RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Aftermath (3rd day)

[Fred]

GSS Mokuren, Yuumi-class Battleship
Three days after the "Battle of the Blue Rift"

Yukari was awake, sitting in her bed as she scrolled down the content of a data pad with repeated presses of her thumb.

It was the next morning, and the medical reports spoke highly of the Mokuren's medical staff's performance as well as the good three days of near-consecutive rest had done for even the most wounded of the Miharu's crew. Most, like her, were in a state where some more rest was recommended before they could be discharged and ready for duty. Those worse off this morning had only given signs of being stiff and sore with limited stamina but were now encouraged to move about as long as they kept their activities sedate. Boredom vied with exhaustion as the worst of afflictions.

Tom had come to her room ever since his medical examination had been completed. While she sifted through logistical reports covering the technical updates and general operations of the flotilla, Tom kept his hands busy peeling fruits and arranging them into snacks for the others.

The companionable silence of that almost domestic scene was broken by the entrance of Chujo Kasami Erika. The red-haired admiral - whom Tom found a volumetric screen had not done the pale turquoise-eyed beauty justice - only made it past the open threshold of the room before she offered a bow.

"Suzuka-sama, I have come to inform you that the Princess has awoken," the Chujo announced with a tone of reverence and respect Yukari and Tom were still trying to get used to.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari put the datapad down and took the honorific in stride, even if it did give her ears a rash. From her bed, she bowed her head to Erika.

"Kasami-Chujo," she said. "Thank you." With a small wince, Yukari got up from her bed, bringing her legs to the side and gently putting her feet on the cold deck. She stood — her leg hurt, but it held, and she did not have to limp. Eating and sleeping for a day, while hooked up to a pouch of Neko blood, did wonders.

She bowed properly to Erika, then turned to face Tom. "I will not be long," she said, an easy smile on her face.

 

[Kokuten]

The room was cold, the air hanging in the room chilled by life support's maintenance. It was dim within the room, which seemed to be the ship's way of telling one it was 'morning' time. Within the room, laid one pile of a discarded man's uniform, right next to it, a neatly folded stack of a woman's uniform. There were the usual amenities, everything to call it a room, and most of the loose change on the desks and beds had been tidied up within the last three days. Four bunkbeds lined the opposite walls, stacked in twos.

New bodies laid in those beds that morning, for the four that once called those comfy cots home died in the battle three days prior. Kichi, Leiko, Kuni, Maya. They all seemed like names Asher should've known better, but he did not. The Malifarian knew he had met Kuni once or twice, often calling her Kunai by mistake. Then there was Maya, who he called Mara once or twice by accident. The other two, he had only seen in passing. It was no matter, those four were somewhere better, Asher liked to believe. At the very least, they no longer had to deal with the intense aches of recovering bones.

That was the first thing Asher felt when he woke up that morning, those throbbing aches of his chest and arm from too many bad decisions. Not only that, he felt a warmth poured over his front, clinging to him like a bed-time bear. It was comforting, gentle, and relaxing, especially when played against the already cold air in the room. When Asher's eyes opened, he didn't see the source of the comforting warmth. He mostly just saw his fluffy pillow obscuring half of his vision, while the other half stared at the bunk-beds on the opposite side of the room. He stirred a bit, a small groan escaping his tired lips as he looked down in search of this hearth. There it was, he thought, what kept him snug and warm through the night. Not a blanket, not a quilt, nor another pillow insulated his own body heat.

Kyou was sleeping still, her nose nuzzled against his bare, muscular chest. His arm rested under a part of a pillow that her head slumbered upon, while the other kept her close and the both of them together. Asher remembered that the night before had ended there at E3, with clothes coming off, but in no passionate fashion. No no, the night before was spent touring the Mokuren, throwing idle conversation at one another, enjoying the company shared. When they returned to the Hoshi their bodies had been aching to where the nearly passed out onto the bunks before laying on them.

Though, the most surprising part was how they both were still wearing clothes. Asher was enjoying the skin to skin policy they had going on. Nonetheless, he could feel he was wearing a pair of long pants he had somehow acquired, they felt comfortable. The Malifarian could not look down to see what Kyou had on, trying too landed his nose in her hair, allowing him to breath deep the scents of her scalp. It smelled like shampoo, and vaguely sex. Asher's nose was keen on the latter.

It was peaceful, quiet, and gentle. Something that the Malifarian never knew he could enjoy so much. It felt pristine to just lay there, just for a little while.

Whorlll...

Or until Kyou woke up. Then it was time for breakfast. The hungry Malifarian leaned his head back against his pillow, looking idly around the room, waiting patiently for the opportunity to have meal time.

 

[Doshii Jun]

"Mouuuuu," Miharu Haya said.

"Yup," Miharu Tori replied.

