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

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Fortunately for Akiko, all she had to do was clean. It was certainly a mess but the two sisters got to work. Now that Shizuka was here there was marked relief in her demeanor.

Shards of metal, debris, even bits from the ceiling and panels all had to be cleared. They first got about consolidating the mess. Certain items were still very hot, not cooling down even after all this time. Using what they had which consisted of mainly their hands and some propulsion brooms to help push the sharper smaller pieces, the mess would soon begin to lessen. Although by the time Tom announced his departure they were still only halfway done.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Miharu's bridge:

"You are dismissed, Juni," Kotori said over the work of the other two caretakers. "Be careful down there."

Tom suspected the well-wishes he had just been given were mostly motivated by the maxim Kotori had been handed down from her foster father: to avoid doing things you would end up regretting - she had told Tom about it back at Scorpio. In case she did not see him again, she tried not to part on harsh words.

@Miharu's sensor dome:

"Ah..." Hinoto reflected on Nyton's question a moment before answering: "Six was a good number. Good enough to fare adequately and move quickly as a coordinated unit, and yet small enough to leave ample room to maneuver within select locations. It gives the enemy only six armors to take into account, but their superior numbers are canceled out by the smaller section of this base, and their need to spread out any location in case we surprise them with something else."

"This fog of war the station's composition offers affects us just as much as it affects them," the sprite noted as she idly flicked white hairstrands behind a snow-furred ear. "It wasn't a place made in anticipation of invaders so their internal defenses and redundant communication systems appear to be nil beyond their telepathy."

She looked back at the Nepleslian lieutenant. "If we can get Kurohoshi, Yamada and Nimura back in there, we should be good. Nimura's hurt, but she won't stop unless you make her; and Yamada seems alright outside of damage to her armor. Also, the armors being replaced can be fixed in the meanwhile... so it's much better than entirely losing them in battle."

Hinoto pointed to the layout of her ring-shaped Gate. "If we can have them going clockwise through the ring, always moving forward, they'll eventually sweep it clean."

"This leaves the extraction point vulnerable, but we can simply remove the shuttles from the hangar and leave them outside until they are needed. If the team reach the end of a segment and enter into another hangar and are in need of additional resources, the shuttles could enter that hangar, resupply them and remove them."

"The rear of the Black Knights will perhaps be vulnerable if some defenses stall them for an extended time. Having two teams together, though, allows one to act as a rear guard if needed, and leaves one free to tangle with any unpleasant surprises like a Black Mindy while the other deals with eliminating the other defenders."

Hinoto moistened her soft lips - Nyton was suddenly assaulted with a strickingly powerful urge to satisfy sudden erotic longings with Hinoto's beautiful body; with a very faint alarm in the background of his more cybernetic functions that his ADN protection had failed. His hormones were going wild: he found himself desiring her very, very badly in ways that his memory loops would appear very shallow compensations.

Ignorant of this, the sprite asked him: "What are your thoughts on this?"

 

[Tom]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom bowed formally.

"Take care of yourself, Taisa.... and I'm sorry."

Feeling ashamed, he left in a hurry.

What is wrong with me? I made her angry... I'm endangering everyone... but... wasn't what I said right? I mean... did she want me to lie? Is that what I should have done? To make her feel better?

This, in combination with thoughts of Masako, made him run faster. She died and he was having an argument with the Taisa?

And Yukari... she had just been acting so strange. Was everybody cracking?

If so, he couldn't afford to join them. He slapped himself a few times, reddening his cheek with the blows, before he took a few stabilizing breaths and resumed his trip to the subdeck with slower steps.

 

[Aendri]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kyou sighed, letting out the breath she'd been holding in. "While I understand where you're coming from, Westwood-Hei, I'm not sure how many more of those I could handle." She stretched her shoulder. "And if you really want a fight, I'm sure we're not the only ones headed for that location at this point, so you may just get your wish."

