RP: YSS Miharu Mission 3: The sound of machina

While the technician team were rushing to try and prevent the core from detonating Nyton was thinking. There had to be a way to defeat that metal monstrosity waiting for them. It did not seem to wish to challenge them and currently the enemy had the advantage in attrition. Time was another factor. So how much time would the Tom and Nimura be able to buy them anyways? Not sure but he hoped that once they succeeded that would help him to determine whether they would have to fight the enemy with or without them.

As Nyton thought he took notice of the section that marked it's Aether capabilities. True if the Canceler prevented it from generating Aether then it would still have all of it's batteries to function with. That could mean it would still be able to fight for a long time still possibly at peak or just near peak. What about it's sensor capabilities? It reads that it is simply an AIES with sensory augmentations around the eyes and ears. How much depth does that give it though especially when the Canceler is active? Perhaps if we could hinder it further...

Then an idea hit upon Nyton. Reaching into his ammunition stock he noted that he still had his HE incendiary rounds. His mind flashed back to the battle at the elevator shaft when Nimura unleashed a SLAG round with napalm effects. The intense fire and heat had completely cut off Hinoto's already limited sensors from detecting anything accurately. Couple that along with a distraction and just maybe....

Nyton grinned for a second before restoring his battle glare. We can DO this!

That was when things went wrong. AIES alerted Nyton to a developing situation down below. Bringing up the windows he then saw that Tom and Nimura were facing off against hundreds of half-built nekomachina. Their gait was slow and inaccurate but their sheer numbers were overwhelming. Even in such a state they would be difficult to overcome. Then came Tom's orders from using Nimura as a distraction turning to a reckless charge. The problem now facing them was becoming more complicated. Should he rely on the technicians to accomplish their task or simply activate the Canceler, wait for Kai and Rin then take their chances from there while abandoning Tom and Nimura. Should he even bother to rescue them at all and leave them to their own resources. The nekomachina couldn't defeat them, not in this state. Or could they?

Damn this is not the time for further delays. What if they can't buy us but a few more minutes? We would have wasted that time for nothing. The time it will take us to reach them is more time possibly wasted along with assisting them. Overall it could just be a wasted effort to try and rescue them at all thereby endangering the entire mission. Nyton thought as quickly as he could without wasting anymore time.

**********************

In an instant Nyton had returned to Nepleslia. He, his father Anthony, and several of his employees had been fighting against one of the smaller local gangs, The Looneticals. The whole reason for fighting had been to break the gang's control of several blocks, one of which had been where Anthony's warehouse for his business was located. The local police had proven useless and eventually the gang simply took control of the area, threatening Anthony's business. The man simply would not allow that to happen and thus they waged a bitter street war, each faction vying for control and survival. Already they had been fighting for over an hour and everyone of them had been bloodied although not without taking several of the gang members down with them. Anthony had been prepared for such in hiring former military and police into his company.

However despite everything they had succeeded in luring the entire gang into an abandoned building rigged to explode and take them all with it. This would be the final gambit now. Already Anthony had led his men out and to the safe zone on the roof of a building across the street. Via the use of fast lines they made the trek and were in position.

"We did it pops! We've got them now!" Nyton cheered as he ran over to the detonation system. Now it was up to Nyton to set off the explosives just as he had rigged it.

"Don't celebrate yet son. They're in position but for how long?" Anthony replied, wiping a streak of blood from his forehead. Whether it was his own or an enemy's was uncertain.

"Tony, this is Mason. We gotta problem. Our escape route is cut off. We need another one ASAP!" called a man's voice over the radio. Anthony looked over at the building and cursed. The other team's purpose was to seal in the Looneticals while escaping out the back way.

"Thomas here. I got the layout of the building in my sights. There's a way out for them. Give them these coordinates and they should be able to escape." came Nyton's grandfather over the shared radio link. As their tactical supporter Thomas gave them real time information and updates to the battlefield.

Suddenly gunfire could be heard. "Mason here, they found us boss. We can hold them for a bit and then make our way to the escape route. Just give us a few more minutes!"

