RP: YSS Miharu Mission 4: The Fame and the Fury

Kyou nodded. So, for now, it's just like basic, only here it really counts. She popped her knuckles, and thought of a question. "What weapons will we be using in the simulation, Kurohoshi-Juni?" She hoped it would be one of the more common weapons; she didn't want to have to learn a weapon and run the simulation at the same time.

Tsuya shuffled her feet. She was excited about getting into combat again, but... there was an obvious question that had to be asked. Will we be using power armor? her brain asked, but she didn't dare open her mouth and make herself look a fool.

Nyton casually glanced as Mara walked off to other matters before looking back and forth between Tom and Hinoto. "So long as everyone can check themselves and have the patience to hear the other out we can work this smoothly." he then said before stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

"If possible I would like to avoid any personnel from casually listening in on this."

Tom nodded and took a position between Hinoto and Nyton, so that the three of them formed a triangle.

"I suggest... that the best way to organize this discussion is to first establish our involvement in this situation, to air out our grievances and then figure out a compromise that will benefit all parties involved. Do you agree, sir?"

Nyton gave a nod of approval. "That sounds fine. Why don't you start by letting me know how this matter came to your attention." he replied.

"Ah, no. My parents owned the shop and worked it. Most of that time I spent going to school and pretending to be soldiers with my friends. They decided I needed to be more useful, and wanted me to work the shop. I disagreed." Kai explained, moving the Hemosynth insert to the corner the sprite had identified. "Thank you." He muttered, heading back towards his armor to continue his work.

"Miharu, please inform me when the new insert is finished." The Yamataian said to the air. He began pondering how the heck he was going to reassemble to armor once he had all the replacement parts.

*****

She watched the pilot with a new fascination. Something in the back of her mind told her that she did not need to be all that impressed with him. All he did was fly an armor. It was harder than that, Yuzuki knew - Nimura would probably throw up or kill someone if they suggested armor pilots did not have to do much. Even allowing for that; Kai was combat. Combat did one thing - fight. Yuzuki was not interested.

But there were nineteen whole years worth of other things that did interest her.

"So what did you go to school for?" Yuzuki replied almost as soon as she could. "What was it like? Did you sit in a class, or what? With how many people? How do you pretend to be a soldier, anyway?"

Tom began.

"After receiving a message from the Shosa inquiring about when we would be able to safely fly, I decided to get as many sprites as possible to help me with repairs. Nimura and Rin are already in the subdeck working, but I needed my assistant, Ichigo, in there as well."

He cast a glance over to Hinoto.

"I contacted Ichigo, who was with Hinoto at the time and requested a reprieve to provide her with emotional comfort. Hinoto didn't sound very well, so I decided to perform my caretaker role and help a shipmate in need. With the matter of crew morale on hand, I could not afford to ignore the situation, so I came here. After listening to her explanation, and with consideration for the emotionally sensitive nature of the topic, I decided to assist in arbitrating the disagreement."

"I see. Very well, as the ship's caretaker then you should understand how important morale is to the crew. And since you have listened to Hinoto's plea then you should be aware of the matter that concerns me." Nyton began.

"Allow me to lay out why this distresses me as seriously as it did in the bay. Mara and Hinoto began arguing over their personal hobbies and whose was more productive. During the short exchange of barbs Mara revealed that Hinoto had pornographic material involving the likenesses of the male crew members. Now had this never been mentioned I would have stopped the argument and been done with it. However once that came to light it became more serious. I care little if Hinoto wishes to read and draw male on male porn but if someone were to discover something with their likeness on it then it could be very disturbing or insulting to the individual. Now whether such drawings were ever intended to be seen by anybody is inconsequential. There still remains the possible risk that someone might stumble upon it. What makes the matter worse is that Mara has already admitted to enjoy playing practical jokes. She could just as easily decide that it would be hilarious for someone to find these pictures and then set up someone to do so," he continued, mainly addressing Tom throughout but going back and forth to give Hinoto a quick glance with his eyes. After a very brief pause Nyton then looked directly at the sprite.

"Given that Mara already used the subject during your argument right in front of me proves that there is a risk for this to occur. That is why the material with the likeness of crew members must be destroyed. I threatened the seizure of all the material only should you be non-compliant and to prove how serious this is." Nyton then concluded to Hinoto before looking back at Tom.

During the whole opening argument Nyton maintained a calm demeanor, his body alert but loose. One hand had been on his hip while the other held out before him to gesture with while he spoke.

