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

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Mistress it is then. And I am certain you knew how much attention Nimura had garnered from me. I will have to work even harder than to foster some change in her. You gave me quite a project to work with, Mistress. Nyton thought, his mental conversation becoming just as fascinating as his spoken one.

"It is quite liberating to act how one truly is, isn't it Hinoto-san? Don't worry, I'll keep that to myself as well. I may as well do you that much of a favor since you are allowing me to live." Nyton commented, still calm but inwardly feeling relief.

"Now then, unless you have any idea of dealing with this, which I doubt you would mention since saying it will likely tip off Melisson, I suppose we do have a battle to return to." the Nepleslian suggested.

Nyton was trying to act normal but there was still something in him upsetting him. Not so much upsetting since he could not feel it anymore but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that if he ever got out of this he would be very upset with himself. He hated to lose.

"And if you don't mind my saying, Hinoto-san," Nyton then said, approaching the neko carefully, "Thank you. Words can't express my gratitude enough. I will try to be honest with you to the best of my abilities." he said. Whatever it was she was keeping to herself would probably have to wait. For now that gratitude had given his feelings for her enough motivation to reach down with his face to try and kiss her on the lips.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

It was not merely a complimentary kiss. Nyton's lips lingered on hers.

When he backed away, Hinoto came to the realization that the earlier episode had passed, but that his attraction for her still lingered. It disturbed her because someone deep down she enjoyed the attention, enjoyed being coveted.

Wary - not only because of him and how his actions could be tied to Melisson possibly handling him like a puppet but also because his attraction for her had stirred something in her she found dangerous - she nervously moistened her lips with and asked: "I outlined a plan to you earlier. You were too distracted to give me your input on it."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

There is something that I have been curious about while keeping it in the back of my mind, something I'm sure you noticed, Mistress. Seeing as you were the one giving Nimura her enhanced combat ability you would be able to gauge this but would she have been able to be a serious match for me then? And yes you know it is my pride that seeks this curious bit of information. Nyton thought to himself, the distress of speaking mentally to Melisson becoming less and less.

"That is true. I was a little too busy getting my mind stolen from me to listen I suppose." Nyton replied before reviewing his memory files. Even if he was not focused his senses would still record what was said and store it. One thing he relished while reviewing was the feeling of his kiss to Hinoto. He wondered if he could really focus with her present, even if he wasn't being influenced to the point of wanting to assault her.

"Very well," he began after reviewing the recording. "That sounds like a solid course of action since it would allow each team to support each other with appropriate firepower. I believe we should give each team another fire member for support. We cannot keep retreating everytime we lose a member and a three man team, even given the terrain, can still get bogged down should the enemy get lucky or we get stupid. Do we have anyone we could spare? Just two soldiers from our rear defense?" he suggested.

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At the hangar the medical team had arrived to receive Nimura and Tsuya, beginning to treat their wounds. Ayumu assigned Azuki to treat Tsuya seeing as her injuries were minor while Ayumu and another nurse focused on Nimura. They immediately saw to removing the damaged Daisy Armor from the sprite and handing the pieces off to an Armorer. While the process of removal continued they tended to Nimura's assortment of injuries.

The hole in Nimura's abdomen was of immediate concern even if it would not be fatal. Ayumu knew the hardy sprite would need to be returned to the battle after reading her dossier. They got to work bandaging and holding together the injuries while at the same time administering hemosynthetic fluid and pain killers. The hemosynth was given both intravenously and externally around the open wounds. Ayumu made sure to check to see if her chest area had any splinters or broken bones in there that may be pressing on organs. The labored breathing made her suspect some trauma was affecting her lungs. Her shield arm had been severely traumatized and was being examined for any breaks. If none then it was possible the muscles had been bruised to the breaking point. Along with those injuries the other nurse went over Nimura's shoulders seeing as those had taken damage as well. The damage was also serious although keeping Nimura breathing was a higher priority. The nurse scanned the shoulders and found the bones had been splintered. She quickly got to work applying hemosynth to let the fluid sew up the bones and regenerate the missing pieces quicker while helping the body expel or recirculate the splinters.

Azuki meanwhile scanned Tsuya's body to ensure she had not broken anything. "Do you feel sharp pain in any specific parts of your body? Let me know if there is anything you need me to double check." the nurse in training asked while administering pain killer intravenously to Tsuya. The armor readings showed that while much painful discomfort had been given to Tsuya her body had not suffered any serious injury.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Miharu's Sensor Dome:

"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Nyton could feel the smirk in Melisson's voice, could imaging her leaning back to relax in some high backed chair, folding one leg over the other. "That is hard to tell. Nimura was endowed with a mixed tapestry of nekovalkyrja traits I sampled from my slaves - an amalgam that improved her capability to excel in the face of adversity."

"I'll try and keep it simple, seeing you are uninitiated: each of the pieces had a ceiling point in their potential, but each was had affinities with different elements which provides Nimura with a broad palette of qualities."

"You ask which is better? Though Nimura was turned like this with the expectation that it would help even out the odds against some of Eve's best such as the twins, I still expected Masako would generally perform better than Nimura. Imagine my surprise when I saw Nimura survive a situation Masako did not. So, given that, even I find the answer to your question nebulous."

