RP: YSS Miharu Mission 3: The sound of machina

'Was it hard?'

Slowly, Yuzuki straightened, turning her head slightly to catch the eyes of the sprites behind her, but in that she was unlucky. Heads were bowed. Apparently, the floor seemed to be very interesting to several of them all of a sudden.

Yuzuki took a look at the floor herself, wondering somewhat desperately if that would help after all. She was disappointed. It was just a floor and a pair of feet. You can only expect so much from something like that.

"Gomenasai, Taisa-sama." Yuzuki matched Kotori's quiet tone. "It is all I know to do, so I do not know if it is hard."

With the arrival of the last group of casualties finally confirmed, Camellia finally began to receive some decent treatment. Aoiko carried the SAINT operative to the medlab and placed her down on a bed before going over to Tom and seeing what her further orders would be. No sooner had Camellia been received than one of the nurses, Azumi, stood by her. "What should I do with her?" she called out to Sora.

Sora and Sanjuro in the meantime were busy focusing on the two critical cases. Already every hemosynthetic regeneration tank was occupied and busy repairing three of the critical cases. The other two required more personal attention. To Azumi's request Sanjuro quickly answered. "That patient requires one unit of hemosynth and some muscle relaxers to allow the body to rest and repair itself quickly." he said over his suit's loudspeaker while setting up a saline lock to intravenously administer a bag of hemosynth blood to the patient he was attending. Sora was doing the same, taking from the pile of hemosynth units that Ryoko and Kasumi had retrieved for her. Sora then looked up at the two black haired nekos and nodded her approval on the delivery. "Fetch more units and begin administering one to each of the patients who need it. Hoshi please highlight the non-critical patients who are most severely weakened. They will need the extra blood to help speed along their healing." she said to follow up her orders. Then looking over at Sanjuro the Ketsurui princess watched his work. Already the saline lock was in place and the neko was receiving urgently needed nutrients to put her body on it's way towards recovery. The damage was severe though and they would need to continuously monitor and administer more units. "Can you continue working as you are or do you want to remove your suit?" she asked him.

Meanwhile Azumi listened to Sanjuro and grabbed a bag of hemosynth along with the tools to administer it. "Okay ma'am please hold still." she said before taking Camellia's arm. Ayumu, the blue haired neko was quickly moving to do the same, arriving at Sayuri's bedside before taking her arm and preparing it for administration.

Nyton acknowledged Hinoto's report and activated his own optical camouflage. "Roger that. Alright you heard her everyone. Sensors on passive mode only. I want radio silence and text messaging used for urgent matters only. Keep telepathy chatter to a minimum. I doubt these nekomachina can pick it up but there may be some other means to do so. Keep an eye on your AIES so we don't lose sight of each other." he said before stepping out into the elevator shaft and lowering himself carefully. As he did so he sent two quick last messages to address an earlier concern.

Any enemy units still in the Armory will either stay impotently guarding it or move to attack us. If they had hoped to make a serious effort then they will likely send the majority of their numbers at us the first time. If they attack the Hoshi then the Support Team will be adequate to defend the bay.

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he texted to the entire team.

Freeman, we're are bypassing a section that is currently held by the enemy to try and draw them out of their defensive position. Continue working on repairs but remain armed and post a guard should the enemy attempt to assault the hangar again. They should appear on scans if they begin moving from their position on the sixth sub-level and give you time to react.

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he texted to Tom.

The computer Takuma was looking through gave him the location for the power unit he mentioned earlier. Records showed that it had not yet been loaded up since other matters had been more urgent at the time.

Kai nodded an affirmation to Nyton's instructions, regardless of the gesture being useless when he was more or less invisible. The PA pilot lightly hopped down into the shaft, using his and the suit's gravity manipulation to slow his descent, and followed after those that had already moved. Hopefully we get some action down here, the Yamataian thought, holding his LASR steady and ready for anything. He was getting tired of the lack of action, and it was making him antsy.

In Hoshi's medlab, one of the nekos with 'Shouko' written over her head as Tom spoke, looked dully as Wazu tried to inquire about the said 'ship' and gave a look around before she gave a groan and stood up.

The pale, haggard neko with disheveled brown hair shuffled toward Tom's Daisy and said: "I'm the highest ranking technical sentry left in Sekkou's crew. Our ship is still around?"

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The power armor nodded.

"Shouko, yes, the Sekkou is inside the hangar," he said. "Bringing it to operational status under our control will prove highly beneficial to our mission's success."

He ran a scan over the neko with his armor, assessing Shouko's physical health.

