RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Aftermath (5th day)

"I was thinking that our own people could use Hoshi to sneak past enemy lines, identify the supply depot downplanet," Kotori answered. When it becomes obvious that the enemy will lose, I want to have our people there and ready to interfere with any attempt to purge the complex and prevent the use of its assets for our side."

Kotori lifted one of her hands to briefly rub her fingers behind an ear. "It's not a glamorous assignment and it's also very risky... but it may be one that makes our victory worth it. I trust Hoshi's energized stealth armor will have her able to perform that role better than any other ships in this fleet."

She lowered her hand. "This is subject to change. I need to think more about it, but so far that's my plan."

"Unglamorous risky missions appear to be our mainstay." Nylon said half joking. "Very well then. I will relay the possibility of our infiltration mission and determine our readiness. Is there anything else that I may be of service?"

Kotori half-closed her eyes, leaning her head sightly to one side as she pondered his question and finally closed her eyes the rest of the way before answering: "No, nothing else."

"Roger that your highness. If you require anything in the future I am at your service." Nyton replied before he bowed deeply. When he stood up he turned around and departed. He headed in the direction of Hoshi and messaged Yukari while he walked.

"The Taisa wanted me to alert our crew about a possible infiltration mission. Nothing specific yet. I should complete this task before your preparations are complete so let me know if I can assist you further."

Yukari was walking toward the Mokuren's bridge when Nyton messaged her.

"Acknowledged," she replied. "I will mention that to the Chujo. Thank you, Claymere-san."

The red doors to the bridge swept open before Yukari just as she finished replying. Beyond the portal, and its two bowing guards, was the upper deck of the Yuumi-class battleship's bridge, which was a long affair wide enough for three captain-style chairs, but not much else. Below was the main bridge, where many more stations and Neko were working.

Yukari walked down the cushy red strip of carpet to the three chairs, the central one occupied by the vessel's commander.

"Kasami-Chujo," Yukari said, bowing deeply in respect to the commander. Having seen what Kotori made the Chujo do, it made Yukari cringe in her head to bow, but intuition won out.

The Chujo turned her chair around to face Yukari. She smiled. "Shosa," she said, pushing some of her red hair behind her ear. "I did not expect you here. What can I do for you? Please, sit." She offered the seat at her right.

"Thank you Chujo," Yukari stiffly replied, rising from her bow and taking the very plush, forgiving seat next to Kasami-Chujo. She leaned back into it and instantly thought better of it, instead getting more on the edge of the seat. A chair like that was far too comfortable for her to be serious in; she imagined the officers of the vessel leaning back in the chairs and sipping sake while discussing inane things.

"Something must be percolating for you to come here this way," the Chujo said. "Please, what can I do?"

Yukari looked Erika — the Chujo, she reminded herself — straight in the eyes. "Prepare the fleet for an invasion of the Nataria system at 0600 tomorrow."

It sounded like an order. An order from a Shosa to someone four ranks her senior, from someone who had commanded a single ship on an interim basis to someone who led one of the most powerful fleets in the galaxy. Inside, Yukari winced, but outside she remained firm.

"Nataria ... it is no longer part of the Empire," the Chujo said, leaning back into her chair. "I recall gaining that information from your ship. A sizable enemy fleet awaits us, yes?"

Yukari nodded. "There also will be a battle for terrain. Nataria has a complex series of tunnels used to supplement a depot there."

"I see," the Chujo said. "I will have the fleet prepared at once. It will take several hours to prepare our ground forces, but rest assured they will be ready."

"Yes, Chujo," Yukari said, dipping her head.

"You look a little tired," she said. "Are you well? Is there anything I can do?"

The leader of a fleet asking an executive officer of a single vessel such a question, in such a way, made Yukari's stomach flutter. "No, Chujo. That will be everything. Thank you for your time."

"Of course Suzuka-san," the Chujo said, following the words with a wide, toothy smile that reached deep into her eyes. "If you must. Please give the Hime-sama my regards."

"Yes Chujo," Yukari replied, standing and bowing slightly. She wanted to leave; it was becoming more uncomfortable by the moment.

"Please," the Chujo said. "I prefer Erika ... if that is well with you?"

Yukari suppressed a twitch. "Ah, anou, I am sorry, Chujo. I must be going. Thank you — " she paused. "Erika-Chujo."