Tori fought the urge to slouch, but Haya gave in as the sprites gazed at the six armors lined up on the racks of Hoshi's port power armor bay. Each had its own magnificent array of damaged components, being four of the six remaining armors from the Melisson infiltration team.

Haya didn't want to even touch them. Each was unwashed, so they were covered in multiple types of blood and fluid. Some armor plates haphazardly started healing themselves, reducing massive splintering or dents to spindly cracks or minor indentations. Holes couldn't close, though, and missing plates revealed healed-over hemosynthetic flesh inserts. Scars along the plates sometimes "scabbed" over the black marks, but most often remained, the energy needed to fix the Yama-Dura going elsewhere.

A pair of makeshift parts crates rested behind Tori, a laconic, somewhat surly soul with ear-length plain brown hair tipped with blond, and Haya, an energetic person like Suzume. She kept her shiny blue hair in a ponytail that touched just below the base of her neck.

Tori peered at one of the armors — Asher's Dragoon, "Shikamaru" — and then averted her hazel eyes upward, away from the torn-off chestplate. She huffed, then rubbed one of her hands on one of the AMES-derived blue patches of her red Type 31 engineering jumpsuit.

"This sucks," she said in Nepleslian.

"We need Yuzuki-chan," Haya pleaded in Yamataian, not wanting to step closer to the racks. "She works better with the armors anyway, and fixed up Nakamura-Heisho's already, and I know she wasn't really injured! I bet she would fix these up so fast, too ... "

"She's busy," Tori said, checking one of her thigh pouches to make sure she had the right tools.

"Why should we have to fix them at all?" Haya whined, taking a step back. The armors' insides did not stink; the hemosynth inserts could eat odor-producing bacteria. The outsides, with the dried-on blood and hemosynth, were rank, made worse by the small size of the power armor bay.

"Need something to do," Tori said, approaching the first one, Kyou's somewhat damaged M6-1A Daisy.

"What for? Why can't we rest? We've worked 46 of the past 54 hours! We aren't at our best." Haya hugged herself. "I would rather be with one of the Mokuren sentries ... you know the one that came down to check us out, neh? What's her name?"

"Kana," Tori said, moving to the next armor, Tom's M6-1C Daisy SAS. She squatted to look more closely at its legs and torso.

"Kanaaaaa-chan." Haya's blood-red lips blossomed into a toothy white smile. Her red eyes chased the NH-17's image along the ceiling. "You know she made a move on the Chief? And he said no! I wouldn't have said no. More like yes! Haiiii, Kana-chan, mottou, mottou onegaiiiiiii!"

"Yeah," Tori said, tapping the M6-1C's leg's plate with a spanner. It didn't crack, so they still could use it. She hoped she would not have to fashion a new breastplate for Shikaku. Hoshi re-updated her on the level of available liquid Xiulurium, which was enough to coat one armor. She already had decided it would be Tom's; Yukari's had too many repairs to make.

"I don't think she would say no. Do you? I think she would like it. We are NH-29, I could outlast her!" Haya could smell the Neko's skin at that moment, the touch of lovely jasmine perfume making her quiver. How she wanted to bury her nose between the medic's bosom. Her skin flushed as she considered where else Kana could put that perfume.

"Maybe," Tori said. She moved on to Yukari's armor. The left elbow joint was a complete mess, the gauntlets were ruined, the chest armor mostly was slagged by plasma, and the left thigh armor was just about gone. What the hell was she supposed to do about it? The Shosa's instructions were "keep the helmet and shield." Tori didn't understand why, but she already had put those pieces aside. The helmet needed minor repairs, and the shield was beat to hell but perfectly functional. Too much of the armor, however, was worthless. Tori marked it for parts.

"Mouuuu, Tori-kun. Why don't you get a little more excited about it, neh? After all that happened, aren't you feeling better? Alive? Happy? We made it! We won! We must enjoy the spoils of war now." Haya stretched for a few seconds, arms behind her back as she went on her tiptoes.

"Because there's work to do," Tori replied, moving on to the fifth "armor," which she just stared at, frustrated.

Haya stomped her foot. "Tori-kun! You know what Junko-kun would say about this?"

Tori didn't say anything. Nyton's Arethusa was a puddle in a container. A grey, vaguely metallic puddle that resembled deckpaint. She shook her head and went to one of the parts crates, looking to fix Tom's 1C first. The crate was deep, forcing her to bend herself over the lip to go rummaging; everything inside was tossed about.

"Tori-kun!" Haya said emphatically. "Don't clam up! Mara-san told you — "

Tori clanged the spanner off of a spare part of armor, silencing Haya. The "younger" engineer heard Tori heavily sigh before the rummaging continued. Tori's deep voice almost blended in with it.

