the worst moment, seeing her barrier field was weak. The enemy quickly capitalized on that advantage and concentrated fire on her (something they had been doing most of the fight, but she had always managed so far to shield herself or keep her barrier healthy). Successive hits struck Nimura; savaging the fusion thruster pack in her back, clipping off part of her Daisy's right knee actuator, ricocheting nastily off her helmet, destroying one of her forearm cannons (yanking her LASR out of her grasp to tumble down) and striking over her torso enough times to breach twice - drawing out explosive sprays of red fluids.

"Throw her up!" Aoiko called, quickly stowing her weapon away, and with a mighty heave Nimura threw the samurai's limp Daisy for the Chui to catch. Aoiko caught Yuri by the midsection and quickly began scooting out and up the gravity elevator.

On Nyton's side of thing, Nimura's damage diagram became something of a light show as individual section flashed and updated her status, showing an increasing number of yellow and red blotches, with several of the red blotched flashing again and indicating both hardware damage and a wounded pilot - the light show stopped shy from showing any greyed out components aside from the thruster backpack, but it didn't look like that Daisy had much operation strength left in it. Of the pilot...

Well... Nimura, her crippled armor scorched, torn and bleeding, still whirled back toward the enemy with a battered shield before her; her plasma rifle whipped out from over her shoulder to keep fighting.

* * *

Miharu sailed across space, leaving probes at the places Kotori and Kiyoko had agreed to before the light cruiser was delicately eased back in the gas giant's asteroid ring. Miyoko, having been so used to Yukari always piloting the ship, quickly noticed that Kotori herself - while proficient - did not fly the ship with the smoothness and grace that the Shosa seemed to effortlessly muster up everytime she was at the helm.

The Taisa gave out a sigh and switched inertial anchors on before leaning back more comfortably on her seat. "Now we wait," Kotori said, turning amber eyes on Miyoko. "Either for Hoshi to return, or for defold signatures to come through our probes' sensors."

“Right,” Wazu said, thinking to himself ‘so shut up already while we save everyone’ he returned to check the captive he was helping last. The knots holding the splint together were questionable at best, but they would hold together well enough. The rifle’s also didn’t fit together well for the purpose of being a splint but again, they would work well enough until they got back to the ‘ship’.

That led to the question of what to do now.

As Wazu looked around he saw that the captive was still laying there and he didn’t exactly have something to use to prop up her head and legs. He decided to sit back down near her head and lift it up so that he could rest it against his legs.

With the exception of the head against his leg, the rest of his body was cold. He wasn’t sure if that was the room or something wrong with his body. Surely his torn pants couldn’t be helping, he would consider requesting additional clothing once they were transported to the ship. He would also need to get his head checked out, he would reach up and feel the gash in his head. For the most part the blood had dried by now but the gash was far to long for him to want to contemplate just what was damaged under it. For the time being all he had to do was sit right where he was.

Gallant said:

'I think I am going to go work on the fabrication bay,' Yuzuki sent, carefully. A part of her wanted to stay, and a part of her wanted to do nothing but find something to do alone. 'If you need something, though.'

Click to expand...

Yukari's reply was brief, and it was sent as she walked away toward the medical bay. 'This death is not yours to agonize over, neh? I am executive officer of this vessel; you are a technician. Allow blame to rest where it belongs, and give the Taisa your best. Start by using a decontamination shower.'

The Shosa was soon in the medical lab, where she gently laid Junko down to rest on a bed. She took off her AMES helmet and sucked in a long breath. Her suit was spotted with blood; she would need to decontaminate, too.

That could wait.

She went back to Junko's body and cradled it in her arms again. Slow steps were taken to one of the hemosynthetic reconstruction tubes, which opened for Yukari. She carefully placed the body inside, then paused. "Miharu, how old was Junko-san?"

"Er." The ship seemed to think about that. "Maybe four hours?"

Yukari nodded. "Those four hours she experienced. Were they, eventful?"

"Well, she did a lot of work. She ate some rice and some protein bars. Became aroused over one of her sisters. And she showered once! But that's about it."

Another nod. "In all likelihood, she could be revived with minimal loss to experience and memory, as she had very little to start. That is possible, yes?"

Miharu affirmed the possibility. "Her soul was automatically backed up upon creation. I can create a new Junko inside an hour."

"Not without her knowing about her death," Yukari replied, bunching the body's legs up to fit inside the tube. "The experience of death should not be wasted."

Miharu pondered that thought. "I can do something about that. If I use her original body, patch it up and restore her soul after repairing her 'brain', I might be able to restore some of the old memories. If not, I'll put them in as briefing data."

"Thank you, Miharu," Yukari said with a small smile. "I shall get her suit off of her."

