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RP: YSS Miharu Mission 3: The sound of machina

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The door closed. Yukari was alone.

"Miharu," she asked outloud. "Was that all within the realm of 'privacy?'"

"Yes Shosa. I ended it when she left." The computer's replies were telepathic, the faint metallic sound vibrating on her inside.

Yukari bobbed her head before returning to the plain plastoid bench where her revolver rested in its holster. She had to don the blue-grey AMES first, but did not feel like it at that moment. Her eyes fell on the gun as she sat down. Her eyes played off the smooth wood of the butt, the glinting metal of the hammer. She sighed.

"Are my words so different from those that come from Ketsurui-hime-sama? Of the Taisa's? The desired outcome is the same. It is what we do with that outcome, let alone how we achieve it, that splits us."

"That all seemed like pretty honorable stuff. Good intentions, freedom, live for yourself, not for the Empire," the computer said.

"The hime-sama ... her records and reports indicated she believes in the righteousness of the Empire. The Taisa sees it for what it is, and might someday attempt to make it tack in a direction she feels is appropriate." Yukari's gloved fingers rubbed the butt of the gun, how it came to a cliff at the bottom of it. "I want neither."

"You want Yuzuki?"

Yukari licked her lips through an embarrassed smile. "No. My feelings for her are ... maternal? I felt foolish, speaking to her that way. I am only 7. A child."

"Didn't sound like a child to me. Children, according to my databanks, whine about food a lot. Or about sharing."

Her head barely shook back and forth. "I will keep my thoughts to myself then, Miharu." She took up her AMES again, shrugging it on and adjusting the helmet. She needed it only for a short trip, as she was returning to the bridge. She carried her weapon, holstered, under her arm until she was free to put the suit back in the main passageway, in one of the lockers behind a cushion.

By the time she returned to the Monitor Room, the pistol was back on her thigh. She took her seat at the operator's chair, looking over the progress Yuzuki and her team were making in a more statistical fashion. She absorbed all she needed, then looked to Miyoko.

"Saito-Heisho," she said. "Would you be willing to conduct an experiment with me, while we wait for the Hoshi to return? I believe it might prove effective in future operations."
 
Yoroko dropped her half used LASR magazine while laughing lightly about Kai's comment and inserted a fresh one before reloading her power armor. "Claymere-Taii, You've probably thought of this already but would it be possible to just cave the armory in on them rather than directly engaging an entrapped enemy?" Yoroko suggested through the team chat. Yoroko wasn't a tactical genius, but the if the enemy was holed up they only needed to shoot at anything that moved past the front door. Hardly challenging, and in an armory it could be made fun. I don't like it when people have fun shooting at me. Yoroko thought sullenly.
 
"Whoa. That'd involve far more firepower than we have on hand," Mara replied to Yoroko as she moved aside to let Ichigo leave with Nimura's older suit. "Not to mention the danger of having some of the ammo inside cooking off. We might end up leveling a good part of the base, us along with it."

Nimura had turned her helmeted head to look at Yoroko silently at her suggestion, her free hand clenching into a fist.

* * *

"I should be enough to keep watch," Kotori nodded up to Yukari. "I expect you both to consider yourselves on standby, though, and quickly get back if we get any 'visitors'."

With encrypted telepathy, though, Kotori asked Yukari: "Yuka, we've got a sprite casualty on the roster, 'Junko'. Anything I need to know of right away?"
 
"Thank you, Taisa," Yukari said, glancing at Kotori, then back at Miyoko. "But the experiment, I believe, can be conducted here. If Saito-Heisho is willing."

"An engineering accident, due to the damage to the ship and Junko's inexperience. She was very recently created and her personality was not developed. Miharu is reconstructing her." Yukari's eyes were back on Kotori. "Yuzuki was shaken, but she is revitalized."
 
Multiple conversations were all being kept in check via the latest in Nepleslian cybertechnology. Praise be to whoever had the genius to design this stuff. was the brief thought Nyton allowed himself while multitasking.