Anthony's eyes narrowed and he set the radio down without transmission. "Detonate the building son." Nyton looked back at his father with wide eyes. "But pops, our guys are still in there. How can you just say that?" the teenager replied, hoping that his father was merely joking.

"It is possible that the enemy will be able to escape now. We cannot give them that chance. Set off the explosion now." Anthony ordered.

"Pops, you can't be serious. Grandpa, can't you do something?" Nyton shouted into the radio, still unsure but at the same time not wanting to lose after so much hard fighting.

"Your father is the man on the ground, boy. He calls the shots. We can either see if they escape and risk the entire mission. Someday you may be faced with this decision too." Thomas replied.

Nyton stared at the detonator and wondered if he could do this. He was given an order and soldiers must follow orders. It wasn't just that though. He wanted to win. They could be done, victorious, with just a single push of a button....

Two seconds later the building erupted into a furious detonation. The entire building collapsed under its own weight as the explosives demolished it's support. Nyton watched it all with his eyes wide. The men around him were all fixated too although for different reasons. Shortly after the rubble quieted they all began to cheer. Some gave Nyton a quick pat on his shoulder as a sort of condolence over the men they lost but to them it had been a necessary sacrifice. "They knew the risks, son. I could risk compromising our mission. Let's go."

It would be some time before Nyton could let go of the detonator.

************************************

"So it finally comes to this...." Nyton muttered. "Freeman and Nimura are in trouble. They could use a little fire support Mizuno. I was getting a little bored waiting here so we're going to give it to them." he said with a hint of sarcasm while quickly collapsing the bazooka with his VAW to set it onto an open weapon slot. "Move out!" he ordered before launching himself at full speed. Even at this pace it would take some time to reach them. He only hoped that it would be in time to make a difference.

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Meanwhile at the Hoshi's medbay, Sanjuro looked over at Sora who had just screamed over Sumaru's body. With his typical poise he quickly glanced at Ichigo's status before going over to assist. "Calm yourself, your highness. Panic will do little to help yourself and even less for your patients." he said in admonishment while he went over the collapsed Samurai's body. The Mindy suit was in the way but scans told him that Sumaru had extremely overtaxed his body along with damage from injury.

"How can you keep your patients calm if you are not calm yourself." Sanjuro continued as he struggled to open up the Armor. "Hoshi, unlock Hasegawa-Juni's suit through AIES. Transmit medical protocols so that we may proceed to give him treatment." the doctor ordered. He looked over at Kasumi and motioned to her with a free hand. "You, treat Ketsurui Shoi's patient over there. Simply continue to administer more hemosynth fluid regularly until she is stable."

Kasumi ran over and picked back up where Sora had left off. Meanwhile the other nurses stared in uncertainty, somewhat shocked at the sight of the Samurai along with Sora's reaction. Sanjuro picked up on this and glared at all of them. "This is not some show for you to gawk at. Get back to work. There are still patients who need attention so get to them!" he ordered.

The nurse attending Takuma had "eep'd" a bit at the stern command. She had already administered him pain killer and was in the process of attaching the bag of hemosynth intravenously when the Samurai's entrance interrupted her. "How does that feel? Any better?" she asked him.

“You’ll have to forgive me for not being comforted by that,” Wazu replied to Hinoto.

“If they are using conventional geothermal power then they are just gathering heat off of radioactive elements in the rocks below the base, in turn trying to build up enough steam to cause an explosion. If that is the case simply slowing the flow of water into the rocks should be sufficient to prevent any damage to the facility,

If they are taping into a magma flow then collapsing the top of the magma chamber or creating a side vent would be more than sufficient to end any danger it possesses to the facility.

This ship undoubtedly possesses sufficient sensor capacity to determine what is going to occur inside the power plant and determine the safest course of action. Extending your hard shields or using repulsing shields close to the ground would be sufficient to stop a steam buildup from a conventional power plant and your ship’s W3000 main gun should be sufficient to drill side vents to prevent an eruption. From initiation to completion a fix of this scale could be completed in less than 5 minutes. Restoring full power to the facility using your ship’s variable weapon pods could also be completed in the same timescale if the power plant has to be completely shut down.”

