RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Aftermath

[Fred]

Victory.

Still crying, Hinoto had announced it over the ship's intercom. The Shlarvasseroth was destroyed. They were back in normal space along with survivors of the Second Draconian Fleet.

The sprites that had survived the fight, ready to defend the ship to the last, did not quite know how to take it. There was no resounding cheers - the news was taken in with a more numb, jaded attitude. Stunned disbelief, perhaps. Hinoto did not seem to be ashamed of her tears and her crying inspired others to tear up.

Perhaps, when they were at a loss on how to express themselves, tears were the only recourse they had to express their emotions.

 

[Kokuten]

(What I wrote the post to.)

So this is how it ended, seemed to contemplate the mute Asher. He stood there, holding Rin in his arms, his head tilted at a slight angle. The Malifarian was looking at a corner at the ceiling, or seemed to be. His left arm was shaking in a prolonged way, showing that the pain was beginning to act up again. His body as still as it was, it was almost as if he were still frozen in time. There was no real jubilation at the moment, no jumping, no excitement, nothing really Asher. Just a certain stillness. Then he began to shake, not just his arm, but his whole body now. His legs seemed to get weak, and the way his armor fell towards it's knees, it appeared he was collapsing.

And then, he grabbed at a small indention in the wall, stopping his shaky descent. He pulled himself back up, straightening himself. The Malifarian man looked down at Rin, her body still, practically lifeless. From that stare, he moved forward, carrying himself as he always did, and pushing towards the med-bay wordlessly.

 

[Abwehran Commander]

She didn't even say goodbye. The small Warrant Officer was silent after ever since Mara had left to do her final duty...no, duty was too callous. Mara did more than just duty by going out there alone. She saved those that had been her family. Masako refused to remove her helmet at that point. She couldn't allow herself to show the others her tears.

"I love you all!"

That final message still haunted Masako. The sprite that had been there since the beginning and had grown into a fine individual was gone as their enemy's vessel was destroyed. The raven-haired Warrant Officer felt a crushing wave of grief fall upon her. Was this truely felt to have someone you knew die? When someone you cared for like a younger sibling gave her life for your own?

Tears spilled from the woman's eyes, but she didn't allow herself to sob. Opening an audio communication to the other sprites--no, crewmates--from both defensive line and medical bay, the Warrant Officer willed herself to speak. "I want everyone to start working," she ordered, trying to put on as strong a voice as she could. "Technicians should start on damage control. Anyone not involved in that should assist the medical staff. We've defeated our enemies," she stated, not really declaring it a victory. How could such a painful thing be called a victory? "But we still have some unfinished business. We have to return home." she stated with a calm voice.

Shutting down that link, she booted up a communications link with Yukari. "Ma'am, considering the Taisa is currently in Medical, you are in command." Masako sent. Yes, this was probably for the best. Concentrating on what could be done at the moment was better than dwelling on what couldn't be undone.

 

[Gallant]

Yuzuki removed her helmet and while she cradled the APR, holding the thing against her stomach. For the first time, the rest of the crew would see her; eyes distant, pupils diluted and mouth partly open to facilitate the labored breathing which was so crucial to her body’s heat regulation. It was impossible to tell what was going on behind those empty, shellshocked eyes – whether she was relieved, or sad, or in pain. Yuzuki herself didn’t even know.

She smiled a little bit, her lips curling out of habit for lack of anything better to do. Then she frowned, an extreme mask of unspeakable loss. Afterwards, she seemed to realize that her face was acting on its own, and Yuzuki took control of it again, set her jaw, and bowed her head as she passed the helmet to her other hand and ran the bloody gauntlet, rich in the ambient muck of the Shlarvasseroth, back through her wayward strands of hair – all the way back to the nape of her neck, and around, fingers curling.

As she stood, processing all of it, she attempted to find a way to cope with the knowledge. Understanding eluded her. Sorrow burned in her with an impossible intensity. The world around her, even though it was simply the inside of the Hoshi, seemed foreign. She knew that, if she were to walk aft and open the access the ship had formerly shared with the Miharu, nothing would greet her but empty space.

So she began to walk slowly, one foot in front of the other, listening to the metallic noise of her armor’s greaves on the metal plating. Yuzuki didn’t know where she was going, but she was going to walk until she found some place. There was no more room to tiredly retreat to; no quiet sanctum for her in the bowels of the ship. But, she would find some place - her grief wanted no company.

Yuzuki could hear the ship around her, had known even the Hoshi's sounds and patterns, and she knew that they would be fine if she left them be; the generator would recover in enough time they would be able to propel themselves, even if nobody was doggedly hanging over the controls.