Masako listened to everyone's questions before she even thought of replying to them. "Defending hallways are entirely possible, since the enemy could be anywhere during this scenario. However, when defending your three objectives close quarters combat is what's going to happen." the Warrant Officer explained to Kaida before turning to Kyou.

"You will be responsible for your own load outs, Armor and everything," the raven-haired Neko stated, without giving them any explanation as to why she was allowing this. "Just pick anything from these volumetric windows," she said as she summoned a trio of windows in front of her recruits. "Each window contains the power armor and personal weapon inventories the Miharu currently has, so you should be able to have a decent variety to choose from."

Pausing to walk towards the door they had just come through, Masako turned to face them again. "Please chose your load outs quickly, since the simulation will begin in five minutes." she informed them as she closed the door to the VR room.

"Actually, Juni..." Miharu's AI quipped to Masako. "Star Army Logistics has allocated some of the experimental Mindy Mark III for our units use whenever we plan to drop by - their docks are presently less contingented than those of the Kikyô star system."

"If you would allow me to change a few specific elements of your planned combat simulation, I could turn it into an appropriate qualification test for any participant, certifying them to fly the fairly new variant."

Tom nodded at Nyton's input then turned his own attention to Hinoto.

"Hinoto? If you would, share your perspective and grievances on this matter with Nyton so that we can have everything laid out clearly."

Kyou had already finished putting together her load-out mentally, going over it mentally one last time before inputting it.

Forearms: 1 Ke-M2-D3000 Forearm Shield, 1 Ke-M3-W2707 Forearm Aether Projection Weapon
Dorsal: Ke-M2-P2904 Barrier Shield Module
Shoulder: 1 Ke-M2-G3000 Shoulder Capacitor, 1 Ke-M2-W2906 Shoulder-Fired Missile Pod
Lower Leg: Ke-M2-W2907 Countermeasure Augmentation Pods (Multi-function, Anti-radar)
Hand-held: Ke-M4-W2901 Light Armor Service Rifle (standard ammunition)

Click to expand...

She was planning to be able to handle most anything that could come at them while on a ship, or at least survive it. However, when she heard about the Mindy M2-3A possibly being used for the training, she stopped. Would we actually be using those units? I thought they were still in prototype testing...

"Well, there are three things that come foremost to my mind," Hinoto's voice sounded a little pasty, as if she found talking awkward. "The first is that I feel Mara exagerated. The second is that Mara's knowledge comes from her avatarial access to internal sensors - acting on that knowledge was a breach of privacy for me. The third point is that the Ketsurui clan shamelessly displays naked statues of their family members in their resorts, with some having water fountain out of their private parts - that's only one example of certain indulgences that members of Star Army are exposed to."

"I could-" Hinoto quickly grabbed on her wastebasket and slid it over to where she was sitting on her bed. "-give you an extensive list of some of those excesses - which are seldom condemned in any way - but the endline is that having me doodle what I want in the privacy of my room is very tame by comparison. I do not view my toddler steps in my hobby as having anywhere near an impact to morale as many of those other factors could create."

After Nyton finished listening to Hinoto he slowly nodded his head. "Very well, I can understand the viewpoint you have in this matter. The Ketsurui may condone such needlessly blatant and..... tacky.... statues at their resorts but we are not in a resort. We are on a military warship and the rules are different here. Plus, and it is just my opinion, I don't believe having such statues in a resort to be in good taste either. But I am not the one running the Empire nor am I the Ketsurui interior designer. It may not seem fair but that is the way things are. I wouldn't mind going over your list of inequalities though. You are not the only one who has seen the inequality of the system before. What I am trying to state though is that even though what others do is worse in comparison to your drawings that still does not make it right. If you had drawn people not on this ship that would have been acceptable. There are news feeds, picture galleries, models, all sorts of other resources you could have used to inspire the faces in your drawings instead. I would have even been lenient towards plain nude depictions for anatomical practice. I only forbid that pornographic drawings using our likenesses be made," he tried explain.

"As for Mara exaggerating and violating your privacy, you may find this hard to believe but within the confines of a ship even this size, privacy is hard to come by. MEGAMI watches us pee as the old saying goes. If she violated some prior agreement you two had then you two need to take that up with each other and resolve it. Otherwise then you need to deal with it the same as the rest of us do. I'm sure Freeman-Juni is aware of this and how all our activities are more or less monitored," Nyton said, finishing with a glance over at Tom.

"Don't you, Freeman-Juni?" he asked, hinting at something but trying to refrain from saying it.

