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

"No, anywhere in the room will do," Yuzuki answered, "It doesn't actually matter. The componants in this room that do the fabricating are in the air."

She had already been browsing through available alloys and compounds, compatable with the purposes she was going to put whatever metal she decided upon to. Some of the combinations were useless. Some of them were too difficult to mold, or create, with the atoms that the matter collector had accumulated. She chose a middle-of-the-road alloy; An offshoot of platinum. According to the readout it had similar conductivity, but Yuzuki hesitated using it, especially with the way the ship drew power. It hadn't been tested or certified under this high of a load. It grated her nerves, but there was no other choice.

She selected it from the panel, and dragged it to the appropriate place in the schematic notes.

"See?" the sprite-Heisho said as she swept her hands across the screens, "Watch this."

The air around the capacitor rippled and warped like the intense heat off a furnace. Then, just as quickly, the whole image resolidified. It was the same capacitor. The traces of tampering, however, had been removed and a new resiliant mount had been fabricated beneath it to replace the one that had been brutally hacked away.

Yuzuki crossed to the distance to the capacitor, the volumetric windows trailing, and opened one of the panels. After a brief look, she motioned the two Hei closer.

"The way the fabricators work, is there's these little machines in the air. They take and reform molecules using compounds gathered by the ship's matter collectors. Sometimes they take already existing molecules and reform or replace them according to a schematic that the ship stores in its memory. Like, look."

She put her hands on a pale green panel and, after a brief struggle, removed it. She turned it over in her hands, displaying it. "Sometimes materials are salvagable, like these little tan lines spiderwebbing here. This is a monitoring chip for the capacitor that links into the main computer, and these are the electrical conduits. Now..." Glancing back into the gap she had created, Yuzuki put her hand on another panel, and yanked. She put the new, wafer-thin panel on top of the other, and said, "Look. They're silver now, right? That's the new alloy. It's worked in with the old one, and in some places here, it's completely replacing the conduits that got burnt out by the ship's power demands. These capacitors are meant to be maintenanced like this with the right materials on a three-month basis, but with the way we're deployed, it doesn't get done that often, and we'll have to do it all over again, the textbook way, when we're back in a port and can, but that isn't..."

The Heisho suddenly broke off, stifling a yawn with her off hand. When she had finished, she looked wearily back to the panels. Without another word, she turned back to the capacitor, locked them in, and shut the grate.

"Sorry. I shouldn't be wasting time like this. Go ahead and take this one back down, and bring the other one up. Next time, Rin, you're doing the fabricating. I'll show you how."

Rei bobbed her head, and walked past Tsuya toward the armors. "If your commander is Kurohoshi-Juni, you are likely to be piloting an armor. That involves the M6 Daisy or the M2 Mindy. You are likely to be placed on one of her teams, under one of the higher-ranked enlisted crewmembers. You will be eliminating enemy forces."

The sprite rested her hand on one of the greenish-colored Daisy armors strapped to the wall with clasping red canvas ribbons. "You could prepare a loadout for yourself, and I can assist you in doing that. We have wide choices in our armory. Whatever you choose from the list of weapons we have access to, I can personally show you."

* * *

Yukari was not Nyton, but she had her thoughts. Now or never.

"We do not ask for a ship that can follow us through the Gate, if we are forced to go through it." She measured her words for a couple seconds, Kotori's golden eyes the richest stars against the viewport. "We require a warship that can hold the line while Miharu pursues Eve. Nothing more. It does not need to be a large ship that requires extensive crew. So long as it relieves Miharu from handling what could be a dozen vessels, it is enough for our purposes."

She regarded Nyton, hands tightening on one of her thighs, but her voice she made as smooth as her heart let her. "We saved the very life of a Nepleslian patriot. We will be delivering him in better condition than we found him, and without putting him through any of the interrogations SAINT is associated with. All we ask for in return is a ship that will not be missed from the front lines, and discretion. Nepleslia can keep the money Eve has amassed as payment for the vessel. Wazu-san can construct the transaction en-route through our own protected channels, and ensure it can be completed in under 30 minutes. The Intelligence and Pacification Group, Kikyo, SAINT — no one will have time to respond."

