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

Junko looked a little clueless. Suzume seemed uncertain. Finally, the sprite said: "Miharu, bring up a catalogue display of KAMI integrated computer suite components?"

Volumetric windows opened, the Suzume scrolled through different selections until she found the datacore component they had before them. "Volumetric three-dimensional representation of this item, transparent wireframe details, manipulable - please."

A virtual reproduction of the datacore appeared before Suzume, blue-tinted and see-through. Every edge was a constrating lighter blue.

Junko bent to see what Suzume observed and commented: "That beats spec sheets."

Suzume nodded absently and then reached through to point at a rather large circuitboard inside. "Copy this. Paste outside."

A copy of the circuitboard in question appeared next to the three-dimensional image of the datacore. Suzume observed it and then looked up to Takuma and Miyoko. "There are several tamper-resistant measures built into this unit but the point is to is to breach none of the triggers that engages those failsafes. That circuitboard is at the heart of those failsafes."

Another sprite in Junko's group raised an eyebrow and said: "You're thinking that by breaking it without breaking the vaccuum seal of the core."

"Any physical alterations cannot proceed without opening the box." Suzume asserted. "And we know that the system will try to survive damage so that data can possibly be recovered - so if the main board sustain damage, the data-storage drives in the core should survive."

"I don't like this," Junko crossed her arms. "If we can do this, so could - say - the Nepleslians. It looks like a very flimsy protection to me if run-of-the-mill sabotage can get past it."

Suzume looked up to Junko and argued: "That's hardly the only defense the data inside will have. What we want to defeat here is the IFF codes, which we do not have and cannot circumvent. The data inside will be encrypted. If we are lucky, one of our Black Spiral decryption keys will work. If not, then at least we've the specialists on hand to work on a new decryption key. That's more than most IPG agents can probably boast of."

"Not to mention the specifications and tools needed to precisely fry the right parts," Miyoko added to Suzume's last comment as she looked over the diagram. "Needing to get past the encryption is at least one step ahead of where we're at now. Disabling the hardware protection on a secret datacore will look good on my resume, anyway. Let's do this."

When Kai reached for her, Yuzuki accepted his touch without saying anything. She didn't smile. Would it have even been appropriate to smile? She tried it, feeling the situation out bit by bit. It didn't work for her. She crossed her arms instead and walked after him, keeping up.

"I'm fine," she answered, pushing her hair back again to try and brush away her lingering uncertainty. It didn't work. "Not even that tired, really. Don't worry about it, OK?"

She hoped that would end it. What was the point of talking about something you couldn't fix? Kai was being nice and humoring her interests, even though he thought them a little strange. There wasn't any point in worrying anyone, or asking after things like that.

"This your room?"

She nodded her head sideways at the door.

******

"Next one down." the blond Yamataian corrected, before commenting again. "We're both Miharu crew. It's our job to worry about each other. What use is a chain when the links fall apart, each trying to be the strongest? We have to work together, and we have to work well. So after you see the pictures, you're going to take a break. Don't make me get the Shosa to order you to take one, either, because I'm sure she wouldn't be happy." Kai told Yuzuki, looking concerned about the Sprite.

Regardless, he opened the door and entered his room, where he began searching for his duffel bag. Locating said bag, the PA Pilot from Tami began to rustle around in it, searching for something. After a few moments of frantic searching, the Yamataian located what he was looking for. The first was a large pad of paper, a cover over the top so the contents could not be seen. The next was a small, portable stoarge device for information, and the third was a small, crinkled hardcopy picture, placed inside a little frame.

"The Picture in the frame is my parents. I haven't looked at it much in a while. The storage drive has old memories, pictures taken on Tami. And this;" he pointed to the drawing pad "Is where i'm good at describing things."

******

The sprite stood in the hallway a little longer than was necessary, rolling the idea of taking a real break over in her head. She had slept, it was true, and it wasn't as if anyone were directly telling her to do anything - after Freeman-Juni had come back, there had not been any real reason to bump into anyone since there was no reason to direct anyone and she already knew a lot of what had to be done, so she hadn't really needed to be directed, per-se. Instead she had simply jumped into the work, because it was work and it needed jumped onto. Watching
the young man from beyond the doorframe, it dawned on her that she could more or less do whatever she wanted, if she wanted. Theoretically speaking, she was the only one who would know aside from the Miharu herself.

