RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission 32: Uchū Kaubōi

Caldera Base, Level 4
Elevator

Standing deeper in the lift behind Molli, Rio, and Hoshi, Aiko's grip tightened around the hilt of her sword. The bodies of the princess' fellow infiltrators blocked her shifting stance from the view of their enemies, allowing her to prepare for a quick strike as the elevator doors split open unexpectedly soon. Still, the Ketsurui girl was a head or so taller than her comrades and all NH-29 that the Mishhuvurhtyar employed as soldiers. Not so much a problem on the run, but the fact was obvious here stuck stationary in a cramped conveyor's compartment. So as the new group of NMX Neko jumbled in and crowded the space, Aiko crouched down and shuffled over on bent knees to a corner of the elevator while making sure to remain unseen beyond the makeshift wall of smaller Neko friendlies.

"Stop wasting our time," Aiko snarled, sounding wheezy through her helmet's speakers. She reached out between her comrades and the new NMX squad to pushed the button for floor 12 on the lift's control panel with the tip of her right index finger, just barely close enough to activate it with enough force to seem perturbed—which she was, only for very different reasons than her disguise suggested. "Off you go to the twelfth, and be thorough with it."

In truth, she was concerned that Molli's ruse would not work. And even if it did, the Kaiyō group was indeed headed for the 15th floor, and so if these NMX Neko realized they'd been sent on a wild goose chase then they'd already have a leg up in their pursuit.

"They are all dead on your order, Captain," Aiko assured Hoshi over a secure wireless line. "I have already calculated every cut to minimize any chance one of ours is injured."

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

William cursed as the bullets began flying passed. The captain barely managed to send Hoshi a mental reply as he guided his horse and the stampede towards the starport. "Doing my best. They were gonna process me. Had to go loud." He explained tersely.

He managed to kill the Advanced Mishu, but the damn NMX nekos were trying to kill him now. Their next shot took his hat off. "Seriously!? The hat again!?" The ID-SOL bellowed exasperatedly. The next shot burrowed into his upper arm. He could feel blood running down his arm as it oozed around the bullet wound. "Ah damn it! Would you just..." before he could finish the thought the next bullet struck his horse. William's mount took a small stutter step and brayed at the sudden pain, but the stallion kept galloping.

William drew his other revolver and fully turned around, aiming at Hihja and the other NMX. Shooting him and his hat were one thing, but the horse. Now they were gonna get it. The ID-SOL fired both revolvers dry, sending twelve explosive rounds into the NMX nekos. "Piss off already!" He yelled, finishing his earlier declaration.

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

The guilt that came when Hihja's call to have the nekos watch their fire seemed to hurt more than anything she had ever gone through. It was a pain that bypassed the nerves and went straight to the heart, like a hand of barbed wire found its way in and grabbed hold. Hihja was looking out for her, not knowing of the betrayal that was already in motion. As Cynea attempted to curl away from the projectiles whizzing by, she found herself thinking if there was another way. The horse and William both were damaged and she doubted that either of them could take more. She might be able to cover him somewhat.

When he pulled out his revolver and began firing behind him, her instincts were to disarm him. Not just to alleviate her budding guilt at the immediate danger Hihja was put through, but to stop William from getting more heat from the mob.

Heat.

Heat...

Steam!

That's it!

In one swift motion, Cynea lifted herself up and coiled her arm around William's before he could turn back around while her other hand retrieved the Radiant Pistol. "Stay still! Don't flinch!" she warned him as she placed her wrist on his chest to help awkwardly brace herself and squeezed the trigger, shooting a barrage of hot orange bolts of plasma into the ceiling, taking great care not to accidentally clip William with said bolts of deadly, deadly plasma, but also attempting to make it look like she was trying to take his head off with it, at least from the viewers behind them. She felt the need to try and look like she was giving her kidnapper a struggle, with the hope that by throwing herself in the firing line, they'd not aim directly at William. It took a few shots, but Cynea got the result that she wanted.

And a bonus.

She had hoped to hit a steam pipe, but what she got instead was the gas line right beside it. The result was arguably better as a fireball erupted from the ceiling behind them, with a jet of fire and a rapidly spreading cover of hot, obscuring vapor.

