RP: YSS Miharu Mission 3: The sound of machina

"No. We don't know if our friends are still fighting the Mishhumachina," Tom said quietly. "Hurry up and let's get going."

He started to push and shove his way through the forest of disabled nekomachina.

With the task done and the auto-destruct aborted Nyton let out a sigh of relief. Behind him, somewhere off in the shadows, he bore witness to Death's retreat. Don't try to fool me, old shade. I won't forget just how close you are. Besides, we're not out of this yet. he mused.

"Excellent work Rin. Those data banks are the main objective we've been fighting for. Protect them with your life." Nyton said. "Now if you'll begin heading back I need to do a little redecorating in here." he followed up, sending the sprite back out the door before he slashed the computer with the beam saber. With quick efficiency he raked destruction all over the terminals and devices. With that accomplished he then pulled out his LASR and rained fire in every terminal he saw, even the ones that had been hacked through. Should the enemy return and attempt to salvage or investigate what happened they would hopefully be unable to tell whether the data banks were stolen or not.

Of course if they had any intelligence they would figure out that some form of intel had been stolen but maybe this would slow them down. With that task now done Nyton joined Rin outside the control room. "Let's head back and shut off the Canceler. With that off we should be able to communicate with Freeman and Nimura again." he ordered before taking off.

Upon reaching the catwalks Nyton stopped suddenly. "Rin, go on ahead while I take care of something here." he then said. Not waiting for a reply he walked over to Aoiko's corpse. With a bit of heaviness that he had not allowed himself to feel yet he bent over and picked up Aoiko's dead body. Already the bloody mess had pooled around her corpse which was still covered by the wrecked Armor. The blood had mostly clotted and sealed itself up although there were still some collected areas that began to pour out over Nyton's own armor, staining his hands with the blood of a comrade.

Barely pausing though, the lifting of the deceased made quickly due to the mission's requirements, Nyton continued on to join Rin by the canceler. Upon her confirmation that she shut it down Nyton then began to communicate with Tom.

"Freeman this is Claymere. Mission accomplished, the package is secure. Are you two alright?" Nyton then immediately radioed.

"Sir, good to hear your voice," Tom replied. "All enemies down here are inoperable. The self-destruct has been dealt with as well. We are enroute to your location."

His AIES suddenly updated with the status of all the remaining team members. Kai was seriously injured, but, all in all, for the foe they were facing, things turned out surprisingly well.

He flinched a little and bit his tongue lightly.

Nyton kept any sign of cheer in his voice from being heard but he knew he was glad those two were still alive. "Good job down there . Now hurry up so we can all get the hell out of here." Nyton replied. As though suddenly now remembering that they were still in enemy territory he shifted Aoiko's body over his shoulder and secured it with his shield hand while generating a hand from his VAW to wield the LASR. There had already been enough costly surprises for one day.

"Roger."

Tom made his way back to the Hoshii. Although he hurried, the base was rather massive and it took some time for him to get back. He did not talk, taking a page from Nimura's book partly, but also still quite displeased with himself.

It was not that he didn't think the mission was a failure. No, in fact it was a smashing success so far.

...

...he arrived at the Hoshii.

The site of injured people milling about did little to alleviate his discomfort.

"The Sekkou" he blurted out to nobody in particular. "Are any people manning it? How about its medical facilities? Are they being used?"

Most of the walking wounded, the ones who had required minimal attentions, were already walking about. One of the recently recovered nekos from the Sekkou, a low ranking hei whose name Hikaru was still being broadcast via the holographic projection above her head, walked up to Tom upon hearing his inquiry. She had short fiery red hair and a fair complexion along with big shining blue eyes.

"I believe Sekkou is still under slave remote via your ship right now, sir. Your medical team was able to treat just about everyone. I think everyone is going to be alright!" she said, cheerfully. The smile she had though was cut short when she saw Nyton and Rin touchdown. The Nepleslian marched up quickly to Hikaru and another neko who had drawn closer in curiousity.

"Hikaru, Tomomi, respectfully take this soldier to the medlab so her remains may be interred properly." Nyton ordered as he handed off Aoiko's corpse to the two surprised nekos. They looked at each other and took the body carefully, not paying any mind to the blood that still dripped randomly.

Rin was ecstatic at having more compliments. But, this was quite offset with the sight of Aoiko's corpse, which led to Rin's mental recall of the Sekkou's horrific bridge scene. The emotional and stressful rollercoaster she'd been on so far was really wearing her out.

She stood by Nyton while still cumbersomely holding the memory drives from the base's computer. She was glad to see Tom was okay. A moment of just standing there, before she asked the important question before she somehow broke the objective of the mission. "Etto... where should I put this?"

