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

[Tom]

Tom was all smiles when he entered engineering.. After all, he had just done what his role as caretaker demanded of him: keep morale high and reach compromises when disagreements come up.

The extended report from Ichigo put a quick stop to his self-satisfaction, though. There was still loads to do down in the subdeck, and he had spent precious time in his other role. In his mind, he hunkered down.

"Confirmed, Ichigo-hei. Thanks for the updates." He said as he opened a volumetric window and wrote a quick text message to the Taisa, containing the jist of what was provided to him along with his proposed modifications and recommendations.

"Taisa, I feel we should be able to complete our delivery mission to Nepleslia, but I urge us to take advantage of Virgo's hospitality as soon as we can. Our ship should be stable, and my modifications to the capacitors should provide sufficient for power needs under duress, but not for extended periods unless we want our other gravimetric drive fried.

-Freeman-Juni."

He then sent a message to Nyton.

"Taii, 

We've got a new shipment of torpedoes in. What setup would you like?

-Freeman-Juni"

He turned his attention to Ichigo once more.

"Ok," he said after clapping his hands once. "Gotta love the fabrication bays. How much stuff do we have to work with right now?"

He waved Rin over.

"Hey Rin! Got a minute?"

 

[Nyton]

"Careful you don't let Sigurd hear that or he may think you are paying him a compliment." Nyton said as he approached the two debating sprites.

"I always seem to find you in a conflict, Mara. So what brought this one on?" he asked, inquisitively.

Unfortunately at that moment he got another message which had to be addressed.

"Taii,

We've got a new shipment of torpedoes in. What setup would you like?

-Freeman-Juni"

"Tch, always some interruption. Excuse me for a second." Nyton said as he turned to the message.

Replenish our Transphasic Aether stores since those saw a lot of use followed by the Anti-Matter torpedoes. Set them up in standard configuration as per their storage parameters.
-Claymere-Taii

After finishing it up Nyton then sent the message back with his reply. With that done he then returned to the two sprites he had interrupted. "Now then, what brings you two to debate over shuttle capacities?" he asked.

 

[Aria]

Upon feeling his old rank pin in his hand, the gravity of the situation slowly crept up to Takuma. The fact that he failed everyone hit him the hardest, but the thoughts didn't stay long in his head. His fist tightened in determination.

"I will not fail again."

Crack.

Silently, he opened his palm and looked at the pin. The squeeze must have snapped part of the pin off. Now it was just a useless piece of metal. Shit! Um, well, I should be able to get a new one before anything-

Someone knocked on the door. Not that he could hear the knock, but the Miharu alerted him anyway.

"I, um, one second!" Takuma shouted, hoping the person outside could hear him.

"Miharu, could you give me a holographic pin temporarily please?! And if you could create a new one or something, I would be eternally grateful!" Hoping the computer would act in time to make it appear his pin was not broken (and the wrong squadron on it), Takuma quickly opened the door to face the newcomer.

"Hello! Ah, hello Mi- er Saito-Heisho," he said with a hurried bow. "What can I do for you?"

 

[Fred]

"Ok," Tom said after clapping his hands once. "Gotta love the fabrication bays. How much stuff do we have to work with right now?"

"Enough for now to do the work you assigned us to," Ichigo answered Tom after he summoned Rin. "But if we run into another emergency we presently might be ill equipped to deal with it. My suggestion is to recycle what we can, and not be so draconian about part replacements if we can tighten up the jury-rigging jobs Yuzuki's teams performed - just so that if something important breaks down afterwards that we'll still have the supplies on hand to fix it up."

The sprite grabbed her helmet and gave an helpless shrug. "If the present state of our Empire is any indication, even after going to Virgo station to get the ship fixed, we may have to be a lot more careful about how we use our supplies in the future. I'd also say that salvage operations and capturing enemy assets is going to be more important. If our timetable during the Bowhordia operation had permitted, salvage of the underground outpost and the enemy vessels would have had been a great boon to us - we'd be less strained regarding spare parts and recyclable materials, at any rate."

* * *

"I'll notify Claymere-Taii that you need a new pin after all," Miharu sent back to Takuma. "Just hang tight for now, and if she asks, just tell the truth. Saito-Heisho isn't the greatest by-the-book person I've ever known, so you should be fine."

* * *

"We are not in conflict, Claymere-Taii," Sanri answered, apparently covering up for Mara. Nyton didn't know Sanri very well, but he knew she was a frequent pick for piloting shuttles and had flown with Masako during the Bowhordia operation. She was caucasian skinned, had typical asian features for a nekovalkyrja, and she wore her wavy brown hair in twin-pigtails. Her looks and mild demeanor reminded him of Yukari.