And yet, even then... it would be something.

Her pace increased, and her destination changed.

"Who is left alive?" Yuzuki asked, not wanting to know.

 

[Tom]

It was over. The ordeal, their journey to hell and back, was over.

They were victorious, but the word itself was hollow to Tom.

Victory was glorious. Victory filled you with pride and a sense of accomplishment. Tom felt neither of those. He was simply numb.

Mara was gone, her sacrifice opening the door for their escape. With her death, the avatar had joined its mother. Ichigo was dead, leaving Nimura without a sister. All of the sprites, those who still lived at least, were orphans now.

His AIES told him all he needed to know about casualties. Nobody had escaped the battle unharmed. The thought accentuated the pain of his wounds. Without the distraction of battle, they now throbbed painfully.

They had completed their objectives. That was enough to save the Empire and themselves.

But Tom couldn't call it a victory, not until the survivors picked up the pieces of their shattered lives and built anew.

The process would be slow, but, as his vision naturally drew itself towards Yukari, Tom found the strength to pick up that first shard.

I kept my promise, Yukari. By the grace of the universe, by the grace of Kotori, I stand by your side.

 

[Nyton]

Tremendous relief filled Nyton. They had won. The remaining bloody survivors of Miharu would now savor the victory paid for with the blood and lives of the crew. There were still heaps of enemy dead left in the halls leading to the medical center as Nyton began following suit with Asher in delivering Nimura. "I am moving to deliver Nimura to the medical center, Shosa." Nyton telepathically messaged as he moved. Somehow the naive belief that the medical center would be an oasis of calm had entered his mind as he floated over there.

That belief was immediately shattered by what he saw. The medical center was no less a battlefield than Melisson's ship. With victory declared and hostilities over the nurses had begun to remove the barricades that had been set up. Akiko was struggling to push the dead Elite Mishhu out while some of the walking wounded from the defenders tore down the others. What room was made would quickly be replaced with the serious casualties that were being brought in.

Ayumu worked as fast as she could, the desperation still in her face as she went from patient to patient. When she saw Asher and Nyton arrive her eyes went wide at the sight of Rin. "By Chiharu, what happened to her!? Is she still alive!?" the nurse exclaimed as she ran up to Asher to check on Rin's vital signs. Nyton looked around to see if there was anyplace to deposit Nimura but the center was still full of dead bodies that it was hard to tell where to take her.

 

[Kokuten]

The panty-covered helmet of Shikamaru simply looked up at Ayumu, wordlessly regarding her. He adjusted his arms so Rin laid out a little more, making it more comfortable to check her. As the nurse examined his charge, his helmet looked down at Ayumu's chest, inspecting it rather thoughtfully before looking up again. He scanned the room going at a wide angle to absorb the full scene before him. The Hoshi med-bay truly was a mess, bodies, body parts, and blood everywhere. It almost looked like the inside of the Takumi before he warped out of it. After he had gathered his surroundings, his gaze rested on the hemosynth chamber in the room.

A shaking gauntlet rose, lifting up Rin's body a bit with it, and a finger pointed towards one of the chambers. Then, slowly, the shaking hand turned back on Rin, his index finger pressing against her cheek. He appeared to repeat the laborious motion for clarity. It was unclear whether or not he could actually see their Captain resting within the chamber, but if he could, it seemed he valued Rin's health a little more than hers.

 

[Nyton]

Ayumu looked at Asher and then to Rin, her mind so focused on wounded that she failed to notice the decorations on his helmet. With a shake of her head the bloody nurse could only look over at the hemosynth tank in desperation.

"I know she needs to be put into the tank! We only have one and right now the Taisa is still receiving treatment." she said, puzzled but not altogether concerned as to why Asher was not speaking to her. With all the damage the DAISY suits had taken she figured his loudspeaker was broken.

"Set her on this table here. I need to check to see if her suit is still capable of keeping her alive until the chamber is free. She will be at the top of the list as soon as the Taisa is well enough." she said, showing Asher which table. It was next to a console where she could plug a cable into one of the DAISY's data ports. The information shared would let her know if the Armor could continue to keep Rin in stasis.

While Ayumu worked she directed a conscript to attend to Nimura. The nurse sprite guided Nyton over to a triage site that had been set up by the patient beds. Since all the beds were occupied more than several areas on the floor were filled by patients. "Please set her down here. I will get some hemosynth and a blanket for her."

Nyton obeyed the nurse and awkwardly, due to his leg being kept straight by Arethusa, set Nimura down as gently as he could. He had to sit himself down in order to position Nimura on the floor space given to her.