The smile from Erika could have powered her whole ship, lookingup at Yukari. "My pleasure, Suzuka-san. But please, won't you stay? I would appreciate your assistance in prepping the fleet. Hime-sama has prepared you for some command, surely. Perhaps you would like to try? I can help."

"I — " Yukari stopped herself. She looked at the Chujo for a few seconds, blankly, as she took in what this meant. It came down to a simple question: Was she ready?

Her soul provided the answer without even checking.

"I will require a SPINE interface," she said, sitting slowly back down.

"One already is installed in my chair," the Chujo said. "I thought the Hime-sama might want to lead the fleet back to Yamatai."

Yukari wanted to bite through her lip. "May I?"

"Please!" the Chujo said, leaving the seat. "It is warm for you."

How helpful, Yukari sourly thought as the two Neko traded places.

When Yukari was settled, the SPINE "lit up" and connected her to not just the Mokuren, but each of the fleet's computers. She was taken aback; not even as the 5th Expeditionary Fleet's aide had she connected to so many ships at once. Each seemed to hum with sounds that were older, but familiar to her.

She avoided the mainscreen, manipulating the KAMI to give her the in-system visual she desired — her and the major officers of the fleet standing above the massive group of vessels, in space, the faint outline of the Blue Rift behind them. There were 38 such officers; 39 once Erika-Chujo was connected.

Though the Neko were not familiar with the setup, being used to operating through viewscreens and volumetric projections, none of them was put-off. They accepted without hesitation.

"Claymere-san — please handle Melisson's files and deliver to me any fleet-related data you come across. I will add it to our calculations." While tactics and strategy were undoubtedly Nyton's forte, Yukari was there with the officers. She nodded to herself.

She was ready.

As Nyton arrived at Hoshi he avoided the medical center and walked towards the bridge where he believed he had the best chance of finding Hinoto.

"Hinoto-san please meet me on the bridge. I need to speak to you." he messaged.

Nyton would soon receive Yukari's message while he was enroute and replied quickly.

"Roger that Shosa."

Nyton did not have to wait long. Hinoto walked into the bridge not even half-a-minute later.

"Yes, Taii?" She inquired.

Of course. Hinoto had her own quarters on board Hoshi - she had just needed to walk out, cross a bit of corridor and enter the bridge. This also explained a contrast that differentiated Hinoto from the rest of her sprite sister - she still had her quarter so she still had her uniforms; she did not have to trade them for the older skintight outfits offered by the Mokuren's quartermaster. There was a contrast between neat and groomed Hinoto whom still had all her things and her half of the ship, and how many other sprites had to settle for something else.

Another thing Nyton had discovered during his time convalescing was how Hinoto had rallied most of his beleaguered sister sprites into a family, the Miharu clan, to which had seemed to have become the Matriarch/Clan Mistress. Nimura, technically born third, was Hinoto's elder sister but had not made any protest to Hinoto appointing herself.

Maybe that explained why Hinoto had displayed a guarded streak of independence. With Miharu and many of her sprites gone, pride and the desire to move forward were one of the few ways people so young could manage to move on. Pride, though, was a heavy shield Hinoto was unaccustomed to bearing. Hinoto was not Mara - she wasn't used to being in the limelight - and was put in a position where she needed to look strong whereas before she was more discreet about it.

Well, at least for now Hinoto seemed her helpfully well-meaning self.

There was fire and business on Nyton's face when Hinoto entered. His face was sharp and ready for work. "Good to see you again. The fleet is getting ready for an operation to retake Nataria from the NMX. The Taisa needs to determine whether we will be capable of performing an infiltration mission during the battle. Her highness wants the crew informed and assessed before she makes her final decision." he said.

Nyton then looked over at the tactical console. "The Shosa has also requested for enemy fleet data from Melisson's files to be sent to her. She is currently working with the fleet command staff to organize them in preparation for the assault."

Hinoto nodded and stepped down the short flight of stairs to make her way to the operations station. "I'll upload pertinent documents from her AIES to her shortly."

The white-haired avatar sat down, a few deft finger-presses over the digital touch interfaces springing up several volumetric windows. She scanned them a moment before getting to work. To Nyton, she said: "With respect to the Taisa, I do not think using Hoshi as an infiltration craft is a sound idea. Surely you remember how it went for us during the descent to Bowhordia... and back then we only had 2 corvettes to worry about."