"Thanks for the update, Hinoto-san. Your support has been exceptional in this mission." Nyton said while facing Nimura with his helmet and replying to her silent gesture with a simple thumbs up. Meanwhile Tom's message arrived to which Nyton replied via text message.

Acknowledged and approved. Keep up the good work and hurry on back to Hoshi.
Click to expand...

With that though he had to then send a quick order to Sumaru which was also carried out via text.

Hasegawa-Juni, you're in the Assault Team now but we still have the Aether Canceller to deal with. Be conservative with your energy reserves. We have a long fight ahead of us yet.
Click to expand...

With those messages done Nyton did a quick check of his team's ammo and status to get situated with the next step. The next floor down was the HSCS floor that fed up to the medical level while below that was indeed the armory that Hinoto warned about. It was a narrow hallway too, perfect for maintaining a tight net of fire which would impede any advance. He then wondered about the power systems currently available on the fourth floor and their capabilities. It was then that other suggestions began to roll in regarding the next move.


Nyton shook his head calmly. "We don't have the time or means to cave in a section two hundred meters below us. We can't avoid them or go around them so we must go through them. I have another idea we might be able to accomplish. Takuma, go over the computer listings and find us a generator that is compatible with a Mindy of Sumaru's make. He'll need the energy reserves for this trip."

Setting up a map of the sub-level below them Nyton marked out the elevator shaft leading to the sixth floor's entrance and speculated on possible fields of fire from the armory. "Hasegawa and Takuma will hang back here on the fourth level while the rest of us enter here. We'll take cover, expecting the enemy to already have the area marked and ranged. We will draw the full attention and fire from the enemy. Mizuno and Nimura are the only ones with functional drones now so try to use those to get us a live feed image to further refine the enemy's position and coordinates. Hinoto, double check my math on this and feed all data necessary to compensate for any effect made by the Aether Dampening Field along with distance required. After we make any final observations and at my signal Hasegawa will make a teleportation jump into the armory to assault them from within. No need to hesitate here, the enemy will likely be nekomachina so fire at will. Just try not to blow yourself up should something cook off. If it does, you should have enough power to make an emergency jump out of there. Return to this floor and recharge your Armor. You may be depleted after pushing the system for two jumps right after the other. While you attack the enemy from within them we will also open fire and advance from our position. We just need to be ready to run for cover if the explosive option occurs. To try and prevent that from our end everyone load your LASR with regular ball ammunition magazines. No explosive or armor piercing rounds for this push. Also expect it to be booby trapped so enter the sixth floor cautiously. They've certainly had enough time to do so if they're already this dug in." he said while changing out from his nearly depleted armor piercing round magazine to a ball ammunition type.

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The critical casualties made little to no sign or effort to shift as they were being picked up by Rin and Tom. The one that Wazu had assisted though was unconcious but had gripped her fingers around his shirt tightly. If she was going to be moved it would likely involve carrying both her and Wazu out together in this form.

The crowd of lesser casualties had finally arrived at the Hoshi's medical center and begun to get some real work done. Not the simple field first aid but actual healing and restoration of the injured nekos bodies. The hemosynth tanks were still being reserved for the critical casualties stil enroute. Sora guided everyone as quickly as she could even while working on a patient herself. "You the blonde-!" "Azumi!" replied the blonde neko. "-put more pressure on that cut!" finished Sora, barely registering her name. "You two with the black hair, get the units of hemosynth blood from the storage locker!" she pointed at two neko who had just laid down their injured comrades on some beds. "The blue haired one, administer muscle relaxant to that one! You, brown haired one, get me a couple of bandages, and everyone say your names out loud once. Hoshi generate holographic projections to guide everyone around the lab and highlight everyone's names above their heads!" Sora said in quick order. At the commands the conscripted nurses said their names which were then registered by Hoshi's MEGAMI. With the data now on file everyone's names then popped up a few inches above their heads in bold white characters. The blonde was Azumi, the two black haired nekos were Kasumi and Ryoko, the blue hair was Ayumu, and the brown haired neko was Chidori. Sora gave a quick sigh of relief at not having to shout 'hey yous' anymore.
 