"Hand those off to me and I will deliver them to the bridge. I need to head that way myself. Assist Freeman in whatever he needs. Freeman, make sure we're able to launch from this rock without any problems." Nyton ordered as he took the databanks from Rin. He hastily flew to the entrance of the bridge, landing just before the doorway.

Nyton stepped through the doors and onto the bridge once again. The operation felt as though it took almost a year to complete as he began to feel tired after the rush of combat. "We have the databanks, Hinoto. Get the ships ready to launch, I want us all out of here immediately." Nyton ordered as he set the hard drives down. Taking note of their guest his mind then recognized the man he had been communicating by proxy through Hinoto during the mission. Oh so it was THE Heram Wazu who wanted to speak to Eve. he thought before taking his place at the command seat. Nyton removed his helmet and shook his head, eager to be freed of the confining piece of equipment.

Hinoto had moved from the command seat when Nyton came in, smiling widely seeing the mission was complete and that most of the people that went in came out and most of the wounded would actually survive. Having only one person killed in such a risky operation was nothing short of phenomenal.

The sprite moved to the navigation console, leaving Nyton to deal with Wazu's presence. She took up communication and insured all pre-launch preparations were complete before activating Hoshi's propulsion system.

Slowly, Hoshi's eased out from the hangar to have its hull banged upon by hail that was falling down from a thunderstorm above. The auxiliary craft swung around and its engines roared to life, having it shoot toward the sky at a speed well beyond escape velocity - fortunately the vessel's internal inertial control kept most of the occupants heedless of the acceleration.

Behind, Sekkou emerged from the hangar and followed.

* * *

After a long talk between Miyoko and Yukari about the delicate intricacies of flying and making sure that both the stations they occupied could interact well in combat, Miyoko's displays reported a change through the probe relays: Hoshi and the Sekkou were emerging from Bowhordia Prime's atmosphere with the two shuttles and the Ryusei bomber joining up behind in a 'V' formation.

Pleased at their departure from Bowhordia's atmosphere Nyton began to breath a little bit easier. "Hinoto, message our bomber and have it eradicate the base. No sense leaving any scraps for the enemy to salvage. Then open a channel to the Miharu. Let them know we are returning to dock with them." he said before turning to face Wazu.

"You will have to pardon my inattention but we are in a hurry to depart. Please settle in for the time being Heram Wazu." Nyton told his fellow Nepleslian.

Wazu turned from his place watching over Hinoto’s shoulder to go and sit down where he had been earlier, “Right, I suppose I should thank you for not leaving me there once you had finished with your task.”

"Yes, Taii." Hinoto answered Nyton and then got to work. She started by sending a text message to the pilot of the Ryusei and provided it with the telemetric data obtained from Tom and Nyton's power armors. Then, she sent a text message through the established probe network to Miharu.

Hinoto said:

King, this is Queen. Mission accomplished. Jester is secure and following. Requesting rendez-vous.

Click to expand...

* * *

The bomber veered off to speed back toward the mountain-embedded outpost, where it discharged its four W2901 Aether warheads.

Those impacted in succession over the mountain's base, boring in deeply until the last struck at the power plant below, blowing off the magma capstone. Within the next minute, the mountain rumbled before the pressured lava surged up from the peak explosively while gushing out from other apertures such as the hangar Hoshi and Sekkou had occupied, only minutes before. A stronger subsequent explosion from within the complex - the open armory - practically shattering a facing of the mountain before more magma bled out profusely.

* * *

Hinoto turned to Nyton. "Red 2 reports that the target is destroyed," the silver-gray eyed sprite informed the Nepleslian lieutenant. "It is now joining formation with us."

"No thanks are necessary, sir. We were to rescue any and all prisoners being held here. It is something of a surprise to see a fellow Nepleslian among those captives but it is no matter." Nyton replied.

"Red 2 reports that the target is destroyed," the silver-gray eyed sprite informed the Nepleslian lieutenant. "It is now joining formation with us."

Click to expand...

"Excellent. Everyone stay alert and take us in as soon as Miharu is ready. Let's all go home." he replied. It was thrilling to feel victory finally wrenched from their enemy's hands. He chose not to sully it by thinking back to the pilot of the fighter lost in the early stages of the battle or of Aoiko now laying lifeless in the medbay. There would be time after the mission to mourn them. For now it was time to keep up the pace until they were all safely home.

