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RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission 32: Uchū Kaubōi

Caldera Base, Level 1
Hangar


The visage of the ID-SOL battered and bleeding but still finding cover and fighting unnerved the NMX. They tightened their resolve, but it was too late for them. William's heavy explosive rounds from his revolver were unstoppable, now, just like their wielder. The first fell while the second that had clipped his leg fell back, behind the console while quickly falling out of cover to take potshots at him.

Level 15

With the terminal fried just as they were making progress, Hoshi did much like Sahty had and diverted her full attention to the attack. Morgana was flanking into the purple Mishhu with heavy high energy shots that he could only deflect half of with his carapace shield. The likes of which Myga had attached herself to and was slipping under. Her knife found purchase on the tentacle, cleaving into it. But he had several tentacles and had already lost his secondary. He was not so quick to lose this one and a series of tentacles wrapped around the knife, her hand, and his gun in one undulating bundle.

Reinforcements were arriving down the strange slide on the wall. Sif was already clipping at him, trying to draw his attention, but he was unwavering and unable to focus on a wholly new foe like that. The SAINT operative arrived too and Hoshi couldn't help but notice a slime on either of them. But her true focus stayed on the fight and getting to the terminal the commander inadvertently guarded. Aiko continuing her assault atop the Mishhuvurthyar and she remembered Molli's earlier attempt at downing the beast. Something sparked in Hoshi's glittering oceanic eyes before her ICS forced her forward, away from the dead terminal and towards her foe.

"Get on it with Aiko! Drag it into the magma below together!"

The orders held the gritty gallantry unwittingly reserved by captains for when they believe they are giving their final orders of a battle.
 
Caldera Base, Level 1
Hangar

Fire continued to fly back and forth. Five combatants had been downed, but there was one to go. As the last NMX neko took pot shots at William's cover, he reloaded his revolver and drew his second one. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he stepped out from cover.

With each step forward, William fired essentially giving himself his own cover fire. Pain flared from his leg with each step, but the ID-SOL bared his teeth and kept moving forward. Once he was close enough he dropped his revolvers and grabbed his kusarigama. With a roar, he whipped the scythe in a wide arc, aiming to impale the neko on the console.
 
Level 15

Once again, Myga had foolishly engaged a Mishhu in close quarters. It had never gone well for her in this life or the last, but this time, she wasn't afraid. Myga only felt pain and agony in her body, and the calming realization that she could make up for failing Hihja by accomplishing the mission. Rather than fight against the tentacles wrapping around her arm, Myga grabbed hold of more with her free hand and pulled down with all of her might. Though a single neko's strength wasn't enough to overpower this terrifyingly strong monstrosity, maybe Aiko's could tip the balance. From below, the lava's heat coated Myga's back once more, puncturing her back with scalding steam. She wrenched her eyes closed and grit her teeth and fought the urge to pass out.

Myga wasn't sure how she'd free herself before a repeat of the last brush with death, but escaping immolation was the furthest thing from her mind by now.

"Do it!" Myga shouted, in a flood of emotion that had risen past the stoic calm she'd fallen into.
 
Level 15

The order came through, but it gave a momentary pause to Cynea. Drag it into the magma? Surely they weren't thinking of doing a heroic sacrifice now of all times. No, she couldn't let that happen, no matter how desperate the whole situation may seem. And even if they only meant to push them into the molten rock, it'd be too easy to tangle them along as the Mishu sank.

It needed to die before it could think to lock its tendrils around anyone.

Cynea threw down the now-empty impaler rifle as she lifted off the ground to join the pile, but now in her hand was not her secondary, but the business end of the plasma torch she had picked up. She was going to make the Mishu regret ignoring her by shoving the plume of plasma straight to the side of its head. Time to see if their armor is stronger than ship hulls as she aimed to grab a hold of its ridges on its head with her free hand to brace herself against it.
 
Level 15

At Hoshi's command to force the Mishhu down Sahty did a quick double take between the tiny captain and the Mishhu that now had a growing pile of neko opon it. In her current state Sahty was not sure of just how much help she give in bringing the Mishhu down, but nonetheless there was a part of the situation she could not ignore. Myga was once more below a Mishhu and becoming dangerously close to the magma with every little descent.

With little thought to her own safety Sahty rushed in and grasped at the tentacles that she saw wrapped around Myga's arm with as much strength as she could muster. "Don't! It's got Myga still! Stop pushing!" Cried Sahty desperately over wireless after hearing Myga urge the others to keep pushing.
 