Wazu thought for a moment before adding, “Your ship would not have to leave the area either, power armor equipped soldiers could still easily be recovered by flying back to the ship from the hanger area.”

Well now, the next step was fairly simple. Rin pushed the button to activate the Canceler.

To be truthful, she had only ignored Kai for... a couple reasons: he was only an enlisted so likely lacked much experience (though technically she had quite a bit less), and he wasn't a technician.

With the 'on' switch flipped, the aether canceler began humming to life, with its screen display starting to show scrolling text as it booted up and when on a self-diagnostic due to having been abruptly turned off put only the last time it had been operational.

The diagnostic, especially seeing the circumstances of their team, felt like it took ages to Rin and Kai.

Finally, the Kessaku Operating System came online, with default parameters for the device's console becoming active. Rin scanned about the displays shown, trying to make sense of them.

It took her a few moments, but she fortunately quickly picked up the basics - some of it resembled how to expand an interdiction field with an hyperspace fold propulsion system. She identified the level of aether interdiction she could set up in a percentile value which was already preset at 0.9 FP, took note of the device's range in a radius that displayed 102.4 kilometers. There even was the conveniently very obvious green button labeled 'Activate'.

A few easy adjustments, and she could get it up and running!

* * *

Hinoto considered Wazu's words and turned to her display, tapping a few things here and there. she gave a sigh.

"Hoshi can't do it," the white-haired sprite finally said. "We took damage in our flight here and all we've got left is sublight navigation and point defenses. Bowhordia hasn't been kind to our limited electronic suite, the Bishop team's Daisy C took damage to its own sensor package and we never had a W3000 main cannon."

"Murphy's law," Hinoto griped, but blinked and suddenly remarked: "...but there's the Sekkou." A black-paneled nekovalkyrja came on-screen and Hinoto began explaining the situation...

* * *

By Tom's sides, nekomachina withered beneath the punishment from Nimura's plasma rifle as she covered his own way in and then made a leap over the incomplete drones to follow after the Raltean in his mad dash for the reactor control room.

With their four drones nibbling at the advance of the gathering horde, the finally reached their destination and recalled their drones before slamming the door shut and having their drones use them beam weapons to keep it weld shut.

The room itself was a gritty industrial feel to it and it was hardly as quiet as the rest of the base, with warning klaxons 'honking' repeatedly and rotating red beacon lights giving a dire cast to their surrounding. The consoles lacked digital interfaces or volumetric displays, instead showing more rugged gauges, buttons and dials. Beyond them was a viewport that overlooked an underground chamber gargantuan enough to likely be able to hold Miharu whole.

That chamber boasted on each side rows and rows of heat exchanger tubes, generator systems, condensation tanks and water tubing. The aforementioned tubing stemmed out from four large metallic tanks at the centerline of the chamber, with pressurized water going in the heat exchangers and then going back out to return to the mounds.

The heat exchangers in turn turned boiled another font of water coming from the power plants water cooling tank and turned into steam, which turned a turbine that made the generators function. That steam afterward ended up in the condensation tank and returned into its liquid state to then cycle back to the cooling tank.

The generators supplied power to energy transformers, whom then communicated the electricity to the outpost's main power grid. There was a secondary power grid also apparently established, with auxiliary power - effectively a set of capacitors similar to what Miharu had - housed at the back of the power plant's control room.

Nimura hurried to the console and reported: "Juni, the capacitors behind us is what is left powering up the electronics in the outpost - this should include the main computer and the canceler device as well. Water flow was all but stopped, so the rows of power units are no longer providing energy."

The sprite pointed ahead through the viewport. "Those four tanks are likely their water reservoirs, with plumbing running around taps that go down into the lava below. The slower the water flow, the less the heat in that plumbing will be circulated, the more likely we'll have a steam explosion." Nimura was certainly being verbose now. "If that happens and that the lava tap is compromised, that would figuratively be our 'crack in the dam'."