"Kuso... That was too quick of a response," Cynea said as she released her hold on William to allow him to turn and keep his eyes on the road, but returned to clinging to his belt with shaken hands as she returned to her 'hunted game' position on the back of the horse, not trusting herself to maneuver to a better position without slipping. "Now what? They'll be swarming this base before you know it!"

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

Though the holding pen had ramps that led to closed off doors further along, there was really only one way out—the way they had come in. Unfortunately, that way was getting bottlenecked by arriving NMX Nekovalkryja that did and did not choose to listen to Hihja's screaming orders. Shots were going off quickly which fueled the stampede William had been hoping for. But with nowhere to go, they were pressing into the metal walls and doors with their bovine bodies. The explosion did nothing to calm them and, so, when a large garage door began opening on the wall furthest from the entrance, they barreled towards it like it was salvation. The door barely had time to open before it started closing again, though.

Level 4
Elevator

This was not what any of the NMX wanted to hear, but Myga had said it with such a level of authority that they fell into the elevator and the door closed readily behind them.

"Thanks," one of them said to Aiko since she had pushed their new destination's level. Their face fell from Aiko's mask to her boots and the NMX's yellow eyes went wide as her stance shifted and she yelled out, "Hey! You're the rancher!"

Hoshi quickly nodded to Aiko, sending a telepathic directive to follow through with whatever the Ketsurui was capable of.

Caldera Base, Level 4
Elevator

Aiko was unfurling her blade even before Hoshi gave the go-ahead, springing forth from her half crouch without hesitation. The alerted NMX exclaiming "hey!" had been more of an invitation to the princess than a warning to her fiendish colleagues, and was soon met with the blunt end of Aiko's sword.

Her pommel cracked into the enemy Neko's nose with such force that the Mishhu thrall's sandy blonde bob haircut seemed to hang unperturbed in the air where she'd been standing and then chase the flesh it was connected to as if playing catch-up. While that first NMX girl fell, slammed against the wall with her yellow irises pinched cross-eyed toward the fountain of blood seeping out from her brain, Aiko's katana thrust backward to spear the second NMX Neko through her tanned throat. That one's fingers fumbled around on her webbing for a moment—still searching for the pistol she intended to pull—but then quickly grasped her gurgling trachea with both palms and slumped onto her knees, and then all the way back so that her head rested against the elevator's wall, as the energy left her limbs.

The last genuine NMX soldier had, by then, turned and begun to raise her slung Impaler rifle toward Aiko. She aimed and pulled the trigger at the tall rancher who was already lunging at her. But no blue particle beam sizzled out from her gun; it had been cut by the swordsman's blade a moment too soon, severing the weapon's barrel from its stock and trigger group thereby rendering it inert. Aiko stepped forward and grabbed this final Neko around her pale neck and lifted her up off the floor. The wicked Neko's fiery red hair bounced around as she thrashed, but swiftly ceased when the princess plunged her reclaimed Star Army officer's katana up through the NMX soldier's abdomen to pierce through their heart and end things as quickly as she could.

Her duty complete, Aiko held the girl's body up above the floor long enough to make sure she was no longer a threat and then dropped her unceremoniously to the deck.

"Nekovalkyrja in the Star Army were traditionally created in batches of three," the princess said with a reverent tone that carried through even the NMX light infantry helmet's harsh speakers. She then wiped her blade on a strip of her own clothing that stuck out from underneath the armored NMX smock she used as a disguise before sheathing it.

"I wonder," she mused, "was this a trio of sisters?"

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

Even with distance between herself and the explosion of searing heat, Hihja could feel it bear down on her like an overbearing blanket. Gritting her teeth at the continued gunfire from her comrades, she rose to her feet and bounded after the duo. With her powerful legs, she rapidly closed the distance to the gradually closing door, though having to dodge through a sea of stampeding cows slowed her. Ultimately, she managed to dive through opening, which was more than her sisters could say. From the ground, Hihja's rifle trained on Will's horse again, and she opened fire.

Caldera Base, Level 4
Elevator

Myga tensed up at the suddenly shouting NMX, having followed her eyes to Aiko's boots as well. It was an oversight so simple, Myga had to wonder how one of Star Army's finest could have made such a blunder. She was ready to give another excuse, no matter how unlikely it was to be accepted, but she could see movement in the corner of her eye and hear the slightest sound of a blade scraping against a sheathe. Myga's eyes widened, the sound drawing back images of a brutal swordswoman. She knew what was coming, and was powerless to stop it.