Level 15

Aiko kept her balance squatting atop the purple Mishhu's shell even as the others fired upon it and then came in to attack once again. The princess let her rear fall down and sit for even more stability, really saddling in as her friends made their all out assault. With her left fingers clutched at the edge of the beast's carapace and her katana grasped firmly by her others, she might have looked like a cowboy riding a bucking bronco or bull—at least if she hadn't discarded her cowboy hat in the armory long before.

"Go, then, and free her!" Aiko called, hearing in her mind Rio's digital warning about Molli being grabbed by the Mishhu again. "This one has not the strength left to keep hold!"

Deftly switching her katana to a reverse grip with a momentary toss, Aiko then scooted forward on her butt and plunged the blade downward between her knees into the wavering Advanced Type's face. The odd hold she'd switched to wasn't good for much in traditional samurai swordsmanship, but the princess relied on it now for the raw power to drive her blade down to its hilt.

Of course, this made the the Mishhu flail its body around even more. But now Aiko's sword was embedded between the beast's eyes like a climbing anchor on the face of a high rock—or perhaps a saddle's horn—allowing her to hold tight to the blade's handle and steer her body with some measure of grace even as her enemy jerked around and tried to throw off the combined might of Kaiyō's warriors assailing it.
 
Caldera Base, Level 1

Plunged into her console by the traditional weapon of Yamataian yore, the last of the NMX Neko had been downed by the sole ID-SOL in the hangar. But his people below still had not gotten into the Mishhuvurthyar controls in order to eject one of the starship’s aether cores. Once they had, if William had set up the cattle with their explosive charges embedded within them, they would set off the explosive reaction needed to break this base despite how deeply entrenched it was.

Level 15

Molli’s ardent call was juxtaposed with Rio’s apprehensive appeals to stop the attempt.

“Keep at it!” Hoshi herself yelled as she flew towards the beast with her feet outstretched. Attaching into its fleshy underside next to Molli, she made sure Rio's hands were away and fired into the fleshy tentacles with the dwindling ammo reserves of the M3. Gore and gunk splattered into her face and all along Molli’s NMX jumpsuit when the tentacles were shorn and blasted apart by the close proximity shot. For a second time this mission, the captain’s hand closed in on Myga’s wrist, carefully avoiding where the tentacles had previously been wrapped around her arm. The captain’s other hand went underneath Myga’s armpit and she pulled her up and away from the writhing tentacles with a calming agility.

"You too!" Hoshi couldn't do much but speak out to Sahty, who had rushed in to help Molli. Though some tentacles were now chunkily broken off, the intact ones still flopped about, unwittingly feeling for where their prey had gone and edging ever closer to Sahty. Where Aiko had implanted her sword, red hemosynthetic blood oozed out with each jerky movement.

With Myga and Hoshi on top of the Mishhu alongside Sahty and Aiko, Hoshi again called for them to bear down.

“Sink into it!” Hoshi strained to say. The heat they were descending into was licking at her face and making her clothes hot around her. Whatever ease she had felt in saving Molli was gone, now, as her adrenaline rerouted to her intertial control systems instead.
 
Level 15

As soon Sahty saw that Myga was free, she yanked her own hand away from the few remaining tentacles that now probed for something else to latch onto. She did not need Hoshi telling her to move away after her earlier experiences.

With Myga safe from further immolation Sahty joined the rest of the team already atop the struggling Mishhu. Digging her right arm and shoulder into the top of the Mishhu, Sahty added her own weight and strength to the teams efforts to give their enemy a fiery end. As they grew closer to the magma Sahty felt like she might catch fire again thanks to the horrific, all consuming heat.
 
Caldera Base, Level 1

The ID-SOL remained still for several long moments, watching for any movement. Once he was sure there weren't any more combatants, Willliam's shoulders fell. The pain in his arm and leg became more noticeable as the adrenaline started to leave his system. He also noticed that he had been hit a few times in both extremities. "Well, that's gonna hurt later..." He murmured as he ripped his kusarigama from the dead soldier's body.