"Yeah, just discussing the merit of the equipment at our disposal," Mara added, sitting over the edge of the highest tier of Miharu's small bridge. "It's just that by this point, we've obviously proven this ship's capabilities lies more as a frontline skirmisher than a fighter carrier, so the space we dedicate to fighters feels very redundant. Hoshi, for her part, failed to perform significantly better than a large shuttlecraft might have had during its approach to the base. Some of its better features were also barely tapped into, making me wonder if they aren't redundant."

"Better features?" Sanri prodded. "You might want to enunciate just so the Taii can contextually be aware of your arguments."

"Yeah, okay," Mara gave a carefree shrug and explained: "Hoshi's weaponry is subpar to face warships: it was only sufficient to cover our approach once within the atmosphere against drones and missiles. Its shields pale next to Miharu's and because its a single-deck craft, it's only about as structurally resistant as a shuttle if it does get hit."

"Hoshi's quarters were never really used. I know they were put there with the expectation that the craft could serve as a base of operation and grant it a longer range... but we don't need them nor do we need the kitchen and laundry facilities. Our assignments have never been that long. At most, all we'd need are bunks and emergency rations. Typically, we should be able to come with the reclining seats of a T7 shuttle if we needed to rest."

"Hinoto coordinated the mission from the bridge, but a shuttle would have given her equally good sensor and communication assets to perform as good a job."

"Hoshi's power armor racks and the supplies it had on hand we of some use, but only in a limited fashion. We needed supplies, and one of us changed power armors... but refitting armor loadout wasn't needed. Seeing a shuttle can store power armor, weapons and ammunitions everybit as well for the sake of a mission - all the equipment we had felt redundant."

"The medlab was important in our last mission and I must admit it's doubtful a shuttle could do better, but then again Hoshi's facilities had to be jury-rigged to make up for our needs - they weren't nearly modular enough for our needs."

"Shuttles could not have been modular enough to carry medical facilities, along with troops and the supplies needed to perform as we did," Sanri counter-reasoned.

"Sure," Mara readily agreed. "But you can outfit a shuttle to have medical equipment. Sending everything in Hoshi was a 'all-our-eggs-in-the-same-basket' approach; if one of the Ketsueki had managed a decisive hit on us the operation would have been over there and then. But if we'd have sent a medical shuttle flanked by two other shuttles carrying our infantry we would've been smaller, more elusive targets, not to mention having one of those destroyed did not in itself stop the entire mission cold."

"It's easy to optimize a shuttle for a mission," Mara continued. "And if we get down to it, shuttles are far more expendable than a craft like Hoshi is. Some other things have been nagging me - like Hoshi being used as a larger escape module containing the bridge personnel should the main hull be crippled - honestly, could Hoshi fight off on her own whatever would scrap the main hull if she couldn't handle corvettes? Escape pods at least are small enough to escape notice - Hoshi isn't, she's not a great stealth craft and she isn't even that fast for a ship."

Mara crossed her arms. "Also, the way she attaches to Miharu isn't the greatest ever - she anchors in too deeply. I know this puts more armor around the bridge section, but once Hoshi leaves this leaves a big hollowed out section in our stern. That shot that impaled us probably managed to do so because our centerline lacks the support to hold up the armor. Even worse, if that impaling shot would have come from our stern, it might have sped through the hollow cavity Hoshi leaves when she separates and then struck engineering; Miharu would've been destroyed."

At that moment, a small volumetric window opened up next to Nyton, with the ship advising him that Takuma did need a new rank pin after all.

 

[Nyton]

Nyton had to excuse himself one more time to quickly reply to another message. This time he quickly typed a brief response.

Locate a suitable rank pin within the ship's storage. If there is one available then issue it out and let Takuma know so that he can pick it up. Otherwise send a request to one of the fabrication rooms to have one made.

With that he sent it to Miharu with a CC to Takuma to keep him up to date on that. Turning back to the two sprites he waved a dismissive hand. "I was merely giving Mara a hard time, nothing to worry about. However your discussion in regards to the Hoshi interest me. You both have some good points in this matter. The Hoshi does fare poorly as a stand up ship against enemy vessels. If future missions are planned then a heavier leaning towards stealth should be pursued to give the Hoshi a better chance at surviving. Once in atmosphere she handled well though although a tighter defense grid would have been nearly impossible to break through. However, had she only been a series of shuttles then I doubt anyone would have made the approach. We would not have been able to disable the Sekkou as well either. Our compliment of weapon pods were somewhat helpful although ironically enough being in the atmosphere made what few turrets we had useless."

Nyton then went into thinking mode. "As a combat ship, I would have to say that Miharu as a whole is very capable but it was more as a result of afterthought rather than design. I remember reading that originally this vessel had been meant for deep space exploration rather. The main Miharu hull could remain in orbit while a scientific and exploration team could take the Hoshi to the planet's surface. If the team suffered any casualties the small medical facilities would have been sufficient. With the Hoshi busy on the surface the Miharu could pull security from orbit."