"Are you still with me, Nimura?" Nyton telepathically messaged as the nurse returned with a pillow and blanket along with a unit of hemosynth.

 

[Kokuten]

Asher watched Ayumu walk away after directing him to the table. He set down the upper part of the sprite down on it, resting her comfortably, not that it actually mattered. With his hands completely free for the first time in about five hours, the Malifarian put both hands on his helmet, and released the seal around his neck. As soon as it broke, an audible gasp could be heard from beneath the head-gear's confines. The Malifarian had taken his first breath of cool, recycled air that only smelled of blood, rather than putrid remains and waste in a good while. Judging by his face, he seemed rather... at peace, calm even.

 

[Kai]

The battle was over. At this point, Kai didn't really care. His mind was elsewhere- nowhere, to be precise. How he had even managed to follow the others was astounding, with his mind as it was- repeatedly torn from his own control, then forced to shutdown most of its information gathering capabilities in order to keep the pain from overtaking him, Kai somehow remained conscious, Kyou somewhat haphazardly held in his arms. He made his way listlessly to a more open area, and then placed the wounded, paralyzed Hei on the floor, before himself plopping down. The impact of the floor with his bottom jarred the wound, and a loud groan escaped the armor, before, mindlessly, Kai removed the helmet, and began opening the armor.

He wanted out of it. Some part of his mind was still working through the pain and dullness, reminding him he needed to remove the source of the pain. Almost absently, Kai opened the front of his armor, and pulled his arms out of the armor's, staring dully at his bloodied chest, ignoring the blood that had dribbled down his chin and dried there by now.

Whatever was going on didn't seem to matter to Kai. He wanted to remove that dark thing sticking out of his ribcage. He poked it- Needles of pain shot out, causing him to cry aloud once more, before he sucked in a short breath and tried to hold it. Somebody needed to do something before Kai ended up hurting himself further.

 

[Aendri]

Kyou stirred, her primary motor control finally coming back under her control, or so it appeared. She slowly got her armor standing back up under its own power, rather then with the help of someone else, and took a shuddering, pained breath as she reached her hand up to feel around the area where she'd been stabbed. Seems like the hemosynth is working so far... She didn't want to try speaking yet; it hurt so much to breath that Kyou didn't even want to think about how much it would probably hurt to speak. She forced herself to stay standing though, locking her suit's legs in a standing position so she couldn't crumple, her motor control still not all the way back, and the pain just made it even harder to use what little control she had.

Nonetheless, she nodded her thanks to Kai for carrying her while she was unable to move, and offered Kai a hand wordlessly, hoping he'd understand the offer without her having to say anything.

 

[Doshii Jun]

People were moving on.

Nyton was taking charge of casualties, or appeared to be. Kyou was helping Kai. Asher was helping in the medical bay. Tom was looking her way. Perhaps waiting for something, perhaps taking in what happened. Yuzuki was wandering aimlessly, in a form of mental shock, or appeared to be.

Yukari could not move on. Too much was left to be done. Mourning would come. Pain, too. Rest was a distant possibility, reserved for her cabin, if then.

Kotori is incapacitated. I must take command until she is capable again.

Her OS again reported her low energy reserves — this time with her stomach loudly growling inside her armor. She ignored it, still carrying Melisson. She could not tell if the demon yet could walk or not, so she floated onward while carrying her.

She passed by the damage their quest had brought upon the crew without absorbing too much of it. Crossing through the cargo storage room, she saw the spare parts strewn everywhere, the foodstuffs knocked out of their boxes, and other debris tossed across the floor. The food was tempting, but her helmet's filters turned off after re-entering Hoshi, and she started to smell blood. A lot of it, and not just Neko blood.

The corridor showed why. ... Yukari managed a low, shuddering breath, then floated on toward the bridge, her armor keeping an eye on Melisson.

When the door slide open, she nearly dropped Melisson to spring into action. However, her HUD told her what her eyes belatedly realized — the Ghost Mishhu in the far corner was a corpse. She relaxed with halting, gasping breaths, her body protesting being jerked around between fighting and floating.

Melisson was gently put down on the benches near the commander's seat. Yukari then turned around and did her best to buffer her soul against Hinoto's tears.

"Do we have enough power for communication, Hinoto-san?" she sent, not bothering with encryption.

 

[Fred]

@Nyton:

Now lying on her back, Nimura gave a slight nod of acknowledgment to Nyton, looking at him with her one good eye.