The sprite turned and eyed the auxiliary power banks behind the console. "Whatever adjustment we make to the valve below, the main computer could undo. If we pull the plug on the computer, though, the same would go for the canceler device."

* * *

Nyton got moving with Yoroko and both raced to the stairway Tom and Nimura had previously passed through dropping through it. The stairs became a blur to their sides as they dropped down.

Finally, both touched down, with a corridor going ahead. Yoroko registered hundred of enemy contacts, moving away from them (toward the power plant's control room).

AUTO-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED

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GEOTHERMAL REACTOR OVERLOAD IN PROGRESS: 5 minutes 38 seconds remaining
(Alarm silenced, evacuation protocols disabled)

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"Acknowledged," Tom said to Nimura after hearing her explanation.

For all his calculations, Tom found a severe lack of one thing: time. There was no time to disconnect the secondary power grid and rewire it to the aether canceler only so that the computer would be out of power and so not undo their work to save the power plant. That would take at least 10 minutes.

There was no time to attempt to hack the console; even with Hoshi and Sekkou working together against the base's KAMI, there was no guarantee of success. Besides, if they failed, the base would just hack back and have the ships self-destruct, ruining the mission and dooming everyone planet side.

It would take too long to drag a power armor or a capacitor from the Sekkou to the aether canceler in order to provide an outside power source. At least 15 minutes would be wasted figuring out how to jury rig that sort of energy grid.

Cutting the power to the base and trying to supply external power to the canceler was safe, of course, but contact with Miharu had been lost. There was no guarantee space wasn't already crawling with or going to be crawling with enemy reinforcements. With that in mind, 15 to 30 minutes was an unacceptable eternity.

So, it boiled down to three options:

#1: Abort the mission and evacuate. The mission would most certainly be considered a failure by the Taisa, but at least he could take solace in the safety of the crew and innocent prisoners.

Suddenly, creeping pangs of guilt nibbled at him. But before Tom could dwell on it or why he felt that way, he instinctively grunted and pushed it out of his mind. No time.

#2: Kill the power, effectively killing the canceler and saving the base, but leaving the crew to likely meet their horrible deaths at the fully power machina in the control center. Not happening.

#3: Let the canceler boot on, have the others fight a weakened machina and hope they beat it in time for he and Nimura to save the base from exploding. If they took too long, however, Tom would have to cut the power and perhaps doom the crew. Or, if they succeeded but there wasn't enough time for a rescue, he and Nimura would have to be sacrificed for the mission.

But at least this plan gave the chance of a win-win situation. It was time to gamble.

Tom's AIES passively alerted him to the fact that Nyton and Yoroko had just come down to rescue him. A huge, painful knot formed in engineer's stomach, which was audible as he opened communications with the group.

"Go back. Now. We need you to fight the machina without us once the canceler turns on. It's the only way to save the base and accomplish the mission. TRUST ME ON THIS. We're safe. I'll explain as you get back! Go NOW."

“I don’t think you’ll need the Sekkou now,” Wazu added as he watched the data feeds from the various power armor pilots being displayed at Hinoto’s station. “Sense they are using a steam engine excess pressure can be vented by drilling small circular holes in the appropriate water lines then regulated by a power armor just holding its hand over it. One hole only a centimeter or two in diameter in the heat exchanger loop should be sufficient to prevent an overpressure explosion and keep the power plant operational.”

Meanwhile at the Hoshi's medbay, Sanjuro looked over at Sora who had just screamed over Sumaru's body. With his typical poise he quickly glanced at Ichigo's status before going over to assist. "Calm yourself, your highness. Panic will do little to help yourself and even less for your patients." he said in admonishment while he went over the collapsed Samurai's body. The Mindy suit was in the way but scans told him that Sumaru had extremely overtaxed his body along with damage from injury.