He then shrugged. "Perhaps someday we will be an exploration vessel again. Until then though we have to work with what we have. Barring a complete refit that redesigned the entire ship's layout, we don't really have much other choice."

 

[Fred]

A wistful expression crossed Mara's face. She gave a sigh.

Within that lull, Sanri raised one eyebrow and then eyed Nyton curiously. "I believe Freeman-Juni started contemplating implementing such upgrades. Seeing how the Himiko Project development team dissolved when many of them transitioned to the United Outer Colony, any updated done on this vessel will have to be in-house. Unless we don't make it happen, the Himiko-class is effectively discontinued."

Sanri eyed her navigation console briefly before looking back at Nyton. "Had we the choice, which would you favor, Sir? Removing Hoshi in favor of a shuttle hangar, perhaps at the same time as implementing a design which would incorporate most of Hoshi's capabilities without all its girth? Or would you choose to upgrade Hoshi herself to have her be more competitive?"

 

[Nyton]

Nyton blinked for a second before thinking close to a minute. " I don't believe it would be possible to upgrade Hoshi to be measurable to the main hull without practically making her a whole other ship entirely. Then the connection would be more difficult plus energy and mass. As much as I would rather not lose our support ship and her avatar, I lean towards a single ship option with a larger hangar for shuttles. Perhaps a special shuttle could be designed for scientific missions if this new design were implemented when the ship is able to perform exploration missions."

 

[Fred]

Mara raised her head; she was frowning. "We can't remove all of Hoshi. Despite all I've said, there are some things about her that are very useful. Having a second computer core really helped us when effecting electronic warfare before. If I had a say in it, I'd preserve the C-IES, upgrade it MEGAMI-level and stuff it deeper in the ship... but not too close to the Miharu's present computer core. That way, if one is disabled, the other can still function."

"Having two MEGAMI suites is a little unprecedented, Mara." Sanri pointed out.

"Having a ship that splits in two was already unprecedented," Mara replied. "Thing is, if we're going to be given the opportunity to do that overhaul we should've had almost two years ago, we ought to take what worked and keep it. While redundancy can be useful, if we've space taken by things that are not all that useful we probably should be looking for more efficient or at least cost effective alternatives."

 

[Aendri]

Kyou glanced around, checking out the setting. She'd been here before, but not in a combat setting, and there was a chance that the damage (if any) could give her a hint to the type of weaponry they might be facing; plasma scars, ricochet scars... After inspecting the walls, Kyou walked herself over to the doors, and took up a position there. "Ma'am? How should we proceed?"

 

[Kyoki]

Rin had been fiddling away at the capacitor bank she had started, taking notes on what needed to be fixed later and what could be salvaged and kept working for now. So far nothing had blown up in her face, which was a good sign!

She then looked up to see Tom calling her over, so she carefully set down her tools and cleaned up her station so that no one that was having a 'blond moment' or that simply wasn't paying attention wouldn't trip and faceplant into the capacitor or something along those lines. With that set in place, the sprite headed over to Tom and bowed. As she did so, some hair shifted about and ended up in her face. Her helmeted head shook a bit, trying to get it to the side, as she asked, "Freeman-Juni?"

 

[Nyton]

"I did say I would rather not lose our second avatar. If we could shift her core and redistribute mass to make the singular hull more efficient that would be an improvement." Nyton replied.

"Of course that would mean you and your sister would have to share a lot more." he added.

 

[Fred]

"There's not only the advantages of two separate suites capable of redundant and independant information," Sanri added in. "but also the consideration that it might make the ship far more capable not only on the aspect of electronic warfare, but also that of communication and coordination."

"You mean, like a flagship?" Mara asked, intrigued.

"In the past, the Yui-class was once deemed a Command Destroyer, but proved itself insufficient to the task and was later relegated to being a scoutship - a trait the Nozomi-class still lives up to," Sanri replied. "Since then, the only vessels that have been made successfully for command roles were the Chiharu, the Ayame and the Takumi classes. There is no vessel yet optimized for the administration and coordination of smaller units such as the squadrons that are part of a fleet's strike pool."

"The Plumerias manage," Mara shrugged.

"That's all they do," Sanri returned bluntly. "Manage, not excel. Aside from our torpedo pod, our fighting capabilities are no longer significantly over the Plumeria class. If this ship class is to be mass produced in the future, then it must prove competitive in that degree and have something to offer."

"Why is mass-production so important?" Mara asked.