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Hinoto's last words were almost lost to the sudden desire burning within Nyton. His eyes were certainly a lot wider and his breathing became much shallower and rougher. He tried to think of anything else even bringing up vivid memory recollections of his very recent painful episode. Even that, which he had not grown tolerant to yet, appeared to pale as well to the lust assault he was enduring. If anything it may give him a few moments to move a little but his feet felt as though they were weighed down with heavy lead if he moved in any direction except towards Hinoto.

Nyton lost himself for a moment in that sensation. It had been so long since he had last laid with a woman. In his pursuit of military excellence he had not allowed himself distraction even while surrounded by beautiful Nekovalkyrja. PNUgen never made an unattractive one, the only differentiating factor had always been their personality and whether he could stand her or not. Hinoto was different however in that she held a much higher standard of beauty for all Nekovalkyrja. His thoughts towards ravashing her were already taking a firm root in his mind and it was all he could do to set it aside long enough to say something.

"I think-" Nyton gasped, "I think that you're beautiful." he said before realizing that was not what he had intended to say. The cybernetic portion of his mind that was not affected by this strange urging was displaying all sorts of alerts before his eyes.

WARNING! Cerebral chemical levels are out of tolerance! Suspected psionic assault! Internal ADN insufficient. Memory Loop Protocols insufficient. WARNING!

The warnings began to flood his optics to try and block Nyton's vision but he closed them as quickly as possible so that he could look at Hinoto better.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Hinoto returned a confused, doe-eyed look. It was a nice compliment, but it was also out of context in her own frame of reference.

It made her look so delightfully feminine and vulnerable!

Despite Nyton's fascination and voluntary service to Kotori, Hinoto was - on Miharu - the most desirable nekovalkyrja. She was nice, gentle, soft-spoken, helpful and generally pleasant to be around. she had strongly feminine, girlish attributes. She was achingly beautiful, slender and yet well endowed, lithe and yet lean enough not to be weak. Her mind was young, but she was brilliant, with a shrewdness he could appreciate.

Any weakness her womanly softness hinted was belied by the steel he knew could be in her eyes - the only nekovalkyrja to stand up to Nimura. She was a young nekovalkyrja he could covet, take, and mold into something much stronger as her mentor, and that he could possess for a lover if only he'd allow himself. She was practically his for the taking thanks to the typical nekovalkyrja naivete.

The sprite approached him in concern. She had noticed his perspiration. "Taii?" She asked in concern, raising one hand to touch the top of his flesh-and-blood arm. Her touch, through his clothing, sent his nerves aflame. He didn't want her to touch him only through his clothing.

"What are you waiting for boy?" Thomas Claymere's voice echoed in the back of his mind like it often did when he was faced with dilemmas. "You're a nepleslian, a man of action! Neps don't stand gaping before challenges. They boldly take the initiative and then benefit from the rewards they have justly reaped through sweat and hard work!"

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

This is wrong! came the faintest of protests.

Nyton was losing himself. Upon Hinoto's faint touch he could sense a tingling deep within his groin. The shape in front of his pants had grown unruly and stiff. He had denied himself the comfort of a woman's touch so long that it was driving him crazy to the point where his entire body was twitching. It was overpowering him slowly and the warm rich feeling over him could only be quenched by the young nekovalkyrja before him. So many thoughts surfaced and each harder to resist and more welcome than the last. So much time had passed since the last time! I could ride Hinoto on the very floor of the sensor dome here and now! After we're done here I'll take her to my room and let her ride on top of me! I could keep going! I know I can! I'm so backed up I have ammunition to spare! I could fire a few in her mouth before I mount her again and grind myself into her until we're so sore and swollen we can't even pull off each other. he thought to himself vividly. It was more vivid than the story he had told her when he found out about her drawings. He felt as though he would no longer be in control of himself and while it was what he wanted it was also very frightening.

Fear! Use that! Strengthen your grip!

Nyton was afraid. Fight or flight! He was afraid and it made him hold on for just a little bit longer. He couldn't run and it was a losing fight! He was losing control of himself which meant something outside was manipulating him. The incessantly annoying warnings from his internal cybernetics made it plainly so. He had to warn Hinoto before he did something to jeopardize the mission.