"Junko-san's dead, Haya. So's Mara-san. They're dead, Haya. Stop bringing them up and help me fix these damn armors."

" — No. You can wallow in parts and blood all you want, but I'm going to go find some happy people." Haya's voice got higher as she turned and started walking. "And I'm going to tell them all about Junko and Mara and Ozuno and Sanri and Etsu and even Kaida! I'll talk about all of them while you wallow and act like a bitch! SO THERE!"

Tori waited for the stamping feet to fade before she lifted her head from the crate to make sure Haya was gone. She came up and away from the crate with a new chestplate for Tom's armor and her spanner. She sighed again, staring at the space where Haya had been, then turning back to the armor.

She understood where Haya was coming from, but Tori wasn't going to fix herself fucking every Neko in sight. ... Looking at the armors, she knew that she wasn't going to fix herself by repairing every object in sight, either. At least she was good at repairing, so she blew some wayward bangs away from her face and set about removing the 1C's damaged chestplate.

 

[Tom]

Tom returned the Chujo's bow.

"Thank you very much, Chujo."

With a contented sigh, he looked at his handiwork: several small bowls of fruit arranged neatly on a table at the far end of the wall. One for every member of Miharu. The peels of fruit near the chair he was sitting on were enough to fill two medium-sized rubbish bins, and a mix of citric smells seeped deep into his hands.

Without a Miharu to care for, Tom found himself reduced to the role of caretaker again. Sure, there was still Hoshi, but it was unlikely that his new ship would serve much of a role anymore in the scheme of things. The feisty little ship was likely to be retired in some way or scrapped, alongside with what Mara had admitted would be Miharu's fate. He would make it sure it was the former, for Hinoto's sake.

Chief caretaker and 'engineer' of a future museum. The thought made his stomach sour. More than lives had been given up by those brave technicians. Livelihoods were in jeopardy, and, for some of the newer sprites, that probably meant their senses of meaning and purpose.

And saving the galaxy... In this universe, the weight of a few souls against the survival of countless others is an obvious decision. But it doesn't lessen the pain, does it?

"I will not be long," she said, an easy smile on her face.

He nodded to Yukari with an easy smile that hid his thoughts from her.

"Oh," he reached over and handed two bowls of fruit to her. "For her appetite. Please share a snack together."

Then he stood up to make his way to the door.

"I must check on some people, too. Chujo, if possible, could you have someone deliver these fruit bowls to the crew?"

 

[Doshii Jun]

"Suzuka-sama, my aide will guide you to the Princess' quarters," Kasami Erika gestured to a short-haired nekovalkyrja in grey-panels whom bowed on cue. Yukari waved back to Tom and then was on her way out.

The Chujo turned back to Tom and then addressed his demand: "Of course, Freeman-sama. I can have a nurse summoned to distribute the treats."

ON:

It was, in a way, more nerve-wracking to visit Kotori after so many days than it was to see Melisson. At least Melisson was contained.

Yukari wasn't afraid as much as she was ... awed. She was going to be talking to a Neko who had done things no other member of the race ever had accomplished. Through powers she might or might not fully understand. Yukari had the duty of informing Kotori about what happened, and try to show concern and caring to the Taisa when she was surrounded by utterly loyal servants who could not, likely, engage her emotionally.

Perhaps she should have asked Nyton to accompany her after all.

The aide Kasami had assigned to guiding her stopped at a door that was open, and Yukari dipped her head and stepped into a room that was far removed from the others.

Kotori's room turned out being everybit as spartan as Yukari's. The only big difference was the locale, which placed the Ketsurui princess closer to intensive care facilities. The nekovalkyrja in question was lying in bed, her hair neatly arranged over the pillow her head was resting on, with covers tucked up to below her armpits.

When Yukari made her entry, Kotori turned small, tired eyes her way and greeted her with a weak: "Ohayô."

"Ohayô," Yukari replied, bowing a little. She smiled when she came up, and she put the two bowls of fruit from Tom on the desk next to Kotori's bed. "You are well?" she asked in Yamataian.

Kotori gave a meek wince. "I feel terrible. Did anyone get the chance to look up the plaque number of the truck that ran me over?"

"We destroyed it instead," Yukari replied with a wink, going over to a chair in the corner of the room and quietly dragging it over to Kotori's bedside.

Kotori returned a little sigh, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, they were amber slits that gave Yukari a sidelong look. More serious, she said: "Yukari... thank you for saving my life."

Yukari tilted her head to the side and blinked. "I believe that is what I should say to you, Kotori. Melisson was going to destroy my mind, but for you."

Kotori closed her eyes, and smiled. "When we were put in a corner, I entrusted everything to you. I asked you to lead our people in and get Melisson before I would give out. The Black Knights and you, you all came through for me."

"So, thank you. Thank you for saving my life."

