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

[Tom]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

If Tom had the time to look up from his repairs, he would have. But, instead, he just worked faster.

"Frankly, I was going to execute her," he answered truthfully. "For sabotaging our ship with her betrayal. At the time, this is what I believed to be the case."

He bent down and picked up the cracked panel of the console and put it back on. It made a pleasant clicking sound.

"Considering the secrecy of the NH-23's existence, and my confidence in Yuzuki's abilities, I feel my decisions were prudent. Had the NH-23 been remotely sabotaging the Miharu, her death would have released that control, putting it back in our hands."

He rubbed some nanomachine gel on the cut in the glass, which caused the splintering to bind just like new.

"Your ruse, it seems, was perfect."

----------

"Energy grid is compensating," Miharu replied to Nao. "Circuit routes 23 and 24 are stressed, but operational."

The cords that were jumping on the ground now laid still, giving Nao the opportunity to approach and repair them.

"I encourage repairs of the cabling," Miharu said. "The CFS is currently suffering a 2% decline in operation due to rerouting issues."

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Saito-Heisho, once you are done here you need to return the bridge and let the Taisa know I will be joining Hinoto at the sensor dome to assist in coordinating the Armor teams. You will have tactical while I take command of Armor operations. At least until Kurohoshi-Juni is revived." he then added to her.

"Understood." Miyoko's voice was restrained now. Masako's death had finally brought her the rest of the way back down to earth. She sat quietly, allowing somebody else to take care of her own medical needs for once and only occasionally flinching when the nurse tended to a particularly unpleasant cut or scrape. Miyoko had never gotten on well with pain.

 

[Kai]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"...." Kai was silent for a moment, taking in the news of the Juni's death, so soon and so suddenly. This meant he was the highest ranked armor pilot now, and therefore, technically in charge until the Juni was resurrected from an ST backup.

"But we haven't Sabotaged the generator sufficiently" the Yamataian muttered, shaking his head and responding "Acknowledged." Kai moved out of the room after signalling Asher to follow him, firing a few more Forearm weapon blasts into Kyou's NH-18 for good measure before calling his team to follow him quickly back to the hangar.

 

[Kokuten]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"What? All fucking ready?" Asher said dejectedly, he seemed extremely disappointed. He had just experienced the rush of battle, frying some NH-18's and surviving without a scratch. It was exactly what he wanted, except for the disgusting tentacle part. Now they needed to go back?

"Aw man..." He shoved his foot into one of the corpses and then followed Kai out.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Nakamura Team:

"There's nothing you could do from here, Heisho," Hinoto told Kai. "That's starship-grade armor and shielding. Nothing you have around will appreciably dent it. They must have made it like that so to help endure the enormous dimensional shearing of the region, but that also helps them protect them from invaders like us."

* * *

@Miharu's bridge:

Kotori sighed. "It's hard," she confided.

"Back in Tsuyosa, Tsutomu-Chusa thanked me for rescuing the fifth Fleet's Kinkou group along with the civilian vessels carrying the survivors from Taiie." The Taisa stood up and walked to the bench, where a sooty lacquered wooden box rested. She dusted it off some. "She thanked me, as a Ketsurui Princess, for helping save them."

"Back then, I scorned her thanks and told her that it was thanks to her hard work and vigilance. It wasn't what she wanted to hear. It angered her... and I recently understood why."

Kotori opened the wooden box and extricated from it the tortoise-shell-and-amber-stone comb Nyton had gifted her. She held it up in the uneven lighting of the bridge. "Tsutomu wanted to be reassured. She wanted to be made to feel safe. After a tragedy, she wanted hope. All I gave her was the grim reality."

The raven-haired neko's hair had been slightly mussed by the earlier fighting. She returned to her seat and started combing her hair. "Being a princess isn't just about being priviledged and trying to accept those for the prestige of the ruling clan."

She pensively stroked the comb down a long inky lock of hair. "It also isn't only about me obtaining the power I want and use it to ends I desire."

"Being an imperial princess is about bringing hope to those I work for - not rule over, work for. I should order, but only to promote their well being, only to provide the guidance they have empowered me to give them. With my hands, with my voice, I must engineer the ideas, tools and initiative needed for their prosperity."