Home! At the thought Nyton recalled Kotori's extended arms welcoming him to the home she had made for him. For a second he thought exhaustion would finally creep in and overwhelm him emotionally. The stinging by his face though helped keep him sober though, telling him it was too soon to drop his guard just yet.

Sumaru stirred where he lay, it was obvious he was in a sleeping state. In actuality, he was deep within his own mind trying to grasp on the reality around him. His body was battered and bruised, his energy and soul tapped for all it's worth. All what was left was his pride, he had done as his Princess had asked and did it well-- he deserved the rest he got now. But the rest was not what he would have wanted. His mind was still highly active, and the battle still continued on in his head. The lights around him went dim, and he felt himself sink into a dream-- or perhaps a nightmare.

• Drifting-- that how everything felt. Like his body was floating down a steady stream. But no water flowed around his form, no running sounds of the liquid splashing up against the small coasts. Only the darkness of the world around him, and the sensation of continually traveling along a senseless body of water. Sumaru's mind wandered in the darkness, for some reason he felt safe on this journey, so safe he did not question where he was going or why he was there. Instead he wondered what had happened, and what brought him to where he was.
  
  Then there was sounds, echoes of voices to people who've came and went in his life. Then lights, and images curved up around his view passing by high above him like an old holographic projection. First his youth, then the unfortunate death of his parents. More time past, his training to become the perfect husband from his twin sisters stretched for some time. Then his decision to join the army, the images were resolute as was his decision. His first ship, his first battle-- the first death he saw, and then the first he dealt.
  
  Everything then went so fast, from one ship to the next. So many memories, he could see them all and hear every single voice. Then the image of YSS Plumeria came into full view. The noise silenced, until he could hear one single scream, then the ship-- it blew up before his eyes. He tried to reach out, he wanted to save everyone, he wanted to save Sora. But the stream relentlessly continued to flow, no matter how hard he tried to swim against it. He noticed now, how weak he was... he could see his Yamataian arms struggling to fight against the current. He could feel his weakness and cursed himself for not being able to turn back time.
  
  He was whisked along, through some very painful memories. Of when soon Sora left, when he felt so alone in the crowd aboard the Asamoya. No matter how well he fought, no matter what he did it just felt like he was fighting for nothing. Like he was just another number adding to the many, to live-- to die-- to serve the Empire. It was a long segment he would try to hide his eyes from, he didn't want to experience this. But no matter what he tried, everything just became transparent and he was forced to watch.
  
  Then suddenly, everything stopped.
  
  He sank into the flow, and was dragged into the depths. He didn't struggle, anything was better then that time. Deeper and deeper he sank, until he fell from what could only be the sky and slowly descended to the ground. His feet touched down on a soft grassy field, he was surrounded by windmills. He paced towards one, and his head began to loft to one side when he heard the most lucid voice ever. "Don't go tilting your head Sumaru," she said to him. The sound echoed on the wind, blowing around him as he turned to look. It sounded like Sora, he was smiling so brightly to hear something so assuring in this chaos.
  
  "When there are real monsters lurking around you," the voice changed, and Sumaru was face to face with Eve once more. He reached for his blade; he tried to fire off his Mindy's weapons. He tried to do something, but nothing happened. There she was, and he was powerless to do anything. She paced closer, and grinned wickedly. Then a shadow appeared on the horizon behind her, a much more intimidating faceless figure that he knew was Melisson-- the one who had killed Sora along with the Plumeria.
  
  "How are you alive, I killed you-- I saw you die on the edge of my blade," he said to the figure. She only continued to smile at him, and pace slowly towards his body. He looked down, and in his hand was her weapon. "You're still alive because of this?" he asked, trying to puzzle things together. "Or are you alive here because I killed you," he asked in a attempt to rationalize her existence in his planescape of his mind. He remembered that one of his teachers said that every life you take will always be carried with you. But he also remembered how he felt after he killed her, something about that fight made him wonder-- was that the real Eve?

His eyes drifted open slowly, the Samurai was suspended in a hemosynth tube. He lifted his hand slowly to see if he still had the weapon, and for a moment his tired mind imagined that it was there. His vitals spiked, and he moved his body back. The motion caused his mind to jostle and his thoughts to realign with reality, he calmed down and his heart rate evened out. His wounds were healing, but his body still felt so exhausted and heavy. He attributed the drifting feeling to the tank, and his body floating in it-- and remembered his dream in full. Did his life drift by before his eyes? Silently as he awaited the wounds to heal, he meditated on his dream and it's connections to his inner thoughts. Asking the results of the battle would happen after he exited, for now he needed to concentrate on himself.

Mission Accomplished.

It was over. It was finally over. Bowhordia, the demons residing on that now-distant star, had been put to rest.