"You need not concern yourself over me, Taii," Nimura told him, her voice drawn, but steady. She was obviously in a lot of pain, but whatever Melisson had put her through in the past perhaps helped her keep that under control. "I am severely hurt, but my wounds are not critical. I can wait for my turn; failing that, I should be able to recover in a week or two."

@Ayumu:

Results came in from Hoshi's analysis of Rin's power armor. The sprite's lifesigns were low, but she also was in stasis. In theory, the Daisy could maintain that for four years on an healthy individual - in case it was probably less since her digestive track was more or less destroyed.

Rin's situation looked dire, but as long as her Daisy's battery lasted, she would survive. The problem was getting her out of it: once she was extracted she would immediately need to be treated in an hemosynth tank. Anything else than hemosynth rebuilding would not save her.

@Yuzuki:

A dull chorus of answers ("Present," "I'm here" and such) was Yuzuki's answer. With the dead, the wounded, the chaos and Masako spurring them to move on and work not many had time to really dwell on the remaining numbers.

Not that it was out of their minds.

@Yukari:

Hinoto had half-collapsed against the navigation console, weeping in her arms. When Yukari called on her, the white-haired nekovalkyrja reluctantly raised her head and regarded the power-armored Yukari and Tom, as well as the sitting Melisson.

"Hoshi's fine, Shosa," Hinoto said through her sobs. "Structural integrity, power, shields, weapons, sensors and communication - all green. Miharu was the one that took the hardest hits."

Then she bent her head, hiding her eyes under her silvery bangs. "Mara... she wanted you to know that... she died as she lived. She wanted... w-wanted you to be-" Hinoto shuddered, stiffling a sob with her fist before she clenched her eyes shut a moment and tried again: "She wanted you... to be proud of her."

Melisson listened, though her hands were busy peeling off burnt portions of her skin around her chest before discarding them away. The pieces of roasted flesh, once they 'plinked' on the floor, looked more like parts of cooked insect shells with the occasional legs, antenna and mandibles than anything else. Each one removed left slimy-red craters in the interpreter's flesh.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari slowly breathed inside her armor. She could not afford to burst into tears, no matter how badly she wanted to do just that.

"Mara is our savior, Hinoto-san," she sent, trying to be soothing. "I am so very proud of her ... all of Yamatai will be proud of her sacrifice. For they will know."

Her leg twinged with pain, forcing her to swallow before continuing. "Please hail the remaining vessels and open a fleet-wide channel."

 

[Tom]

Tom slowly brought his hands up to his helmet and removed it. There was a small sucking noise as the pressure levels between the armor's contained environment and Hoshi's stabilized.

The engineer breathed deeply, silently, the cool air tinged with blood. Tom's hair was crushed down, a mop of sweaty strings running over his ears and down the nape of his neck.

His face was pale, his gray eyes shimmering but short of tears. Silently, he approached the sobbing Hinoto and gently placing his hand on her shoulder, just for a moment. He gave the sprite a reassuring squeeze before breaking contact and moving a step to the side and taking in the reports from Hoshi's console.

"She was a true friend, too."

 

[Nyton]

Ayumu took note of the results from Hoshi's analysis. With Rin stable it meant that she would live long enough for the hemosynth tank to free up. Then it would just be a matter of putting her into the tank still in the DAISY suit to allow the tank to safely transition stability off of the suit. For now though she let the cable remain hooked up to alert her in case of any sudden change in Rin's condition. Otherwise she was at the top of the list for hemosynth tank. She did move over to check on Kotori's status quickly before she would resume working on the rest of the patients.

Nyton meanwhile listened to Nimura while the nurse sprite tended her wounds. The nurse had noted that the severed arm was cauterized so there was no need for a tourniquet. With what little time she had to spend on one patient she simply attached an infusion of hemosynth fluid to Nimura's other arm before moving on.

The man was tired. Sitting down made him more aware of just how tired he was. He 'removed' his helmet by having Arethusa melt it back to reveal his head. The air inside the med lab was filled with the twinge of blood but he didn't care. To him it was more cooling than the recycled air from the suit.

Nyton looked back at Nimura with his good eye. He strained to smile with only one side of his face while keeping the other half still. "Of course I will be concerned. You are one of my soldiers. It is my duty and privilege. Besides it is not just your physical condition I worry about." he replied.

 

[Doshii Jun]

When Yukari saw Tom go to Hinoto, she first felt a small pang of jealousy, followed by dull envy, then, after a deep breath, nothing.

Hinoto needed someone to cry on, and Tom was good for that. She even smiled. Tom truly was good for that. She had lost a sister; Yukari still had Tom.