But the desire was so strong! He was a man in the desert, dying of thirst. Here was Hinoto, the little fragile delicate flower with the durable stem and hearty roots. Her blossom was strong enough to grow in a desert and bring beauty for miles around.

No no no no that was not my grandfather. He never said anything like that. I should know I've only been studying him my whole life! What would he really do!? Nyton thought to himself before realizing that he was again at the precipice. All alone and with no guidance!

Without realizing it Nyton began raising his right hand to touch Hinoto's face. The very tips of his fingers felt aflame as they anticipated the feel of her skin against them. The last time he had seen something this delicate had been in the baths when Kotori had shown such a vulnerable moment. She was so strong and yet so fragile. He had looked directly into those shimmering eyes and felt drawn into them. The desire he was feeling now was comparable to then except now he understood it clearer. He had wanted to follow through then and now. He wanted to pull Kotori's face to his own and drink deeply of her. He wanted to feel Kotori's body next to his. They were friends and colleagues and he relished it because he felt as though he should strive to be better around her. But he wanted to be more than just friends and confidant. He wanted her in a way that was similar to this. But it was more subdued and more natural. This didn't feel natural. It felt forced and unwelcome yet strange in that he wanted it regardless. Hinoto really was so beautiful that he wanted to savor her fruit. RIGHT. NOW.

Perhaps if they had not been in the middle of a battle he would not have had the same amount of resolve. But they were and it was with much regret that he initiated one last course of action. There was still one more part of Nyton that was cybernetic and had not failed him yet. Using his cybernetic hand he grabbed the left upper thigh of his leg. Initiating an emergency protocol to grab hold of something as if he were falling the fingers of his hand began to excruciatingly dig into his leg. The pain shot through him and was such a shock that he was able to snap out of the lust for the briefest of moments before he suddenly fell down. He was crushing his own leg in order to resist this sensation long enough to shout a warning.

"Amaya-! Psionic attack! Can't resist-HELP!" Nyton gasped while crumpled on the floor, his fingers digging into him. The pain was so intense that he was beating the floor with his other hand just to endure it. His active commands to let go were conflicting with the warnings from his other internal systems. It was the only thing keeping him from releasing his leg and jumping Hinoto with the intention of satisfying his lust with her body.

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

It didn't take long after Nyton had left for Miyoko's own medical visit to finish. She still wasn't going to be winning any beauty pageants any time soon, but the worst would heal in its own time... a bunch of scratches and bruises weren't going to kill her any time soon. Probably.

She at least had time to requisition a replacement uniform. The fresh uniform felt better than the old one, not being grimy from the explosions that had rocked the bridge or the resulting smoke... not that that made up for the fact that she'd practically been tenderized. It at least hid the worst of the damage, making her look halfway presentable again.

Once she was dressed again, Miyoko smacked her hair (mostly) back into place, transferred her rank pin over to the new uniform, and slid her belt back on, then headed back toward the bridge.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Sensor Dome:

"See Thomas?" his father's voice, Anthony's, sounded scornfully in the back of his mind. "I told you Ny was too much of a chicken to act like a man. Too principled to show that fucktoy what a real man is beyond her gay-love fantasies."

"C'mon, son! Don't disappoint me and prove Tony right!" Thomas' voice urged him. Something deftly touched his mind, ruthlessly tearing down his defenses as if they were flypaper. The influence - he hoped it was an influence and not just him - allowed his sense of the pain to recede, altered his grip to make it softer on his thigh, and the heady relief that came with the pain waning was quickly replaced by the feelings Nyton had so desperately tried to stave away. He was even starting to become blinded to his cybernetic alarms.

Hinoto's eyes had widened in alarm. "Miharu, what's the PSC status?"

"Psionic activity records as nil, Hinoto," the ship's AI informed her.

