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

Nyton's mind immediately began recording Nimura's movements as she displayed some rather incredible prowess. There was the ingrained sense of excitement which began to grow at the premise of a conflict. He would have to deal with it later though. For now his position required him to do something about a sparring match that appeared to be getting out of hand.

"While I have no issues about a friendly duel or sparring match I cannot condone it when it appears to get out of hand," Nyton said to Mara before raising his voice to shout over the noise of the combat and spectators.

"ALRIGHT TIME OUT YOU TWO BEFORE SOMEONE REALLY GETS HURT!"

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"Of course, Heisho-san," replied Shizuka. Akiko quickly approached with a smile. "We're right on it!" she added.

As the two got to work Akiko couldn't help but notice the box's contents. "Oooooh! Its full of treats! Are they for everybody?" she quickly asked.

Nyton's bellow happened at around the same moment as the two sprites had resumed exchanging blows. Nimura immediately disengaged with two large steps back. Hinoto for her part staggered one step back belatedly and slumped to a sitting position before she gingerly probed her broken teeth.

As Ichigo ran to the two sprites, Mara gave Nyton a grateful nod and went back down the stairs to check on the other three sprites, whom were groaning and complaining about various hurts.

"Don't worry - in thirty minutes you should be as good as new. It was just a bit of sparring," Mara quipped as she helped one rise.

"Easy for you to say - you took one good hit and decided to duck out," one of the sprites replied testily to Mara. "At least Hinoto had the heart to stick in as long as she could and it won't take her just half-an-hour to recover from her beating."

"This was so totally one-sided," another sprite noted, glaring resentfully Nimura's way.

As Mara returned a glib and carefree reply to placate them, Ichigo seemed to inquire about if Hinoto needed any assistance; the latter just shook her head 'no' and Nimura immediately turned to leave. Aside from tussled hair and speckles of blood over her outfit and hands, Nimura did not seem much worse for the wear - she wasn't even winded.

"Interesting. I was just prying them apart. Something tells me the damage loosened everything, but this is still a lot easier. Thanks." Catching the sprite's gaze, Kai went back to trying to pop the magnetic fasteners as Yuzuki had done so easily, but not having as good of a time at it. "Do you mean what am I trying to do this moment, or overall?" he asked, not sure which he should specify. Turning back to the expectant but tired looking sprite he answered the easier question of the two.

"Right now I'm simply trying to remove the broken parts, and the hemosynthetic insert. The insert is damaged, but also, I just don't like getting naked to go fight, so I'm looking at putting in a different kind of insert. Removing the broken stuff is fairly obvious, though."

*****

She returned his look with another tired smile, but not for long - the armor retained most of her attention, still. Sitting beside the pilot, Yuzuki unconsciously fidgeted. She wanted to do the work herself. It was hard to watch the man being clumsy with something she found simple knowing that she could do it faster. She fought valiantly against the urge to snatch the tool back anyway, but wasn't sure why.

"Do you have the insert?" Yuzuki asked eventually. Immediately, she mentally slapped herself - there weren't any inserts in the area. It had been a stupid question. "Sorry, it's been a long day. Do you know what size you are?"

The exchange had been impressive. Nyton was certain Miharu had it recorded which made him wish to observe it at a later time. For now he followed Mara down the stairs and surveyed the damage.

"I don't believe the bay is the appropriate place for any sort of sparring to begin with. I am not looking to get anyone in trouble but will someone explain to me how this all began?" Nyton said to all those present before folding his arms.

"Nimura, don't leave just yet. I want everyone's input even if I have to listen to it enroute to the medical lab," he added, catching her departure via his surrounding vision.

As Nimura stopped and walked their way, Mara raised her hands placatingly. "We don't really need to go to the medlab bother anyone. We started this knowing we wouldn't really get any hurt in a fistfight that we couldn't quickly regenerate."

"Apparently Nimura wasn't satisfied with the simulated opponents and environments that we could bring up in the virtual reality chambers and Ichigo came to me explaining that to avoid Nimura being bored, perhaps she'd need a real sparring partner in an uncontrolled environment with no safety protocols and all."