"How can you keep your patients calm if you are not calm yourself." Sanjuro continued as he struggled to open up the Armor. "Hoshi, unlock Hasegawa-Juni's suit through AIES. Transmit medical protocols so that we may proceed to give him treatment." the doctor ordered. He looked over at Kasumi and motioned to her with a free hand. "You, treat Ketsurui Shoi's patient over there. Simply continue to administer more hemosynth fluid regularly until she is stable."

Kasumi ran over and picked back up where Sora had left off. Meanwhile the other nurses stared in uncertainty, somewhat shocked at the sight of the Samurai along with Sora's reaction. Sanjuro picked up on this and glared at all of them. "This is not some show for you to gawk at. Get back to work. There are still patients who need attention so get to them!" he ordered.

Click to expand...

Sora slowly rose back to her feet and stepped out of the way as Sanjuro relieved her of her patient. She took a couple of deep breathes, looking rather put out. "You're right... of course, I'm conflicted on the care of this... patient.. I can't turn my emotions off very well, and he is my... friend," She sad softly as she watched the doctor with seemingly no heart work effortlessly and excel where she was having trouble.

"Maintaining a sense of calm is of course, essential to patient care but so is empathy for their situation. Please don't look at our patients as simply broken cogs in the bigger machine, for the sake of efficiency. We are here to heal them in more ways than just physically," she continued keeping her attention on Sumaru.

"At this moment, you are better suited for the treatment of this patient since I have come to a conflict of interest. You have this situation handled, I need to clear my head before I lose whatever objectivity I have left," she added feeling conflicted by the situation. She had hoped that she wouldn't lose her head in the eventuality of this sort of situation, but it seems, she was wrong in her ability to do her job and keep her emotions out of the way when it came to Sumaru.

There was this moment of frustration wherein Nyton realized that he had wasted time attempting to rescue the technician crew. But there was no time to dwell on that. Nyton would have to reconfigure his plan on the fly.

"Mizuno, back the way we came. Hurry!" Nyton said, pivoting as quickly as he could before tearing off at full flight back up the stairs. As Nyton flew he sent a message to Tom.

Whatever it is you have planned you two had better survive.

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During flight Nyton then began to rework his strategy. He loaded the HE incendiary SLAG rounds into his weapon. "Nakamura, rendezvous with us at the entrance to the command center, by the double doors. I will need your assistance in this operation. Load up your SLAG with explosive rounds and be ready to join us. Mizuno, pull out your aether rifle and get it ready. Rin, have that machine ready to go and be sure to reconfigure the field so that Hoshi and Sekkou are not affected."

An Order. He was needed again. Kai smiled, transferring his LASR to the still useful hand of his currently lame arm, allowing him to switch out the SLAG magazine for a HE one, and then put in a fresh AP magazine for the LASR itself. That accomplished, he transferred the weapon back to his left hand. The pair of Nekomachina legs he left at the canceler device, figuring he didn't need them to get in his way, and went off to the entrance to the command center, still cloaked, though not quite invisible. "I'm ready, Sir" The Yamataian acknowledged approximately 45 seconds after receiving his order.

Sumaru's armor Wish complied with the medical override command and opened up for the doctor. The latch caught at a point, and had to be forced open the rest of the way. But other than that, there were no immediate problems with the suit. Normally in this situation his AIES would be ready to hand over the digital copy of his injuries, but the system was still unstable and unable to provide anything more than a FoF signal-- and obviously this armor was an ally.

The male was actually quite heavy for his size, now that his body had been bulked up and was more muscle mass than anything else. So removing him from the Mindy was no simple task, but easily achievable with a little effort. Since he was piloting a modern suit, the pilot emerged naked, this made the physician’s job easier, because he could see all the burns and scrapes which covered the samurai’s body.