Limping back to the hanger door, he rolled it open the rest of the way and herd the cattle and horses inside. Once they were all in, he rolled the doors shut once more. Moving to his horse, he reached into the saddle bag and grabbed his med kit. Pulling out the six constriction bands, he affixed two to each injured extremity. As soon as they were in place, he felt a pinch as the bands injected anesthetic. No more than 3 seconds passed before the pain subsided. While the medication did its thing, the bands constricted just enough to stop the blood loss to his arm and leg. With the most critical issue taken care of, he fished out a vial of Long-Night and an injector. William was tired but needed to be sharp to finish this thing. So he drew up some of the meds and stabbed the injector into his good thigh. Once the medicine was injected, the fatigue he had been feeling started to dissipate.

He then moved around the hangar, securing the entrances so only he could let someone in. After that, he began to position the cattle where he had been instructed. "This is William. Site secured. Awaiting further instructions." He sent to Hoshi and Aiko, as he sat on the ramp once occupied by the NMX. He was still alert, but he could rest his legs for a bit.
 
Level 15
If Myga hadn't been so focused on pulling the Mishhu down, she would have spared an elbow to the head of her dutiful comrade. "Get off!" she hissed, not wanting to see Sahty go down into the molten depths with her. That being said, she didn't stop in her attempts to pull it down, and wouldn't have, even for Sahty's sake. These lives were temporary, after all -- the mission took precedence. NMX indoctrination had clearly taken at least some hold into this body's mind over its brief period in service.

A surge of violence, and something warm and foul splattered all over the front of Myga. She found herself pulling away with severed tentacles in her hands. Someone's breath fell on her neck -- Hoshi's, judging by the orders being barked in her ears. Her captain had flown the both of them away and atop the mishhu that she had resolved to pull down just seconds ago. Though shielded somewhat by its body, the heat of the lava was no less overpowering from her higher vantage. Still, they had their orders -- Myga was all too happy to follow them.

Rising to unsteady feet, Myga promptly stomped down on the Mishhu's carapace repeatedly, a bestial growl escaping her with each forceful fall of her half-ruined boot.
 
Caldera Base, Level 15

The Mishhuvurthyar's tentacles wrapped around whoever it could find. As she had been atop it the longest, it was soon clutching around Aiko's firmly planted boot. The wet, ropey tendril ascended up, pulling past her pant leg to touch skin hungrily. The last ditch effort was made ineffective, though, when the team succeeded in pushing it down with their combined strength and effort. The tentacle lashed outwards as it touched the inky black and red magma, pulling her pant leg with it as its limbs spasmed. Psionically, it shrieked out in Umbral in a wailing death scream as the chamber's molten liquid popped and sizzled as the beast was shoved deep into it.

Hoshi was the first to jump off, glaring down at the dead creature momentarily before acclimating herself and flying up to the console where the NMX Neko had been set aside. She hefted the girl off, making the enemy Nekovalkyrja mumble in her unconscious state but rise no more than that.

"Someone hold on to her. Once we set this place to blow I want one of you that's tapped into their NUCLEON to give a warning to the NMX Neko here to get out." Hoshi said, working one handed to input the codes she had watched Rio enter successfully earlier. "It'll make our escape harder, but if we can save any of them, we should."

As Hoshi gave the impromptu orders, the ones Yui had given her haunted her psyche more than any psionic wail could: "Eliminate Mishhu forces. All of them." The captain wished she had shaken the Mistress Taisho's haunting specter in the last hour of the mission, but she hadn't. Her words cast lingering doubt over her own compassion for her sisters on the other side of the war and Yamatai's place in it all.

But evacuating the remaining Neko felt like the most undeniable act she could take, so she gritted her teeth and continued to work at the console, ejecting the aether cores from several of the starships in the hangar fourteen floors above.
 
Level 15

Kicking off of the Mishu as it sank to its fiery death, Cynea stood at the edge of the platform, watching as it cried out. The plasma from her cutter was shut off as she clipped it back to the side of its attached pack.

She felt a sense of satisfaction as it screamed in pain. Was it the programming Kasa alluded to, or was it the indignation after learning the fates of the Nekos serving them? Just how many died before this operation began. To die, not from an enemy, but your own ally. How strong of a hold did these monsters have over her taken kin that they haven't revolted after such treatment?

Hearing Hoshi's call to secure someone, Cynea moved in. "Thank goodness you're still breathing..." she sighed in relief, picking up the 4th member of their squad. She had to get her out of the heat, or she wasn't going to last long here. Hefting Hihja across her shoulders in a fireman carry, Cynea retreated to the farther end of the room where the heat wouldn't be as intense and set her down.