"Wait-!"

It was too late, the princess had already sprung to action with frightening speed and efficiency, and within seconds all three women were crumpled in separate heaps, with the blood of Aiko's first victim splattered across Myga's uniform and rapidly pooling on the floor. She stood stone-still, mouth agape in naked shock. These were three faces that she'd seen in passing, and now they were gone; three lives lost because of a stupid mistake. Hearing the princess muse about who they could've been made Myga's skin crawl, and she trembled with restrained anger.

"It wouldn't change anything," Myga muttered through clenched teeth, "Now let's go. They'll know we're here before long." There were plenty of other things she wanted to say, things that might have called Myga's loyalty into question. The Neko's furious expression left little ambiguity about how she felt, regardless.

Caldera Base, Level 4
Elevator

"We can't just go," the Kaiyō captain said, her voice frigid and distant. It was juxtaposed with the high-pitched creaking of metal as the elevator reached its destination but was arresting all the same.

"Rio, hold the door closed," the captain ordered, nudging her eyes to the elevator's buttons as she began to work. Lifting the redhead first, then the blonde, Hoshi hefted more than double her weight and gently ascended to dump them through the maintenance hatch which the SAINT operative had left through only moments prior to their interruption.

Hoshi asked, "Help with the third?" She looked down into the elevator, hand outstretched towards Molli. It was in that moment that she again wished to see something recognizable about Molli —not Myga— like her cybernetic arm reacting to Hoshi's request or her striking red eyes. Caught in the feeling of unfamiliarity, Hoshi diverted her gaze to Aiko's and settled on those almost familial crimson eyes instead.

"You can be upset about the path we're taking, but follow me," Hoshi said. “Not just because you agreed to it, but because you can trust me to lead you down the right one." She was looking at Aiko as she spoke her side of a dialogue meant for someone else because she knew Aiko believed the words more than even Hoshi did.

She could have quoted Ketsurui Yui, saying: "Our mission is to eliminate the Mishhu forces. All of them," But she didn't. For all the consternation that Yui’s words had caused Hoshi, she wasn’t willing to pass that down to her enlisted crewmen. She still felt guilt over killing Overseer Charbon, a nagging guilt that only she was to blame for—and yet the military doctrine told her she was entitled to dismiss all culpability from her mind. Now there were three more NMX Nekovalkyrja just like Charbon and the expression on Myga's face left little room to disregard that.

Caldera Base, Level 4
Elevator

There just had not been time to diffuse the situation. But that hadn't been entirely true? There was time but the princess had already decided the trio's fate. At least that was how it looked to Sahty as she stared at the three crumpled bodies of her sisters. Three unnecessary and preventable deaths of her sisters.

The longer she looked, a grave feeling of recognition began to creep over Sahty. It took her looking hard at the tanned neko still stumped against the elevator wall for it to fully hit her. She knew these three. They looked so different outside of the work smocks and goggles all of them had worn while she had been temporarily assigned to processing, but without a doubt Sahty knew them. "Syhypa, Lija, Arta...why was it you three? Why did you have to get on this elevator?" Sahty thought to herself as anger welled up inside of her.

Even as she moved to hold the door closed, Sahty's face reflected Myga's own fury. With one hand holding the button to keep the elevator doors shut, her other hand had come to rest upon her sidearm in a white knuckled grip. It was Lija still leaned against the elevator wall. Sahty couldn't bring herself to look away from her. Lija had been the one to give Sahty her citrus scent bottle.

"This place...is different. We're all sisters down here in this hell." Sahty angrily mouthed in response to Aiko's musings "Lija didn't need to die."

Caldera Base, Level 4
Elevator

Morgana's emerald eyes flickered as she stepped closer, the usual sharpness dulled for an instant. A strand of her raven hair fell across her face, unnoticed. "What was the alternative?" she asked, her voice steady but carrying a weight which she normally held in reserved. "Leaving them here, entwined in the tentacles of the Mishhuvurthyar? To starve slowly, to be abused daily, and eventually be pulled apart, limb by limb, to be consumed as snack?"

She glanced at the lifeless forms of the three dismembered Nekovalkyrja, a subtle tightness at the corner of her mouth betraying a crack in her composure. "Chusa Aiko did the most merciful thing possible under these circumstances."