"I believe there is a cultural bridge that we may be missing," Tom said. "The fact that the Ketsurui condone such depictions as art is, in effect, sponsorship of the activity. Let us be blunt: Yamataian culture is extremely lenient of lesbian activity and sexuality in general. With this in mind, homosexual depictions should not be so alarming. Forgive my rudeness but are you certain, sir, that you are not judging this decision off of your perspective as a Nepleslian rather than that of a citizen of the empire?"

Tom had more to say, but he decided to let this question sit.

"Yes there is the matter of cultural differences here which I had not been able to put into words properly. Thank you for finding a way to clarify. And yes Yamataiain culture has a very open attitude towards sexuality in general, especially so in the matters of lesbian intercourse. However sexual openness is not the issue here, just a backdrop. It is whether or not a member of the crew would be offended at finding artwork that depicts themselves in an unwelcome sexual situation. If there is a naked statue of Yui pouring water from her genitals in a hotel then it was certainly built after she granted permission. If there is a picture of someone here that was drawn without prior given permission then that person may be offended. Perhaps no one in this crew may find an issue with it but if these drawings are going to be done in secret then I would rather they not involve the crew at all." Nyton calmly replied.

"So your opinion is that despite the apparent endorsement of sexuality in our culture, there is still reason to believe that crew may take offense at it. If I were to simply propose that Hinoto ask the entire crew for permission to draw art of them, I believe we would miss the greater point. I will keep that option out in the open, though."

Tom crossed his arms in thought.

"Mara thought nothing wrong of the information she shared with Hinoto. I am fairly certain that she would not have done so if she percieved it to be a problem. What should have been a squabble between sisters, instead has turned into a potentially much bigger problem."

He looked at Nyton calmly.

"Sir, why did you berate Hinoto so viciously? Couldn't this entire matter have been resolved without having to publicly embarrass her like that? I believe that a big part of why this has become such a problem is due to the aggressive nature of your reprimand. I could understand if Hinoto had done something serious like struck her sister in retaliation, or a superior, but the simple verbal sparring the two shared between sisters was met with a rather... sledgehammer-esque approach.

The fact that you made such a big deal out of what the two sprites considered simple teasing has now changed things considerably."

He blinked a few times.

"Now there are very serious morale considerations that must be faced. I'm afraid that this issue could drive a wedge between the sprite crew. The matter of personal privacy and freedom of expression is a very emotional one. If you are to mete justice against Hinoto, I believe you may actually condone some dangerous precedents."

He cleared his throat.

"First, the idea that anything Mara says is privy information in her databanks, something that can be used against crew members. Second, that it is OK for Mara to violate crew privacy and access Miharu's databanks for issues that are not security related. Any semblance of privacy that Miharu keeps to herself out of politeness is, as a result of this decision, fair game. As much as I like sex with the Shosa, I'd rather not have what positions I use with her brought against me in an obscenity trial."

Yukari tried to listen to Masako and the others through a subtle grimace and the dull pain in the front of her head. Nekovalkyrja did not get headaches, did they? She had never heard of such a thing and blamed it on her burbling anger.

She had never enjoyed the Mindy, but she had never had the chance to seriously test the Daisy armor. Power armor use was something she sorely lacked. Even her experience in the Mindy II was limited to killing a Ghost Mishhuvurthyar; hardly a proper experience. She had only been in simulations.

Her trigger finger flexed without her willing it to. Yukari closed her eyes and took a breath in slowly, releasing it the same way. Bridge duty is simply not as satisfying as I wish it was.

The Shosa stood next to one of the simulators as she examined the loadout menu. She felt rusty as she looked over the various configurations and options. But she decided if she was not going to be useful taking out enemies, she could at least highlight them for her comrades. And considering the potential for tight corners, she needed a submachine gun.

The floating, glowing blue panel was highlight with bright sky blue bars as Yukari made her choices:


With that loadout, Yukari reasoned she would be able to defend herself if necessary, but that ultimately the sensors in the Leader Support Pack could reveal cloaked and other hidden units. She showed her choices to Masako for approval.

It took some checking of the usual suspects before Miyoko finally thought to look for Kimura in his room. Finally, though, the Yamataian headed there, knocking a few times on the man's door and silently praying that she'd caught him.

Power Armor...

Kaida grimaced a little, but tried to hide it. She was not looking forward to it at all. But, what had to be done... had to be done. She briefly wondered if it was such a wise choice to join the military so quickly, but she supposed that it was too late to question it now. She frowned at the screen that popped up in front of her as if she held personal disdain for it. (And likely did.) She selected her options quickly, just wishing to get it over with already.