Yukari looked back at Kotori. She brushed her ponytail back behind her, then put her hands back in her lap. A balancing act of stiffness and softness. "If we cannot save our comrades beyond the Rift for now, so be it. However, we must give our comrades here a chance to survive. Two ships can accomplish that better than one."

Nyton thought about what Tom had said earlier regarding Wazu and nearly laughed. After a moment of listening he figured his insight on Nepleslia was required. "I was under the same impression when I first met our guest Heram Wazu, Freeman-Juni. Unfortunately the man is a case of social dysfunction at a severe level. But feel free to greet him in his quarters. He may enjoy a visitor." he said with a half smile.

With that said he then turned to face Masako. "From what I am hearing regarding this datacore, I estimate that Eve is amassing her forces at the Rift for the final phase of her operation. This would mean that she is calling in nearly every ship and resource she has to make this a success. We must assume the worst in regards to the numeric capability Eve is holding right now."

Nyton then faced Yukari. "We cannot assume that Nepleslia will be able to assist us much. Not without releasing some detail to the urgency of our request. And that would be supposing they even have the resources. At worst, we may tell them about the fleet and they are not capable of helping us. The new SMX offensive may be tying up Nepleslian forces up so that they have none to spare."

"However that does not mean we might not be able to procure some form of aide. We may be able to get away with procuring some resources for repair and maybe a few small mercenary forces. We would not have to inform them of the threat of the Draconian Fleet. We simply tell them that we are pursuing the notorious criminal Eve which Wazu would confirm. They freeze the assets and allow us to use some of them to help us purchase services, enough to feign a raid that would act as a distraction for us. All they have to know is that we are after a criminal and they need to create a distraction before running off. The less they have to risk for reward the more likely they will be to see things through." Nyton suggested.

With a sudden burst of inspiration Nyton then looked over to Kotori. "The NH-23 could be the key here! No one knows we have her to begin with. With the ability to access PANTHEON at the Empress level she is our ace in the hole. If she is able to keep our ship safe from being invaded then why not have her block any intelligence picked up by SAINT, even misdirect any moles she has within the system to include Kikyo. Perhaps she would be able to keep us invisible for at least a few more days until we can arrive at the Rift with our distraction force."

Kotori raised her hands and rubbed her face with them. She seemed dismayed.

Her hands came down and slowly, she said: "I cannot permit the presence of other Nepleslian-manned ships in the vicinity of Amaya's Gate. They are not stupid - they'll eventually piece things together. They could see the gate and turn tail. They could see the opposition and decide they are not being paid enough to risk such odds. They could be bribed in mid-combat and turn on us. They could be mentally controlled by the enemy and turned on us."

"I will also not abide to voluntarily hiring the services of a ship and a human crew to then just toss it out as bait for Eve's vessels to tear apart just for the sake of some breathing room." Kotori eyed Yukari. "Planning to hire people as pawn to be sacrificed beforehand is not something I want to stoop to premeditating."

"We can't just afford to enter Nepleslian space and have dealings there with them without us falling under a lot of scrutinery from the IPG," Kotori continued. "Miharu is a rare ship configuration - that's bound to draw attention. I'm a Ketsurui, that's bound to draw a lot of caution and paranoia."

Kotori poked one index in the palm of her other hand as she added: "The NH-23 also only has a control over PANTHEON nodes. But they don't rely on that in Nepleslian space so her effectiveness outside the ship - should I truly want to figuratively 'loosen the leash', something I promised my mother I would not allow lightly - she might not even be very effective. However, SAINT operates in Nepleslian space; if the IPG become aware of us there's a good chance SAINT might be as well and if that happens, Kikyo could know."

"Do I truly dare think we can be more clever by ourselves than the IPG or SAINT? No, not really."

She moistened her lips. "Honestly, those measures sound as equally dependent on luck, divine intercession and wishful thinking as to the previous 'half-cocked' course of action I was favoring. Time spent in the nebula will grant materials and the time Tom's people need. From thereafter, it's more a measure of wits and combat prowess. Miharu won over 11 to 1 odds before... so 15 to 1 odds with the defenders caught with their pants down does not seem undoable."