Mostly it was all superficial surface tissue damage, with a lot of serious bruising all over his torso from the impact of being thrown around. But the real damage came from the six small Nodal Support Drones buried deep into his flesh, causing all sorts of complications. The only major wounds after that was to his shoulder and back, where Eve had pierced deeply with her tentacles-- there was also remittance of the poison she tried to inject him with, that his NH-27 body rejected with no issue. Then to his back there was a large vicious gash from where Eve had hooked him with her weapon. There was of course the internal bleeding from the slams, and again from the NSDs. Other than that it was obvious that his body was worn out, from being overworked by the Samurai himself. His fatigue and serious loss of hemo fluid from his blood tentacles during the fight caused his internal hemosynthesis to be working very slowly, so his own self-healing abilities were also lacking at this point.

As Nyton was returning, Tom explained the three options he came up with over the public channel as he was looking over the piping and valves and analyzing them to find the best way to restore water flow.

"We've chosen #3. It's the only way we can achieve mission success. By my calculations, you may only have approximately 3 minutes to destroy that thing before we have to cut power and manually stop this explosion. But... remember the mission objectives. We have to get that computer. Do whatever it takes."

That being said, he looked to Nimura, establishing a private communication with her.

"Ok, try to locate the power plugs..." he started. "Been quite a day, hasn't it?" he added in a deadpan voice.

Rin hardly noticed Kai leaving. Though she disliked the options that were available to Tom and Nimura further into the base. But, she couldn't do anything to change what was going to happen beyond trying to do her best with what she was assigned. Her AIES was still helping her, though to a lesser extent now that she was doing a bit better on her own, to keep her calm. Without the sounds of battle and gunfire ringing in her ears and with something not covered with gore to focus on, the sprite was able to relax to an extent, though the time pressure wasn't helping.

With the Canceler as her focal point of her attention, Rin went to work trying to configure it so that it would not affect the ships above, while still hindering the malicious Aether signature below. She would only allow herself a few scant moments to attempt this, trying to get as close as possible, before activating the settings. Time wasn't a liberty she had, so she would just do the best she could.

Nimura rewarded Tom with what he thought was a nonchalant shrug (her wearing a power armor made it hard to tell) and she scurried to a ladder accessway to then flying out into the rest of the chamber to investigate the valves they would have to operate.

The klaxons insistently continued honking and the rotating beacons kept casting intermittent strobes of reddish light around Tom's surroundings.

Then, his Daisy's electronic suite and communication went on a fritz - the canceler had probably gone online. On the other hand, the deployed field was so strong that he couldn't pick up much on sensors other than his optics, and communication was cut off with anyone but Nimura.

* * *

Hinoto tried to open a comm line to Tom to convey Wazu's advice, only to be met with static. Hoshi seemed unaffected by the aether cancelling, but it was apparently quite worse than it had been before for the units still downbelow.

* * *

Nyton's three-person group came upon the entrance of the main operation room and had taken position before the canceler came into effect. The effect - apparently more concentrated somehow - was so potent that it disabled their active stealth, an angry crackle rendering their power armors visible. Most of their sensors showed static aside from visual light.

With a louder crackle in protest, the Mishhumachina also materialized ahead of them, either torn out from active stealth the same way they had or unable to maintain it with its main power dramatically diminished.

Its tentacles twitched, perhaps betraying shock (though that wasn't likely for a nonsentient being), and then the mechanical monstrosity swung around toward them with several of its appendages raised, pincers parting. Immediately, the glare of energy arcs crackling between each claw lit the vicinity until a flicker... and then nothing. It had been a pretty - but more importantly quite impotent - lightshow.

AUTO-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED

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GEOTHERMAL REACTOR OVERLOAD IN PROGRESS: 4 minutes 53 seconds remaining
(Alarm silenced, evacuation protocols disabled)

Click to expand...

Kai tensed as the Mishhumachina appeared, looking over the large, hulking metal enemy. The readout told the Yamataian that he couldn't really hurt it from where he was, with what he had. He knew that all he could do was help distract it long enough for Yoroko to get it with the Aether Saber rifle. "I'm ready to go, just give me a signal" Kai muttered over the coms, getting ready to fire, and linking the SLAG to his AIES so he could fire it one-handed.