"Oh, the idiot is going to crush his leg if it means staying in control, even if it'll handicap him for his oh-so-important mission," Anthony shot back. "Can't even afford himself a little leeway inbetween fights. Always in fucking control - it'll be a laugh to see how he'll explain the broken leg to his commander. What will he say? That he wasn't man enough to fuck a neko when he felt like it, so much that he went and hurt himself?" The voice became sarcastic. "Now that's control, Ny."

The white-haired sprite showed her support to Nyton in the wrong way. She got closer, raising her hands to support him - she did not yet understand what kind of feelings had grips on him. "Stay with me, Taii," she said, her voice earnest and her eyes clear. "Non-psionics can use their sense of individuality and of self-determination as a defense. It's much stronger in adult humans than it is in the younger nekovalkyrja. You can do this."

Hinoto's words sounded hollow and unsatisfying. It was as overpowering as a tidal wave, and Nyton started to feel the futility of his struggle. It was nothing he felt he could muster the will to compete against - even his cybernetics were proving helpless to stop it! It was as if the animalistic beast within Nyton was awakening, shaking loose of the leash that was his conscience.

He was the monster. He couldn't fight himself.

Anthony's mocking laughter cut in. "Or you can go do that clingy neko. Go ahead, Ny. Use this 'self-determination' and deny yourself the fucktoy - you're the one who'll truly miss out. The bitches have softened you up and have made you into a mewling excuse of a man... instead of being grinded away, you should be the one grinding into her and softening her up!"

@Miharu's bridge:

When Miyoko came to the bridge, she found two of the caretakers busying themselves at cleaning things around. Kotori herself was sitting, having seemingly recovered from her earlier 'mental exertions', and was sliding an ornate comb through her hair.

"Heisho," Kotori greeted Miyoko, giving her a sidelong glance. "Hoshi's CIES sustained damage when the Black Mindy boarded us. I'd like you to get through the crawlway and investigate the damage that was done to the unit firsthand."

 

[Kyoki]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Rin:

Miharu sent Rin a minimap of the compartment she was in, with a label on the valve she was looking for. It was just outside the door of the wing pod she was in, above the base of the capacitor. She'd have to float up to reach it.

"I can shut down the coolant flow to this pipe so that you may work," Miharu offered to Rin. "But you'll only have 52 seconds before the risks of damage to the CFS become real. If you do not patch the hole up by then, the pressure of the pent up steam will likely cause the pipe to rupture."

Rin could imagine the scenario; hot steam shooting out like a razor, slicing into her before the overwhelming pressure of it all caused a minor explosion in the immediate area.

Rin gave a small nod. 52 seconds wasn't much time, especially to waste some of it having to actually get to the valve. Best let Miharu do it. It'd be faster. The sprite gathered up the necessary supplies, namely equipment to be able to weld the breach together.

"Okay. Miharu? After you seal off the pipe, keep track of the pressure. As long as you can keep it shut, but do not let it reach catastrophic levels.... Re-open the pipe before then, even if I am still working."

It would be better for her to die than to have an explosion in which the CFS was damaged or destroyed. It left a very heavy feeling in Rin's chest as she finished prepping.

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

When Miyoko came to the bridge, she found two of the caretakers busying themselves at cleaning things around. Kotori herself was sitting, having seemingly recovered from her earlier 'mental exertions', and was sliding an ornate comb through her hair.

"Heisho," Kotori greeted Miyoko, giving her a sidelong glance. "Hoshi's CIES sustained damage when the Black Mindy boarded us. I'd like you to get through the crawlway and investigate the damage that was done to the unit firsthand."

Miyoko nodded in response to the order. "I'll head in and take a look." It was going to be a busy day... she'd just have to hope that the damage was limited to easily replaceable parts and didn't involve surrounding systems, or she'd have to coordinate with Tom's technician team.

Miyoko was a bit stiff as she dropped to her knees to get to the access hatch, thanks to her bruises limiting what motions she could take without pain. Once she had access, she headed into the crawlspace.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Miyoko:

Whoever had decided to create the crawlspace Miyoko was inching through deserved to be smacked upside the head. It was tight, made a one meter descent along with a one-eighty turn and it was making her painfully aware that her body was still tender.