Cynea gave her a gentle shake, to see if she could be roused from her slumber, figuring that if she was able to be woken up, it was better that she woke up now facing a familiar face than during the escape where it could complicate things.
 
Level 15

Kasa came out of the chute and quickly her weapon's stock pressed up against her shoulder as she fluidly got to her feet. She quickly scanned the room with its barrel, finger on the trigger until she was certain their were no active threats. Her entire hand came a way from the grip, with the sock only supported by the saddle of her thumb, before she lowered the gun down.

"Looks like I missed some fun." She said with a dry inflection. She then directed her gaze to Hoshi. "Taisa, met you're friend, Charbon, on level one. Said that there are some plans for Elysia we'd be interested in. Specifically 'YE 47 Plans for Elysia'."

She saw Morgana cautiously stepping over some viscera as the science officer made her way over to a what looked like the most intact server rack.

"Hey Pixie, the Prince threw me this, said it would rip everything it can from the network." Kasa said before throwing the Data Jack.

Morgana looked at the operative some what bewildered for a moment, dropping her weapon just fast enough to awkwardly catch the device. The gun was caught by its strap as the Science officer examined it.

"I did bring my own, but a backup can't hurt." Morgana said as she continued to the nearest server. "I'll see what I can pull, Taisa." She said, casting Hoshi a glance before continuing.
 
Caldera Base, Level 15

"Everyone, we have more to do! Namely get out of the base! Our best bet is out the way we came; everyone head back up the chute." Hoshi called her orders out as she pointed her fingers at the landing where Cynea had brought Hihja. At the landing of the wet slide, the NMX Neko's brow only furrowed in her deep sleep as Cynea shook her.

"Has anyone sent a transmission to the NMX Neko of the base to evacuate?" Hoshi shouted at those going to the chute. Her eyes fell on Myga. "It's imperative one of you do it!"

At the same time, she sent a message to William where they were heading and that the reactors had been disengaged.

Hoshi looked to Erika dubiously as the SAINT operative spoke. When Erika passed off William's data jockey, Hoshi's expression became resolute as she recognized the upgraded equipment.

"The NMX having plans for Elysia doesn't bode well," Hoshi uttered in a colorless tone as she delved deeper into the terminal. "Stay at your terminal and pull the data, Pixie."
 
"I'm on it." Morgana said as she pulled a data link cable from her bag and slotted it into a port on the server, leaving William's Data Jack to the side for a moment.

She took off the holographic wrist watch and placed it on the floor in front of her as she knelt on the ground. The display expanded to engulf her in a maze of programs and windows, and with a gesture of her hands she collected a couple of text documents, shim scripts and privilege escalation software she'd written over the two weeks, tailored specifically for the bases system. Deafening klaxons then began blaring, and a recorded Mishhuvuthar voice began declaring an evacuation order, light on the specifics. All the while Morgana continued to throw programs at the sever, with the occasional need to alter the parameters.

"I will need a moment for the data extraction." Morgana explained. "If we just brute force it we'll get the data, but it will be encrypted. Keys are in the hardware, so its much faster to do it here rather than drag it back to a base with a decently powerful QC, which might take a few weeks to crack, optimistically."
 
Myga was one of the last to fly off of the doomed Mishhu, whose visceral death rattles would surely haunt her nightmares for weeks to come. She landed next to Hoshi and Hihja, whom she couldn't look away from. Hours ago, she was a living, breathing friend, and now she was just another corpse. At least, that's what Myga had thought until being shifted by Hoshi elicited a stifled mumble -- she was alive? It was almost too good to be true, but the longer she stared, the easier it was to hear the ragged breathing and see the gentle rise and fall of her comrade's chest. Hihja was alive, despite the gaping wound in her chest.

Renewed purpose filled Myga, granting her the determination to fight in this ruined body for a little longer. She would've been fine with laying her life down for the mission, but now she had another friend to keep alive. The rancid gore that coated Myga's body like three coats of paint, besides smelling like rancid meat, seemed to alleviate some of the damage from her burns -- a result of the hemo, undoubtedly. She set about spreading it over her body to salve the worst of the burns while Cynea set about carrying Hihja for extraction. "Keep her stable," she ordered, hissing from the effort of coating her open wounds with foreign hemo, "I don't think she'll wake up soon."