Before entering Yoroko had changed her mind and switched to an Aether-Saber Rifle, now she sat waiting for Nyton's order to go. "The faster we get this done the better." Yoroko said as she brought the rifle to bear but waited to fire. I could fire, or I could get on and hack through the hull. Either one presents options, though the latter takes more energy and probably won't last as long." Yoroko wasn't quite sure what type of attack to use, but the tentacles definitely made her favor the ranged approach. "Ready over here." Yoroko seconded.

With the Canceler at least active at the moment, Rin went about trying to fine tune the settings. She knew, immediately, that the field was far too strong, seeing as she lost contact with practically everyone. The Canceler had to be weak enough so that, hopefully, they wouldn't all be basically left alone, and blind, but still strong enough to hopefully quite hinder the aether signature below.

While Nyton flew back to the entrance point he quickly pulled out the bazooka and reattached it to his arm via the VAW. By the time it was secured he had arrived and was facing the others. Just then the Canceler went off, exposing the Mishhumachina in its place. Along with its stealth Nyton took note that their own were incapacitated. Well that's adjustment number one I have to make now. he thought to himself. He began communicating to the others via their shared comm line.

"Nakamura, you take left, I'll go right. Fire off your SLAG in time with me and don't let up your barrage. Mizuno, the moment I fire the bazooka you use the fire and smoke as cover to get in close. Hack its central system with the saber and don't stop even if you think it's dead. This is it so let's go!" Nyton said, facing the machine and aiming the bazooka with his left arm while the LASR/SLAG was in his right hand.

The machine seemed to be weakened but its tentacles would still be a threat. Plus there was that plasma emitter under its mouth to watch out for. In a high speed charge Nyton then flew towards the room, firing off his first SLAG round to force the machine to react defensively before he got closer. Upon reaching the entrance of the room the second SLAG round was out, he would juke to the right and continue firing the SLAG. During this he lined up the bazooka and fired it at the main body by the time his third SLAG round was out. He did not stop moving or firing, working to create the greatest amount of damage and distraction to give Yoroko her opening. During these maneuvers he tried to remain upright while slightly crouched, using his gravity manipulation to move him quickly but steadily.

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Sanjuro took note of Sumaru's injuries and got to work quickly. "If you wish to be more helpful than bring me some anti-toxin, your highness. There seem to be trace amounts near his shoulder." he said in his usual tone, as though Sora had not said anything. He then looked over at one of the nekos who had begun to recover from her own injuries and was mobile ready. She had apparently become curious at seeing what appeared to be a 'male' neko emerge from the Mindy. Her face puzzled over it as though trying to convince herself this was just another Yamataian male, not a Nekovalkyrja. Sanjuro took note of her gawking and simply used it for his own advantage.

"If you wish to get a closer look then grab me a unit of hemosynth," he gave a quick glance to her name, "Junko, and bring it here. He needs immediate infusion. I also need several extraction tools. There are multiple large objects embedded into him that once removed will accelerate the healing process. Hoshi guide Junko to the extraction tools after she has retrieved me a hemosynth unit." Sanjuro noted the bits of metal from the drones that had broken off inside of Sumaru while the main body of the drones themselves were still dug in and refused to budge. Those would require some effort to remove but for the moment it was not immediately life threatening. "He will survive, we simply need to work on fixing him up to hurry it along." Sanjuro said under his breath, slightly exasperated at how people around him were unable to focus on the immediate tasks.

Contact with the outside world had been completely cut off. Tom had no way to know when or if the rest of the group would be successful with their mission.

He sent his drones to assist in surveying around for valves and power plugs. The most he and Nimura could do at the moment was label where they were and develop the most efficient order to open them. His AIES made quick work of that.

After he and his drones were finished, Tom went back to the computer and accessed the size of the generator and the pathways. Based on the readings from the screen, he calculated the time it would take the water to flow from the coolant tanks into the main reactor. He also needed to know the time necessary for the water to adequately cool the reactor.

