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

[Tom]

Tom stepped away from the capacitor as Rin and Kyou took hold of it.

"I'll be contactable throughout my absence. Work hard and I'll be back as soon as I can."

With a nod to the group, the Daisy exited the subdeck. Tom quickly discarded the armor in the armor bay and moved on to the showers.

His body was a greasy and sweaty mess. A quick 5 minute shower could be afforded him if he was going to be sitting with the officers.

Engineering 'battle scars' weren't as permanent as a soldier's most of the time, but they left a strong impression nevertheless. A stinky one.

As he slipped out of his clothing and into the public showers he contacted Yukari via telepathy.

"Shosa, Yukari, I'm cleaning myself up and reporting to you for an officer's meeting? What's going on?"

 

[Doshii Jun]

After her brief skim of it, Miyoko glanced to the list of files. "If this is any indication of how many salient files are out there, we might want to divide them up. There could be dozens of them on individual projects, and at this rate we'd be here all night. The three of us could summarize the important findings."

"That is a good idea," Yukari said, mind clearly not focused on her response. She was not quite sure what Miyoko meant by dividing up the files — who would get what and when?

Tom's telepathic message shook her from her little world. It felt foreign to her, especially his use of her first name; she almost did not recognize it. "The meeting is not ready yet, so you have time. We are still accessing files from the Bowhordia base computer core."

 

[Gallant]

After Tom had zipped out in his armor, Yuzuki finally said, "Well, let's get this done," and began to walk.

"You two will have to make a couple of trips," she continued as they moved through the subdeck passageways aftwards, "But I'll stay in the fabrication room and try to find some way to peice these things back together while you're ferrying them. With Okaa-san's help, finding a replacement alloy should not take long. By the time I'm done, you'll be done, and we'll be able to start replacing all that cabling."

The doors in front of the little group slid wide open, and Yuzuki continued on into the aft damage control rooms, stepping immediately in front of the operator's panel on the elevator up to the level above the subdeck, where the fabrication bays were located. She punched a few buttons and, with a faint whine, the hydrolic elevator platform began its descent down to the subdeck.

She stood there quietly, offering Kyoh little insight into her inner thoughts or feelings except her general posture and appearance. She was obviously tired, slacking a little at the shoulder and leaning on the panel as she waited. Judging by the myriad of stains on her uniform, assuming that she changed every time she showered, she probably hadn't stopped work for days. Whatever stress the Heisho was dealing with was beginning to show.

When the elevator arrived, the orange-paneled Heisho stepped onto it, turned, and motioned for Rin and Kyoh to follow with the capacitor.

 

[Fred]

Discreetly, enough so that Yuzuki had not immediately picked up on her presence, an AMES-suited Nimura walked up to the red-haired heisho and waited to know what Yuzuki wanted with her.

* * *

"Data loaded," Miharu announced to Yukari and displayed on-volumetric-screen.

The Dominion's cargo manifest was not too unlike to Miharu's, so Yukari managed to scroll through it fairly quickly.

What jumped to her eyes was the power armor complement, which was only a select four. Three Black Mindy armors assigned to pilots Sayaka, Meni and Mani. There was a Kylie 1C that was assigned to Amaya's personal use. Power armor gear seemed barely enough to support the four suits for a single mission.

The vessel had stocked what cargo space the psionic amplification gear had not taken up with nekomachina. The launchbay, initially able to hold 4 shuttles, had been emptied to only one T3 Lion so to fit in two hundred nekomachina.

Food stores had been resplenished to support for an extended time around 12 crewmembers. If the Vale-class was truly a cruiser, that meant it was only crewed by a skeleton crew and a great deal of automatisation.

Finally, the manifest readout showed recent modification done to the vessel's MEGAMI-IES so to properly interlink it with the four WIES-equipped vessels of its squadron with adequate communication and coordination gear. Programmation had been done to the other vessels to recognize Dominion's computer for administrative and override functions.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari committed what she had read to her memory, but decided to save it for later. She took a deep breath, then said, "Please access the Signaler file, Miharu."

 

[Fred]

The log entries were briefly processed as Miharu decrypted the file, and the AI then pulled it on-screen for Yukari to view.

NH-29 Signaler Nekovalkyrja, Log Entries: Kotori
Last modified by Ashigari Amaya

Eve has interrogated Hanako and Sydney's XO, Kotori. Both appear likely candidates to use the new NH-29 body seeing their recent involvement with Scorpio base. Seeing that the Sakura is a high-profile figurehead vessel with ties to Lor, it seems likely they might eventually stumble into Melisson.

If we could have either one of them - preferably Hanako - jump into the Signaler variant they've concocted in the SARA, we could possibly get rid of Melisson while keeping our hands clean.

Third candidate found. A Ketsurui samurai, Kôsuka. What's more, this samurai and Kotori - apparently her youngling daughter - have ties to a SARA bioengineer.