"Eventually, they will look up to me to lead them... and I will be no different from Eve if I do things only for my own sake and my own sensibilities."

"But," another comb stroke. "Winning and ensuring victory carries a harsh price. I do what I can, think up what I believe are clever ruses, make what I believe are calculated risks and I struggle to make sacrifices I feel will be worth it, for a cause I have faith people will be able to sacrifice as much as I do. I-"

The comb froze. "Don't die inside like that, Tom. We do all of this so that what we care for will live. Seeing you rationalize this makes me feel that you have no faith in what we are doing after all. I know I have faith in you, and I know you respect me, but I do not know if you have faith in me. If you don't, after all this time..." she shook her head. "Can't you show me that you are happy we've come this far in our journey? Can't you show me that this is worth it?"

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Thank you Miharu." she replied. Nao now carefully worked her way to the smaller cords on the ground, now safe to handle because the current was redirected through to the other main feed cords. She pulled one end of a cable over to her. As she walked around the damaged main cord to get to the other end of the smaller culprit, she gave it a wide berth while eying it's damaged bits. She imagined it's energy almost wanting to reach out and touch her. Nao gave it some more distance as she brought back a jumble of damaged cables to her safe spot, properly matching up the ends and cables like couples. Finally, a nanomachine paste was applied to bind them back together, and electrical tape to cover up the exposed portions. Nao retreated a safe distance from the cables and sent current through them again. They were fine.

"Miharu, can you please check that the damaged main feeder cable's current is down to low enough levels for hot glove work with my suit?"

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton had finished adjusting his uniform while on the move. The trip to the sensor dome allowed him time to think. He had to piece together what he had learned from the combat footage. Alright we've been stopped by Meni and Mani. They have teleportation units that allow multiple use. Apparently this Suzuran is one of Eve's psionics, maybe even a youngling. She has some sort of control over fire? Not sure about anything else. This proves that the psionics among them have varying powers. We can at least scratch that one from their fold.

Arriving at his destination Nyton beheld Hinoto as she worked from her nerve center. The way Nyton saw it, their position was tenuous at best. Their access point was no longer secure seeing as their shuttles had to evacuate Kurohoshi's team remnants while covering retreat. That left Nakamura's rear flank exposed, especially if they were pitched against an entrenched foe. The enemy wouldn't just leave the same point unsecured either so they may have to insert reinforcements elsewhere.

"Hinoto-san, can we monitor the enemy's movements to ensure they do not attempt to outflank Nakamura's team? They need to be aware that their position has possibly been compromised. Also we may need to find another access point. I believe our current one is unsecure and may need to be shifted." Nyton inquired before his mind began to ponder a few things.

"Do we have any sort of demolitions we may employ against those reactors? There must be someway to break through that, whether it is starship grade armor or not." he said while going into his thinking pose.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Hinoto had been standing before the central monitoring console under the sensor dome. The white-haired sprite looked almost ethereal as the multiple volumetric windows floating in a semi-circle in front of her casting colored glows over her pale countenance.

She turned around to look at Nyton and answered: "The current hangar is about as secure as we can get, Taii. Most rooms on each side have been cleared and it looks like the structure's personnel is presently evacuating from the immediate vicinity. This may soon change, but it does mean that in the meantime, other locations of the Gate are more occupied."

"My sensor data is limited to line of sight due to fog of war - the place is very well shielded from sensors thanks to internal xiulurium plating under the zesuaium outer hull, so, our perceptions here rely only on what the Black Knights can supply us."

"Finally, as for explosives..." Hinoto's soprano voice trailed off as she reflected on that and she answered: "A torpedo warhead would be what we have, but we'd need to scavenge it out of the rollbar launcher and that would take time. Aside from the hazard to our people to use such powerful explosives to defeat the protections, I would also point out that the Taisa never made any mention of sabotaging or disabling any of the Gate's internal system - that was on Kurohoshi-Juni's own initiative."

"If," she pointed to three locations central to each segment. "we take control of the control rooms here, here and here we should gain control of all of the station's function, including control of any internal defenses and the operation of the gateway itself. This would allow us to wrest it out of enemy hands and preserve it for our own ends afterwards."