Nyton walked closer to the operation station as he spoke. "I do recall that descent and the challenges it posed. The Taisa is only doing a preliminary inquiry to determine whether this mission would be feasible or not. She stated that we were to prevent the enemy from destroying the supply depot on Nataria. I am only assuming the infiltration would occur while the fleet occupies the garrison." he replied while assuming his thinking pose.

"The Taisa is simply inquiring to see if Hoshi could perform the mission. That will determine whether she will assign it to us and what precautions we would need. Like you said, we only had two corvettes to worry about last time. That and my poor guidance." he added.

Nyton observed on the volumetric windows Hinoto sifting through the files on the AIES of the power armor Yukari had worn when they had gone into the Shlarvasseroth.

"Is Hoshi capable of stealthing better than any other ships in this fleet?" Hinoto asked rhetorically. "Yes. But the scope of Nataria's underground depot were not centralized, and rather spread worldwide: it was the world where the Empire's reserves, surplus, mothballed and scavenged equipment - Yamatai is our capital world, but Nataria was the beating heart of our space military's logistics."

The files she was bringing up were previewed to see if they were pertinent and those that where we transfered to another display where information was brisky scrolled through through datamining from Hoshi's quantum computer.

"I feel the Black Knights are capable of making a deep surgical strike that could rest control of one underground complex - but with only the 12 power armor Hoshi can support, it'll likely turn out being about as daunting a task as capturing Amaya's Gate was... and after that, it still leaves hundreds of other depots yet to pacify. Even if Hoshi does manage to survive sneaking close enough to allow a strike team in, we're only going to scratch the surface of the task at hand."

The datamining complete, Hinoto opened a transmission query to Yukari and queued the chosen files for upload to Yukari's digital memory at the Executive Officer's discretion.

The white-haired nekovalkyrja half-turned in her chair to look back at Nyton. "We're also the only ship in this fleet that can support a persistent phasing interdiction field; the other ships can only manage a brief interphasic pulse and cannot reliably contain Melisson. This means that should Hoshi take an active role in the battle, Melisson will also be put at risk. If the ship is destroyed, Melisson is lost, and so would be any benefit of her capture to the Taisa."

All of Hinoto's analysis was delivered in a companionable way, but that last bit as she twisted around and canted her head up to look at him awoke memories of time the two shared together, how he may have had at one time snuck up on her as she was reading on the sofa of their home to affectionately hug her from behind; to the conversation they then had snuggled close on the same sofa; to visions of how the fireplace made her naked skin flicker in shades of gold while they made love.

Melisson had created lifetimes for him, credible manufactured memories that lived on in him, seemingly as real as his own memories. The memory chip helped make out what was his and what was 'fake'... but that didn't stop him from being able to remember the fake memories like any of his own. Especially his life with Hinoto, or of Kotori's assassination before he turned that into a nightmare: both were the most credible. Both could still happen.

He'd had time to work on rationalizing it all while he was in bed convalescing, but he hadn't yet actually come to term about the events of the mission concerning him and Hinoto.

Re: Mission 5, Aftermath (5th day) battleplan

Yukari's eyes flitted over the higher ranked officers standing before her, above the fleet, each waiting for her to speak. She counted six Shôshôs, 26 Taisas and six Chusas.

Some of the Chusas looked uncomfortable. A few of the Taisas were clumped together in the lumpy half-circle formed around Yukari and Erika-Chujo. She recognized them as commanders within the same Ayame task group. A few other Taisas were in charge of Yui wings; one of the Shôshôs was in charge of the entire flotilla of old Ketsueki escorts.

One of the Chusas had been in charge of the entire flotilla of Ender gunships.

Yukari took a few seconds to hold her gaze. We must be strong for what is to come, she thought. And we shall. Especially you.

She looked to the Chujo, who smiled and nodded. Yukari let a few breaths pass. Kotori ultimately can overrule me. For now, they need direction.

"Your IES units have told you why you are here. I will elaborate." The "ground" below the Neko fell away, replaced by a top-down view of a section of the galaxy. Yamatai was at the center, between the officers and Yukari, and highlighted by electric red. The fleet was represented by an electric blue arrow dangling between the Blue Rift Expanse and the black hole to the galactic south.

"The target is Nataria, a Warmaster world and home to the Star Army's largest depot. It was lost two years ago after an invasion by the NMX. We will retake it."

Yellow orbs appeared around Yamatai, each representing a NMX-held star system, with a glowing green one just below the feet of one of the Shôshôs. It represented Nataria.