Morgana's gaze shifted back to Sahty, the intensity of her stare softened by something akin to remorse. A faint crease appeared between her brows. She took in a breath, as though resolving herself. "This is the tragedy of our war," she continued, a slight tremor in her usually unshakable tone. "The Mishhuvurthyar likely don't even grasp the psychological toll of deploying Nekovalkyrja against us. They have billions—we can't save them all."

The momentary vulnerability vanished, her features returning to their practiced neutrality. "The swifter we end the Mishhuvurthyar, the more of them can save."

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

Kasa drifted soundlessly within the labyrinthine crawlspaces of the facility, a ghost woven through shadowed vents. Weeks spent navigating the ductwork made it now second nature; she moved with practiced precision, the thrum of her Inertial Control System humming faintly as it buoyed her forward. Ahead, echoes of the commotion drifted back to her, guiding her forward.

Arriving at a juncture overlooking the holding pen, Kasa paused. Through the slotted metal grates, she spied the dismal procession below: a precession of NMX Nekos—downtrodden, hollow-eyed, their movements marked by an absent determination as they rushed down the corridor towards the battle. An old term sprang to her mind from her Urban Combat training: a “fatal funnel.” No cover, no exits, no tactical recourse save for sheer accuracy and reflex, both of which NMX Nekos were rarely able to muster in their drained state.

With a breath, Kasa angled her Taiho mass driver into position. She checked the settings before committing. Armor-piercing slugs waiting in the breach to be fired on Full auto. This would not require delicacy. Her finger rested lightly on the trigger.

Kasa kicked out the vent grate in one fluid motion, her ICS recalibrating to invert her gravity, leaving her hovering, suspended upside-down above the oblivious ranks. She leveled the rifle to her shoulder, and with squeeze of her finger the silence shattered.

Tungsten carbide slugs launched with ferocious speed, each round carving through a number of Nekos in succession. A devastating chain of over-penetrations that rolled through their ranks like a dark wave, bodies toppling in a deadly, inexorable cascade.

The final click echoed in the emptiness, and she allowed herself a brief exhalation as she disengaged from the vents. She dropped, landing in a practiced flip, her momentum carrying her forward. With a flicker of her gaze, she assessed the corridor behind her—clear—and then strode into the pen's entrance.

A dozen or more NMX Nekos lay sprawled at her feet, their blood still yet to pool on the cold floor. Kasa stepped over them without pause. Nearing the door, she took cover next to its fram, her hands moving with swift purpose as she toggled her Taiho’s settings to plasma mode. She needed to conserve what precious ammunition remained.

She leveled the rifle once more, gaze set down the barrel. Some Nekos in the pen beyond had begun to stir, sensing something amiss, though others were still enraptured by the figure near the far wall—a hulking ID-SOL Cowboy with his captive. No time left for them to react.

The operative swept the threshold, and one by one as she got a clear shot on each of them Kasa fired with mechanical precision. Each plasma round lanced through the air, immaculately precise as she swept through the threshold. Her mind remained unclouded; her movements detached.

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

William allowed Cynea to pull off her stunt, playing along with the ruse. The weight of their situation was setting in. They were boxed in, out gunned, and out manned. He tried to cover his steed from a clear shot by the NMX with the cattle.

As he started to reload his revolver, fire began raining down on the NMX. This was his one chance to get the hell out of here. "Hang on, and stay down." William ordered as he pulled out his kusarigama. Letting out a long whistle, he spurred his horse onwards towards the entrance.

Spinning the scythe of his kusarigama, he whipped the blade towards the NMX who were still standing as he passed. The ones on the ground would soon be taken care of as he lead the herd through the opening.

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

While initially relieved that she brought a barrier down to cut the NMX off of their tail, her heart sank when she heard a different kind of shot that did not once register in her weeks of stay here on the base. She knew how the guns sounded, Nari had her test most of it, or at least be present when the range was in use. Those shots did not sound anything Cynea had heard before. But she knew enough that it didn't come from a pistol. So either the infiltrators brought backup, or the defenders did. Either way, an icy hand placed itself on her spine.

From the rear she saw Hihja burst through the steam and fire and she felt the barbed hand squeeze her heart. "Damn it, Hihja," she cursed under her breath as she felt the spray of blood from William slicing through the blockade. She's not going to survive if she keeps chasing after her.