Miyoko glanced briefly to Kotori upon hearing Yukari's question, waiting for the Taisa's approval before responding. "I think I can fit it into my crowded schedule of waiting anxiously." She swiveled in her chair to face the XO directly. "What did you have in mind?"
 
Yukari unlocked her chair and swiveled to face Miyoko. "Our response times versus the Obakemono were good. But that was only one vessel, and there were enough spare seconds between an action that, for instance, you took and I responded to, that we were not in truly imminent danger."

The Shosa used the volumetric projectors around her chair to show what she meant. A sky-bluish clock face counted down seconds for a series of events — Yukari explaining the microjump behind the Obakemono, making the microjump, her shouting for a shot, Miyoko firing it. The time it all took was not even a minute.

"The largest use of time was the explanation of my plan. The most crucial use was shouting at you to fire." The clock moved into the corner of the "field" between them, near Yukari's head. "My experiment would eliminate those times through a kind of synchronization."

She brought up an image of the bridge as it normally was: Miyoko, Nyton, herself and Kotori. Hinoto was shadowed, suggesting she was not relevant for the moment. Clockfaces rested above the 3-D versions of the bridge personnel.

"Claymere-Shoi has a superior tactical and strategic mind. He crafts plans well in advance, and his tactics are thought-out. My style involves no such forethought, requiring me to explain myself and waste time." An enemy starship showed on the projected monitor screen. Nyton's clock hardly moved, as he shouted pre-determined tactics and orders. He was then shadowed. Yukari's clock went into the red, as she was still explaining some tactic she wished to take. It was a few seconds difference, but the difference might have equaled survival or destruction, according to Yukari's model.

"When Claymere-Shoi is unavailable, we are at a disadvantage. I believe we could make up for it by using the speed of data transfer via SPINE, as well as telepathy routed through it, to create a connection between us. It would allow us to be aware of the thoughts the other is thinking. Tactics and strategy would transferred almost as fast as light; there would be no gaps in response time."

Yukari waved the bridge away and replaced it with the specter of Eve's fleet. "If we are to destroy these vessels while they are grouped, I believe it is wisest for us to eliminate those response gaps.

"What do you think?"
 
“It is time to go,” Wazu said trying to lift himself up before he had fully realized the neko laying on him was now clutching onto his shirt. As he sat back down it dawned on him that he was going to end having to move her before he could make any movement himself.

He considered leaving her there, but dismissed the thought. After all this area was mostly safe now and if the Yami power armors could reach down here without a fight it should be an easy job to follow the same path out. It also couldn’t hurt to be a team player for the moment; after all he was going to need their help soon.

Wazu would take hold of the neko’s hand, lifting its hold from his shirt and putting it around the back of his neck as he moved to a squatting position and slid his arms under the girl. Before long he was holding her in his arms, one arm under her knees the other under her shoulders, her body sideways in front of him as he tried to follow the power armored soldiers out of the room, doing his best to ignore the limp in his leg and walk as straight as possible.

“So where are we heading?” He asked out loud.
 
Kai ran over Nyton's plan in his head, it made sense, and so he went about trying to make sure he knew it well enough that he wouldn't have to think to follow it, and could just act in response to whatever happened down there. He checked his magazine, noting that it was ball ammunition; he hadn't used anything else aside from the forearm weapons and the SLAG the entire battle anyway, so it was more a formality than an actual check.

"I'm ready to go, Sir" The Hei confirmed, looking down the elevator shaft to see if there was anything notable down there.
 