Karl Sylvester seems difficult to replace with a double-agent because of his family, but they could equally prove useful as hostages. Will observe.

Hanako, Kotori and Kôsuka headed into the PNUGen complex. Team sent in to insure their elimination.

Karl Sylvester successfully coerced - all we've needed were very recent visual captures of his family members from up close to get his silence and cooperation. Seeing he's closely involved in the NH-29 design project, this is extremely convenient.

Once their deaths have been announced, he will be able to provide for the newer body type under the excuse of respawning them from their ST Backups. We've arranged access to a shuttle for him and altered orders via PANTHEON: one of Yui's flag aides ought to do nicely - they sign in Yui's name already so no one should suspect anything of his comings and goings.

Damnation!

All three managed to survive despite our efforts. Hanako was barely alive, but ended up in a well guarded hospital. Kôsuka was at death's door, but the NH-27 body once again proved its superiority.

Sylvester ended up only managing to swap bodies, narrowly so thanks to that annoying Nep scientist (hasn't it been three times we've tried to kill him so far? What's the hold up?!). Kotori's now a signaler.

Arranged events. Melisson is now poised over Lor, negociating with them. The presence of a copy of Kotori so obviously in sight should sooner or later bring in the Sakura's XO. with Melisson's habit to invite playmates on board, it should be easy to put Kotori back into 5 kilometers of the Infection Queen. Once that happens, having those Lorath turkeys around close to Melisson's main body with the interpreter compromised should give them an honest chance to kill her off for good.

Things didn't work out.

Hanako ended up stupidly putting herself into the lion's maw, again. This unfortunately left the XO Kotori a long way from ever being within five klicks.

I wasn't sure I could believe it when I heard of it. Whatever do they teach in officer school about the chain of command these days? I thought the War College was supposed to be prestigious and teach COs not to go and risk getting themselves killed. Wasn't Hanako, for all her antics, supposed to be the cream of the crop? It's a wonder the Star Army can even run itself with captains like these!

We should never have left Melisson with so much control over the NH-18. She squandered most of the good it might have had truly done, and instead she used it in some grand play-battle against the Sakura's crew in the typical evil-twin presentation.

All that's left now is to arrange for a next time. At least Project Scorpion's intended goals were a success, even if we could've achieved so much more.

We've convinced Melisson to take interest in Hanako and raise her to be a bridge between Yamatai and the Mishhuvurthyar to help fulfill the requirements of this Doctrine of Retribution Melisson keeps harping about.

This should hopefully bring Kotori into the five klicks range and arrange a second try. No more Lorath barbarians around, but at least now Hanako has rich incentive to kill Melisson if she has an opening.

Bad news.

Kotori decided to get into her head that she wanted revenge for what happened to Hanako and she during their interrogation. She's ended up getting her own ship command... which means she's been transferred out.

...which means she won't be there when Hanako meets Melisson.

We've kept Sylvester alive so far. I've contacted our team there to get some insights into whom we could pull into the Signaler procedure... but we've been getting squant reports on that end.

I've just learned that Kotori's Miharu was present on Taiie when Melisson decided to go postal on the fifth Expeditionary Fleet.

Too bad she never came close enough to Melisson. That would've been convenient.

Miharu's begun actively hunting for us. Unfortunately, Kotori seems halfway decent at doing her job - she's managed to capture one of our own, the Meng Po.

This is problematic. We hoped the Signaler could burn itself up against Melisson to insure mutual elimination... not that it would actually turn out to really do the job it was designed to do: fight psykers on better footing.

Were far ahead of the Gate plans, though, so we could just as well not bother with her. there are enough Mishhuvurthyar about so to insure her quaint little ship will eventually get blown up (or blow itself up - I understand its performance has occasionally been less than stellar).

They've made her into a Ketsurui, I hear. Imagine that - I guess the ruling clan needed some new blood to get out of the gutter.

The Signaler's usefulness has run to a probable end. We've learned that the Miharu recently joined with a deep space repair vessel to refit after a long search for us in the Southern Nebula.

She's getting too close. We aren't quite done with Bowhordia and we've too many psionics amongst us to risk confronting her. Even with the untrained Signaler's probable weakness against burst telepathy, few of us except maybe myself and Eve could meet her in any number without it becoming a slaughter for us. We made her good enough to kill Melisson, which means she's too good when it comes to us.

Perhaps more importantly, SARA made the Signaler compatible with high-bandwidth PANTHEON transmissions back when it was still for a NH-28 nodal weapon. That usually protects it from ST-device tampering and copies and we didn't have the time to edit that out; but with the five klicks range it could prove highly detrimental to Eve's NH-23 body. If Eve ends up in that range and dies, there's no telling what will happen to the PANTHEON terminals she has ready to self-respawn herself.