"I can't have them get you too!" Cynea shouted as she raised her radiant pistol to the ceiling once again. "Forget me Hihja!" More bolts of plasma shot out from her gun, rupturing the pipes and causing another explosion of steam and fire. She did not have the heart to shoot at her, and neither did she want to bear witness to her demise. She could only hope Hihja would stop the chase, be anywhere else, even if its to call for reinforcements.

Caldera Base, Level 4
Elevator

"This Lija was a Mishhuvurthyar soldier ready to carry out her duty to end me," Aiko said calmly back to Rio, glancing curiously between her and Molli as Hoshi gave orders to hide the enemy dead. "Better for them to fall quickly by my hand than have one of you do it. It must have been exhausting to exist here as infiltrators for as long as you did. I understand living in enemy captivity all too well, so do not think less of your hesitation. But we cannot delay at this juncture nor risk injury among our party," she explained, stepping over to the elevator's entrance to stand prepared and on point while the others variously composed themselves and cleaned up the mess.

"We Valkyrja are all created for battle, especially these of our warrior kind who were enthralled by the Mishhuvuthyar even before their birth," the princess said. Herself the daughter of Taisho Yui, Aiko was only one generation removed from the first Nekovalkyrja and clearly held particular pride in the purpose of her existence. "Honor the good deaths given to these stolen daughters of Yamatai. It is far more than they were trained by the Mishhu to afford us."

Caldera Base, Level 1
Holding Pen

A myriad collection of footsteps roared behind Hihja, who had advanced deeper by sprinting through open areas fearlessly, diving behind the myriad of gates and steel pen doors that just barely held up against William's bullets. As she peeked out to return fire, Hihja's eyes widened at the sight of William's horse barreling towards her and the reinforcements with a blade in hand, carving through the soldiers ahead of her. "Stupid bastard..." Hihja took careful aim and hoped with all her heart that the next shot would find its mark.

Seeing Cynea brandishing a pistol gave the woman pause, however, and she was utterly confused why her comrade hadn't turned it on her captor. She was yelling -- was that an apology? The ruptured pipes above her made Hihja flinch, but she took aim again. Something was wrong, what had he done to her squadmate?

Something punched into Hihja from behind, slamming her into the door and making her tumble to the ground. Deep, blinding pain followed the scent of burning flesh -- her flesh, and the harsh lights from the ceiling above were like blurry fireflies in her fading vision. She'd been shot by...something, and that sensation of agonizing pain was swiftly fading into cold numbness.

The soldier turned onto her stomach and stretched a hand out for the rifle that had clattered across the floor, just out of reach. Just trying felt like agony, and Hihja eventually collapsed as the world went dark.

"Cy...nea..."


Caldera Base, Level 4
Elevator

As Myga feared she would drown in the sea of her own mind, Hoshi's reassurance was a raft she could cling to. They grounded the young Elite and reminded her of the hull-side talk in space that occurred in a similar time of stress and anxiety. "I'm not upset," Myga spoke as calmly as she could so as not to betray her lie, and she stepped out of the elevator to assist Hoshi as requested. She tried not to look at the faces of Aiko's victim, but it felt harder to look at the princess and Morgana once the latter started to justify how things went.

Myga had hooked her arms below the corpse's armpits and nodded to Hoshi to lift after a three-count, and while doing so, she stared daggers at Morgana in response. It was convenient that their only option was the most merciful one, thought Myga with the deepest scorn in her troubled mind. Her stubborn rejection of a conventional solution to the war brought to mind another moment of anger, where she raised her voice at a woman even higher up the ladder than Hoshi. "Killing them isn't a mercy," Myga muttered as she and Hoshi moved the corpse to the maintenance hatch, "If her highness's disguise was better, we could've-" She stopped herself and sucked in air through clenched teeth. This wasn't the time or place to argue, they couldn't afford to be so distracted.

She only hoped they could avoid giving out any more "good deaths" unless absolutely necessary.

Caldera Base, Level 1

Most of the cattle had made it out of the holding pen and through the large doorway. The herd had thinned but only marginally and wherever they were now was damper and less well lit. Some wide, unused back hallway whose Mishhuvurthyaric interiors were all the more present in the slick, slimier walls and the skittering of bugs on the wall.

The beasts of burden were heaving, all of them scared and some of them hurt.