"Because if our vessel was currently mass-produced, supplies to service us would be far more common. It would be far easier for us to see ourselves rearmed and repaired between missions, instead of requiring several technician teams several weeks of work to give custom repair jobs to our ship."

"Oh," Mara puzzled over that a moment. "So, you're saying that if the Plumeria-class is like a pocket-battleship, we should turn out being a pocket-flagship?"

Sanri nodded. "Exactly. Otherwise, you might just as well get the crew transferred to a Plumeria light gunship and decommission the Himiko-class. It's going to be more trouble to serve on than it's worth."

Mara gave a very slight wince at that comment. Miharu also notified Nyton he got mail. again.

 

[Tom]

"I see," Tom said thoughtfully after Ichigo replied. "That information is noted. Thanks."

Tom then confirmed Nyton's directions.

"Heisho," he said to Ichigo, "I'm relaying the Taii's orders to you. Please have..." he thought for a moment, pegging the locations of the now numerous additional technician sprites on board. "...Hisa, Suzume and Cho assigned to fill the Taii's orders. Have Miharu confirm the job."

He then turned his attention to Rin.

"I think we're going to have to rip out some of these capacitors, so why don't you and me grab a couple armors and bring them down here to do the job?"

 

[Fred]

Ichigo gave a nod, rounded up the sprites Tom instructed her to take along, and had them leave to get suited along in the Daisy armor available in Hoshi's power armor bay.

Hoshi's power armor bays had been divided between one that held the damaged armors and where Yuzuki supervised repairs, and the other where the armors were still mostly intact.

 

[Nyton]

Opening the letter, Nyton read that it was from Kotori this time. With a larger task at hand. "Your point has merit. Best to make this class more appealing lest this ship ends up collecting dust in storage. Unfortunately I must cut my presence short. I will see you all later." he said quickly before departing the bridge.

Hmm, organize the Armor wings eh? Very well I will put together something and pass it to Masako after she is done with her simulation. Nyton thought as he walked to the Armor bay. He wanted to actually LOOK at the ship's inventory with his own eyes and get a good idea of what was available before he began organizing anything. When he arrived he saw several of the ship sprites suiting up in one portion of the bay. He walked over to a terminal to begin taking stock of what was available as well as what their authorized limits on equipment were.

 

[Fred]

ON:

After breakfast the next morning, Ketsurui Sora's data pad chimed cheerily at her with a message from her aunt and Taisa, Ketsurui Kotori. The message was rather short and to the point which simply read, 'Please join me in my quarters, I would like us to talk.' The young medical officer felt a swelling of giddiness as she read the short message, she hadn't gotten a chance to actually have a one on one talk with her aunt since she arrived on the Miharu and she was excited for it.

Maybe this will help me feel less isolated here since I really only have Sumaru to talk to right now. Maybe I'll get a better chance to bond with Kotori than I did with Hanako, Sora inwardly hoped as she went to Kotori's quarters, with an almost skipping pace.

After ringing the chime it wasn't long before Kotori opened the door. Sora's aunt smiled in greeting and stepped aside to allow sora entry. "I hope I did not interrupt your breakfast. Please come in."

Sora returned Kotori's smile with her own, feeling emotionally lighter today than she had been in months. "Not at all, thank you," she cheerfully replied as she entered her aunt's quarters. She took a moment to give the room a quick glance before she returned her attention to the demure figure of Kotori.

Though Kotori's brow furrowed slightly, her voice was amiable enough as she answered: "Good. Come sit with me," she gestured her along to sit with her on her couch. Kotori sat first and gestured for Sora to join her on her right side.

Sora nodded and took the seat to Kotori's right as the elder Ketsurui requested. After she sat down she smoothed out the wrinkles from her skirt uniform. "What would you like to speak with me about, obasan?"

Kotori had been puzzling over what had brought about Sora cutting off a considerable portion of her red hair, but she had to struggle not to show anything overtly to the use of 'obasan' in her regard, even in an endearing fashion. It just... had never happened before.

"Sora, I've called you because I had several concerns I wanted to share with you, some bigger and some smaller." Kotori answered her adopted niece. "I haven't had the chance to talk to you as much as I would have liked, so I thought this was overdue. Before going down to business, though, I'd like to know how you are doing. Your new hairstyle scream to me that something must be up."

Sora took a deep breath and sighed lightly, "I've been doing okay, I guess... I'm still adjusting to Ichi being gone and Sumaru being here. I hoped that maybe a change in me would help me move forward," she replied thoughtfully.

"That's all?" Kotori lifted an eyebrow inquisitively.

The younger Ketsurui took a moment to find the right words to describe the long series of emotional ups and downs she'd been feeling since Ichi left. "I never expected that letting myself get close to someone to have them just... leave would affect as adversely me as it has. It's just a necessary part of growing up, guess, but I'm still not quite sure how to feel. Sometimes, I wish I could emotionally disconnect like Ashitaka can."