"I figured it could be good to have some sprites with time on their hands benefit from the fighting experience of the sprites that were part of our latest mission... so I meet Hinoto, shared the idea and we both decided to grant permission for sparring matches. This bay had ample space to tumble around and wasn't exposed to space... so it seemed the best place we could do it."

"We quickly learned that we couldn't partner Nimura with anyone else. We tried making teams, but the advantage Nimura gave one team was too significant. Finally, we tried to all fight her and she managed to kick our butts - only, Hinoto came for seconds and wouldn't give up, and I got worried so I called on you."

Miyoko took a corner of the box too. While two people could easily handle it, she didn't want to feel like she was making the others do all the work. "They are for everybody, but you have to wait for Freeman-juni to decide how we should distribute them. Otherwise, we'll end up with people getting in fist fights over the last slice of cake or something."

Nyton nodded while he listened to Mara explain everything. Nimura actually gets bored? he noted. Upon being clarified his face softened a bit. "Not a bad idea but it seems everyone underestimated the difference in ability. Alright then, unless someone needs to get something off their chest now then consider the matter closed. I don't want any hard feelings manifesting later when they had a chance to be aired out now," he said to the group.

"Otherwise everyone is free to be on their way. However I would like to continue speaking to Mara, Hinoto, and Ichigo, if you three wouldn't mind," Nyton added. He filed the faces of the other three injured neko in his memory for future reference.

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"Yaaay! Cakes cakes cakes!" exclaimed Akiko happily as she carried her end of the box.

"What a wonderful idea to get everyone cakes." Shizuka added. "You are so thoughtful to do so-" The neko paused as she realized something. "Oh where are our manners? In the excitement of the moment we forgot to introduce ourselves, Heisho-san. I am Joto Hei Shimabumi Shizuka and this is my sister, Joto Hei Shimabumi Akiko,"

Nimura didn't have to be told twice: she swiftly took to the stairs and went on her way. The three others gave Nyton polite bows and trailed after her.

The left Hinoto, Ichigo and Mara. Mara turned to eye Hinoto and asked: "Can you come join us?"

A sharp contrast of snow and crimson, Hinoto nodded while keeping one hand over her mouth and strained to rise up against the wall before she limped to join them.

"Sir?" Ichigo anxiously spoke up. "Nimura isn't in trouble, is she? I mean, she wasn't bothering anyone before I came and asked Mara that perhaps sparring as a group might be better."

"Excellent question," Masako replied as she motioned them to follow her towards the Main Passageway once more. "Those are the only Escape Pods located on the top deck. There are four more escape pod compartments on board: one pair on board the Hoshi, our attached Kansanshi-class Auxiliary, and two more located on the sub-deck," she explained as she reached the Zero-G Passage.

"The sub-deck, is where all of our engineering assets are and I won't be showing that to you due to battle damage sustained in our previous mission," the space-black eyes of the Warrant Officer glanced at her charges as she explained.

"The Main Deck contains all the Storage Facilities, the Multifunction Bays you arrived in, the Armories, and connects to the Hoshi where the Power Armor Bays are located," the young Warrant Officer explained. "I would show them to you, but I think I've done enough to bore you. If you have any other questions, just ask Miharu's MEGAMI or me." she finished, silently allowing them of run off and do whatever they want now.

"I'm an extra tall; But I don't want the standard insert, I've asked Miharu to replicate a custom one for me. I'm not sure how far along it is, though." Kai answered, continuing on to the other leg, as this one had been taken apart to a satisfactory level. He seemed content to be slowly taking it apart, memorizing where everything went. Kai chuckled at the Neko's fidgeting, it was obviously she wanted to be doing the work herself, not content with the Yamataian's work.

"I'm trying to familiarize myself with the Daisy armor. I must be going agonizingly slow for you." The blonde noted, smiling at Yuzuki. "Don't worry, I'm not above asking for help if I need it. Some people aren't born knowing the inner workings of a powered armor, and have to learn the hard way." He chuckled, continuing on with his work, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

*****

"Oh," said the sprite, casting a distant look off to the side, "So that's what that was. Y'know, you're supposed to ask someone to order parts for you. You're not supposed to do it yourself. It could get us in trouble."

The scorn wasn't sincere or genuine. It was hard to tell, by her voice, if the sprite really cared or not.