The NH-29H's eyes stuck to Kotori's face. She replied, softly but serious, "We all did it. All of your crew, we did not lose faith in you. If not for all of us, including you, each of us would have fallen." She smiled. "You are welcome, though."

Kotori's eyes opened again. She shifted her head to the right to look at Yukari more directly. "That modesty is so like you," she smiled slightly. "I know. But I was thanking you. You took a lot of blame for the demise of... my mother's firstborn. Thanks to you, at least her death wasn't in vain. You made it count for something, and saved me. It would have mattered to her; it matters to me. I need you to know I - we - are grateful."

" ... " Yukari looked down. "It is nothing," she started, then took a deep breath. "I did not want to let her die for nothing. I owed it to her. And you. And to everyone. ... " She looked up. "You gave life to Saito-san after she died. You gained control of several of Mefpralphra's minds. You saved our souls from eternal torture, Koto-san! What I did, it is not the same. You have done things ... things no one understands. Do you?"

"I just tried... to do whatever I could," Kotori softly answered. "I was damming a tidal wave with my own body, somehow succeeded, and managed to find the strength somewhere to try and help too. I just... kept trying, Yukari."

"Your will always has been powerful," Yukari said. "Now we have proof of it. And you will need it, for what is to come." It was hard to put into words, and she lowered her eyes again.

"Just start small," Kotori adviced, before prompting: "Where are we?"

"The GSS Mokuren," Yukari said. "Commanded by Kasami Erika-Chujo. She is the highest ranked officer who remains in the fleet of 3,174 YE 24-era vessels. We have left the Blue Rift and are refitting in the Claw Nebula."

"You defeated the Infection Queen?"

"Yes," Yukari said. "Melisson is a prisoner, and the Infection Queen, Mefpralphra, is dead."

"Prisoner?" Kotori blinked in confusion. Not ready to tackle that matter yet, she instead asked: "How did we escape?" Yukari was getting the impression that Kotori wasn't remembering much beyond predicting that flurry of attack Mefpralphra aimed at Yukari that she had miraculously avoided near-unscathed.

"After Mefpralphra was killed, Melisson informed us the bubble around her ship was collapsing, sending ships into the void. We fled to another part of the ship, as best we could, but were confronted and delayed. Hinoto, with Hoshi, cleared a path for our escape. ... But Mara-san gave her life to ensure we survived. She stayed behind and fought her way, alone, to force the ship to self-destruct."

Grief flashed inside Kotori's amber eyes and be closed them, containing it, her sorrow, and her tears. Willing herself to be stoic, she took a bracing breath and asked: "Our crew... how does it fare? How many did not make it back alive?"

"Seventeen are dead," Yukari said. She named them, her voice catching on Kaida and Sanri and Junko. "Seventeen are wounded." She named them, as well.

"I see," Kotori awkwardly replied, her previous successes as Miharu's captain leaving her unprepared for this much. After a pause she admitted: "I- I figured as a strategist I should be glad we managed so much, with so few, and lost even fewer. But I can't."

Yukari made sure she held Kotori's gaze, as much as Kotori would give it to her. "We lost family members. Souls we cared for who will never return. The crew each is taking it differently, I think. It has not touched all of us, yet. They died for us ... that is where my focus lies."

Kotori broke eye contact with Yukari to instead look up at the ceiling. She agreed with Yukari - she couldn't rationalize it, and nothing they had accomplished truly felt it had been worth the hollow ache of loss she felt in her chest.

"Tom is fine?" Kotori asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes," she said, her gaze sweeping down toward Kotori's feet. "He was lightly injured. Nyton, as well."

"What about the survivors of the Second Draconian Fleet?" Kotori asked. "How have they been coping?"

"They are adapting to the jump in time and technology. They mostly are NH-17. Little fazes them." She paused. "They take strength from you, I think."

"Me?" Kotori asked, turning an incredulous look toward Yukari - whom had just tackled on the unpleasant prospect of outlining what was perhaps the most controversial part of having rescued survivors from the Second Draconian Fleet.

" ... " Yukari felt very small as she formed the words in her mind. "Mefpralphra, the Umbral, had control of the minds of many in the fleet. Somehow ... that control has become yours. This fleet and its personnel are yours to command."

"They are my servants instead of hers," Kotori added to Yukari's phrase, her eyes widening a bit. Yukari, though, was struck with the impression that her revelation had not been entirely unexpected to her Taisa. As if... Kotori had suspected, but hoped otherwise.

"Yes," Yukari said. "Their loyalty is yours and yours alone. Somehow, it extends to others on the crew, but not all of us, and not at the same level."

The look Kotori sent Yukari was a mix of worry and tentative relief. "So, none of our crew was affected by this?"

Could Yukari even really tell?