"The system is strategically important to the NMX because it provides a highly defensible base of operations for them, and because it is within striking distance of Yamatai. It was our most important depot for the same reason."

A glowing yellow arrow arced as Yukari talked, starting from Nataria and reaching Yamatai, turning it yellow, too. The Shosa blinked and stopped talking, then nodded. Hinoto had delivered the data she needed. Her Neko mind processed it and began to form a plan.

"We have surprise and numbers benefiting us. We require more. The NMX are unlike even the Jaaq'tah in their brutality, and they have technology and weapons on par with most of Yamatai's modern fleet. Our best opportunity to inflict lasting harm upon our enemies while maintaining our safety is to rush upon our enemies and kill them with as few movements as possible."

The viewable portion of the galaxy returned to the fleet.

"We will sneak up on them on a journey that will take approximately two days, as we will not be traveling at maximum speed because Hoshi lacks of a fold drive. The path is long."

The officers were standing above the blue arrow now, with the galaxy's emptiness all around them. Yamatai again was off of Yukari's shoulder, but they were heading away from it.

"We will make our way to within 1.5 light-years of Cellondora III." The officers could watch as they traveled with the arrow. "From there, we will travel to the star system to the galactic north of Star's Crossroads. That will be our rallying point before we make our push to the Lonely Expanse."

The arrow, after bending around Star's Crossroads, went down by Nassau, Essia, Gashmere and Ohara before stopping several light-years outside of Nataria.

"We will stop here only long enough to have Hoshi sent in first, in case the NMX have re-established the defense network."

The galaxy fell away, replaced by Nataria — a transparent, green-and-white orb that bubbled from below them to occupy much of the black, slightly fuzzy space between Yukari and the officers. The planet's dust-like debris trail wafted around some of the officers.

Hundreds of yellow shapes of varying sizes surrounded the orb.

"We have an advantage with Hoshi." As Yukari spoke, a slim, transparent blue arrow approached Nataria. "She can hide from the enemy. We will use her to gather accurate numbers and locations of the NMX."

Some of the larger shapes were cast with an electric blue glow.

"Once Hoshi, from afar, has determined the priority of targets, Ketsueki destroyers will enter hyperspace from a safe distance and appear within 0.1 AU of the planet. Upon exiting, they will fire their torpedoes in clusters at the highest-priority targets."

Hundreds of small blue streaks, even smaller than Hoshi, zipped into view behind the transparent blue line. Dots then pulsed from each streak, quickly crossing the distance and colliding with the larger yellow shapes, each dot spattering red onto them until the NMX vessels were the color of blood.

Many yellow shapes remained, some turning orange with awareness of the attack.

"Within 30 seconds of the initial wave, the rest of the fleet enters the battlespace. With the largest ships damaged, crippled or destroyed, the NMX will be in some disarray. With the fleet organized into wings in tight formation, single or clustered targets will be assigned and destroyed with the power of an entire wing. Though slow, it ensures each target or cluster is destroyed within one to two salvos."

The area around Yukari became speckled and blotted with dozens of groups of blue shapes, each bearing down on the planet. The orange shapes returned some fire, but soon dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of blue lines cut through them. Red soon outnumbered yellow and orange.

"With the destruction of the primary battlegroups, several wings will break formation and hunt down any remaining targets not yet eliminated by the Ketsueki group. Most of the other wings prepare for the arrival of battle fleets from nearby Darso and Tatiana."

As several clusters of blue started to break off around the planet, two clusters of mostly similar shapes headed directly for it.

"Two wings comprised to deliver ground troops will invade the depot. Layouts, defenses and other intelligence already has been sent to infantry commanders to discuss, but the primary goal must be the prevention of the depot's destruction. It will not be easy, as the depot sprawls across much of the world, and in the end some strategic strikes might be necessary. Nonetheless, we must protect as much of the infrastructure as possible."

Nyton could feel his heartstrings being pulled ever so stealthily as he looked at Hinoto. He forced himself to focus on her report even as his body was warmed by the false reminiscing. It was as though he were in the presence of a former lover whose relationship they had terminated but the feelings were still present. Except she did not even know there had been a relationship at all.

"That is a dangerous gambit indeed. We will need to inform the Taisa of this concern before she makes any final decisions." he replied before averting his eyes from Hinoto to the volumetric screen. The sheer sprawl of depots and storage facilities was staggering. The same could be said about the defensive command centers.