Kotori inwardly stored the 'emotional disconnection' bit about Ashitaka to the back of her mind and nodded to Sora's words. "I lived through something similar," she shared.

"The ship I originally began my tour of duty on was the Nozomi scout Mikomi," Kotori continued. "Taisa Rufus Sydney came at about the same time I did to briefly fill in for the Mikomi's commander, whom had taken ill. He liked what he saw in me and invited me along back on his own command, the Sakura."

Kotori smirked at the memory. "Sydney-Taisa was attractive enough, but I was also enchanted by the opportunity to have living accomodations that wouldn't be a cramped bunkroom and to serve aboard a vessel that was more combat-capable than a Nozomi scout. I couldn't realize then, however, how the timing of my transfer would prove so pivotal."

"It was around the time we began more openly confronting Black Spiral," Kotori explained. "During that time, I rose in the ranks because I became Taisa Sydney's confidant. He made me his first officer, allowed me to be his conscience and in turn mentored me into becoming... what I am today."

"Though my memories of him today are a bit soured up, he took the roles of older brother, fatherly figure, commander and lover," Sora's aunt added. "And at some point, he was killed during the Sakura's mission to find ways to counter Black Spiral."

"We revived him later, of course, but his ST backup dated back to just when I had come aboard the Sakura. He didn't remember the time we spent, why he made me his executive officer, and why..." Kotori's voice trailed off and she said more purposefully. "He didn't know me anymore. He couldn't remember how he helped me change and grow."

"Because of the nature of our sensitive mission, he lost command of the Sakura. Before he left, he lashed out at me, slapped me across the face and stormed off." Kotori gingerly brushed her fingers over one of her cheeks as she recalled the incident. "It's the most vivid memory I have of him, the last memory he gave me of our time together."

Sora listened carefully to Kotori's story and heard similarities to some of the things that Sumaru had described to her after she had been lost on the Plumeria; in addition to her own problems. She knew that Kotori understood her pain but she still wondered, "How did you move on again? I can't help but still feel... inadequate since I wasn't worth staying for. I wish he had done something that I could of hated him for instead of him just leaving."

That was a good question. Kotori frowned in concentration and then replied: "It wasn't the first time a relationship of mine turned sour. I think my driving force then was revenge: Black Spiral had bereft me of my mentor and my innocence and I meant for them to pay for it. It's that verve that eventually got my own command, Miharu."

"I've never really recovered, Sora." Kotori admitted. "If I would've had, I'd likely not be single. I've learned that a nekovalkyrja cannot afford waiting for the ideal partner because waiting may perhaps mean dying without having had something... but I'm still not ready to plunge myself in another relationship like that."

Sora frowned and inwardly wondered, Is there no hope for me then?. "Is it just that hard for us to find someone 'perfect' because we are theoretically by nature meant to be more free with our affections?" She asked as she thought back to how Cherry, Hanako and many other nekovalkyrja were.

"It depends on how much you wish to emulate humankind, or how much you accept being a nekovalkyrja," Kotori half-answered, half-speculated. "I tend toward the former, but I understand the latter is more gratifying on a short-term basis. I can understand the advantages, but I'm naturally more serious and reserved so I tend not to enjoy opening up to that point."

"Right now I suppose I could just caress you, lick you in soft places and try to just make you feel better," Kotori raised as an example. "It'd be easy enough, but it feels too spontaneous, too shallow to me. There are just so many other ways to get closer to people and share of yourself than that. In many ways, we nekovalkyrja seem to gravitate between extremes, rather than acknowledge smaller things."

"It's cruel for us to have been engineered this way," Sora lamented, "Why give us the freewill and still in essence force us against nature to try to achieve something greater than existing to be canon fodder and sex slaves?" She sighed again, "Is it wrong to want to be more like humanity or feel sympathy for the SMX for revolting against this sort of destiny?"

Kotori was quiet for a moment. She did not immediately reply. Finally she said: "If it would not be us, Sora, it would be humans. Humans, grown in twenty years from their helpless infant stage to a young adult stage, would go out and risk their lives exploring, protecting, conquering."

"Cruelty has always existed. The unfortunates have bemoaned 'why us?' before in history and likely still will," Kotori added reasonably. "The things you lament are in large part us adapting to the advantages and disadvantages our own existance brings about. It's a matter of perspective."

"For a nekovalkyrja whom may not live to see the next day, living day by day, seizing the moment, trying to make every present memory the best could very well be what they need to be happy. For others that are luckier, more fortunate or more capable... perhaps they can afford being more picky. Regardless of the situation, the grass will also always seem greener in the neighboring lawn."