"I ... I cannot say for certain." The thought made Yukari even more uneasy. "I believe the crew remains of their own free will only because we were not under total control of Mefpralphra."

Kotori let out a long, exasperated breath. Her mother had made a big deal of her original being modified to be a bootleg NH-23 Nodal Empress Nekovalkyrja; Yukari had entertained her own boogeyman fancies the command the sealed original could have had exerted.

But, with things as they stood... what her Signaler body had accomplished was even worse. Putting it as very ironic seemed a bit of an understatement.

I do not think Kotori would approve of my tattoo proposal, so maybe I am safe. It was hard for Yukari to not be a little selfish.

Kotori's expression vied between being grim, tired, bitter and relieved. Finally, she asked: "What would you have of me?"

"Eh?" Yukari asked. "I do not understand."

"You chose, between Yui and I," Kotori reminded Yukari. "Now that we are at this point, I want to know what you expect of me."

"Expect ... of you? How?" Yukari thought she was following, but she did not want to face it. Not if it was what she thought.

Kotori turned a glare on the ceiling. Her hands fisted into her bedcovers. "Give me something to go on in this madness."

It was what she thought, and now Yukari was faced with it. She hugged herself, bending over in her chair and bringing her eyes back to Kotori's feet. She did not say anything for several moments.

She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, through her nose. Then she brought herself up in her seat and looked at Kotori. Her eyes glowed a faint green in the flat light of the room.

"They should be freed, somehow," she said. "They are not yours to command. They deserve freedom, after so much time was taken from them."

"Of course," Kotori almost chuckled in bitter amusement. Leave it to Yukari to give her the principled thing to do, the thing Kotori would have naturally turned to if she at all had access to it. Given how all she had accomplished was to replace whom the freed survivors would swear allegiance to from Melisson to the lesser evil - herself - there was no waving a magic wand and setting things aright.

Kotori's bag of tricks was empty.

Oh well, I'm the one that asked for your opinion, Kotori thought, finally smirking to herself before she said aloud: "We both know it is not so simple. In all fairness it should be, but that is not so. I'll have to think about it."

"I know," Yukari said quietly. " ... Melisson, I saved as a possible bargaining chip. I believe it might help us with Yui-sama, and SAINT." Melisson could vanish any time, but Yukari counted on the demon's ethics to bind her for long enough to satisfy the intelligence agency. "It is possible, as well, that the fleet's loyalty to you could be used in the same fashion. They could be freed after their fate is negotiated, which would give you time to discover a method for freeing them."

Kotori lolled her head from side to side, her way of shaking her head while resting it atop the pillow. That was just too many words and too many big problems to consider all at once. "I- No. Yukari, look... I can't handle this right now," she told her Executive Officer, her eyelids feeling heavy. "We should have, in the coming few days, enough time to consider it... okay?"

Yukari hesitated, then nodded. "It is a lot to consider at one time."

Kotori rewarded that with a faint smile and got her arms under the bedcovers before tucking them up to her chin. "We'll talk later, alright?"

"Mm," Yukari said, standing up and holding her hands before her lap. She bowed slowly. " ... It is good to see you well, Koto-san."

Yukari waited a moment for an answer and got none. It seemed like Kotori had already drifted off into slumber.

She smiled. Kotori looked peaceful, which was not an expression or state of being the Signaler Neko had experienced for a long time. Quietly, she got out from around the chair, leaving the bowls of fruit, then left to return to her room.

 

[Nyton]

Just rest boy. Don't push yourself.

But grandfather I can't-! I ....I can't just give up!

You ain't giving up by resting. There's a difference between staying down to recover and staying down because you quit. Right now you need to stay down so you can get back on your feet and fight harder than before.

Nyton took a long deep breath and forced himself to relax.

The long ago conversation played in Nyton's head several times during the past three days. It was just as well he rested. He was still getting used to the energy reserves of his new body. Without realizing the intricacies of the Yamataian body he rushed back into combat. At first he felt more invigorated. He had shrugged off the injuries incurred during his battle with Nimura so easily but he had not figured just how much of a toll doing so would take on his stamina. The successive injuries only drained him further until he was so depleted he barely pulled through the final battle.

Another deep breath.

Food and rest had restored him but he had trouble remaining active for long periods of time. The walk to Nimura's room and then back had left him so exhausted he fell asleep shortly after Miyoko departed his room. The next thing he knew there was a nurse bringing him food. No sooner had he eaten then he was no longer as tired.

Right now he was no longer tired. In fact he felt the need to move. It was as though yesterday's movement forced him to take his body out for another test drive. This time though he would conserve energy by not trying to completely suppress any pain. So he stood up and decided to find someone to talk to.

"Mokuren, where is Tom Freeman located?" he asked while limping towards the door.

"Tom Freeman is currently located in Suzuka Shosa's room." the KAMI informed him and showed a map.