"Hm, unless there is something of particular value the Taisa wants us to defend then I do not see the point of infiltration." Nyton then said as he moved closer to study the volumetric window. "What about these defensive command centers? If there is a particular one of value we may need to infiltrate that instead. We should take a look at considering other targets as options. I am not saying that we will even conduct any sort of mission. I simply want to give the Taisa every possibility to support the operation." Without realizing that 'old habits die hard' he placed his hand on Hinoto's shoulder. Such a gesture could be considered platonic except that his hand lingered while his fingers ran gently over her skin before it was gone.

Nyton did not catch this almost subliminal action that had been ingrained over a different lifetime. His memories had been separated but the automatic habits and emotional connections still lingered.

Hinoto just spared a brief glance to Nyton's affectionate stroking of her shoulder before she raised one hand to bring the display with a three-dimensional map of Nataria dotted with pin-pricks of light labeling each of the depot facilities.

"Our intel isn't recent. We have practically nothing past the point Nataria was conquered," Hinoto said with a small helpless shake of her head. "If I was a mishhu commander in charge of putting the place back together, I wouldn't reuse the wreckage of past installation and would just build newer ones for me to depend on and leave the enemy no useful past reference. We just have no way of knowing which is more vital than the other."

She turned her head to look back at him, light from the displays glistening on her pale countenance. "This isn't a job for a single ship. That requires a full invasion force with many LAMIA strike teams along with a communication breakdown on the side of the NMX."

Nyton assumed his thinking pose and closed his eyes. As he thought he tried to shut out Hinoto from his sight to reduce the distracting memories. His memory chip had flagged each false memory to quickly identify them but it was the emotional content to them that proved harder to isolate. Not just the ones of Hinoto but the ones associated with Kotori had been difficult as well. The man pushed them away as best as he could and began to reply.

"I would have to agree with such. We would be flying more blindly then we did into Bowhordia and Amaya's Gate combined. There could be numerous scenarios though and without any intel we would just be guessing on each one,-"

Did Melisson create the Hinoto in the dream from actual data when she invaded our minds or was it all just manipulative engineering? If the original Hinoto was the base for the dream then the secrets, fancies, and other things she confided to me may be true. Including what she liked when we made love-

The unbidden thought was interrupted but the damage had been done. Fueled by the attachment his emotions had contributed Nyton grew immensely curious at the prospect of whether the notion was true. During the pause he recalled those personal details about Hinoto, the kind lovers learn about each other over a period of time. While he recollected he shook his head and opened his eyes before he continued his statement.

"- I suppose all I can offer the Taisa is highly improbable scenarios. Regardless of how risky or unlikely we can at least crunch the operational scenarios and think them through. Even if the results are limited we can at least identify the unknowns and report that data." he said.

Hinoto nodded in agreement. "I can work on an analysis of the possible planetary assets available in the Nataria star system. I think I can get it done before the two days mark."

"Realistically speaking, though," Hinoto nibbled on her lower lip in tohught before she continued with: "I think what we can feasibly accomplish with the Second Draconian Fleet is a swift defeat of the NMX spacy presence and primary planetside targets. Afterwards, holding the world to open it up to one of the Star Army's planetary operation division to sweep in and take care of the rest of the NMX occupation might be the most cost-effective solution in light of the Taisa's ideal scenario not being feasible. That'd be my recommendation."

Nyton gave a nod as his face warmed as he remembered some of the nuances that made the other Hinoto endearing during their life together. "Yes, that sounds good. At the least we can have the option mapped out in case we have to perform an infiltration." he agreed.

"For now let us just put together a brief overview of what Hoshi is capable of and her effectiveness. Depending on those results plus your recommendations we can leave the final decision up to the Taisa as to whether or not we perform any operation. If she does then I shall inform you and we can compile the data for operational purposes." Nyton stated.

"That way you do not waste your time on something we will not use." he added. "Time is a valuable resource after all."

"Hai. I can do that in the interim," Hinoto bobbed her head affirmatively. "Anything else?"

Nyton thought briefly on the task at hand. "No I do not think there is anything else at the moment. Perhaps you could enlighten me on the condition of the crew. Any new developments that we should inform the Taisa about?"

"There's less pain but still an heartache in most. Some have started to find their own ways to cope," Hinoto frankly answered Nyton. "Some are starting to become restless and are keen on being either useful or occupied."