Hoshi's order gave Myga pause, but she would have been glad to carry out -- had Morgana not beat her to it. Probably better that someone more skilled with hardware manage that, anyway. No, her primary concern was Hihja. Though her position of authority was an illusion, Myga still felt a great deal of responsibility for the welfare of her NMX squad, and so when she floated over to where Cynea had set Hihja down, and was gentle in lifting her onto her shoulders in an imitation of the fireman carry used moments ago. "I'll keep her safe, just watch my back, okay?" Myga said to Cynea, who was likely to be the most able-bodied of the NMX-sleeved crew.
 
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Level 15
As she took flight from the dying Mishhuvurthyar's top, it's death wail gave Sahty an admittedly great deal of satisfaction. With the enemy dealt with and more capable hands attending to the mission, that left Sahty little more to do than follow Hoshi's orders and prepare to leave. As she floated towards the landing chute to rejoin Cynea and Myga, It was only now that she had a good chance to take a look at the unconscious neko that was being passed around. She was shocked to recognize Hihja right as Myga shouldered her. She wanted to ask how or why their squamate was down here in that condition, but the other bodies still on the landing told Sahty what Cynea and Myga had already figured out.

At Hoshi's mention that the reactors had been disengaged Sahty looked at Myga and Cynea and asked over wireless "Myga? We're both injured And you're carrying Hihja. Our ascent will be slower. Should we move out first?"
 
Level 15

Their last foe was now vanquished. Aiko jerked her pilfered katana around to dislodge it from the Mishhuvurthyar's already smoldering husk as the beast sank into lava, and then hovered away without urgency toward the chute's landing. The Kaiyō's crew were victorious in battle, and each seemed to have some new duty to attend to be it their injuries or interface with the NMX computer systems or dealing with what the princess would for now consider a prisoner of war in Hihja.

But for her part Aiko took a few breaths of rest.

She'd seen struggles and skirmishes that at least matched today's intensity in her time as a Star Army soldier. It'd been tough here, but not necessarily so insurmountable as to finally crush the hero's spirit nor break her body. Still, Aiko knew there could yet be more fighting to come. And so she first wiped her blade off on the NMX fatigues she wore and sheathed it before dropping to her knees into a seiza position beside where her friends were seeing to Hihja. Then closing her eyes, the princess placed the sword on the floor to her left—as much for a quick draw as it was part of her practiced samurai's bearing—and then began shedding the NMX light infantry armor and camouflage smock she'd disguised herself in. That soiled garb was discarded without a thought, flung into the magma below to burn with the Advanced Type whose viscera in part coated it.

With the enemy's shell removed from her form, Aiko had physically cleansed herself of the battle as much as she could for the time being. In her mind, however, the Mishhuvurhtyar's psionic wail still echoed as she sat still with her fists at her hips. It wouldn't be the last time in Aiko's life she would hear a psychic scream, but nor was it the first. And perhaps that was why she paused now. Remembering back to Kessica and the Nightmare she fought there. And on Nebel or during the wormhole battle. A few seconds was all she'd afford herself, though, soon standing as the others wrapped up the various tasks they'd taken upon themselves. Her task was to make sure the way out was clear.

"They will be in disarray, but keep close while we move," Aiko said, looking like a cowboy again in her sweat-drenched blouse and plasma revolver at her hip. "I will clear the path."

She had nothing more to say about it, having heard Hoshi's orders loud and clear, and then took point moving upward—part crawling and part flying with her inertial control to assist—through the semi-organic, esophageal chute.
 
Caldera Base, Level 15

Hoshi looked from Morgana shrouded in her technology and encryptions coming off of the terminal where she had set the watch to Myga and Sahty further away. They handled the NMX Neko they had known with careful consideration. Reverence for team members extending to foreign troops, even enemies, both warmed her heart and pulled at the strings within it that held the tension of future guilt. The captain questioned what would happen to the NMX if she were to wake and chose not to surrender. It was a daunting hypothetical to imagine.

Gazing on Aiko gave the captain some semblance of peace, though. Looking at the warrior's quiet calm after battle helped her remember all of the times Hoshi had spoken to Aiko with pessimism clouding her judgement. As if second nature, Aiko had cut through the storms in Hoshi's mind with the same easy grace she wielded a blade in war.

With optimism, she looked to Morgana, "Pull the data and pull out. We're not going down with this ship."
 
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