Best case scenario is to send a non-psyker, or just blow up her ship with the usual means. That has been arranged.

I've contacted and hired Kikyo to do the job. The SAINT bitch's prices were steep, but she's dependable and - ironically enough - has practice killing two Ketsurui already. Kotori is still a little known princess with barely any bodyguards so whenever she decides her crew and ship needs some R&R again, Kikyo should have matters arranged: Kotori and her officers first, then the Sylvesters.

"There are no further log entries, Shosa," Miharu quietly informed Yukari.

Amaya's Gate ("Amaya's Gate", Amaya+Gate, Amaya) [8 entries]

• Personnel File: Ashigari, Amaya
• Gate Project, Concept Notes
• Gate Project, Logistics
• Akuma Project, Concept Notes
• SS Dominion, Manifest
• Shlarvasseroth-class Flagship, Study
• Infection Queen, Study
• NH-29 Signaler Nekovalkyrja, Log Entries: Kotori

Project Scorpion ("Project Scorpion", Project+Scorpion, Scorpion) [1 entry]

• Project Scorpion, Log Entries

Capital Assets (Capital+Assets, Assets, Bank) [1 entry]

• Nepleslian Star Empire, Bank Accounts (budget tracking)

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari skipped over the rapidly blooming anger and bewilderment and asked Miharu to open the Project Scorpion file.

 

[Fred]

Project Scorpion's information, when it came on screen, was rather succinct and brief seeing it was shelved and complete.

From the text blurb there was present for reference, it was an arrangement to insure a series of event that would make the Southern Nebula locale highly contested until the Lorath race would be forced to arrange an evacuation. Yukari recognized the NH-18 doubles of Kotori and Hanako as being instrumental in having the unrest of the region reach boiling point.

Backdoor manipulations and bribes lead to NovaCorp and its then-new gateway system to be considered and used for the occasion.

Once the Lorath were mostly evacuated (thanks to the unwitting efforts of Motoyoshi's Fifth Expeditionary Fleet), the Daughters of Eve would sweep in and steal the Gateway equipment and automated shipyard facilities for their own use.

That, in itself, matched the circumstances which brought Miharu to investigate the Sekkou's disappearance.

Amaya's Gate ("Amaya's Gate", Amaya+Gate, Amaya) [8 entries]

• Personnel File: Ashigari, Amaya
• Gate Project, Concept Notes
• Gate Project, Logistics
• Akuma Project, Concept Notes
• SS Dominion, Manifest
• Shlarvasseroth-class Flagship, Study
• Infection Queen, Study
• NH-29 Signaler Nekovalkyrja, Log Entries: Kotori

Project Scorpion ("Project Scorpion", Project+Scorpion, Scorpion) [1 entry]

• Project Scorpion, Log Entries

Capital Assets (Capital+Assets, Assets, Bank) [1 entry]

• Nepleslian Star Empire, Bank Accounts (budget tracking)

 

[Doshii Jun]

"Please access the bank files, Miharu," Yukari asked. Her voice was monotone; she was drawn into herself, processing and analyzing the information she'd absorbed so far.

 

[Aendri]

Kyou nodded and moved her end in, resting the capacitor against her waist. "Ma'am, I think I should tell you now that I may need to be replaced at some point. I'm not actually part of the engineering crew; I'm helping here because I had questions for Freeman-Juni. I'll have to return to my work with Masako-Juni at some point."

 

[Fred]

Yukari skimmed over the file that recorded Eve's finances and contacts in Nepleslian space. As she skimmed through it, much of it - she noted - could be used by Neplelsia's intelligence agency, the IPG, into shutting those down. Seeing there was a astronomical amounts of stored funds there (Yukari got the impression that Nepleslia's economy held Eve's treasure hoard) it could amount to being very crippling to the continued operation of Eve's organization.

Effectively, it could cut off the umbilical cord from a still growing baby. If there wasn't been the Second Draconian Fleet to worry about, that alone could possibly setback the Daughters of Eve of resources it had taken them nearly ten years to amass.

Yukari was nearly done with the document, past the realization of how crippling the information could prove in the DIoN's government's hands when she glimpsed a large 20 000 000 DA payment for Mako Neo-Aerodynamics Industries company shares.

Looking the company up revealed at it was in fact a very old front for covert transactions made as necessary by undercover SAINT agents. The date of this particular transaction coincided with that of Amaya's final NH-29 signaler log entry. It was commented as "Advance Payment".

Scrolling back up in the document showed one other use of Mako Neo-Aerodynamics Industries being used as a front in YE 28. There was an advance payment of 40 000 000 DA. Another payment came in later, a larger one of 160 000 000 DA with the comment "Services Paid".