Vindication. Mikomi, her crew, had been vindicated. He had been vindicated. The shackles on his mind, the scars of his failure, they were no more.

Miharu and her crew had triumphed. Those who had massacred the Mikomi and her crew were utterly destroyed by her hands.

By his hands.

Tom reached for his helmet and pulled it off. Everything was so bright, alien, it seemed. The crisp detail of the ship around him, of the people walking about, of the other armors in his team, his friends, all seemed so very vibrant, alive.

He closed his eyes, and breathed deeply, completely, for the first time in three years.

In his mental solitude, he saw an image of himself looking back at him. The young Tom Freeman, a big goofy grin on his face, bobbed his head up and down, his spiky blonde hair bouncing as he let out a thunderous, Raltean laugh with a sky-high thumbs up.

Rock out!

And then... the young Tom Freeman faded away.

Tom opened his eyes, but the world was blurry. He would have time to figure himself out, to come to terms with his new life, but for now, he simply turned to face the nearby wall and let his tears flow freely along with his low, gasping sobs.

Mission Accomplished.

Kai made his way thought the Hoshi into it's Med bay, slowly floating along, coughing up blood as he went. It had gathered in his helmet to the point where, had his mouth not already been full of blood, he would have been able to taste the stuff sloshing around. thankfully the suit kept him from bleeding out elsewhere, but it was still not looking good for the Yamataian. Before anyone could come to help the Yamataian, He dropped the Nekomachina legs on the floor and sat on an examination table.

Completely disoriented and barely remembering where and who he was, let alone that he was indeed in such horrible shape, Kai did something incredibly stupid. He pulled his helmet off. It came off easily, unleashing a cascade of the Yamataian's own blood down the front of his Daisy. With the sudden change in the air, Kai began hacking and coughing, trying for breath but not doing very good at it. Kai's completely blood-covered face was a mask of near-death, warped a bit with pain. Kai leaned forward, twisting as his body reacted violently to the sudden change in its state of containment.

Hinoto said:

King, this is Queen. Mission accomplished. Jester is secure and following. Requesting rendez-vous.

Click to expand...

Yukari perked up in her seat and moved away from a volumetric display. She read the message — "Mission accomplished."

"Praise Chiharu," she said quietly, eyes reading over the words a second and third time. "They have succeeded ... "

Her headset turned on. She responded to the text with audio.

"Queen, King. Rendezvous twenty thousand kilometers off directly off your port bow. Waypoint placed." Yukari brought the ship to mobile status. Her headset switched to transmitting to the sprites, and confirmed with them that they were all inside the ship. Miharu still had its holes and its problems, but it was operational.

"Heisho-san, switch to active scanning, please. Ensure we will not be ambushed soon." Yukari switched back to them. "Queen, King. What resources do you require on standby? Medics, repair teams?"

"I'm alright now," Takuma said, gazing up at the nurse with a smile. Whether it was the influx of injured allies or the painkiller that made him forget about his arm, he was not sure. His mind shifted to a slightly embarrassed state, realizing that he left the battle early for what one could consider a "light injury."

"Once my arm is stabilized, I'll gladly get out of your hair. I don't want to keep you occupied when there are more people deserving of attention than me."

With considerable mental effort, he shoved the notion of embarrassment to the back of his head. Takuma let off a sign accompanied by a smile. There's no use chewing myself out now. If I do that, what will be left for the commanding officers? I can't just give them a beaten-up shell, that'd be inconsiderate!

As the images of the previous battle entered Takuma's mind, an idea stuck him as he watched the figure in front of his past eyes dance with his sword. He had the urge to write; he was not sure why. He never really wrote for fun before, but he felt like giving it a shot. Glancing around at his surroundings, he found a small, nearly blank pad of paper and a pencil on a nearby table. He grabbed the paper and, as a past friend liked to say, "moved the pencil to create a specific patten of shapes that shifts people's emotions."

***

"The steady wind calmly blew the blades of grass in the field into a steady green sea, only disrupted by a swordsman's approaching feet. A few free strands of deep brown hair blew behind Ryota's face, trying to reach the rest that was tied behind his head. His deep blue robe blended into the night sky, with the moon's light reflecting on the sheath of his sword.

"A pair of eyes up ahead ceased Ryota's advance and caused one hand to tighten on the sword. A silver sliver flashed in his eyes. A shift to the right saw the metallic light fly by his face. A short laugh from the assailant only tightened the fighter's hand on his sword.

"Ten meters apart. The attacker's nearly invisible face showed no sign of agitation or fear.