Miyoko nodded thoughtfully at Yukari's suggestion as she listened, stealing the occasional glance at the sensor displays as she did so--the Miharu was supposed to audibly inform her if the probe array detected anything, but checking for herself gave her peace of mind. "Well, it sounds like that could certainly cut down our reaction times, which I agree is desireable... but are you intending for me to transfer into an NH-29 body to have a SPINE interface, or would that just be for your own transmission?"
 
Yoroko's face would have shown a small amount of confusion if Nimura could have seen it when the neko's fist tensed up. Its not like I'm a tactician. Yoroko's teeth ground in mixture of aggravation and sorrow as she turned away from the neko, back toward the hallway.

Yoroko listened to Nyton's plan carefully. She'd have to make sure that her drones got there of course but it would be feasible. "Understood." Yoroko said in response before stepping up to join Kai. "Ready."
 
“Are you functional?” Wazu asked. Camellia was barely able to move earlier and didn’t look much better now. She had even turned down assistance earlier when she was both to injured to assist and about to be carried to safety which made Wazu think she definitely had either an ulterior motive or damage to her brain.
 
"..." Camellia pondered his request for a moment, then with a sign and droop of her head, she muttered, "not really." She lowered her head. "I just want to be helpful and not more of a burden then I am already."
 
“I suggest you attract the attention of one of the power armored soldiers. I have my hands full with this right now.” Wazu replied, obviously referring to the injured neko he was currently holding in his arms. “You will not be of use to anyone until after you have received repairs on your physical structure.”
 
Nyton (and the rest of the assault team) noticed that while Nimura was obviously all set to continue fighting, she did not move to join up with Yoroko. Until finally...

"Taii, I believe your plan will get this unit destroyed," the sprite broke her usual silence, transmitting telepathically to the rest of the assault team.

"Achaa," Mara's armor seemed to betray a flinch. It was clear Mara thought it was a bad move to contradict Nyton.
 
Takuma silently popped back onto the keyboard, not wanting to interrupt the new orders for the team. Searching the computer for a power source of the needed magnitude did not take a large amount of work on Takuma's part, so he still managed to listen in on the new directions.

"Looks like there's a candidate for a suitable generator not far from here on this floor. It'll work, assuming it hasn't been destroyed. As for access, it appears that the system has too low privileges to reach anything important. " As he continued looking for a back-up generator, in case the first one was broken or removed since the plans were last updated, the technician wondered if there was anything he could do from the terminal. Probably not, he thought.

"There may be a chance the computer has enough access to perform 'maintenance' on the nekomachina," he suggested, sounding a little unsure of the idea. "But I'm probably just wasting my breath."
 
While Nyton was used to telepathic communication he still felt that they left him distant from the speaker. That and his own attempts at telepathy had been horribly unrefined so it made him feel even more distant from those who focused on using such means of communication. He dismissed the feeling though, figuring he would work on it eventually, maybe with someone willing to be patient to work with him. At the moment Nimura was breaking her silence, which in itself spoke volumes, however he realized just then that he had yet to even really hear her voice. In the meantime though Nyton chuckled a bit over Mara's reaction.

Going over the specs again, resending scans, and forcing himself not to assume his thinking pose while reviewing the results harder, Nyton simultaneously opened a comm window to Nimura's Armor so he could look at her. "Did I miss a detail or was I unclear on something, Nimura-san? You are going to have to elaborate some more." he asked over the team channel. There was no sarcasm or supriority in his tone, just an honest attempt to verify someone else's opinion. Did I miss a boobytrap in the elevator? Is the enemy armed with guided missles now? Are they more numerous then I anticipated? Nyton pondered as he waited for an answer. If anything this may force her to talk some more which to his tally would be a new record for a mission.
 