"There is no comparing pain, Sora." Kotori finished with. "There are only our perceptions, how we cope, how we act to advance our own happiness and such. For all our differences, we are still potentially heroic beings, with our own happiness the moral purpose of our lives, with productive achievement as our noblest activity, and reason as our only absolute."

"I guess it is always harder to live than to surrender to whatever the consequences of your actions or the actions of those around you. I still can't help but feel overwhelmed by the circumstances I can't control. I want to live a nobly, fighting to protect a nation and a life worth the blood spilled but I can't help but wonder if my ideals and those of my nation aren't the same. Things have changed so much but I wonder about the sincerity of it," Sora said softly as she wondered aloud, "I don't know if the Yamatai I see now is the same one I started fighting and dying for. I could feel the warmth of the blood of the fallen on my hands and as I tried to wash it off, I felt like I was cheapening the sacrifice they had made. I have more faith in this ship and our mission than in the bigger picture we are fighting for and I can't help but feel like something is terribly wrong with me."

"People are capable of evil - great evil - to protect the things they care for," Kotori smiled bittersweetly. "Based on perceptions and needs, they will rationalize it differently. One person's hero is another's murderer. In the end, there are less moral compasses involved and more convictions and motivations."

"But - if it is any comfort, Sora - if something is wrong with you, then it would be the same with me." the amber-eyed nekovalkyrja admitted. "After I was robbed of my innocence, I recognized that Yamatai was not a place I wanted to raise my children in. Therefore, I've the ambition to one day sit upon the Imperial Throne. To one day have the experience to lead Yamatai with the nobility, the tolerance and the wisdom I feel such an enlightened culture should be able to spare."

"On the way, I have learned to be cruel, to be ruthless, to be the things I considered evil - but meeting those dilemmas have in turn taught me how precious and rare the qualities I yearn for are," Kotori added. "My hands have been drenched in blood, but I have learned the lesson that it is better to have the blood of my enemies on my hands, than having the blood of those I care for on theirs."

Sora found herself about to smile softly again, "One day, Yamatai will be as we want her to be. I guess all we can really do is just keep to our ideals and keep fighting to change it from within. Leaving won't fix the problem but maybe they'll eventually sincerely change for the better. I don't think I am really strong enough to carry the burden of fixing Yamatai, so I can only pray that it doesn't fall to me until I am mature enough to lead."

The young Ketsurui sighed again, "I guess for now, I should just stick to my personal problems before I try to fix the Empire. I have no idea what to do with Sumaru since I really still hold some hope for Ichi to come back to me, even though I doubt that will ever really happen. But there was some other business you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Can I speak frankly on that subject?" Kotori asked.

Sora didn't like the sound of that question but whatever Kotori had to say was probably extremely important to her as an officer on this ship, "Of course."

"I'll admit I am biased." Kotori started with. "I've thrived for much of my life into becoming more human-like... so I find it baffling to have a human sink down to the level of a nekovalkyrja. Furthermore, I'm not comfortable either with the idea of a male nekovalkyrja or of an individuals accepted in the Ketsurui Samurai whom was not born a samurai."

"But, wether I like it or not, two samurai I've respect for have vouched for Sumaru and Empress Himiko nodded along to his appointment... so there's not much else for me to say there," the raven-haired neko continued. "But what I have left, Hagesawa's service record, still leaves me uneasy."

Kotori's stare turned very serious. "Sora, the achievements this man has done in order to come by your side have been enormous. His behavior seems to go beyond duty, to the point of obsession. Now, I know we're talking about honor-bound Ketsurui Samurai but I've sometimes had this gut-feeling that Hagesawa Sumaru was somekind of glorified... stalker."

The Taisa took a deep breath and pensively joined her hands together before adding: "My being judgmental aside, I would like your version of that story. I want to know what you think of him, and what you want - especially if his presence is something that is imposed in your life, rather than something you would've desired. A Ketsurui princess having a samurai yojimbo is a priviledge, not an obligation."

Sora stared at Kotori for a few moments at the question. Stalker? She turned the word over in her head a few times, Is Sumaru stalking me? I never thought about it before but.. no, I don't think that's true, she thought. "Sumaru is my friend, he was with me on the Plumeria and we had talked a great deal before I died in that first mission. But, something I said to him between that last back-up and my death moved him in such a way that motivated him to strive towards becoming a 'knight'. I guess hadn't thought too much when he told me he wanted to become a samurai to protect me. I thought it was a romantic ideal and the great honor of aspiring to such a lofty and unreachable goal was something worthwhile for him to achieve.