 

[Tom]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Although Tom had moved onto the mainscreen, rubbing the nanomachine paste along the cracks, his movements slowed and then stopped before Kotori's confession. A shiver went through Tom's body, and he brought his head down slowly against the clear, glassy surface. His right hand opened and fell onto the screen, an armored pawprint that left visible smudges of grease behind.

"Kotori," he said. "Don't you remember our conversation after Bowhordia? 'I can never go back to the way things were. I can only move forward.' You said 'I found the darkness, but that didn't make me a lesser man.'"

With an aching push, he turned around and faced Kotori.

"'To live is to fight,' you said. I've spent my time since Bowhordia following the message behind those words. I, everyone have sacrificed so much following those words. We've subjected ourselves to pain, to despair, given our lives for you, so that we may follow your words."

Tom's glistening eyes held his angry tears in check, but his cheeks reddened.

"Faith? Our faith was never in question, Taisa. Do not insult us. You are family to us... to me. But you ask me to be happy, after this? Do not project your weaknesses onto me, as if my forgiveness is some sort of spiritual elixer! As if it makes this all better! Rise above that!"

He took a couple quivering breaths, rubbing his eyes with the sleeve of his armor, finding only cold metal scraping against him. When he found that had little effect, he gave up trying to hide his tears.

"We are opposed in our perspectives, and that may always be so... but you are still family, damn it! And I know what you did you did because it was necessary. And when we get out of this, I will still invite you to our wedding. You will come to Ralt and experience the joy of our simple life, and you will be a guest of honor because you will have made it possible for us to achieve our dreams... to show that our faith in you was well founded, that in this sick world there is still something worth holding on to!"

-----------

"Decreasing feed to main CFS cable," Miharu replied. "CFS unit operating at 47% capacity. This level should be enough for your suit to withstand."

Nao had to work quickly. The ship was intentionally weakening itself for these repairs.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kotori stiffened. She bend her head, hiding her eyes beneath a fringe of black hair. The comb and the hand holding it went to rest over her lap.

"You jerk," she forced out of her mouth. "Stop staring at me and get back to work."

 

[Tom]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom turned around and resumed his work. It was then that the report of Masako's death came to him. The tube of paste dropped to the floor.

"Damn it," he muttered. Could the timing have been any worse? Masako...

He bent over and picked up the tube off the ground, fumbling with it a moment as he struggled to keep himself together. Don't be weak. Not in front of the Taisa.

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton listened and watched the screens again. Honestly he would have rather just obliterated the damn thing and let it take all of Eve's forces with it. But that was out of their reach right now. Which way could they go now though? "I don't know Hinoto-san. It's what I would do." he said before looking again at the layout they had so far.

"Do we need to take control of all three or can we hold just one? And to get to them we need to break through whatever the enemy sets up for us. Unfortunately while they may be retreating they could be reinforcing." Nyton asked before another thought hit him. "What about a Chibi-MEGAMI probe, if we stuck one inside the facility would you be able to better see inside?"

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Ayumu ran up to Sanjuro with wide eyes. "Heisho, the Taii has ordered a medical team to be assembled to meet two injured pilots at the hangar." she said with a hint of fluster. She had been preparing herself for this but it still was not her forte. "Heisho who do you want to send? I-I can get a pack ready in one minute and be right there. I just need to know who you want to send." she said, going over what would be needed to get her nerves under control.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The sprite turned the chair to face the cable. The moment the Miharu replied, Nao pounced; she floated over to the damaged main feed cable and landed beside the gap. Her covered body worked quickly and swiftly to smear the nanomachine paste into the damaged section, a small applicator wand smoothing it out; Nao didn't want a single bit of her to so much as touch the damaged section. With the proper amount of paste in and shaped, she carefully tore out the largest lengths of electrical tape she could to cover up the gap. As soon as she was sure the little machines were finished, she used her gravity manipulation to float back over to the chair she left facing her way. Firmly seated, Nao spoke.

"Try it now Miharu. I hope it works."