"Help her," she sent only to Tom, and instructed her CIES to connect to Hoshi and give her control of the comm.

 

[Kokuten]

Asher watched as Ayumu checked the results of Rin's armor test. When there seemed to be no trouble, he looked up at the ceiling. He sighed rather mildly, closed mouthed and turned to look at the already cramped space in the Medical Laboratory. His eyes were sharp, deciding, for what was hard to tell, depending on the fact that he really had no business in a med-bay. Though, perhaps it was just for that. The Malifarian turned away from the table, leaving his helmet where he had set it. He hovered past the occasional wounded and out of the doorway.

In the hall, he had three choices of directions. Two lead the same way, in the direction of the aft and most of the compartments within the Hoshi and one led towards where one would've entered into the Miharu. His blood-red eyes seemed to settle the direction of that the forward path. One he had made a few times before. In fact, about seven or so hours ago, he had slipped down there in the Hoshi to take advantage of the individual showers, avoiding the public bath like the plague. To everyone else, that was two years and seven or so hours ago.

After staring rather listlessly at the fore, he took a look at the starboard corner of the wall which lined the decontamination room. The way he eyed it made it look rather comfortable, and it seemed he decided it that way, sitting right at that bend. Here he had an easy vigil of the starboard hall leading towards the aft, and the hall leading towards the fore. There was even a convenient view of the inside of the medical bay. Despite those vigilant vistas, Asher took to staring across at the other corner, seemingly contemplating it in silence.

 

[Kai]

Kai poked at the bit of blade stuck in his chest a second time, and hissed in pain. This time, however, it seemed to register. The Yamataian blinked and looked around, and noted Kyou standing. She held out a hand. Kai turned a little to face her, grimacing in pain. He looked at the proffered hand, as if studying it.

"Can you get something to take this thing out of my chest?" he asked, dully. His right hand pointed at the spot, his left not moving- moving that arm would cause his pectoral muscle to move, and he by now had figured that that would be painful.

"And maybe some painkillers..."

 

[Gallant]

Yuzuki surveyed the carnage in the hallway. She stepped over corpses.

Yuzuki surveyed the carnage in the medical bay, but only in passing - to look inside might have been too much.

Yuzuki stood looking at the ship's only generator, and concequently its only source of power. It hummed away, relatively unscathed, while the world around the sprite became a cacophony of anguish. There were voices, but the voices were too few, and too far between. The world had ended.

Nobody stood there beside that generator; everybody had been pulled into armor, nobody was watching the plant from the console. To get there, she stepped over Ozuno's wrecked power armor, barely recognizable. There were a few mishhvurthyar around it, scattered, burnt and destroyed. Out of habit, because her mind was numb and becomming number, Yuzuki strode forward and called the engineering displays into being around her. The displays almost didn't happen, so much plasma had been discharged in the area that the femtomachines were nearly all spent creating the tinge of ozone underlying the strong aroma of blood, but Yuzuki was rewarded with a few shaky windows that told her essentially what her ears had already guessed; there was nothing wrong with the Hoshi.

It was the only thing right with the world.

The new senior enlisted engineer cocked her arm back, helmet grasped loosely, but at the last minute she hesitated; throwing her helmet, although it had helped in the past, was not going to help now.

There was no Miharu, no Okaa-san to stop her, now, or to baby her with the attention such an action would elicit. In fact, there was no more Miharu at all. Yuzuki dropped the helmet without fanfare, turned around, and stalked back along the passageways, towards the medical bay, tossing her APR away as an afterthought. She'd pick it up, later.

On the way, she had to have opened her mouth a dozen times to call for one person or another, but it was as if she were walking through hell. They were there, strewn about, destroyed by a fight so desperate it had taken everything they had. Even then, it looked like they had just barely held.

She stopped outside the medical bay. This time, with the intention of entering.

There were real people in there; that's where they had gathered. The people for whom she was prepared to lay down her life would perhaps offer something stable. She had carried them. They had carried her. And there was someone that Yuzuki needed to see.

She rounded the corner expecting to continue on and try to do what she could, but the sight that greeted her struck like a bolt of aether and melted her feet to the ground. The Captain in stasis. The crew in shambles. Everybody dead or dying or looking like they'd been bit actors in a cheap, Nepleslian slasher film. She had seen enough blood, not to be bothered overly much. It wasn't what had stopped her.

Kai still had his hair.

Mutely, without even shuddering, the tears cut rivlets through the streaks the gauntlet's barest brush had left upon her face. The doorframe made a poor brace, but she leaned against it anyway, all strength finally gone.

Still-life Yuzuki.