"Are you capable of lending support? Any information or manpower available could save precious time."

Tom turned his head as Wazu was escorted away. The revelation that he was a member of the Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia was not lost on him, but it was another piece of information that had to be shoved aside.

Nyton's text message had come in. He acknowledged the information and went about formulating a plan.

He looked over the injured people... despite his best efforts to think analytically, he couldn't ignore the dull pain that throbbed in his forehead. It had come suddenly; he did not know from where. His armored hand clenched and opened slowly.

"Ok... we need someone to keep watch in case enemies try to take advantage of the situation here," he said. "Uh, Aoiko, I need you to fulfill that role. We're going to be very thin, but the rest of the armor team is skilled in engineering and we need to get this ship operational as soon as possible. Do your best."

He motioned to Rin and Ichigo.

"Ok, you two. We're going into the Sekkou. Grab your tool kits and look for a way into the ship. Watch the shuttles; we're not sure if there's been a hazard caused by the collision. Let's get this done."

Wazu started thinking in his native language, one he was sure no one else here knew, a precaution that might allow him to get away with thinking without the telepaths picking up on it, or at least understanding it.

He would try and keep an eye on the power armor display, watching carefully to see if one blinked out and reappeared elsewhere. That would indicate the presence of a teleporter unit, a piece of technology he had not yet been able to replicate that held great interest for him. The rest of the displays were fairly easy to figure out. The current displays for Nepleslian ships looked similar enough to their Yamatai counterparts that mistaking their functions was difficult.

"Taii, make sure your units have their sensors in passive mode. It'll make you harder to detect if the nekomachina have sensory input more advanced than a nekovalkyrja."

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‘Now that is interesting.’ Wazu thought to himself, quickly running through the different possibilities in his head. The ‘Hoshi’s’ sensors could be damaged beyond repair forcing the power armors to rely on theirs. There could also be a jamming device of some sort preventing the ship’s sensors from being effective which seemed on. He figured that such a device would have been destroyed before the ship even touched down in the landing area much less would have survived long enough to be used during the power armor mop up operations. Triangulating its location then destroying it using one of those teleporter devices would be a snap for him. That is unless multiple devices were being used, small ones spread throughout the compound so that the loss of one wouldn’t affect the overall jamming that much.

That was when his thoughts were interrupted with

"I need you to provide me with a brief and concise explanation of the reason for why you have been found as a captive here, as well as anything you know on the hostiles we face in this complex."

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Wazu would take a breath to stall for time as he thought of what to say. ‘Drei’s data mining operation found a discrepancy in…’ He quickly dismissed that line of thought, mentioning that Drei was data mining at all could give them ideas. For the moment mentioning Eve was out as well.

“I noticed a discrepancy in the official records and orders from Geshrini shipyards. I went to investigate, asked a few questions, and was attacked shortly afterwards. When I came to, your power armors were already in the process of securing the area I was detained in.” Wazu said, mispronouncing a few of the words in the process. He was mostly sure that he said ‘afterwards’ properly in their language, or at least closely enough for them to understand.

It suddenly hit Wazu that he had a prime opportunity to serve both their interests. “Given the date, I could not have been out for more than a day or two and if you give me the location of this planet and control of an FTL capable probe I could get you a picture of the ship that brought me here.”

Kotori returned a silent nod and walked closer, this time getting within arm reach of Yuzuki. "Yuzuki-san," the Taisa's voice was softer. "Can you introduce your other sisters to me?"

* * *

Hinoto studied Wazu a moment and then replied: "There is no need. Geshrinari Yards latest connection with Nepleslia was through the blackmarket purchase of Vale-class raiding cruisers. I can expect that the rogues involved in the purchase would have ties with those within this complex."

The sprite looked back to her displays and then returned her attention to Wazu. She seemed amused. "So, as I understand it, you would have - like us - interest in these rogues. Have you more to tell, or are you determined to keep the details to yourself?"

* * *

Looking a little wan, Shouko took a bracing breath and walked after Tom.

"Hai, Taisa-sama."

Yuzuki turned on her heel. The group behind her instinctively went to attention. They didn't snap - they just stood a little straighter, now that the officer was looking at them. Yuzuki paused a moment, realizing that with her helmet off, she could no longer see names floating above their heads. She closed her eyes while a quick, desperate conference happened.

'I'm...'

'Oh? My name is...'

'Ha ha, you're so screwed, onee-san!'

Yuzuki's lip, to her credit, barely twitched.