She emerged inside the CIES' chamber. The place would be dark were it not of several volumetric diagnostic screens that had lit up upon her entrance.

Miyoko, however, had no need to check upon them to realize what the problem was. Her nose took in the acrid smell of burnt circuitboards and she saw how a shard of metal had apparently been sent flying via the bridge's viewscreen into the computer's chamber to stab through one of the lower quantum processors.

Luckily, Miyoko knew through her training that the damaged unit was just a peripheral of the core unit. If she could disconnect it from the CIES' core and have it reboot, the advanced functions of Hoshi's AI would be restored. Processing speed would make a 30% drop, but the CIES running at 70% was better than it running in SAFE mode at the current 40%.

 

[Tom]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom plopped his helmet on, the door to the subdeck opening before him. The mask was on again, a gloss of professional detachment concealing his wounds. He looked at his diagram of Miharu he made at the start of the mission.

He noticed one of the blips on his ship visual making its way through the crawlspaces in the ship. He focused on it, analyzing the information it gave. So Kotori sent Miyoko, eh? He changed her color to a bright blue.

He turned his attention again to the map, counting the blips. Little dots milling about, doing their jobs, like a colony of ants.

Soon, there'd be another blip, Masako coming back like nothing had happened. With a shake of the head, he placed a counter in the medlab where her new body was being created.

It felt so alien, this detached counting of lives, all individual people with individual personalities grouped into a collective mass, serving a mother organism, Miharu.

No, not Miharu. Kotori.

Counting all the ants, in light of Masako's passing and soon-to-come revival... was the life of one of any importance at all? Under the weight of the mission, did any of them matter? Millions could die in a matter of moments, and some general would just call it 'a necessary sacrifice.'

That level of detachment... it was commendable.

"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."

He wanted to contort his face into a grimace, but the anger wasn't there, just an empty pit of smoking, spent charcoals.

Rationalizing makes the pain go away, Kotori, he confessed. It's how I cope.

His eyes absently blurred over the image of the ship.

I'm tired. Nimura... her approach isn't so bad after all, you know? She can mow down enemies so easily, deal with everything, flip off her emotions like a light switch. I wish I could do that...

A thin, melancholy smile cracked his lips.

No, no. Yukari wouldn't have that now, would she? She needs her man of integrity, right?

The smile faded.

...

A message to Miyoko, text only.

If you need any help with your work, don't hesitate to ask.

-Freeman-Juni

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Ugh. Yes, Miyoko's body wasn't making the crawl pleasant for her, and the ozone-and-ashes smell of slagged electronics didn't help things. Upon arriving, she at least had enough space to push herself into a more comfortable position. The problem was almost immediately obvious to her--it didn't exactly require Kessaku certification to see that rent in one side of the processing unit. What she'd need to do next, that required a bit more.

Miyoko crawled back up the passageway to sit half-outside of the crawlspace, her feet still dangling in it as she addressed Kotori. "If I restart the C-IES, I can speed things up..." She glanced a little nervously at the sensor feeds still being displayed on her own console. "But for that short time period, you might not be able to control the ship from in here, unless the Miharu's MEGAMI can pick up the slack. Permission to reboot?"

A message to Miyoko, text only.

If you need any help with your work, don't hesitate to ask.

-Freeman-Juni

Miyoko responded with a message of her own.

I'm going to need to reboot the C-IES to effect repairs.  Please let me know if this will disrupt any work your team is doing.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Miharu, can you take over?" Kotori inquired to the MEGAMI's AI.

"We're designed to able able to function in tandem like that as long as both ship modules are connected. It shouldn't be a problem." Miharu answered.

Kotori looked back down to Miyoko. "Go ahead, Heisho."