The bigger payment came the day after a date Yukari knew very well. The pay - an astronomical sum even by company standards - was given out the day after the one when Empress Ayame had committed suicide.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari focused on breathing for a moment. She was not surprised by how hard it was to do just that. She looked down at her tea, but it was no longer appetizing.

To live, we must press on.

"Miharu, please call for a senior officer's meeting in the Taisa's quarters. Inform Claymere-Taii, Kurohoshi-Juni, Freeman-Juni and the Taisa, please."

 

[Nyton]

Nyton had closed the door to Heram's quarters and went over his laundry list of tasks. He still had to go find Masako to discuss Armor reorganization. There was still a lot of work to do in regards to the recommendations he had made to Kotori.

He received updates to Masako's simulation status and it's conclusion. Before he could schedule anything though there was an announcement made by the Miharu.

The Shosa has requested a senior officer's meeting in the Taisa's quarters. Senior officers are to report to the Taisa's quarters immediately.

With a shrug the Nepleslian began to walk to Kotori's room. "I'm on my way." he replied. Perhaps he could speak to Masako after the meeting then.

 

[Abwehran Commander]

After parting with the disturbed Scientist, Masako had spent some time in the wardroom to finish her tea. Her plans had been to check on the status of the Powered Armor before heading down to assist Freeman in repairs. That was interrupted, however, just as she reached the Main Passage way.

"The Shosa has requested a senior officer's meeting in the Taisa's quarters. Senior officers are to report to the Taisa's quarters immediately."

Pausing mid-step, the Warrant Officer nearly careened off the Top Deck Passageway entrance and into the Zero-G tube. Mild usage of her inertia flight aided her in keeping her balance and from sending her straight into the Passageway wall on the other side. Turning around, the Chief of Security made her way back towards the wardroom without a word.

 

[Nyton]

Nyton had not been far from the meeting site and took notice of Masako's approach as she walked up. Looking over to her he nodded in greeting and smiled a bit. "Ah Kurohoshi-Juni, I have been meaning to find you to discuss a few things. This meeting just happened to save me the trouble of finding you." he said.

 

[Gallant]

At first the lift jerked slightly, but once it had got going the safety grating closed over it and it moved smoothly up towards the next deck. The sound from the hydrolic assemblies filled the space with a low, dull groan. The capacitors were heavy and, although they weren't straining the equipment, a couple of electric motors trying to move a half a ton sounded different than a couple of electric motors moving an empty lift.

While they ascended, Yuzuki turned her attention back to Kyoh and Rin, but particularly Kyoh. The Heisho studied the infantry soldier uncertainly. The capacitors had to be dealt with, before she could start on replacing the internal ship systems, and here was a snag in the plan already. This was going to cause Delays. Freeman-Juni probably wouldn't take long with the meeting. That gave everyone - at least, the engineers - an ambitious deadline to meet, and not a lot of resources to meet it with. Or free bodies, at the moment.

"You're the only other one I've got," Yuzuki pointed out, trying to make herself sound a little more leadery than she would have normally, "But if the Juni needs you, you've gotta' go. Just bring it as far as the fabrication room, and we'll figure out something."

 

[Fred]

Nimura, whom had followed up the lift but still hadn't been noticed by Yuzuki, prodded the sprite heisho on the shoulder with a finger.

 

[Gallant]

Yuzuki startled, nearly jumping out of her own skin. She recovered quickly, though, when she noticed who it was. Nimura-san.

What?

It took a couple of seconds to sink in fully.

Oh.

"Morning," offered Yuzuki, awkwardly.

 

[Fred]

The lift had now reached the main deck.

Nimura didn't answer quite immediately. After what felt like an odd moment of silence where Yuzuki was expecting an answer and did not get one right away, Nimura flatly said: "You had me report to you, Heisho."

No. Not flatly. Nimura's reputation for being an efficient yet very quiet sprite devoid of much in the way of emotion was rather well known to even Yuzuki by now. Where Yuzuki felt bothered by seeing herself as a disposable tool, Nimura seemed to be content with that particular school of thought.

Hence the unkind nicknames that had started circulating quietly: Cold Fish, Freak and Novacorp Maid Robot. If Nimura's twin sister Ichigo had not been the heisho in the subdeck, those might actually see more use.

 

[Tom]

Tom decided to let Yukari be after she replied. The information seemed very important.

Within 3 minutes, he was out of the shower and standing next to a new uniform, which he donned quickly. There was little time to spike his hair as he liked. The long pony tail look was starting to become a trend these days.

The Shosa has requested a senior officer's meeting in the Taisa's quarters. Senior officers are to report to the Taisa's quarters immediately.

"Go time."

Tom checked his appearance in the mirror one last time, attached his Juni pin to his red-panelled uniform, and jogged briskly to the Taisa's quarters. There, he ran into Nyton and Masako.

"Hello," he said with a bow. "I got here as soon as I could."