RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Part 1: Amaya's Gate

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton heard the ready status from Masako being reported to Yukari. He took a deep breath as adrenaline beginning to stimulate his body. Quickly opening a small window to Masako he then gave his blessing. "Good luck out there Kurohoshi. Make it possible for sprite's to dream." he said quickly.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Roger, Knight Leader," Yukari replied, left hand tapping away at a floating keypad as her right hand fondled the glowing flightstick in her right hand. "Taisa, Engineering and Armor affirm ready status. Shuttle units also affirm ready status."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kotori nodded, even though the gesture was futile since Yukari wasn't looking. Amber eyes briefly scanned over her own instrumentation before they narrowed.

"Sound battlestations."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Roger," Yukari replied, inputting a special code through her keypad to sound the right alarm. It was strange to hear it not just with her ears, but through her SPINE, too.

"All hands, general quarters. All hands, general quarters. Report to your stations and prepare for battle. All hands, general quarters." Yukari heard her own voice echo inside her. The ship's innards took on a reddish hue; she had to filter it out of her vision through her visor. "Prepare for battle."

The alarms continued, but not on the bridge. The red tinge remained. "Taii-san, please prepare your weapons. Drone brains slaved to the Taisa's console. Activate shields at time-minus-one minute to battlefield entry. Activate energized armor at time-minus-thirty seconds. Heisho, please set all sensors to active and disengage CFS stealth at time-minus-two seconds.."

Yukari wondered what it was like to have a "heart" pumping blood faster through a body's veins. Her mind's faster processing of data would have to do.

She appeared again in Masako's, Kai's and Tom's helmets, as well as Sanri's, Mara's and Hinoto's screens. "All unit leaders — two minutes to battlefield entry. Repeat, two minutes to battlefield entry." She then spoke to the others on the bridge. "We will fold to the battlefield at time-plus-two seconds."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Hai. Ready and counting," Miyoko responded to the order, setting up her controls so that the push of a single button on would end the stealth and set sensors to active... about as close to shouting, "Here I am, come shoot me!" as a ship could get.

Two minutes had never felt longer. She busied herself with all of the little double-checks that one was supposed to make, assuring that all of the ship's systems were reporting expected power usage, making sure there were no irregularities with life control... but everything looked good. For a ship that had been practically torn apart and put back together over a matter of days, Miharu was in remarkable shape. Nothing to do but wait, she reminded herself, though it didn't stop her fingers from twiddling at the base of the controls.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

There was a brief 'whumpf' sound as the fold drive dominating the center of engineering's main control room was brought to full power. The field regulators spun in their continuous clockwise, counter-clockwise movement, creating a constant humming in the area. The primary - and largest - aether generator aboard also began to roar. The light from the transparent viewports bathed the engineers in residual thermal energy and a peculiar violet light that meshed in odd combination with the trouble-red hue of battlestations.

And before them, the screens glittered eery blue.

"Freeman-Juni," Yuzuki stated, calmly, "All systems operating in perameter. Permission to redirect power to combat systems."

Her mind didn't quit just because her mouth was moving.

They couldn't really all stand in the same place like idiots, could they?

She looked over her shoulder again.

"I need four volunteers."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The call for battle stations rang hollow through Sanjuro's heart as he stared off into the ceiling of the medical bay, swallowing hard at the very notion. He was alone now, having finished up the rest of the Soul Transfers, and had just begun double-checking his preparations for the upcoming conflict. The ST machine would, with any luck, not have to be running full time to facilitate crew-mate copies, but it was Sanjuro's job to make sure they are in full working order should such measures come. In fact, as the chief medical officer had more time to let the message sink it, it was he who was responsible for the medical bay in full. It was a terrifying challenge that Sanjuro had little choice but to meet.

The doctor sat down at his desk to take a short breather while he could, and as he sank into his seat Sanjuro suddenly remembered. He pulled open the drawer of his desk; inside, amongst his other 5 AwesomeCorp Datajockey datapads, was Miyoko's datapad which she previously and ungraciously discarded earlier. His mind raced; he had been wondering, in a rather worried manner, why he had not received a monthly report from his family, and had also pondering how Miyoko could know about his younger sister, Pai. 'Obviously, Saito-Heisho stole the mail from me, read it without my permission and forgot to give it back to me, in her usual negligent fashion', Sanjuro began to think, giving a short, frustrated sigh as he picked it up before realizing he had little time to think about such matters. Sure enough, however, the video mail was there in the digital mail folder, clearly addressed to Sanjuro Ashitaka and clearly opened already on a prior occasion. However, as he held the datapad aloft in his hand, his gaze fell upon the Soul Transfer device, still emitting the soft electronic hum.