The Taisa crossed her arms again. "This is too big for me to feel I can just veto over, however. My plan offers the least operational difficulties, but likely the most combat risks. If you want to offer me an alternative, I am willing to consider it, but you need to polish it and make it as much proof to our actions being compromised as possible by the other people or factions we involve."

"No plan is without it's risks, your highness. We trust you to have thought things through but we also trust you to hear us out." Nyton replied in an even voice.

"Crew, I believe we have our orders. If we are to take advantage of the intel we have then we should move quickly." he said looking to the others briefly before looking over at Kotori. "I know you trust your ship to be secure but allow me to complete our security sweep. That can at least be done while in transit with minimal draw on our personnel. Once we are certain we are all safe then we can focus on the mission. Kurohoshi and I will need to make plans for any sort of assault we will make on the enemy's forces. If the datacore has any insight to the enemy's strengths then we must research those files."

Nyton then looked over at Yukari. "Could I receive a complete file on all the decrypted data we have so far along with access to determine whether there are any fleet strength files?"

"I appreciate your concerns for our safety, Taii, but we have to make sure Miharu is capable of surviving the mission we seem to be embarking on." Tom said, eyeing Nyton before returning his attention to the Taisa.

"With three days and the rich resources of a nebula at our disposal, we should have more than enough material to replace all non-zesuaium components including our faultry CFS units. That could easily have us up and running at 96% plus efficiency, levels we haven't seen since our first year in space. We needed every bit to survive the 11-1 odds last mission. With 15-1 odds predicted, we'll need even more."

He crossed his arms.

"The only catch is that it's impossible to install CFS units without a spacedock..."

The engineer's eyebrows furrowed in thought, as his mind suddenly caught an idea.

"...almost? I could try to improvise an installation without a spacedock. It would be unprecedented. We'd have to open new holes in the ship's hull while it was out in space, rip out the CFS units one-by-one and install the new ones. We could use mindy armors for the heavy lifting, and manual installation for the rest. It can be done, but it could be very dangerous. If we work around the clock, we can do it."

He nodded a single time, emphatically.

"We'd be short a few more slabs of Zesuaium, but it's not a huge sacrifice for the improved internal workings of the ship. If that's a bit too hard to swallow though, I'm open to another suggestion."

Kotori frowned. "Good. I'll add an extra day to the time allotted in the nebula - I want to get underway as soon as possible but I don't want to work our technicians to death either."

The Taisa rubbed her forehead with the back of her right hand, stirring the fringe of black hair there. The hand dropped abruptly. "I will need you to triple our armor complement, Tom, mostly with Daisy power armors considering we could meet aether cancellation. We've a multifunction bay free - the damaged one - so you could store the extra power armor there. Seeing we do not have unlimited stores of ammunition, we'll have to favor energy weapons. Hopefully our infantry personnel will be able to assist the preparations since most of them know at least some power armor-related mechanics."

Kotori's expression turned sour. "We'll of course have to run the crew through ST backups before our attack on Amaya's Gate. In all likelyhood, fatalities amongst our crew are more than likely. If such happens, we not only will need to revive our fallen quickly, but they will also need power armors to replace the one they were killed in so they can jump back into the fray."

The nekovalkyrja took in a deep breath and asked the Raltean engineer: "So, can you manage all of this in four days?"

"If I have Miharu do some of the work, it should be done in that time frame. I don't want personnel wasted monitoring armor construction if Miharu can do it on her own. Just give me a number and I'll see it done."

Tom showed his own frown as he thought of the need for ST backups.

"I would like to encourage the engineering sprites to get ST backups before we do this installation. That could alleviate your concerns as well as mine. Frankly, the sprites are going to be exhausted even with 4 days allotted to us."

"Well, I can fabricate most of the components that make up power armors," Miharu butted in on the conference. "They'll just require assembly after that. Also, my outer yamataium armor was segmented in other to eject portions of it in instances where heat saturation would reach critical levels, to preserve the inner hull and surrounding systems. While that's usually pried off by much heavier machinery in a spacedock, I do support Freeman-Juni's idea that it could be feasibly improvised in deep space."