 

[Kai]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Before long, Kai had returned to the hangar, as it wasn't particularly far away. He noted the two Neko who were there, the Helmet-less Nimura and the somewhat damaged Yamada-hei. He was concerned over what happened to them exactly to kill Kurohoshi-juni and so damage Nimura and Tsuya. The fact that there were Aether burns on the floor didn't make the Heisho feel any better about their relative safety.

"Westwood-hei. Gunshin-hei. I want you two to secure our entrances and make sure we are not taken by surprise if we are attacked again." The Yamataian then turned to the two survivors of the Kurohoshi team, asking them a question.

"What exactly was it that did this to you? How much damage have you given it?" Kai didn't want to take any chances and get his team mauled, as well.

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Miharu, can you take over?" Kotori inquired to the MEGAMI's AI.

"We're designed to able able to function in tandem like that as long as both ship modules are connected. It shouldn't be a problem." Miharu answered.

Kotori looked back down to Miyoko. "Go ahead, Heisho."

"Should be ready shortly," Miyoko replied as she slid back down into the crawlspace. The operation was still fairly simple--shut down the C-IES, disconnect the damaged processor, then tell it to start back up. Only the fact that she had to let the unit verify her Kessaku certification made it something that any given Hei with a bent for science or engineering couldn't have puzzled through.

The small room briefly went dark as the computer shut itself down, the displays around Miyoko going dead for just a moment. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic... She disconnected the damaged processor and turned the C-IES back on, then waited to make sure that it passed all of its self-diagnostics.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Amaya's Gate hangar:

Nimura turned to look at Kai's helmeted head. "The enemy was a Black Mindy," she tersely answered him. "She took only light damage from the Fox shuttle's aether cannons before she teleported away."

The sprite's eyes narrowed. "Heisho, we nearly ended up being easy kills for her. Whoever killed Kurohoshi is in a class of her own and not someone we should fight one-on-one."

@Miyoko:

The CIES booted. Several fans started whirring again. The self-diagnostic too a bit longer than usual as the system adjusted to the lack of previously installed hardware. Finally, the Artificial Intelligence came online.

"Compact Integrated Electronic Suite online," Hoshi's AI said, and Miyoko noted for the first time how the CIES tone and address was as different to the MEGAMI as Mara and Hinoto were different in personalities. It was the first time Hoshi spoke to Miyoko, rather than the Miharu-dominant joining of the two computers speaking to Miyoko. Miharu was lively and opinionated, Hoshi was gently pleasant and helpfully informative.

"Operations of the Kansashi-type auxiliary vessel are now optimal," Hoshi reported. "The performance drop is negligible and should only be noticeable during electronic warfare - please take note of this and initiate most of these actions from the MEGAMI Integrated Electronic Suite. Thank you for taking care of me, Saito Miyoko."

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

After years of dealing with the snarky Miharu, Miyoko was surprised by the Hoshi's formality. She started to give a soft laugh at the ship's politeness, but that flexed her side that had slammed into the chair, and she ended up trailing off with a bit of a pained cough. "I guess we both took a bit of a beating," she commented as she pulled up a few diagnostics to double-check her work. Satisfied that it was done for now, she closed down the displays and promised the ship, "I'll try to replace the scrapped processor after the battle."

For now, she left the trashed device in place. It was safer bolted to the floor than anywhere she could quickly stash it for the moment. Miyoko pushed herself back up out of the crawlspace, then hauled herself to her feet with a grunt and brushed the soot off of her knees as well as she could. "One of the processors was hit with shrapnel," Miyoko explained to Kotori as she closed the hatch into the crawlspace again. "I've disconnected it for now, so the Hoshi will be a little slow for electronic warfare until we can replace it. Also," she added, remembering the message Nyton had asked her to relay, "Claymere-taii headed to the sensor dome. He'll be commanding power armor operations until Kurohoshi-juni is recovered and asked for me to handle Tactical in the meantime."

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Well done, Heisho," Kotori stopped her combing to nod to Miyoko approvingly. "Assume your station. Between you and I, we will hold the fort while the others tend to other matters."