"Anger had defeated Ryota. He threw himself into a mad run, sword loose in the sheath.

"A lone bird flew away from the field."

Hinoto smiled in relief when she heard Yukari's voice and then got to business. "Waypoint received. Changing heading, ETA to destination 20 seconds. Sekkou and Red 2 forming up on us. Recall order given to Black 1 and Black 2."

Hoshi swerved to its right and picked up speed, with Sekkou easily following and Red 2 trailing. Both shuttles sped up ahead of the auxiliary craft and Hoshi's front bay doors opened, graviton beams seizing hold of the shuttles to secure them in the launchbays.

Soon they would arrive at the rendez-vous point. Hinoto replied to Miharu's hail and said: "We can hold out, King. At this point, I think we'd all settle for a quick flight out of here."

The ship's movement was a tremendous relief in the strained medical center. The ship's doctors were exhausted after what seemed like a marathon of patient cases. To Sanjuro, his first experience as a warship's doctor was not something he cared to repeat again. In silent repose he sat down to..... contemplate things. It was a sort of self-analysis to ponder over what he himself could do better if at all. Usually these inner reflections brought little to criticize but it would be unbalanced if he did not present himself with the same scrutiny that he gave others.

Sanjuro thought back to the operation for extracting the drones from the Samurai's back. His nurse had performed 'adequately' given her lack of training. They had moved Sumaru onto an operating table so that he could properly remove the drones and bits of metal that had been driven into his body. While he labored on this with the assistance of nurses Sora had kept watch on the other patients. After a good several minutes, Sanjuro's precise movements brought immediate success. His trained hand removed each piece of metal while a few swabs of toxin neutralizer ensured that the trace poisons detected would not create complications. Sumaru did need to be deposited in the hemosynth tank to ensure thorough recovery to his extremely overtaxed body. Another of the earlier critical patients had stabilized and was now able to be removed. With help from his nurse Sanjuro swapped out the patients and left Sumaru to quietly float inside the tank. With the major work done Sanjuro no longer paid any mind to the patients who began to stare at the male nekovalkyrja. That such an anomaly would exist seemed odd to them but the doctor paid it no mind.

After a quick round, Sanjuro began discharging patients who had recovered enough so that they could be useful elsewhere. Or at least no longer occupy room in the crowded medical center. No sooner had he done this than another critically injured team member arrived. Before anyone could react to Kai, he simply landed himself on a bed. Sanjuro immediately called over Sora to assist him before dismissing Yoroko out. He did not need another grunt getting in the way of his work. The chunk of metal that had penetrated the chest plate and into Kai's chest had to be removed but first so did the Armor. Carefully, and with much more focus than Sora had with Sumaru, they were able to remove the armor properly. A nurse hooked up a hemosynth IV to the man via an exposed section of his neck. After quickly surmising that the amount of blood he had lost would be too much for simple infusions to assist they decided to move him into the last hemosynth chamber. First though they had to remove the piece of metal that was impaled upon Kai's chest. Much like before with Sumaru, the doctor worked quickly, easier now that Sora offered her own professional ability to the task. In almost no time they had the piece out with little trauma to surrounding tissues and organs. Bleeding had been controlled and they quickly shifted him into the chamber for recovery.

With the patient load thinning and recovery assured to all Sanjuro felt that they would finally win the war of attrition. Then the ship began to move and their victory was assured....

Sanjuro had returned to the present. His actions throughout this day had been acceptable. At least more than others. Finally perhaps, he would have the time to remove himself from the DAISY Armor he was still wearing and don his uniform. Yes, he would do that. He would assign the nurses to begin cleaning up the medical center while he stepped out to the bay and changed back into more comfortable clothes....

Then he spotted two of his earlier patients arriving, carrying an Armor whose occupant would most certainly not be returning to duty anytime soon. "Doctor, we just got a casualty." Hikaru said as she walked in carrying Aoiko's body by the shoulders while Tomomi carried from the legs.

A few of the nekos looked over and gasped while others simply stopped and looked down. None of them had known her but she had been one of their rescuers. Now she was dead while they were alive. There was nothing any of them could do for her now.

Except Sanjuro. He gave a sigh at the sight of the corpse, knowing that there was little he could do for her save revive her via ST. But that was not really what he would call medical work. It was more something on the scientific side of medicine. He would not be healing her body but restoring her soul to this world at the cost of her memories. Then again, that was the price one paid for returning from the dead. Standing up he walked over to the two nekos. "Give me the body. Ryoko, Azumi, assist me with the removal of the Armor." he said before using his suit's strength to carry Aoiko to an empty bed.