"For that matter, I've the specifications for the Asamoya's energized armor in database," the ship's AI added. "If we're going to remove large portions of my outer armor, we could take the opportunity to install it at the same time. It may take a couple more hours of extra labor, but we'll have extra power armors for the sprite technicians to use to mitigate that. Finally, having energized armor could go a long way in increasing my survivability, especially considering I've lost a good portion of my zesuaium plating."

Kotori raised an eyebrow at that last mention from the ship's computer and looked over to Tom for confirmation.

Tom paused, a surprised expression coming on his face.

"I need to access the files on energized armor, but if Miharu says it can be done, I don't see how it can't. But I'll need to get some schematics down for all this. I've never heard of this armor before!"

The engineer allowed a grin to show on his face.

"What an ambitious project. I like it."

Kotori nodded in approval. She looked back to Yukari. "I'm going to need you to get us underway to Nepleslia as soon as possible - if only just so we can be on the move instead of looking like a stationary, complacent target. If you want more time to sit down with the others to frame an alternate plan, I can give you until slightly before we arrive to Nepleslia to submit it to me. If it's solid, has limited calculated risks and compromises on several operational points you know are of concern to me I'm willing to consider it."

Miharu made the files available for Nyton with a thought from Yukari. She paid only slight attention to the meeting now, as it was winding down.

Her thoughts were on how she could acquire a second ship — or rather, how unlikely it was she could through any means available.

Nyton and Kotori had tightly framed the parameters of the mission. Alert no government agency, rely on no additional crew ...

When her name was mentioned, she gave a distant "Yes, Taisa" and kept thinking.

Kotori took note of Yukari's lack of attention. She walked back to her side of the desk, rested her hands over the edges of it and eyed her.

"Yukari? Moshi moshi?"

"Hai?" Yukari absently said. Must not be missed. Something small, insignificant, perhaps even self-manufactured. It must have sufficient firepower, but not threaten our element of surprise. An Uriko? No, it has a potential worth of only one round. A Ryusei II? Its aether missiles lack penetration considering the potential targets. Modern starfighters provide no threat to capital vessels. A freighter? Too slow. A corvette is too big.

... "What about a shuttle?"

Instead of answering the question, Kotori said: "I've really three criterias: not allowing Kikyo to get a lead on us, not allowing anyone to learn of the Gate in case they'd have an agenda in mind for it, and if we do obtain assistance I don't want their lives to be thrown away as cannon fodder."

"Shuttles," Kotori came to her XO's original question. "Would stick in cannon fodder. Those, and fightercraft, wouldn't have enough endurance. The people we'd send out in them would die, so I really don't-"

Kotori stopped talking abruptly, her expression hinting she had come to a realization. "Miharu, project starmap of known space!"

When the volumetric projection of the Empire appeared over the desk Kotori stabbed a finger at a star which was labeled 'Ether'. "What about automated NDI fighter drones?"

Nyton almost smacked himself on the side of the head. "Of course! Automated drones! They're expendable and will do as ordered. Plus the NDI has had little contact with Yamatai recently. If anything we are less likely to tip off Kikyo by contacting them. The NDI has been keeping to itself recently though. I believe that world is their only current foothold in our space."

"It's an excellent idea we just need to be able to purchase these drones. Can we acquire some sort of finances to be able to make any business deals with the NDI or are we going to work on the pretense of goodwill between empires?" Nyton then puzzled aloud.

Yukari blinked, but then quickly reviewed the technical specifications of the fighter drones in her head. "If we hold them in our bay, we would not hold very many, though we could tow many of them in our CFS bubble ... and they would be highly unexpected.

"We could do both. A shuttle and the NDI drones. I can purchase several dozen of the drones with my savings."

"Hell, if it is for the sake of everyone, Nepleslia included, then I echo the Shosa's statement and am willing to use my own savings to help in the purchase." Nyton supported.

"It's not like the money will be of any use if we fail, right?"

"Yes," Yukari said. "The phrase is, 'Put your money where your lips are.' Correct?"

Nyton chuckled a bit. The first genuine laugh in some time. "It's 'mouth,' Shosa. Put your money where your mouth is." he corrected.