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Miharu's Bridge:

Kotori had in the meantime resumed combing her hair.

The strokes of the comb halted around the same moment as Tom learned of Masako's passing. Then, they became brisk, harsher strokes. Her expression was unreadable, her amber eyes half-closed into slits.

* * *

@Miharu's Sensor Dome:

"I am uncertain," Hinoto answered Nyton, turning back to her displays so her silver eyes flicking from one screen to another. "I believe that occupying a single control room is not enough - others would override our attempts to take control. If we remove enemy presence from all three, however..." she shrugged, believing she had made her point.

"As for chibi-MEGAMI probes, we have none. Even if we had some on hand, it is likely the fog of war would affect them inside and limit them to line of sight in the exact same fashion Miharu's own electronic suite cannot penetrate very deeply in unless we already have nodes of our own network - the AIES - inside."

 

[Tom]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The cracks were quickly sealing in the main screen, the paste spreading across the entire damaged area, mending the spiderwebs in the glass. He quickly moved on to another console, replacing more glass. Next came the dangling air system in the ceiling.

"Taisa, could you please make sure the main screen is functional?"

He looked kind of silly trying to shove back parts of the ceiling into spaces they belonged.

--------

Upon Nao's command, power coursed through the cable and into the CFS.

"CFS is operational," Miharu replied. "Running diagnostics now."

A moment later, the report came in.

"CFS at 99.7% functionality," she said.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kotori stopped her combing and verified Tom's request, accessing the viewscreen's functions from her console. However, all they saw were the flash of sparks behind the glassy surface Tom had just mended.

"The damage to it appears more than surface deep," Kotori noted.

 

[Tom]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Argh," Tom said with a shake of his head. His tears had stopped, leaving his reddened eyes squinting in confusion at the problem that presented itself. "Well, I guess I have to take down the whole panel. Do we have time for that?"

With a final shove, the ceiling unit was back in place. Tom quickly soldered the metal to hold it in place.

He began contacting the caretakers to come in and do some cleaning.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Our volumetric screens will make up for the lack of main viewscreen," Kotori pointed out. "As long as the volumetric projection works."

The Taisa's voice sounded aloof. She obviously did not want to talk to Tom and made no secret of it, though she didn't let that escape the bounds of civility.

"Hoshi's computer must have had sustained damage beyond the viewscreen's assembly. I'll have to send certified personnel down the crawlway to assess the damage the CIES took during the boarding."

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton felt a little frustrated now but it looked like they were going to just have to test the resolve of the enemy. He swallowed hard and left his thinking pose, instead balling his hands into fists. "Hinoto-san, if we need to take all three then we will need to push through whatever they have and destroy their forces along with morale. As soon as our forces have regrouped we need to muster all of our firepower and concentrate it. No more spreading out. How much personnel can we spare to present a solid charge?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Akiko heard the summon from Tom and felt her heart almost leap out from her chest. Putting away her cooking apparel Akiko began running towards the bridge. With much hesitation Akiko walked into the bridge and greeted them. "Sh-Shimabumi-Hei reporting!" she blurted out and was about to bow in respect when she tripped over her own feet. Almost tumbling forward before the entire bridge crew Akiko was saved from hitting the floor by a timely catch from behind. Feeling her wrist pulled by someone she was lifted back up to her feet and found herself face to face with her sister. Shizuka calmly stepped forward and bowed in respect seeing as the Taisa was indeed present. "Shimabumi-Hei reporting." she said sternly before looking back to her younger sister.

Not being able to help herself Akiko let out a sob. "O-oneechan.... I-I was so scared without you!" To this Shizuka patted her younger sister on the head and nodded. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone for so long Akiko-chan but you need to be a big girl right now, especially in front of the Taisa." she said with a stern but loving tone. Akiko nodded, still wiping tears from her eyes before sniffling to get a hold of herself and turning to face back at the bridge.

 

[Tom]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

As the sprites came in and did their cleaning, Tom sighed and shook his head. He felt there had been some damage done between he and Kotori. The heaviness of the air made that apparent.

"I'll take care of the dispatch," Tom said. "The bridge should be mostly functional for now. Permission to leave."