Level 15


Hoshi heard Myga's latest source of consternation, Aikos disguise, and crinkled her nose in Myga's direction, trying to imbue the need to just move on in her pink features. It was Myga, after all, that had told the three dead NMX that the intruders were ranchers—letting them on to what small indiscretions to look out for. Even telling them that they were headed for the lowest level was information the trio of NMX couldn’t have walked away with knowing.

Admonishing those or any of Myga's damaging words this mission felt like finger pointing that would debase not just their roles, but the mission itself, though, and Hoshi wasn’t going to do so.

“Rio, stack the elevator door with Aiko as you open it,” Hoshi said as she kept herself propped in the ceiling of the elevator, ready to shoot from an unexpected angle if needed. “Molli, Morgana, fire support if there’s anyone on the other side.”

Level 15

Morgana and the Princess's words seemed to mollify Sahty. Each point made by her seniors that justified her sister's deaths in that elevator felt like a cut to the young neko's soul. She wanted to save as many of them as she could from the Mishhuvurthyar. What hurt most was that Sahty knew that under the current situation there was no real alternative nor could they jeopardize the mission. With her anger thoroughly deflated, Sahty stayed silent as she removed her hand from her sidearm.

Hearing Hoshi's orders , Sahty gave a curt nod before moving into position behind Aiko. With one hand still on the elevator controls as she looked at the rest of the group in the elevator, her gaze lingering on Myga before looking back towards the doors.. Taking a breathe to steady herself, Sahty released the door controls and took up her impaler rifle, flicking off the safety. With a soft ding the elevator doors began to open.

Level 15

There was a fear Hoshi held that the doors would open to show more Nekovalkyrja sisters. Her mind was racing trying to find alternatives to their deaths even as her eyes took in the true foe in front of them.

Seeing a handful of NMX Nekovalkyrja ready for battle and nothing more, the Advanced Mishhuvurthyar on the other side of the elevator loped a tentacle out of its bundle and directed it into the elevator to punch in level 1. The battle was there, after all.

When the door had opened, a wave of heat brushed up against all of the women's hair and skin. It contrasted with the chill of cold running down their spines. This was a level none in the elevator save for perhaps Morgana had been to. Behind it were walls that looked like beef jerky dried too long. Sinew stretched and cooked long and hard that bugs weaved in and out of. There was a hall to go down to either side of the elevator and several egresses farther off, but the closest of them was closed between rough, calloused bulkheads whose organic shape only gave way in a small space where a digital pad was. Beyond, in the open egresses, not much was happening. They were mostly alone with this Mishhuvurthyar, besides for the bugs on the walls.

Caldera Base, Level 1
Abandoned Hallway

"Great. This place..." the neko groaned. "Story goes this hall was the start of an expansion before they decided to go down instead. This is uncharted waters. I've never been down here myself... Will. Stop. I don't like this place." Cynea grabbed on to William's clothes as she twisted herself upright to be riding the horse sideways, but keeping a tight grip on him since she wasn't secured in a saddle.

"Something feels off... all this biomatter shouldn't be here... unless this hall isn't as abandoned as the older nekos say it is." The hairs at the back of her neck bristled as the ever growing dimness stretched on and on. The story she had told Hihja came to mind. Was this where unwanted nekos disappear to? Whether it was real or purely rumors to scare the new arrivals, if such a thing ever existed, this was the place.

"Do you have a flashlight? A flare?"

Level 15

The Advanced Type's writhing mass of slippery appendages dripped and oozed with the beast's foul balm of slime, grime, and sweat a foot or two in front of Aiko's masked face. Even inside of her enclosed helmet, she caught a whiff of the Mishhu's vile stink—a heady brew carried on the hot rush of pressure coming into the elevator that smelled somewhat sweet like warm rotting fish and then wickedly repulsive with notes of dried blood, sulfur, and ammonia. The enemy was so sharply pungent that it took all of the princess' willpower to stay her hand, suddenly motivated not by her Star Army training nor hatred but by an instinctual drive to murder the thing that produced a scent so offensive to creation itself.

But she refused to flinch, even as the Advanced Type sent one of its thick, ropey tentacles in to command the elevator to redirect them back to the surface. There would be no talking their way past this foe.

Aiko's right hand still rested on the hilt of her katana, secured at the front of her belly though the belt wrapped around her waist. It would be a simple thing to lop off the Mishhu's outstretched arm and then get to work on its bulk, but the Kaiyō squad was boxed in. And for all of her speed and precision, the princess could do little to prevent whatever flailing or wanton violence a Mishhu in its death throes could unleash. Aiko remembered the special ammunition Morgana had concocted many months ago, and was glad for the brace of it hidden beneath the science officer's SOFS volumetrics.