I was so naive and I am still but I can see how I must've felt something for him even though I was still with Ichi and even now I still very deeply love Ichi. I'm still confused by how exactly I really feel towards Sumaru but every time he's asked me if he could come back to me, I've always told him 'yes' and meant it. It was painful to leave Sumaru behind before but we both had work to do When he joined me after Ichi left, I couldn't help but feel jealous of how much he had accomplished while I was here. I felt like I'd been left behind and I was unworthy of the devotion that the man possessed.

I was also reeling from how the man I loved could just leave while my friend could fight against all odds to simply be by my side. I think I hated him for loving me right then and his romantic ideals since my perception of romance had been ripped away me from me and was raw. In a way, I partially resent Sumaru for being here but I don't think I could really bear to send him away after all we've been through together. I know I feel something for him, I'm just not sure what it is right now since my heart is still too full of the memory of Serizawa Ichi.

But no, I don't think it's fair to assess that he's a stalker when I encouraged him to follow this dream, to become my knight when I foolishly still believed that love could conquer all and I could still have a 'prince charming'. I want to be strong enough to save myself but I still can't do it alone. He can't save me from myself but he can still live his dream and serve the nation he loves and believes in. I just am not the princess he thinks me to be."

Kotori nodded slowly. Apparently willing to move on after Sora vouched so adamantly about Sumaru, Kotori asked: "how do you feel about being a Ketsurui princess?"

"I feel like I've lived in a gilded cage for most of my life so being here means so much for me to have been able to make the choice to serve and to live outside of the academy and the palace. It's a pretty cage but I want the skies beyond, to eventually find a place to settle down where I can just be me and not Yui's granddaughter," Sora replied thoughtfully. "I know that she must not be happy with my decision to not be revived in the event that I should die again but I wanted a chance to live a life worthwhile without the fear of living in the shadow of my own memory."

Kotori was listening until a point, where she scowled. "Hold on. What?"

"Which part did I lose you on, obasan?" Sora asked with a sigh making a mental note to be less dramatic next time.

"The part that if you die, that I can't have you revived," Kotori replied plainly.

"...I wrote a will before this last mission stating that I did not wish to be revived in the event of my death," Sora responded, surprised that a copy wasn't forwarded to Kotori by Yui.

Kotori hardly looked pleased, but took a moment to digest the news. "I do not like it. I will explain why. In the first place, it was always my expectation that as long as my ship's computer survived, that my crew by extension could recover from the consequences of any steep risk I asked them to undertake in my behalf."

"It was an handy safety net for me," Kotori elaborated. "A net that helped me come to term at least a little with having to order people to get into situations whom could have them potentially die. That convenient illusion being broken for me, however, is my problem."

The Taisa continued with: "What I find wrong, though, is that there are three important repercussions I feel you might not have had considered before. The first, is what would become of Sumaru if he survived you."

"The second is that I have to weight need against your personnal choice. I might at some point absolutely need to have a medic on hand to care for my wounded. Depending on the need of the mission at hand, I might have my hand forced and need to revive you anyways."

"The third is how this places me in a very awkward situation - though I expect any commanding officer you'd serve under would have the same uneasy predictament. If you die under my command, under my responsability... then there would be the stigma of having a princess perish under my command. How willing do you think this would make me to not put you at risk, something I would ask from another soldier?"

Sora toyed with a couple of strands of her short hair as she tried to come up with a better argument for her selfish reasons why she wanted to not be revived. Practicality was the name of the game. "...personnel has a tendency to lose things from time to time and it takes such a long time for news to get back home. If something happens and you need me, I'll forgive you. I did what I did for my piece of mind, but I wouldn't want anyone to die because of a choice I made because I was emotionally distraught and angry at my family."

Kotori sighed. "Sora, you have a right to expression and decision, I am, however, often put into situations where I have to wring every little advantage I can get out of situations. It does give me a very pragmatic outlook on things, yes."

"If you would not be serving on the frontlines and would retire to a deskjob or civilian life, I would not be balking so much. Can you tell me in detail why you wrote that will, while still intending to serve in the military?" Kotori then asked.

"Life without true consequence takes away some of the meaning of living. I feel that what I am doing is the right thing so dying in service to my country is a sacrifice I feel is worthwhile, it is a risk I am willing to take. Why should my service to my country mean any less or be any less worthy if it means I might truly die? I feel that dying for my ideals makes them more meaningful. I ...think we've lost something that death is an inconvenience rather than something more meaningful. I wrote it knowing full well that I could very well die inside of a Mindy or a Daisy in the middle of nowhere. Why should I be any less willing to die than before? There is always a chance that I might not come back, something to happen to the SS pod or the back-up could be damaged, any number of things could prevent me from being revived. But these are worthy risks to take since what we do is meaningful and worth bleeding, dying for."

* * *

The argument went on for a bit longer, with Kotori eventually putting it to a stop since she had work to do, notices to send, and so forth.