A flash of awkwardness came across to Nyton in Nimura's eyes as each stared at the other through a small volumetric window inside their helmets. Confronted by the officer, Nimura forced out audibly: "The nekomachina have shown intelligence and cunning, but no sense of self-preservation. The armory-level for them must be pivotal to stopping our advance; if they start losing, they will not hesitate to fire at the ammunition supplies within the armory."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nimura's voice was just like Ichigo's except for a very deliberate way she chose her words - though she sounded much less robotic than he had expected. That was the longest Nyton had heard her speak, and the sprite continued be presenting an alternative to the team: "As long as they are in this defensive position, they can commit double-suicide. However, the effectiveness of that defensive position relies on holding the doorway, rather than the vertical passageway; we have a clear path that a M6 Daisy can go through unchallenged when using its thermo-optic stealth cloak. Should we strike at another position such as the Aether Canceling Generator, it will render their current defensive position useless and force them after us."

Nimura concluded with: "Even if the forces defending the lower floors is unknown to us and that their interception would have us fight on two fronts, the lethality-level of the engagement should still be lower."
 
Nyton took note as he watched her speak and slowly let a smile creep across his face. "Of course, force them to come out of their defensive position by attacking another one of value. You should talk more often Nimura-san, you're a genius." he said as he reshifted the map.

The map changed from the sixth sub-level into the seventh. The seventh level was made up of several corridors that turned about but gave much more cover and allowed the team to approach mostly unseen. "Alright, we'll bypass the armory while stealthed and continue down to the seventh level. Hinoto-san, do a quick search of the nekomachina specs to determine if they can see us while optically camoflauged. Scans of this floor show that the source of the Aether Canceller is located somewhere here, most likely where the map is fuzziest. Fortunately the addition of Takuma's map gives us a picture of what the area looks like. We'll continue to move in stealthed on the ceiling to mask our approach. Since they will want to defend this device rather than destroy it they won't attempt to take us out with it. The corridors here give us about the same advantage as it gives them except they will also have marked and ranged their kill zone. When we enter their lane we need to be able to find some sort of cover even if it means falling back around the corner."

Nyton paused before looking over at Sumaru. "Hasegawa and Takuma, same plan as before, with a minor change. Should the entrenched enemy begin to move and try to catch us between another group of defenders you two will ambush them from behind. While stealthed near the elevator you will wait until the whole body of defenders have filed in. When they have passed you will open fire with your bazooka to catch all of them in one shot. Hasegawa will finish off any survivors that may escape the blast. Once they are dealt with or if you fail to destroy them and are about to be overrun you two will perform the jump behind the Canceller defenders position. Takuma, you will need to abandon your bazooka to compensate for the limited amount of allowable mass for the jump. Hasegawa will be there for heavy fire while Takuma provides him cover. We will also assault them to keep them busy on two fronts. Once the enemy is destroyed Takuma will hack in to shut down the Canceller and download system intel for later research."

During Nyton's layout of the plan the maps showed each member at different positions during the stages of the attack. The blips representing the five assault team members went down the elevator shaft while stealthed and entered the seventh level. The markers representing those left behind in wait stood still by the elevator. The members down below wound their way through the seventh level until arriving at an estimated ambush point where the enemy was marked out. While being occupied another set of markers from the armory departed and began to flow into the elevator shaft. As soon as the last enemy dot entered the elevator was when the Takuma blip fired his bazooka. The explosion caught all of the enemy in one big firestorm. Once the explosion subsided the Hasegawa/Takuma markers teleported in behind the enemy by the Canceller and began to attack. While they attacked the other Assault Team markers attacked and advanced, catching the enemy in between. It was the ideal scenario, should their plan work, that played out.

"Alright finish loading weapons, we move in thirty seconds. Takuma, maybe a computer with higher priority will allow you to do that. For now finish looking for that generator. I want Hasegawa's suit full and fresh but be in position and hidden. We need complete surprise for this to work." Nyton commanded as he grabbed another ball ammunition magazine to replace the one he had expended earlier in the hangar. His missles were still down by three but he hadn't expended any SLAG rounds so he wasn't concerned. The optical camoflauge system began to resonate as it primed for use. Once he was loaded up and ready he took his position by the elevator entrance to lead the charge.
 
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