Within a few minutes, Junko's ruined AMES and her technician's uniform were discarded, and the small, rather cute Nekovalkyrja was put back into the tube, naked. Yukari brushed some of the Neko's dirty black hair from her eyes. Yukari had closed Junko's eyes when she had taken the helmet off.

The tube filled up fast with reddish liquid, and Junko's body disappeared inside of it. Yukari looked at the tube with her arms folded across her chest. She huffed. "Let me know when she is ready. I must report to the Taisa."

"Roger," Miharu replied.

Yukari donned her helmet again and went to the decontamination showers, speaking to Kotori through the helmet headset.

"Taisa," she said. "Repairs are continuing along schedule. Sprite technician Junko was KIA due to a mechanical malfunction; she is in the process of being revived by Miharu. Do you require me on the bridge?"

As the Assault Team landed at the opening to the fourth level they found another large hallway. This one did not branch off in opposite directions but rather had a wide opening from where they were standing in. The hall led down towards several rooms on either side which stored equipment for maintenance. Power supplies, conduits, generators, and batteries were stored inside several rooms. Equipment for repairs and damage control were stored away although most of the useful gear had already been moved. Regardless, there was still much noise being registered from this level. Machinery was still working to keep the base functioning even during the evacuation and attack. There was no sign of any enemies even as the withering explosions behind them continued to resound. The only sign would be Takuma's arrival shortly after them, having passed Aoiko carrying Yuri up on his way down.

The Assault Team had landed just as Nyton had situated them. For the most part. They formed a semi-circle with their weapons pointed out although Takuma was sort of in the middle rear, surrounded by them. Nimura's Armor was leaking fluids and from what Nyton noted from the status screens it wouldn't last much longer. Keeping his scanners open for anymore attacks down below while still at the ready Nyton assessed the situation. Opening communication to over the Assault Team's network Nyton then began to figure out their next move. "Alright, Assault Team, we're holding this position until the Support Team is ready to return for the next batch of prisoners. Check your ammo and systems. We'll hold this position, let our barriers recharge, and dig in for a few minutes before we charge again. Nimura, shut your Armor down to minimal functions and reroute all power to perform medical repairs on your wounds. Stand down away from the door. Kai, Yoroko, guard the doorway and take out any enemy that might try to approach. Takuma stand next to Nimura and protect her since you have the most barrier at the moment. I'll keep watch this way while I order up some supplies. Murasaki, return to the Hoshi and drop off Yuri." he ordered.

Nyton then sent a message up to Tom.

Freeman, we need a replacement suit. Strip Kei and bring back the empty Armor when you return to extract the remaining prisoners. Hurry up and get moving. We're down two more members so have Mara deliver it and join our team. Have her bring more ammo too.

Click to expand...

Nyton figured since Kei was already safely aboard the Hoshi it would be better than taking Yuri's who was still being carried off by Aoiko. He considered using Sumaru's teleportation but the mass of the suit would be too great to compensate for which left that option out. Nyton did not like the look of their situation but he preferred not to let the others know his concern. Just keep them focused on the tasks at hand and hopefully they can keep things going. He hated having to pause but they needed to if they were going to keep Nimura alive.

Back at the Hoshi, things were very active. Between the Support Team returning to the ship, the support sprites rushing about to assist, and the walking wounded trying to help the more seriously wounded, it was a chaotic scene for certain. Sora was there, directing medical efforts with stretchers already set up and ready to move patients. The neko who had lost her hand became an immediate priority as Sora rushed to staunch the bleeding. The two unconcious Samurai, their mission now complete after delivering their casualties, just stood by in the Armor bay. The AIES kept them out of the way and awaited further orders if any were to come. Of the captured neko that had arrived, five were uninjured enough to be of any use. The rest needed something tended to although it was not immediately life threatening. For now they busied themselves with assisting their comrades until someone higher ranking ordered them elsewhere.

Rin, now that the sprites and Sora were taking the former prisoners, carefully handed off the ones she had been carrying to some sprites. "I hope the that that wasn't too bad Chusa," she said to the officer she had been carrying.

With that done, Rin pulled out her LASR once more. She checked the amount of ammo remaining, which there was still plenty of, before she moved closer to Tom. "Hai, Freeman-Juni. Ano... Freeman-Juni, should I go get a repair kit?" she asked meekly, remembering she hadn't picked one up earlier.

"Nnn..." Sayuri opened her eyes for a moment, attempting to turn her face to see the armored figure that had carried her this far, but couldn't even manage that because of her physical condition and the manner she was being held. Still, she might as well ask who exactly she is to thank, both in the case of the commander and this specific person.

The pink-haired Neko stretched out her right arm in an attempt to grab to the sprite before she was out of reach, but missed narrowly as the Daisy armor moved away. "Who... were you, sprite-san?" She asked feebly, before losing consciousness yet again.