When she thought she had everybody, or at least enough to start on, Yuzuki opened her eyes and looked to the first sprite in line, a paler nekovalkyrja with light blue hair, and similar eyes. "This is Cho-san," Yuzuki said, hoping that the names she had been given had been in order.

"Honored to meet you, Taisa-sama," Cho said fluidly, bowing with her helmet beneath her arm.

Yuzuki, relieved and more confident, proceeded on down the line. Haya-san, Kameko-san, Kichi-san, Leiko-san, Kuni-san. The phrase 'honored to meet you, Taisa-sama,' was repeated over and over as one by one they bowed to the Taisa. Finally, Yuzuki looked to Ozuno, who bowed without being introduced.

"Very honored to meet you, Taisa-sama."

"And Ozuno-san," Yuzuki ended, examining Ozuno carefully for a few seconds.

'That was you, wasn't it?'

“Oh quite determined,” Wazu replied, smiling a bit wider at this point. He figured he probably had a tell on him that he was not aware of. In turn lying was a poor choice for the moment. “I want to speak with Eve, and she is a hard woman to get ahold of.”

‘So are you reading my mind then?’ Wazu thought to himself, obviously directing the question at her just not verbalizing it.

Kotori rewarded them with an acknowledging nod each as the introductions unfolded. "Miharu is a warship, one I command with a mission to fight those whom would harm the citizens of our Empire," she told them. "Noblesse Oblige: because we are nekovalkyrja, because we can fight, because we can contribute in protecting the innocents from the ravages of war... we have the moral imperative to do so."

The Taisa's eyes gained a fierce intensity as she continued with: "The reason you are here, the reason you were born, was because I needed you to assist me in pursuing that goal," she continued. "The efforts you expend, the risks you take, the lives you might lose... they are for me. I am the one to blame for your hardships. Where others choose how they will live their lives, I have given you no choice."

"It is unfair," Kotori declared, her eyes wandering to Junko. "It is also cruel. I find myself with no other recourse than to impose this sacrifice upon you. It is something I find a necessary evil to achieve my objectives. Therefore," Kotori turned back to them, and dipped into a respectful bow. "I express to you my sincerest gratitude, and my sympathy. What I have robbed you of, I hope you will one day find."

There was silence.

It was not stunned silence, because there was a hint of expectancy to the silence. Someone had to say something. There had to be something to say. Somehow, without taking their eyes from the Taisa, they were watching each other. But when the Taisa bowed, it was as if a spell had been broken. Everyone looked everywhere at once. Some of them were confused. A couple of them looked as if they just didn't know what to feel. But even released from the magic, nobody said anything. Nobody could. There weren't words.

The group focused on Yuzuki. She was gripping her helmet so hard that her glove was creaking faintly, not looking at anybody or anything in particular, carefully avoiding meeting anyone's eyes.

"Arigato gozaimasu," their faux leader managed, "Taisa-sama."

Cho returned the Taisa's bow. The effect rippled. There was a certain comfort in the traditional. You knew where you stood, with tradition, and honors. Words could be ignored, if you only bowed and stopped thinking. Things could be better, if you put your mind on something else.

But Yuzuki stood, shoulders shaking, biting back angry tears.

Because things really didn't get better, after all.

Yoroko turned off her mic and sighed before also following everyone else down the tube. Yoroko wondered if this is what a ninja felt like, sneaking through places. Granted she had it a little easier with active camo and passive sensors. Yoroko's awareness of how important it was to remain silent extended even to her mental attempt to refocus herself. Hey, pay attention. Yoroko mentally whispered to herself.

An expression of chagrin came across Kotori's eyes as she straightened. Was this the best I could do? To tell them I was sad they were here, instead of how glad I was to have their help?

She opened her mouth to say more, but quickly clamped it up. No. enough. I have done enough damage. This is why I usually have Yukari do this job, and not me. Sighing bitterly and feeling awkward, Kotori turned in a slow walk to return to the bridge.

* * *

Hinoto checked back on her displays and then again returned her attention to Wazu. "Then you were definitely getting closer, though not in the fashion that was conductive to long life." The sprite considered him and then added: "I believe I can accommodate some of your questions on the subject of this engagement; but I am unfortunately not really at the liberty of revealing more about our mission."

"Again, if you wish to know more, that will have to be covered by our Commanding Officer."

The sprite also apparently did not deign reply to his thoughts.

* * *

The assault team slowly made its way down the shaft, passing another level by silently before reaching the armory.

The sight they had was of a dozen nekomachina glinting a dull metal gray behind fortifications made from stacked sandbags. All had additional body armor worn over their endo-skeletal cover, and in addition many were indeed much better equipped.