"Thank you." he replied and headed in that direction. Of course that is where he would be. Given the limited energy of his body though he wanted to make sure instead of wander off in the wrong direction.

By the time Nyton arrived at Yukari's room she had already gone to see Kotori and Tom was getting ready to depart. Erika was standing there with Tom at the entryway. "Good morning Freeman." he called out, interrupting Tom and Erika.

 

[Gallant]

It wasn’t long before Yuzuki found herself back in the armor bay. Really, it had only been a matter of time, and a process of elimination. The powered armor were the most damaged part of the Hoshi, having been shot to pieces along with their personnel. Thinking about it like that was grim, but Yuzuki had for some reason been susceptible to grim thoughts for most of her life. Why would today be any different? The only peace she found was with her work, and that – above almost all other things – seemed consistent enough, and simple enough, to calm her down. Kai had done nothing for her nerves; if anything, he had made her even more confused, and had raised more questions than he had answered. Though, they were questions that very likely, Yuzuki would never find the courage to ask.

Rather than even try, in the morning she had carefully crawled out of bed and thrown on one of the new engineering jumpsuits, and then she had left the borrowed room without waking its other occupant, carrying with her the vague sense of dread that when Miyoko had offered the room, she might not have intended it to be used quite that way.

It had been a near perfect plan for a silent morning to herself, but before she could make it halfway through the bay door it was already over; she nearly slammed headlong into a retreating Haya. Yuzuki slid out of the way, and watched the other sprite go, wondering briefly whether or not to go after her. In the end, she shrugged it off; Haya didn't really need much reason to get excited like that and Yuzuki wasn't in a listening mood. Ducking into the armor bay, Yuzuki continued on.

The fact that there was another sprite in the room did not bother her much, although it was by now well known that along with all the rest of her quirks, Yuzuki worked better alone. Much as Tori had, Yuzuki surveyed the armors again, slinging the tools off of her shoulder. She could have cut down the amount of hardware she carried by using a spanner or an adjustable wrench, but looking for specialty tools wasn’t something she had ever enjoyed and it seemed more economical to just carry exact measurements. It made a heavy, muffled clunk when she tossed it at the foot of one of the armors just one or two down from Tori.

Hands-on-hips, she surveyed it, then looked to Tori.

“Hey,” Yuzuki offered in easy Yamataian, “You and Haya-chan argue too much.”

 

[Tom]

Tom turned his head to Nyton and smiled.

"Good Morning Mr. Claymere," Tom said with a nod and a smile. "Did you sleep like a brick, same as me? What's up?"

 

[Fred]

Kasami Erika turned her turquoise eyes toward Nyton.

Nyton had just interrupted, cutting into a conversation Tom had engaged with her without waiting his turn. She was an admiral. Nyton was a mere Lieutenant. This was a Star Army vessel she was in command of.

Nyton should have landed himself in trouble with a breach of protocol slighting such a higher-up.

Instead, the Chujo gave Nyton a polite bow. "Konichiwa, Claymere-sama," she returned, and then did no more than rise from her bow, keeping silent while the two men did their catching up.

 

[Doshii Jun]

“Hey,” Yuzuki offered in easy Yamataian, “You and Haya-chan argue too much.”

Tori was just about done prying off the chestplate of Tom's armor when Yuzuki opened her mouth. Perfect. Instead of responding, the Neko took the few extra seconds to finish her task, wrenching the chestplate just enough to get the damaged section off of the armor's skeleton. The rest of the attachments to the skeleton got the message and began clicking off the locking mechanisms and disabling the Yama-Dura "welding."

As the plate was working on itself, Tori's head slowly creaked until she was looking at Yuzuki. Up at Yuzuki, really; the Neko was very tall, after all.

"Yeah," she said.

 

[Gallant]

Yuzuki's smile was dim, but it was there.

So they weren't going to talk - that was a sort of relief, in and of itself. Yuzuki considered Tori for a few moments longer before redirecting her attention to the work at hand. She took in the state of the armors, and then the crates of replacement peices, and did some quick mental math, just to be sure that it didn't add up perfectly. Yuzuki had counted out a night or so before, when she had used the peices to reassemble the oblitherated plating, and had noted it down somewhere, but now in the daylight she realized that she had meant to convey this discrepancy to the Mokuren before Kai had come looking for her. And she might even have made it off the Hoshi for the first time, and put a foot on the deckplates of another ship. Or perhaps she would have made her excuses and ate her food and just gone to bed.