What if I want to finish everything? she wanted to ask, but instead she kept her mouth shut and followed the pilot into his room.

The picture caught her attention, so she joined him in looking at it. The couple there looked rustic, almost, to her. She didn't particularly recognize them, but comparing them with Kai, she could see the resemblance. The sprite glanced back and forth between them a few times before following Kai's attention to the notepad. She stared blankly for a moment before she realized what it was she was staring at. He was an artist. He was going to draw.

"Let's see," she said, crowding closer to watch, as if that would somehow hurry him.

Yukari came hard out of her hiding spot and gestured for Kyou to do the same.

Silently, she queried her sensors to refresh her scan of the situation on the ship. "Yamada, hold our back. Gunshin, you are point once we are in the main corridor. No one leaves cover unless we are all clear. Understood?"

She did not wait for an affirmative. The Shosa floated to the edge of it, glad the helmet of her Mindy didn't show her face as a Daisy's could. Kaida was "dead," and she had been unable to stop it. Quickly, she was learning to not at all envy Masako and Nyton for their time off the ship and doing real fighting.

No time to weep for the deceased. She checked her Barrier again, and asked for the sensor package's analysis.

What came back tempted her to be less cautious. Only one shape in the Engineering section appeared to be a power armor. A dozen shapes were Nekovalkyrja-like, but too sharp and angular to be flesh; they were likely Nekomachina.

But two more also came up, small and spherical. Because of the thick walls of the starship she could not probe them for chemical composition, but she could tell by the preciseness of their shape that they were perhaps 50 centimeters in diameter, and they floated. She set her AIES to inquire what objects could fit those parameters.

"Allright allright" Kai said, grinning a bit and opening the pad. the first few pages were covered in random scribblings that he quickly flipped past, but farther in the book were what appeared to be starships, culminating in a nearly full schematic for a ship crammed onto one small page, with subsequent pages being details of the previous schematic. A few more pages of random drawing after that, Kai came to a blank page, where he stopped and began inspecting the surface. he put the pad on his desk and went back to his duffel, looking for something else, finding it, the object was revealed to be a small container of art supplies.

"I would show you the photographs first, but since you're so insistent..." the blond Yamataian said, indicating the page. "What would you like to see first?" he asked, beginning to draw anyway, he started off by drawing what appeared to be a vertical set of lines on one side of the page, but it was quickly becoming more detailed and less symmetrical.

******

The first few drawings barely registered with her. The schematic was interesting, but she wouldn't even let herself consider stopping him. Carefully, the sprite set the framed picture down flat on the desk off to the side and proceeded to lean, cross-armed, on the back of the chair. She watched over his shoulder.

"What would you like to see first?"

Click to expand...

"Whatever," she answered distantly. He'd already started drawing, after all.

"You speak so kindly," Tom said cheefully to Rin. "Flattering the cook is a great way to get the food you want."

Finally, the two reached the Hoshi and the armors that laid within. The ship had the damaged armors neatly tucked away to one side and the undamaged ones to the other.

Tom extended a hand towards two untouched Daisy's.

"Let's get in these."

"Yeah, I'd agree that's our best bet. Let's go for it. Should we bring it down to engineering then?" Takuma asked.

As Yukari's AIES began searching through its database, the Executive Officer's communications systems would begin to detect signs of increased combat. Heat and electromagnetic signatures began to increase as more weaponry was unleashed upon defenders of Engineering.

A few seconds later and the AIES found a match for the spherical devices. Apparently, the invaders had brought Novacorp Shield Drones along with them in order to protect their larger group.

***************

Meanwhile, outside the VR Room, Masako had finished making her modifications to the program. Sighing lightly, the Warrant Officer decided it was just a matter of waiting for them to complete the simulation. Though she couldn't help but feel a little bored merely observing the simulation.

Maybe she could start studying Navigational Systems in her spare time? She was recording the simulation after all.

"You know, Juni..." Miharu spoke up to Masako. "Maybe it'd feel more involved if you put yourself in the shoes of the commander of the invading force."

The ship's AI had amazingly divined something of her state of mind.