They went from a nekomachina beaming a M1 Lamia's zesuaium shield and an older battery-powered Ke-M2-2801 Aetheric Saber-Rifle, to grenade launchers, to bazooka-sized energy projection cannons that were plugged into power outlets in the nearby walls.

The armored doors leading into the armory itself were closed.

The nekomachina remained still as death - but were no doubt very alert - as the group descended until they were above them and out of sight. The descent continued until they could go no further. The computerized image overlays for Nimura's and Mara's M6 Daisy power armors stopped to float just above a floor bearing a miniature junkyard of scorched metal parts... likely whee the remains of the many nekomachina they had defeated earlier had ended up.

An corridor opened from there, leading a dozen meters away to a closed blast shutter.

Based on what Hinoto said this group was definitely connected to Eve. Had there been enough time for him to be interrogated or tortured by this group a contact with Eve might have been secured. That seemed to be all the information that was going to be dropped for the time being. It was time for him to start probing to see what he could get.

“What questions are you capable of answering for me? Would you be able to tell me what star system I am in? Or the systems that these people have been going to and from? Or the location of your CO? None of those directly pertain to your mission so I would hope they are open topics of discussion.” He asked hopefully, doing his best to remain on topic and not discuss the virtues of the protection of the machine against death.

Wazu would expect the CO to be female, it was statistically the most likely. It also seemed odd that this female was running the ground operation if she wasn’t the CO which implied the CO was either elsewhere, perhaps on the other bits of the ship, or dead and awaiting revival from the hemosynth tanks. Things were looking up at this point and he wanted to see how much he could get for free from this sprite before he had to start bartering for information.

The twinkle of good humor in Hinoto's silver-grey eyes betrayed amusement. For now, either she was willing to humor him or found answering his questions harmless.

"First, you currently are on Bowhordia Prime. Second, that is one thing we intend to find more information about - you did not think the Star Army got its intelligence without some people getting their hands dirty, did you? Third, my Commanding Officer should be in orbit making sure we are not pounced over by enemy reinforcements while we go on about our business down here."

The Taisa's footsteps echoed, faintly, in the dim silence.

"It's not your fault."

It was just a whisper, through clenched teeth.

But it was out there, hanging after the retreating officer, chasing her to the door in the way that all such phrases have of following their intended recipients, regardless of volume.

‘Bowhordia Prime?’ Wazu thought to himself. The system name was entirely unfamiliar to him though if he could get this information back to Drei it would lead to a veritable goldmine of information about Eve’s operations. Judging by their concerns about how he got there rather than when he got there it was safe to assume that the hat trick he had planned to observe the ships that had used this base was not on file with their Star Army. It was reassuring to know that he had something he could use as a bargaining chip.

He had to assume that calling up the CO was out of the question for the time being. After all it was logical to assume she was either busy or maintaining communications silence as if she were not then a call would already have been placed. He also thought about how she said that the CO was in orbit. This brought to mind the image of some neko floating about in space trying to fight off ships with her bare hands. That in turn brought to mind a question that could reveal a little about the starship he was in.

“In orbit? All by herself? What kind of body is she using that would be able to take on a starship single handed?”

It was an innocent, half serious, and completely stupid question. He was thinking that in the process of correcting him Hinoto would drop a few details about their starship and its capabilities.

Wazu decided he would save the response about cleanly tracking all of the starships that had used this base, and his opinions on SAINT, for after her response about the ship.

Kotori stopped in her track. It would've been easier to just carry on, but she found it in herself to be braver than that. She turned, long black hair swaying in the process, and faced the sprites again.

"I am glad you are here," Kotori said. "Junko should be able to be with you again once the mission is over," she then finally assured them.

It was crude, and simplistic, but it was pretty much at the root of what she had truly wished to convey to the sprites.

* * *

Hinoto simply swiveled on her chair and twisted her right shoulder with the ship patch on it, tapping on it lightly with her left hand's index finger.

"If a ship could split in a combat section and a dropship section, the former would be the one in orbit and the latter the one you are in," she replied.

Without looking up, or releasing the death grip that she had on her helmet, Yuzuki nodded once, quickly.

"Arigato, Taisa-sama," one of the sprites said. A few more muffled thank-you's followed. The damage control team was mostly watching Kotori, but now a couple of them were apprehensively watching Yuzuki, instead.

Kotori, with quiet dignity, returned a respectful nod to the sprites and then really left to return to the monitor room.

When the Taisa had gone, the miniature formation didn't change much. Except, Ozuno-san very carefully began to step forward, towards Yuzuki. The rest of the group watched, almost doe-eyed.