When her niece stepped out the door, Kotori gave a sigh and went to sit at her desk. That had not gone as well as she had hoped and now uncomfortable choices were presented to her.

As she had outlined in the last mission's debrief, she wasn't comfortable with Sora being an officer. Despite Sora's successes, Kotori did not feel that the younger Ketsurui nekovalkyrja had the degree of professionalism required to do maintain the authority her rank represented and do her job adequately at the same time. It felt to Kotori as if Sora was adjusting to too many things at once.

She seized a datapad and glared at it, considering her course of action carefully. As Miharu's commanding officer, it was her task to ensure that her ship ran well so that its objectives could be completed - she couldn't afford much in the way of weaker links in her chain of command.

As Sora's aunt, she also had the responsability over Sora's welfare. That welfare did not necessarily mean that keeping Sora on Miharu as things were and try to keep her contented like that was the best thing to do. Sora wanted to branch out, Sora was adapting from losing contact with her previous lover and Sora was adapting to a friend devoting his life to selflessly protect her. All of that along with Sora's desire to learn how to broaden her fields of specialization, mde for a lot.

Feeling some what bitter about being in such a role, Kotori began writing new orders to Sora, orders she knew Sora would be unhappy with and perhaps resent.

 

[Kai]

"Whoah, whoah, too many questions at once. I'll try to answer them all though." Kai said, waving his hands a bit before starting to take an inventory of the reusable parts of his armor. Apparently about 50% of his Armor was good, 25% of the remainder could repair itself within days, and the final 25% had to be replaced. Of course that was just a simplification.

"I went to school to learn how the world works, and how to be a person. I learned to speak, to read, write, use a computer, I learned about science, history, biology, genetics, math" Kai shuddered perceptibly at the mention of math "And just general knowledge of how the world works. The classes were about 25 students, but there was closer to a thousand in each of the schools I went to." Kai began separating out the parts by their relative usefulness, the perfect ones, the repairable ones, and the broken ones.

"We played Soldier with Stainball markers, and camouflaged uniforms we bought with extra money. We'd play games like speed stain, capture the flag, and sometimes just have all out wars in the woods. Stainball was great fun, perhaps we can get some Stainball markers on the Miharu and have a mock boarding action or something." Kai sat there, reminiscing about his childhood days. he then looked up, and noticed the way the Sprite was watching him, seemingly completely intrigued by his stories. "So, Uhh... what's your past like?" the Yamataian asked sheepishly, though he probably already knew the answer. Heck, he had been on the Miharu longer than she'd been alive.

*****

The sprite nodded along. It was interesting material. She did not know what 'stainball' was, or half of the things that he was talking about, but most of it sounded worthwhile. In particular, the idea of studying something alongside thousands of other people made her wonder just how much knowledge could have been put out. She did not ask, though.

Instead, she looked down at the armor that Kai was working on, mentally sorting the parts, and considering, searching for something worthwhile to say and failing. A little nag in the back of her mind began struggling with her relative newness, demanding something of it - anything. He had asked. She wanted to say something impressive, too.

"I was created here," she decided eventually, "I woke up in medical, and they gave me food and clothing. I had a little while to get over the sick feeling, and roam around the ship, before anyone came aboard this last mission. I discovered that the ship did not meet the minimum requirement for spare parts. Nobody had noticed, but I did. And when I went up to get the paperwork signed, it was in that one room, where you were being briefed - or debriefed, I can't remember. Everyone was dressed up. It was my first time actually seeing the crew. It all
looked very nice."

The sprite flushed, trying to manage a vague smile. That had not come out the way she had wanted it to. Instead of being impressive, it sounded pretty trivial, to her. Helplessly, she pushed some of her hair behind her red-furred ears, out of her face. She was desperate. She reached, and found something waiting for her.

"Do you like space?" She looked up at him. "Like, how it is."

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Miyoko had to resist the urge to try dodging Takuma's forehead as he bowed quickly, though it still raised an eyebrow. "Suzuka-Shosa requested that I help you analyze the data from the captured computer cores. They should be waiting for us in one of the Multifunction Bays."

 

[Aria]

"Ah, okay. Let's go then," Takuma said, stepping out of his room. Shortly he remembered the broken medal in his hand and quickly stepped back into his room, tossed it in the general direction of something not the floor and swiftly stepped out again. The door quickly slid closed again and pushed him into the hallway. Slowly, he started to meander down the hallway.

"At least now we won't have to worry about the computer trying to kill us," he said lightly to bounce a conversation.

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

"With Eve and former Black Spiral involved? I wouldn't be so sure," Miyoko replied to the assertion cheerfully. "If I were in their business, I'd have my computers defended about six times over if I could... Let's hope they didn't expect anybody to actually get them off the ship and that most of their defenses were in the form of people with guns."