Idly Yuzuki fingered a certain reddened spot on her neck just barely covered by the turtleneck of the 31, wondering when and if it was going to fade. Then, somewhat annoyed with herself for being so absentminded about it, she refocused her attention on the armor in front of her. Yukari's armor. What had daunted Tori - the sheer amount of complex damage it had sustained - did not daunt the sprite-Heisho. Just from looking at it, Yuzuki could tell that the endoskeletal frame around the wrists and forearms had been fused to the Yama-Dura by whatever filthy chemical that had turned the gauntlets to flinders, and the scabbing and the hemosynthetics had covered it over more or less by default. That was what the armor was supposed to do. All it meant was that Yuzuki was going to have to abuse the insert.

Pulling the bag a little closer with her foot, she reached down and pulled out a VB cutting tool, passing her finger over a little sensor switch on the side to activate it. It hummed on a frequency that was just barely audible, even to an NH-29's acute hearing.

Like a surgeon, but with somewhat less precision, Yuzuki began to shear away the parts of the hemosynthetics that had scabbed and fused with the destroyed gauntlets. The armor's blood covered her gloves. As soon as it began to squirt it seemed to scab over again, but not before a bit of the spray had caught her. It was an eery reminder of watching Rin being sawn in half. Yes, it had been just like that.

A small part of Yuzuki wanted to recoil like a novice, but she had done this enough times with similar hemosynthetic systems that it had become commonplace. Soon, she discarded one gauntlet, and then the other gauntlet, and was able to rag off the fluid from her hands and the knife, once she'd turned it off.

In the interrum, she found herself watching Tori at work, and Yuzuki began to wonder just how commonplace scenes like those she had witnessed were going to be. Would she eventually become insensitive to the injuries and the deaths of her own sisters?

The weight of her contemplation showed in her eyes, but Yuzuki wasn't going to open her mouth and ruin the silence. To some sprites, and perhaps Yuzuki included, the Hoshi had become a sort of temple and this was how they prayed.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Tori was examining the spare gunmetal-grey breastplate with a keen eye, making sure it was free of imperfections. The grey color wasn't the right one; finishing it in Star Army blue-grey was her job, but she would tackle that at the end. When she thought it looked good, she set it down next to her and went back to the crate to look for the baggie of spare locking lugs and mechanisms for the attaching the plate.

So Yuzuki had a hickey, Tori thought. Good for her. Yuzuki never loosened up. If you weren't going to fuck after your friends died, then you never would at all. That was Tori's reasoning.

Tori hadn't had any sex since she was born. Sex was effort, packed with misconstrued intentions and an unhealthy level of emotional chaos. She wasn't about to go there, but some people needed that.

There were things to fix. Fixing was simple. Straightforward. X is broken. Do Y to fix it. Easiest math there was.

She plucked out the baggie she needed from the crate, then brought it back to her workspace, about half a meter from Yuzuki. The spray of hemosynth blood got on her, too; just little droplets that disappeared into the red of her jumpsuit, except where they hit a blue patch here and there. Tori didn't understand why Yuzuki was bothering with the Shosa's armor when it could not have stealth material reapplied to it, but Yuzuki was the boss, so she didn't question it.

Tori started to replace the locking lugs on the skeleton of Tom's armor. She wanted the breastplate attached first; the arm work would come after that. Piece by piece, Tori would have the armor in working order in not too much time. Maybe even inside of six hours.

Then Cho sniffled behind them and Tori felt everything go to hell again.

Cho's face was a mess. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks stained with dried tears, her lips quivered, and she was hugging herself.

"Mmmmara-s-san ... " she said, looking at Yuzuki. "Mara-san is dead ... "

As Cho looked close to collapsing into a very sad mess, Tori looked away. She didn't want to ignore her, but she wanted to not intrude on what she figured would be a "moment."

 

[Kai]

Kai woke up, once more in an unfamiliar bed. This time, however, he knew exactly what had led to his occupancy of the bed, although it took a few seconds of haziness before his digitalized brain could recall the information. After his conversation with Yuzuki, he and the sprite had exchanged some feelings non-verbally, but before anything could get very far, the exhausted sprite had practically collapsed, and had directed him toward this much nearer room. They had spoken a bit more, but eventually they had both fallen asleep.

Kai, for his part, was satisfied that it hadn't gone any farther than that, with the way Yuzuki had been acting, her obvious confusion, it wasn't any time to be complicating things more.

As Kai surveyed the room, noting Yuzuki's absence, he also noted he was still wearing the same clothing as he had been. It was time to change. The Yamataian got up, silently thanking whomever the owner of this room was for allowing it's use, and then exited, making his way to the room he had been given. Once there, he found that, aside from the damaged clothing he was currently wearing, all that was available was older versions of the Star Army uniform.

With no other choice, Kai donned these older uniforms, feeling a little bit silly, but better to have clean clothes. There were a few things to take care of, he thought. He needed to eat, needed to see about getting more proper clothes, and to look over his armor more thoroughly. While he didn't doubt Yuzuki's work at all, the Yamataian wanted to inspect the Daisy that had been both protection and a coffin.