"Onee-san," she said, apparently trying to be soothing, offering a cautious smile.

The helmet cracked itself on the bulkhead behind her, bouncing off under one of the examination tables. Its owner snarled viciously at the floor in a completely useless gesture of helpless rage. A plainer-looking, black haired sprite - Kumeko - stooped down and picked the helmet up, examining the spiderwebbing crack. Then she stepped forward and offered it back. Yuzuki didn't take it.

"Why are you angry, Yuzuki-san?" asked Cho, stepping forward beside Kumeko and taking the helmet, herself.

"It's a lie," Yuzuki hissed.

"No," ventured Cho, running her fingers along the spiderwebbed crack, "I don't think so."

"Not that," Yuzuki quickly corrected herself, coming down from anger and settling somewhere near wet-eyed apathy. "It's the mural."

Cho looked to Kumeko. Kumeko looked to Ozuno. Ozuno looked puzzled and deferred the question to the others, who were similarly confused.

"Mural?" someone asked. It didn't matter who.

"There's black sand, and a beach house. It's in the showers. One of those things you look at, and think it's pretty, but that's just a picture so you don't actually give it any thought at all." She smiled a little desperately, and took back her helmet, holding it beneath her arm again without examining the damage she had done to it. "Someone told me, today, that it was real and people really went there. It's on Ralt, I think."

Someone - Haya, if one absolutely had to put a name to the voice - asked; "Where is that?"

"I'm sure it's not anywhere that's too far," Cho jumped in, quickly heading it off. "It can't be too far. Right?" She looked to the others for support. Hint Hint, she must have thought, in the way that someone desperately clinging on to a thin tether and in need of assistance must think something along the lines of, 'Gosh golly gee willikers, I sure hope someone comes along soon to help me up so that I do not fall head first into this abyssal pit of snakes and scorpions.' "Right?"

There were nods.

"It's too far, for us," Yuzuki said quietly.

"Nowhere is too far," Ozuno started in, but Yuzuki silenced her with a glare, and she stopped.

"Weren't you listening?"

Yuzuki examined Ozuno for a few moments before looking to the tube that Junko was floating in. All eyes naturally followed. In perverse emphasis, Yuzuki pointed, anyway. Although the ship was doing a good job, and the hemstat material would mend her in time, the plain and vicious damage from the knife of steam was still red and fresh. She had nearly been cut in half by it.

"That's the only place we're going," Yuzuki declared, bitterly, "Because that's the only place we can go. We'll die before we get off of this ship, or never get off at all. Because there is a world outside, it's just not our world, do you understand me? We're just tools, and when we're no longer useful, they just throw us away. Do you understand? We're worthless, to them. That's why we're allowed to die. That's why we're here. Because we can be thrown away."

The group took some time to digest this.

"They didn't throw Junko-san away," Kumeko said, slowly.

In the pause that followed, Ozuno and Cho both put their hands on Yuzuki's shoulders. She was staring at the quiet, unassuming Kumeko, as if transfixed. It had struck a chord, somewhere; a little glint of memory rising to shimmer at the surface of an oily pool of bitterness.

That's right, she thought to herself, Nobody's going to be thrown away. Shosa-san promised, didn't she?

Yuzuki looked the other sprites over, met their eyes, and suddenly felt as though the situation might not really be all that bad, after all. The digit that she had raised, indicating Junko, indicating the ultimate end of the road seemed rather a stupid gesture now, so she dropped it.

A little crackling noise coming out of Yuzuki's helmet broke the moment. When she didn't move to do anything about it, Ozuno took the helmet from her and listened to the crackle. When it stopped, she put it back in Yuzuki's hand, making sure that it was secure there. Yuzuki closed her fingers over it, somewhat woodenly.

"The armor repair drones are mostly done," Ozuno reported. "We can start repairing the multipurpose bays, now."

Nobody moved.

Yuzuki came down from the clouds and stared at them, realizing suddenly that they were waiting on something. Her, probably. For a brief few seconds her mind struggled to comprehend just why, before realizing that she was supposed to be in charge.

"Very well," she said, traditionally. That seemed to be enough for the sprites, who started putting on their helmets and testing for airtight seals.

How peculiar, Yuzuki couldn't help but think as she fumbled with her own, That is really all it takes. Two simple words had fixed everything. Two words had restored the world and preserved their sanity; they had justified the work they were doing; they had fixed everything.

They had taken a world on the edge of destruction, flattened it out, smoothed the edges, and saved a small handful of people from leaping off the bit at the end.