Yuzuki watched the Shosa walk. She looked awkward, carrying the corpse. Strangely, that was the only thing that Yuzuki could think of just then. It was a really stupid thing to focus on.

...give the Taisa your best.

Yuzuki sealed the compartment behind her, dogging the door down with the air-tight seals. The next compartment had been protected by the environmental barrier, and was pressurized with air, so she finally got to remove her helmet. Immediately, she went to run a hand through her hair to straighten it out, but when she saw the condition her hands were in she thought better of it.

Her suit was painted black, red, and blue. Her gloves were burnt, bloody, and would probably never be salvagable. The rest of her suit was similarly painted. It was disgusting. It might not have been right or proper to do, but she did manage to slip out of it on the way to decon. She'd just get another suit or something, later.

As she entered the room and sealed the door, she tried to brace herself, but the shock knocked some of the wind out of her. The shower felt as though she was being dunked in ice water, and held there. Even after the relatively short cascade of water had stopped and drained away into the floor, Yuzuki stood there with her clothing in her hands, shivering like a wet animal, staring at the door. There was a lot running through her mind. She couldn't bring herself to open it.

...rest where it belongs...

...not yours to agonize over...

It was just too much at once. As long as that door was shut, she was sealed off from everybody and everything on the outside, even if it was only for a few minutes. Gradually, she eased down onto the deck, hugging the soiled clothing tightly. It felt, to her, as if the blank stare of the dead sprite's bloodied visor was still watching over her shoulder, waiting patiently. The feel of an ethereal presence, imagined but still so very real, sent a shiver up and down her spine. She was alone now, but she was, for the first time in her short life, absolutely terrified. Yuzuki didn't dare turn around. It made no sense, but she knew the bloody body would be floating there.

...Taisa your best.

Yuzuki buried her head, balled up, and started crying.

Wazu looked over at the soldier who had been acting as medic for the injured prisoners. Names hadn’t been exchanged but in Wazu’s mind they were unnecessary for the time being. There were more important things that he needed to know.

“Soldier,” Wazu said, looking directly toward the armor encased medic, “Is this place going to be destroyed by your ship once the prisoners are removed or is your plan to secure and investigate the area?”

"I am uncertain," Sanjuro replied after a moment. The doctors attention was being pressed to find something else to attend to while he awaited orders for the extraction of his patient...mostly due to the fact that the silent dread of the situation was creeping back into him. "Are you injured?" Sanjuro asked quite suddenly, realizing that he didn't examine the makeshift assistant during the course of the mission. As soon as he finished, Sanjuro began preforming a quick scan of Wazu's body, attempting to search for any possible injuries.

Sumaru did as he said he would, he held the rear and protected the remaining prisoners. The Samurai in his white armor exchanged fire with the enemy, ducking in and out as he used the door way as a tactical shield. His atmospheric plasma rifle burned scorch marks all over the enemies and the hall they were piling in from. If the group ever looked like it was about to become to dense to handle, he'd lean out with his shoulder mounted LASR and fire off a SLAG round into the fray. There was no way he was going to give up any ground, he was a knight and a protector of the people in the name of the Ketsurui-- in the name of Sora.

Tom received the order and nodded. The extraction was going smoothly for now.

He ordered Kei's suit to his side and quickly stripped the poor figure out of it, with the compliance of the suit's AIES of course. During any other time, Tom would probably be feeling a bit embarrassed... after all, it made him feel a bit TOO much like a caretaker to have to dress and undress comrades... but the seriousness of the situation didn't leave any time for his mind to wander too far.

Taking Kei's limp figure into his arms, Tom carried her to be picked up by one of the prisoners at Hoshi. A momentary thought passed him, visions of Yukari, smiling, in his arms, looking up at him with emerald eyes that begged for a kiss.

How stupid he had been, to let their last moment together on the Miharu be an argument... if he didn't make it back...

No. An impossibility. Focus on the mission.

"Hai, Freeman-Juni. Ano... Freeman-Juni, should I go get a repair kit?" she asked meekly, remembering she hadn't picked one up earlier.

Click to expand...

He spun around quickly, nearly brandishing his rifle at Rin. Apparently, he had let his mind wander too far.

His weapon came back down to his side.

"Sorry, Rin. Anyway, we don't need the kit yet. We're coming back to this ship and we'll get it then. I'll need your arms to carry more prisoners."

He directed his attention to Mara.

"Mara, I'm relaying our orders to you right now. Assault team needs extra ammo. Round up everything you can get and deliver it to them. You're shifting to assault team as well. Everyone else, let's get back to extracting prisoners. Take whatever ammo is lying around for delivery if you can."

Figuring Mara couldn't carry ammo and armor at the same time, Tom took Kei's suit into his arms and set up to go.

"Ichigo, take point. I'm not going to be much use like this until I drop off the armor."