She stood up and moved to the next power armor on the line. It bore,like many of the armors, the heavy scars of recent battle - but that did not mean she was gentle with it. Hardly even bracing herself, she hefted the armor off of the rack and threw it over her shoulder like a rag-doll. She lay it prone a little bit from where Kai was working on his, half-straddling it, and began deftly pulling it apart using another one of the magnetic tools she had given to Kai.

Although she did all of this in silence, it quickly became too awkward for her, and eventually she asked, "You didn't like being born?"

Nyton gave a look of concern to Hinoto as she limped over to them. "Feel free to sit down if you need to Hinoto, I'm being informal here," he said before facing Ichigo.

"Nimura is not in any sort of trouble, Ichigo. I'm not concerned about her inability to pull her punches. I wanted you to explain to me something that Mara said you told her. Something about Nimura getting bored?" he began to inquire.

It's not much but this could be a start to figuring out what makes Nimura tick better. Since Ichigo is the only one who talks to her regularly then I need to pick at her brain as well. From what Nimura was telling me the other day she also picks up a few cues from Ichigo so she must have some influence on her. Nyton thought to himself.

As Hinoto raised one hand to indicate she would manage, Ichigo replied: "Well, Sir, I'm not sure. It's the word I used to have Mara relate. All I know is that Nimura did fight against simulated opponents and that she found those simulations tame - as in not as genuine as real battle."

Mara frowned. "Our simulators aren't bad as far as 'challenge' can go. I'm not sure I understand."

Ichigo shrugged helplessly. "I think make-believe just isn't the same to her for some reason."

"Perhaps her analytical mind is just too grounded to accept simulations. It certainly sounds like something that would conflict with her." Nyton wondered aloud. "Incidentally, just how high did Nimura set the challenge level when she used the simulator?" he then asked Mara.

"Hold on," Mara briefly looked up as she thought, though she was probably accessing the ship's data. "Oh. She uses the same hand-to-hand combat simulations the Taisa does: three unarmed NH-27 opponents. The Taisa has safety settings like making sure the trio don't gang up on her and keep on beating at her if she's collapsed, giving her time to recover. The NH-27's are also set to strike to incapacitate rather than kill. Nimura's also added a variable to have the opponents know her from previous fights."

"Why does the Taisa go for something so difficult?" Hinoto asked, Nyton's cybernetics picking up on her non-encrypted telepathy.

"I think she doesn't expect to win, but uses it as a vaccine to be ready for the real thing," Mara answered, frowning in concentration before she spontaneously cursed: "What the fuck?"

Hinoto scowled at Mara's bad language. Ichigo on the other hand asked: "What? What's wrong?"

Mara blinked incredulously. "The Taisa's success rate is 0/24. Nimura's is 5/9."

"Yaaay! Cakes cakes cakes!" exclaimed Akiko happily as she carried her end of the box.

"What a wonderful idea to get everyone cakes." Shizuka added. "You are so thoughtful to do so-" The neko paused as she realized something. "Oh where are our manners? In the excitement of the moment we forgot to introduce ourselves, Heisho-san. I am Joto Hei Shimabumi Shizuka and this is my sister, Joto Hei Shimabumi Akiko,"

Click to expand...

"Ah." Miyoko took note of the ranks--she'd never seen them around before, but the ranks would suggest that they weren't sprites. Or former sprites. Whatever. Or perhaps they'd been around for a while and she just hadn't noticed. The ship was getting downright crowded these days. "Nito Heisho Saito Miyoko. Nice to meet you and all that." She stopped for a moment, scrutinizing the two before asking, "Are you two recently created, or...?"

Nyton's eyes went wide for a second before they focused hard on Mara and his eyebrows furrowed. "Goddamn, did Miharu use a NIWS template to make Nimura or something? What the hell IS she? I would look into her creation records, especially considering she was originally supposed to be a technician," he said quickly before turning over to face Ichigo again.

"Ichigo, did Nimura mention anything about the challenge level she normally trains under before she agreed to sparring? If fighting three NH-27's is not satisfying enough then maybe she should try fighting a simulated NIWS." Nyton suggested. He then let out a breath before narrowing his eyes and think posing for a bit. "Or maybe it really is that she would rather spar against live opponents. I hate doing the whole 'proxy' communication thing but maybe you could ask Nimura to clarify."