"It's a different kind of leadership," the ship's computer continued. "But it's also more like what is asked from both Claymere-Taii and Ketsurui-Taisa when they are told that they should not expose themselves to danger and lead from the rear."

* * *

Junko clapped in her hands. "Right. If we're going to set ourselves up for the operation-" the pseudo-medical term drew giggles from nearby sprites. "We'll need an environment where using scalar beams won't pose a danger to our electronics, or the neighborhood."

"It won't do to just shoot a scalar pulse cannon at the datacore, Junko," Suzume countered. "We need to be more precise than that."

"How about a Mindy's Combined Field System?" Another sprite proposed.

"Hai, that could work." Suzume grinned. "If we can set up a framework with eight units boxing in the relative position of the main circuit board, we should be able to to it locally, without risk of harmful bleed off to any nearby components.

"Ah, I get it. I'll go and set this up," Junko nodded and had two other sprites follow her out - leaving Suzume and another sprite that Takuma and Miyoko did not know the name of.

While Suzume peered at the see-through volumetric display of the KAMI's datacore, the other sprite turned to Takuma and Miyoko, asking: "I think I recall an hacking attempt being made at the Bowhordia ground outpost by one of our Daisy armors. Is it possible to retrieve the logs? There could be important information inside that could help us puzzle out the decryption key, or at least the right version of the OS the base used."

"Its AIES should have enough records of the hack attempt to reconstruct it, I'd think. Miharu, do you know offhand whose armor made the hacking attempt? I can speak to Kurohoshi-Juni if not." It was certainly a better option than checking them one by one to see if they had records of doing so. "In the meantime," Miyoko turned to the sprite, "do you know how long it will take to prepare our little jury-rigged scalar field surgery?"

"It was Takuma-Hei's Daisy power armor," Miharu replied to Miyoko. "I uploaded the AIES' logs for a virtual recreation of the hacking attempt so the information can be accessed from one of the virtual reality chambers - the port-side one is free."

Once Miharu was done answering Suzume lifted her head and answered Miyoko's other question. "I think we can set this up in fifteen minutes."

Abwehran Commander said:

As Yukari's AIES began searching through its database, the Executive Officer's communications systems would begin to detect signs of increased combat. Heat and electromagnetic signatures began to increase as more weaponry was unleashed upon defenders of Engineering.

A few seconds later and the AIES found a match for the spherical devices. Apparently, the invaders had brought Novacorp Shield Drones along with them in order to protect their larger group.

Click to expand...

"Shimatta!" The increased fire, combined with the shield drones, created a situation that demanded immediate action. Yukari was hesitating, not willing to commit her team to a fight that had no clear path to victory.

The shield drones used pure energy shielding, as best she could tell by the data her AIES gave her. That fact meant Kyou's subspace missiles were worthless. But her own MSAP missiles would not be affected by the shield bubbles.

"Gunshin, Yamada, on my command, dive down the Main Corridor and eliminate the enemy!" Yukari was through waiting. She went down the corridor alone, head first, until she nearly reached its end, the lip of the Engineering Deck's ceiling. She stuck her right leg down below the lip just enough to give her Offensive Augmentation Pod clearance, then targeted the two drones with her Support pack.

This must work! She let loose two missiles.

Rin bowed her head and scratched her temple. Yes, she was trying to flatter Tom, but not to get what she wanted! "Etto, Freeman-Juni really doesn't have to cook anything special for me."

"Hai," she responded heading to the Daisy's. Then, she gulped. The sprite had forgotten that they would have to strip. Again. "E- etto..." she muttered quietly, stopping in front of one of the two Daisy's.

A volumetric window suddenly sprang to life next to Tom, with Kotori's golden eyes glaring at him. She clearly was annoyed. "Freeman-Juni, could you kindly tell the sprites doing EVA work outside the ship that in the future they are not to try to come and wave me hello, or knock on my window, or otherwise just peer in it?"

Miyoko nodded acknowledgment, first to Miharu, then to the sprite. Once they were both finished, she looked to Kimura. "Takuma-Hei, I believe you're more familiar with power armor systems than I am, so the logs from it will probably make more sense to you than to me. Could you please head to the VR chamber and see what you can dredge from them? In the meantime, I'll see what I can find in the way of cryptographers."