Where was the cutoff point, the point of no return? 90 seconds? 60 seconds? They had to be in front of it to have a chance.

"Nimura," he said. "Please double check these calculations when you have the chance. Then we wait, I suppose."

Rin toyed with the Canceler's console a bit, and it seemed from how she had set it that the only way to improve how electronics functioned was to make the field less concentrated - which meant making it wider.

Of course, that was just circumstancial guesswork - without knowing the full laydown of the device, that was all she had to work with. When she worked the dial up to a 50 kilometer-radius (including the hangar), communication had been mostly restored, and sensors were good enough to detect at least where the rest of her team was.

* * *

Nimura had been down in the chamber turning a valve to the desired setting to figure out how much time that would take to set one in the desired position - the point was getting real data instead of any simulation their AIES could run.

Then she watched the valve as she left it alone, wanting to see how the automated servo system would put it back to the previous position. It didn't; not until Rin restored a measure of communication and sensor reception. Then the valve immediately started grinding back into position.

"Juni," Nimura looked up at the viewport, where she could see Tom puzzling over the console there. "The main computer's remote control was blocked off because of how strong the canceler effect was. If Rin restores it back the way it was and keep it that way until we disable auxiliary power... we could do this, now."

* * *

The attack commenced, with Nyton and Kai splitting up to then shower the mishhumachina with what grenades they had remaining. Debris showered about, making the large drone's shield barrier flicker like mad and damaging the visual displays and consoles.

Amidst smoke and fire, Nyton fired his bazooka while the fake-mishhu was pivoting around his way, rocking it back with the impact. Nyton's shot had collapsed the mishhumachina's shield barrier (which hopefully wouldn't have the power to handily recharge with its limited power supply) and struck over the armor covering its right-side tentacle cluster, badly gouging it.

GRASER eyebeams shot out, leaving red-hot zigzagging trails on the ground as they tried to track Yoroko and Kai. Kai cut to his left with an awkward somersault to avoid the attack before he reciprocated with a burstfire of his own: most of his shots pinged off harmlessly on the mishhumachina's armor, but one found an eye and cracked it open - thereby ruining it.

Yoroko on the other hand made a leap above, her aether sword lit, with the intent of cleaving into their enemy, but pincer-tipped tentacles shot out. She managed to hack through two, but the other pincers seized her over the limbs and caught her fast, stretching her limbs taut into an 'X' shape.

The pull they exerted was tremendous - she could feel the interior insert of her power armor strain to avoid her from being pulled apart.

The remaining tentacles on that side of the mishhumachina clustered around her and begun hammering at her with the quartet of anti-personnel energy weapons they had with each pincer. Individually not very powerful, getting hit by nearly thirty energy bolts per seconds in her middle quickly depleted her barrier shield and started to take a toll over her torso armor, also turning her damage display there from green, to light green, to yellow.

Nyton, for his part, managed to endure with his barrier the occasional hits the energy weapons on the remaining pincers fired his way... but then the mishhumachina aimed its gatling gauss cannons his way, the barrels of the weapons going on a quick spin before spitting out their ordonnance at an incredible rate of fire. Some shots clipped the Nepleslian's armor on his left flank and shoulder - chewing up armor there enough to have the damage diagram turn light green - before he could scurry out of the weapon's firing arc.

AUTO-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED

Click to expand...

GEOTHERMAL REACTOR OVERLOAD IN PROGRESS: 4 minutes 18 seconds remaining
(Alarm silenced, evacuation protocols disabled)

Click to expand...

"What? Really?" Tom's helmet shot a glance at Nimura. He hadn't noticed the change at all.

But then the crackling of his communicator indicated that something HAD changed.

"Rin," Tom sent over the public channel. "The canceler is interfering with the computer's control over the meltown! If you set the canceler back to its previous point, we can turn the valves and begin cooling the reactor immediately! Excellent! You may have just saved us all! Hurry!"

He pointed at Nimura, excitement pouring out of him.

"Nimura! Take position and begin the cooling process as soon as we can!"