"Faelan-shoi," she prompted in a curt unidirectional telepathic message not only to Morgana and Hoshi but to Molli and Rio in their NH-29 disguises. "You will need to be quick with your special shots. I will clear its tentacles, you all must do the rest to put it down," she said, her words transferred as thoughts that would impart the same sensations of confidence and resolute certainty Aiko herself felt in battle. "On my strike."

With her left hand, Aiko gave the Advanced Type a salute. She didn't know Mishhuvurthyar military protocols but felt it was appropriate. But the gesture was only to give Morgana and the others a heartbeat to process the plan, wasting some of the unknowing enemy overlord's time so hurried preparations could be made. Then, Aiko lowered that hand from the scowling brow of her NMX death mask's face.

Before the princess' arm fell fully back to her side, she unsheathed her blade again. First lopping off the tentacle passing over her shoulder and into the elevator's interior, Aiko bounced off the deck to pull her katana up and across the Mishhuvurthyar's beady set of eyes and then drew her slash down through its wriggling bundle of arms below. At the end of it, she was crouched on the ground with her left leg extended out for balance, making sure to stay low so that her comrades had a clean shot at their enemy.

Level 15

Morgana also had to fight the urge to gag. She’d become familiar with the foul stench over the past two weeks, yet suspected that no amount of exposure would dull its offense. She was looking forward to returning to a Mindy, where there was a layer of metal and a filter between her and the enemy, she found so repulsive.

Steeling herself, she dropped to one knee, bracing against the metal deck as she lifted the Taihō Mass Driver to point at the creature. The only hesitation she felt in pulling the trigger was to make sure her firing angle was clear of her squamates. A bolt emerged from the hologram, whistling through the air and leaving a vivid blue tracer in its wake. The hologram enveloping her weapon shimmered, the intense temperature gradient from the mass driver’s internals distorting the illusion and momentarily revealing its true form.

The cryo rounds struck the creature’s vulnerable underbelly, fracturing on impact. Shattered casings bit deep, carving channels into the Mishhu’s flesh as the rounds released their super cooled payload. Instantly, blood and tissue crystallized, spreading a sharp, frost-white pattern that crawled across the creature's skin and through its organs. The humid air around each impact condensed, trailing delicate fractals from each wound. A few rounds found the base of the Mishhu’s thrashing tendrils, which solidified and, under their own weight, splintered and cracked.

Caldera Base, Level 15
Elevator

Hoshi's words had a delayed reaction on Myga, who took a second to register that 'Molli' referred to her, then nodded to her ceiling-bound captain. For a brief, terrifying moment, Myga expected the advanced that they eventually encountered to catch on to their subterfuge, but the Kaiyo crew causing the distraction had done their jobs well, and it seemed that it might let them pass without incident -- so long as it didn't ask any questions. In the weeks she'd spent within the base, the stench of a Mishhu was one Myga had never grown used to, and she endeavored to interact with her overlords as little as possible. Seeing them always made her feel uneasy, and elicited a feeling of great pain in her shoulder. Myga was ready to slip under its tentacles and put as much distance as possible from this horrible, fetid creature.

It came as a horrible surprise, then, to hear Aiko's intent to strike the creature down. Myga could've offered an instantaneous response through her thoughts, like an urgent plea for the princess to stay her hand, but a combination of frazzled nerves from the incident above and frayed nerves made it difficult to collect a coherent thought to relay. And that was Myga's crucial failure; once she heard Aiko's blade sing, she knew it was too late. They were committed to a horrifically dangerous fight with a foe she never wanted to engage again, and in such close proximity.

From the hip, Myga let her rifle's retort compliment Aiko's opening cut; explosive rifle rounds punched into the Mishhu's hard chitinous shell as she held the trigger down. In the confines of the elevator, the explosive booms of her firearm drowned Myga's soundscape in shrill ringing, which was complimented by the rapid beating of her heart and the sharp hyperventilating breaths that passed her lips. In the neko's eyes was naught but pure, wide-eyed fear, and she'd unconsciously backed up until she was pressing against the wall.

Please die, please die, please die please die please diepleasediepleasediepleasediediediedie