"My apologies, Pai," Sanjuro spoke softly, his eyes narrowing as they fluttered between the two biggest priorities of his life. With a careful thumb, Sanjuro began to drag little Pai's electronic message to the Deletion Bin in the corner. "You will have to tell me how your recital went some other time."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Optimizing Miharu's energy output for combat measures," Tom said from his console. His armor's speakers were on full blast, trumpeting over the alert.

It was controlled chaos in the subdeck as sprites, both armored and unarmored, took their positions at different key points in the subdeck. Ichigo, for her part, had left with her armor team to make its rounds about the ship. Two armors remained in the subdeck, piloted by Etsu and Hisa, standing near the entrance, out of the way of the others but nevertheless actively scanning their surroundings for threats.

"Heisho!" Yuzuki heard a telepathic reply from one of her sisters, Eiko. At least that's what Yuzuki could tell from the sound of her voice alone, her entire body and head concealed by her suit. "I'll help!"

Tom, for his part, had loaded up his own three-dimensional model of Miharu, which pinpointed the location of every crew member on the ship. The dots were color coded: Blue for the technician sprites doing repairwork, yellow for the tech sprites doing armor patrol, green for the 'command' personnel in engineering (Yuzuki, Ichigo, and Tom), and grey for everyone else on the ship.

Red would be reserved for enemy units who had managed to board Miharu.

"Technicians," Tom warned. "Check your sidearms and make sure they're ready for engagement with enemies."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The alarms continued, but not on the bridge. The red tinge remained. "Taii-san, please prepare your weapons. Drone brains slaved to the Taisa's console. Activate shields at time-minus-one minute to battlefield entry. Activate energized armor at time-minus-thirty seconds. Heisho, please set all sensors to active and disengage CFS stealth at time-minus-two seconds.."

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"Roger that." Nyton replied, sending the command to the tactical console. Weapon systems were brought online and to deadly life. The particle cannon turrets were revealed and weapon pods deployed and linked into Kotori's console. Meanwhile targeting systems began to actively hunt for data to set firing patterns. Torpedo bay arms began to cycle through the payload and load the selection for the opening salvo. With a quick command the torpedo bays were loaded up with a Type 1 Subspace Detonator and a Type 1 Anti-Matter torpedo. The Aether Beam Cannon was primed and ready to fire in beam mode. With all offensive measures ready he then set the shields for activation upon the timed statements Yukari had made.

"All weapon systems are powered up and torpedo payload is ready for deployment. Shields are standing by per timed arrival." Nyton announced.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"We will refrain on the release of the weapon pods until we bring the Urikos into the fight," Kotori informed her bridge crew. "We might take several hits before then and I don't want them lost before we're ready to use them - so we will keep them on hot standby. Taii, you will chose a configuration for them."

"Yukari, I want our fold jump to end 5000 light-seconds away from the front of the Gate. Once our fold sphere subsides I will have the Urikos go into CFS stealth. They should go unnoticed."

"Once the bombers are hidden, we will make a tactical FTL jump until we are 5 light seconds away from the enemy command squadron and then we will close in on them. I am less concerned with getting kills as I am with drawing attention, so we will have Nyton fire at will on any target of opportunity."

"Once the Nozomis jump in closer, we will deploy an interdiction field, release our weapon pods and start hitting them harder with our heavier weaponry. Shortly afterwards, we'll bring the bombers to help finish them off."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Hai." The very short telepathic reply to Yuzuki's request for volunteers came from Rin as she eagerly waited for combat to begin. Standing around wasn't conducive to a successful mission, so volunteering for whatever work she could would, hopefully, get them through the day.

The lavender-haired sprite looked about at the machinery of her home. Her sisters and herself had put so much effort into getting everything ready, along with what help, resources and otherwise, they had received earlier at that one station. It was now time to see if it was all in vain. She rather hoped that it wasn't and that it was worth it. Since, you know, dying is a rather not-pleasant thing to happen.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kotori said:

"We will refrain on the release of the weapon pods until we bring the Urikos into the fight," Kotori informed her bridge crew. "We might take several hits before then and I don't want them lost before we're ready to use them - so we will keep them on hot standby. Taii, you will chose a configuration for them."