 

[Nyton]

Nyton almost did a double take. During his approach he had not realized just who had been standing there next to Tom. When he did though the full weight of his breach in protocol hit him before he was then thrown off yet again.

"Good Morning Mr. Claymere," Tom said with a nod and a smile. "Did you sleep like a brick, same as me? What's up?"

The Chujo gave Nyton a polite bow. "Konichiwa, Claymere-sama," she returned, and then did no more than rise from her bow, keeping silent while the two men did their catching up.

This must be the effects of the mental imprint. Nyton thought to himself. He had heard how Erika had been directly reporting to Yukari as though the Shosa had been superior to the Chujo. To him though it did not matter and while he was relieved it was also unsettling that he had landed himself in this position. His sense of duty did not allow him to simply shrug this off regardless of the situation.

"Ohayou gozaimasu Kasami-Chujo." Nyton quickly replied and returned the bow more deeply than hers. "I did not mean to interrupt your conversation. My apologies for my rudeness Chujo. I can make no excuse for such an oversight and regret causing any impression that the crew of her Highness's ship would lack any proper discipline or etiquette."

 

[Gallant]

The sound of sorrow pulled Yuzuki away from what she had been doing, pulling, unbolting, and sometimes cutting away the damaged plating from the titanium alloy skeleton of Yukari's armor. She had started the project because she knew a new endoskeleton would be required, or at least relatively large grafts, and time was what Yuzuki needed. It must be - she kept claiming so much of it to herself, it was beginning to feel like silence was going to be a new way of life.

Talking was the last thing she wanted to do, but she found herself turning around and wiping her hands off anyway as she examined Cho. Usually, Cho was the quiet one, the one that mediated whenever arguments cropped up. Yuzuki had never seen her cry. Yuzuki didn't say 'It's alright,' because it wasn't, and saying so would have been a lie. She didn't say 'she died for everybody', because that went unsaid. It had been days since the battle, and for most people, the wounds were still fresh. She had seen the ship's Avatar - everybody's older sibling - fight to the death against overwhelming odds, and there was nothing to say for it, and nothing to be done about it. The damage was dealt.

Instead, she put the tools down and adopted the diplomatic, soothing expression she had seen Tom Freeman use so many times before when Yuzuki's own feathers had been ruffled. He had simply let her cry for a little while, and then when she'd wound down, he'd still been there. It seemed easy, but even so, Yuzuki felt woefully ill equipped for this.

"Cho," she said, quietly, "Come on now, don't cry like that. Everybody misses Mara-san, and it's worse when you cry."

 

[Doshii Jun]

"B-but Ma-Ma-Mara-san!" Cho sobbed, leaning against the bulkhead as she hugged herself. "S-she's dead! DEAD! Wh-we can't revive her! Her soul's gone, Yuzuki-san!"

Tori wanted to huddle in a corner with headphones playing loud music. She had never done that before, but she had seen it once in one of Hinoto's yaoi manga, and the story suggested it was an effective way to avoid people. Tori believed it.

"H-how am I supposed to accept that?!" Cho continued, shouting at Yuzuki now. "We're not supposed to die! Not forever!"

 

[Fred]

"No offense was taken," Kasami assured Nyton as a nekovalkyrja nurse came by with a wheeled tray. The Admiral gestured the nurse toward Yukari's room and the nurse obligingly nodded and wheeled the cart inside.

"Will the both of you require anything further?" She then asked Nyton and Tom.

 

[Aendri]

Kyou lazily drifted awake, eyes slowly opening as she started to wake up. Still a bit sore in various places, but somehow remarkably comfortable where she was now, she just nuzzled Asher's chest for a few moments, and then tucked her head tightly up against him for a moment. Quite happy with where she was, and not hearing or remembering anything that said she should be getting out of bed (though she still wasn't sure what that noise that had woken her up was), she let herself start to lazily drift back to sleep, warm enough that it was no chore.

 

[Kyoki]

Rin sat on her bed and she felt rather antsy. Her new innards had to have settled by now, right? While she was fed through the IV fluids, she was getting tired of this constant empty feeling. A physical emptiness of course, not an emotional void. But then, she wasn't in the best condition for that either.

Over the previous couple days, having had a rather large portion of time to herself and not much else to do, the sprite had dealt and mourned the loss of her sisters. Of course she still felt the pain, but with no work in the medical bay to distract her, she had no choice but to deal with it head on. Still, that inspirational talk with Hinoto had eased the blow of it all.

With a sigh, Rin got up from her bed and headed out, assuring the nurses that she'd take it easy. That had been far too long for a sprite to be confined to a bed when they were conditioned to working long hours. She mentally flipped a coin, resulting in the decision on getting a tiny bit of food before checking up on Hoshii.