Ah, the logs. The logs I really don't want to see... Takuma thought to himself drearily.

"Yeah, I'll head down there and see what I can get out of it. I'm sure we can get some system information from it, but who knows how related the encryption keys are. Maybe the password found to open the door was from someone high up or from an engineer."

"Just send me a message when the armors are done with their scalar attempt or if you need help with it." With that, Takuma wandered out of the room and headed to the VR chamber.

I seem to be going here a lot recently...

Kai simply nodded and continued drawing. what started to come out was a small landscape. what had at first appeared to be a small space slowly realized itself into a large area filled with enormous trees, and small cabins near their roots. It was a small village, hidden beneath the trees, near a cliff with a waterfall rushing down through a crack in the enormous rock wall. After a few minutes of quick sketching, the Yamataian pulled out several colored pencils, and began shading in the scene. Rocks turned gray, dappled with moss. Trees were a tannish brown, crowned with large verdant canopies. the buildings were all different colors, and the ground was green with shrubberies, criss-crossed with little yellowish gravel paths. "This isn't my hometown, it was actually a small resort village near the mountains. I visited here several time, it was one of my favorite places to go." he explained, smiling at the Sprite.

******

Yuzuki maintained a respectful silence while Kai drew. If there had been another chair nearby she would probably have sat in it. Lacking that, she simply leaned, shifting her weight from one leg to the other and putting most of it on the back of the chair. Eventually it might turn out to be awkward looking over the guy's shoulder all the time, but she wouldn't be uncomfortable anytime soon. Kai was drawing quickly, and well.

In response to his explanation, she nodded reflexively, even though he might not even see it.

"I like the way it looks," she said, quietly, "Do you swim at all?"

Masako's lips pursed in thought upon the Miharu's interjection, her mind exploring the possibilities. While she was supposed to be the more designated frontline commander, it would be good experience to act like a rearline commander for the simulation.

After all, she was getting towards the point in her career where she would eventually have to switch to the rearline command position in order to progress in rank. She couldn't see that happening to her, but it was always possible.

"An excellent idea," the young Warrant Officer replied as she stood up. "It would be a good experience for me," she said with a chuckle as she entered the VR Room once more. Still hidden from view when it came to the simulation, Masako tapped her datapad and began to insert herself into the program.

The Warrant Officer would find herself covered in the shroud of the enemy commander. Sitting in one of the two shuttles that had invaded the Miharu's Multifunction Bays, the Raven-haired Neko connected to the enemy tactical net just in time for Yukari's assault.

******************************

In a stroke of luck for the Executive Officer, both of her missiles struck there targets with deadly accuracy. In fact, they struck the shield drones in such a way that the mechanical devices exploded into shrapnel. Two Nekomachina were cut down instantly in such a manner that disabled them completely while two more were struck in a way that made them immobile, but combat capable.

But while their Armored enemy was surprised, their more computerized enemy had no such ability. The remaining ten Nekomachina split their fire between the defenders of Engineering and the flanking attack. Yukari and her team would find themselves facing the combined fire of five SMGs.

Miyoko nodded to Suzume after Takuma left the room. "Thank you for your help. We'll let you know if we need anything else, but I think we're taken care of for now." Mentally, she continued to the Miharu. Please let the Shosa know that we should be ready to start trying to break the encryption on the core shortly when she's free. We could use the help of any crew members with cryptography experience. ... and while you're at it, please prepare a high-level overview of the encryption architecture we're likely to be up against. Anything you can find would be helpful.

"Acknowledged," Miharu returned. She opened for Miyoko a volumetric window listing existing decryption algorithms along with the decryption keys, all used in the past by Black Spiral. "It is very likely they will be using something to a complexity mirroring Black Spiral. After all, the Daughters of Eve began functioning much more professionally after their merge with Black Spiral."

The ship's AI briefly paused and added. "I should have more reference material for you pending on Kimura-Hei's findings."

* * *

Speaking of 'Kimura-Hei', Takuma ascended the stairs up to the port-side quarters, passed by the recreation room to finally access the virtual reality room.

Miharu had his previous simulation running when he arrived. "AIES Interface loaded. I've changed past parameters so that there will be no hostiles. Enter when ready."