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Yukari kept that point on the top of her head. Taking hits during a battle like this was a luxury she felt Miharu did not have, meaning her piloting would be all the more vital. That much more pressure lumbered against her temples when she heard the plan of attack; she would have to present Nyton with good targets while dodging the strikes of five potential attackers.

"Yes, Taisa," she said. "5,000 light-seconds."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton listened to Kotori and Yukari while coolly adjusting the tactical section. He readied the weapon pods, keeping them hot in their deployment bay. Given the choice on what sort of arrangement for the weapon pods he set them for Transphasic Beam mode. It would give the ship extra defense against armor and torpedoes with it's ability to fire three times a second with precision. It's power would also be able to do some damage in the unlikely event a ship were unlucky enough to stray within it's short range.

The particle cannons were one AU short of the range the aether cannon so Nyton set them with a situational protocol. If he managed to rake a ship with the main beam cannon and the enemy ship came within range then the particle cannons would begin to focus on it to try and finish it off. This would give Nyton freedom to focus on other targets as they approached. Miharu I trust you to stand together with me in this battle. We won't hold anything back. he communicated through his uplink to the tactical console.

Nyton continued to replay the motions and get himself ready for the fight. As he did so he thought to the SDM warhead loaded up and the effect it would have on enemy shields. It reminded him of their assault on Bowhordia and one of the tactics employed there. "Saito-Heisho, you have control of the ship's gravimetric beams. Any ships without any shields will be vulnerable to them. See if you can use them to our advantage. Either we can hold a ship in place for easier targeting or knock their trajectory completely off so they cannot fire on us."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Gallant said:

"I need four volunteers."

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"Hai!" Nao immediately responded. She looked up from her console and at Yuzuki, then her own sidearm at Tom's prompting. The sprite wasn't going to let something as simple like an unloaded weapon or unchecked safety switch get her killed. Not now. Not after that. Nao deliberately volunteered for Yuzuki in the hope that the more senior Neko knew what she was doing, and would therefore keep her alive. She checked the charge on her sidearm and nodded to Yuzuki, confirming that she was volunteering.

But what if her assumption was false? What if Yuzuki was going to lead them right into more danger? Perhaps she was going to have them be the rapid response team, putting out fires and helping to seal away damaged sections of the ship? Or maybe she wanted more people on patrol in Daisy Powered Armor? No. Nao slapped down those doubts and crushed them into a small, unnoticeable ball in her mind. Nao would give her life for anyone else aboard this ship, including Yuzuki. Otherwise, she was no better than the monsters they were fighting.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kotori nodded and waited in tense expectation. Seconds passed and became minutes.

Nyton raised the shields. Later the energized armor activated. finally, Miyoko disengaged the CFS cloak and tuned the sensors to military power, giving her a much clearer view of the battlefield.

Miharu emerged from the pocket dimension she had been hiding in with two seconds to spare before Yukari counted on folding.

The enemy - if they were alert - likely had noticed the intrusion... though two seconds was likely not enough to react to them yet.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Yukari did not let the two seconds become of any consequence.

"Folding now," she said, and the view on the main monitor was mostly a flash.

The ship arrived at the battlefield just a second ahead of schedule.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Just as Miharu's fold sphere misted away, Kotori's fingers flew over her instrumentation. "Drone bombers dividing away from main CFS bubble. Done. Drone bombers activating CFS stealth. Done."

She then looked up to the viewscreen ahead. "Execute FTL jump."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

A tap of the keypad by Yukari, and Miharu made the quick hop into FTL.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Miharu was a flashy streak as it blurred through space under one second through the 10 AUs that separated them from Amaya's Gate... and finally to hovered 10 light seconds away from the zesuaium-armored portal.

"Advance and engage!" Kotori ordered. "Fire at will once in range."

The command squadron yet sat still in an inverted-V formation. Miyoko confirmed Identification-Friend-Foe codes for them, confirming that the Vale-class Dominion was in the center, with the Vampire-class Noriko's Revenge and Watcher on Amaya's left, and the Xianthrafruglu-type Murmuglu and Phramplemulrp to the right.

She also had the same confirmation coming from the Nozomi scout and had them labeled as the Huli Jing, Kurohyou, Akeya, Kumiho and the Harionna.

The command squadron showed signs of weapon systems coming online - they had probably just sounded battlestations. The Nozomi scouts had done a quick spin around by the time Miharu's FTL jump was over and the energy spikes Miyoko now recorded indicated their were charging for a fold jump.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Yukari sent Miharu toward the Gate at full throttle.