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"We're from the Sekkou, Sai-Heisho-saaaaaaan! We're waiting to see if we can get transferred over to the Miharu now." Akiko replied cheerfully and excited.

"Akiko-chan, don't be so familiar yet. We just met Saito-Heisho." Shizuka scolded sweetly.

"Gomen naSAAAAAI! I'm just excited about cakes! And maybe when we get to the kitchen I can make some sides and stuff to go with them!" Akiko said, still as cheerful as before.

"Well, no." Ichigo meekly replied. It was clear this was bothering her too. "I just knew she was pretty good but I never thought she'd possibly outclass veterans."

Mara seemed equally puzzled. "I'm fairly sure Nimura was not done any differently than Ichigo." The sprite set one hand to the side of her waist and she looked to the side, apparently mentally accessing ship's log entries. "Nope, no interference whatsoever."

"Maybe something happened after we were created?" Ichigo suggested.

"Well, yeah. But that'd be like saying that Nimura would be able to self-teach herself into becoming one of the Star Army's best infantry soldiers, without the benefit of the years of experience others have." Mara sounded like she wanted to sound skeptical, but it seemed too close to the truth. "If it matters, her four failures were before the mission, and her five successes after."

Hinoto, one hand still covering her mouth, eyed Nyton and sent: "Sir, what if experiencing challenge is not the variable Nimura is looking for? What if it's danger?"

Still in his thinking pose, Nyton continued to ponder the current speculations. "I don't know if it is danger she needs. During the mission she frequently displayed little regard for her own safety and deigned herself expendable. The inherent risk of danger is usually more of an emotional thrill to people, which I wouldn't believe is really her thing. Besides, if she wants to risk her life then couldn't she just turn off the safety functions in the simulation? Or does she not have the authority to do such?"

The thinking continued until something popped into Nyton's mind. He could not air it out though since it would mean revealing a sensitive subject. I wonder if the NH-23 Kotori had a hand in this? She could have easily covered up the logs to hide any sign of tampering. It is at least a possibility. he mused.

"Speaking of the mission, she certainly got a chance to really prove herself on Bowhordia. Her abilities are top notch. I find it strange though that all she had to do was participate in one live mission for her to improve so immensely. She went from four losses directly to five wins? That is impressive to say the least," Nyton said as he continued to try and analyze this situation further.

"Tell me, did she struggle to win each time or did she improve until it was no longer a challenge?"

Mara shook her head. "I can't be sure without replaying each of those battles for review. I do know the longest was four minutes and thirty-two seconds and the shortest three minutes fifty-two. I guess the data she collected in the mission just 'clicked', but still as far as I know it's unprecedented."

Hinoto added: "She shouldn't be able to unlock the safeties. It's something Miharu will do only if two other officers approve. That's a limitation that even applies to the Taisa."

Tom glanced at the long list of repairs remaining to be done to Miharu displayed in bold green text on the volumetric window beside him.

"Freeman-Juni," the ship said. "It may interest you to know that you are now in charge of some confectionaries courtesy of Suzuka-Shosha and Saito-Heisho."

"Is that so," Tom replied, walking to a console and summoning a report from the CFS array. "I'll have to take a look at them later. Make sure nobody goes stealing any bites, though. That means Mara especially."

"Speaking of Mara," Miharu said. "It seems she and some other sprites were engaged in a rather aggressive sparring session. Injuries are not particularly severe, but Hinoto may be out of commission for an hour or two."

A grunt escaped Tom's lips as he darted his attention back and forth between the console and the volumetric display.

"Why the hell would anyone want to do fighting after the mission we just went through," he said with a huff. "You'd think almost getting killed would taper the emotions a bit."

"Well..." Miharu replied hesitantly. "Ichigo and Nimura were the ones who thought up the idea. Ironically, or maybe not so, Nimura came out without injury."

Tom grimaced. "Great. If she has so much energy, maybe she can get her butt down here and burn some of it off. I need help down here, and having half the sprite crew tending injuries is, unfortunately going to delay our repairs."

"Shall I send a request for assistance?"

The Yamataian nodded.