While Nyton carried on his inner dialogue with the voice, Hinoto was answering him. The nepleslian noted that his mistress' voice was not a very distracting factor - he could carry on any activity without feeling too contingented.

"I think the two teams we already have is good enough," Hinoto affirmed. "For example, if a Black Mindy appears, three of them will be able to counter her while the other three can still attend their present objective. Same if they have to deal with being attacked from behind. In ideal circumstances, all six will be able to mow down the opposition much faster than their previous teams of 3, meaning they will suffer significantly less from attrition from multiple battles."

* * *

@Hoshi's launchbay:

To Ayumu's dismay, Nimura only tolerated her ministrations for a couple of minutes before she decided to shrug off the attention. She raised her impressively bruised left arm to flex it about in verification of how well it would function.

That just had to be excruciatingly painful, especially considering how swollen the area around her shattered shoulderblade was... and now Nimura seemed of the mind to turn and board a fresh Daisy armor.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Masako's rage calmed a bit as her XO spoke to her. The Warrant Officer allowed herself a lopsided smirk at Yukari before speaking. "The one who will need the luck is that Black Mindy pilot, not I." she responded with a dangerous tint to her voice. "I have a few ideas on how to stop her and if it succeeds--let's just say the aftermath will not be pretty," Masako stated as she turned to hide an almost feral grin.

It took a bit of willpower to suppress it, but she was already out the door by the time her expressionless facade had returned. It was only a few minutes before the raven-haired Warrant Officer would arrive in the Powered Armor Bay and look upon her team. Still clad in only a towel, the young Masako glanced over at Nimura as she moved for a new PA. "Belay that Nimura-hei," Masako's voice cracked like a whip throughout the interior of the bay. "You will allow the medics to finish or I will have you stay behind."

Moving for the Daisy that had been prepared for her, the buxom Neko threw her towel off her body and to the side with a single movement of her arm. Removing the Daisy's helmet, the void-eyed Warrant Officer slid into the open Powered Armor and began to check her weapons systems.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"No pain," Tsuya said dully to Azuki. "Just patch me up and let me back into my Daisy."

When Masako entered, Tsuya's eyes tracked her across the room. The death of the team leader had been her first experience with losing someone in combat - it was her first actual combat, too. She was unsure how she felt about the woman's ST. It looked like her, sure, but was it really the same woman she had spent time with on Miharu? She certainly remembered the cupcakes, Tsuya had enough faith in Yamataian technology to believe that, but her lips had never actually tasted them...

She grunted and shook her head a bit, returning her eyes to the medic treating her. "Are you finished yet?"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Delaying any further would be inefficient, Juni," Nimura promptly returned. "The Daisy's flesh insert can regenerate me just as well, especially considering I can still function."

The sprite removed the helmet off one of the unused Daisy armors and then floated up, made a 180-spin to board her unit at about the same time Masako boarded hers. As the chestplate secured itself around the sprite's frame, Nimura asked: "If you insist on diminishing your already meager fighting strength, I will report to Freeman-Juni."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Masako sighed in exasperation at Nimura's response. Her anger, after all, was not to be directed at those who probably worried about her death. No, her anger was for her enemies. "While you maybe correct in that assumption Nimura-hei, you are dangerously close to insubordination as it is. My suggestion would be to not skirt that line too much." the Warrant Officer stated as she glanced over at the young Tsuya.

She couldn't help but wonder what the enlisted woman was thinking. Masako's face was an expressionless mask as she lowered the helmet over her head and secured it for further diagnostics of her systems. "I still plan on keeping that promise, Yamada-san," the elder Neko sent via telepathy as she flexed her Daisy's arms to test them.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nimura donned her armor's helmet and unanchored her Daisy from the holding frame.

Unfortunately, supplies for heavy equipment was threatening to run scarce, so the sprite had her M6 remain in its default configuration so to leave more armament to the assigned Grenadiers. She still could use the plasma rifle of her previous Daisy, but most of the LASR had been issued to the sprites guarding Miharu so she found herself filling the empty shoulder rack with the less frequently used LASR Mk II.

Silently, she moved to board the Fox shuttle again.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tsuya's mouth turned up of its own accord as Masako chided Nimura, and she had to cover the smile with her hand. The warrant officer's telepathic transmission, though, made her blush so red she couldn't hide it.

"I was hoping you remembered, Kurohoshi-j - ...sama," she sent in return as she waited for the medic's approval to reenter the new power armor.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Azuki finished looking over Tsuya and nodded her head. "Alright Hei, you should be ready to go. The pain killers won't keep you from functioning at full strength!" she said before pulling off the IV and cleaning up. With a thumbs up Azuki moved away to let Tsuya go on her way.

Meanwhile Ayumu had already read Nimura's dossier to aide her determine what sort of bedside manner she required. While not surprised at her shrugging off her attendance she was still concerned in that there was till much work to do. "Nimura-san, you really need to work on your people skills." she replied, cheerful enough although hiding a bit of exasperation. "At least give me some sort of warning before you get up and go." she added before keying in some commands on a volumetric screen. As a nurse she added her authorization to the CIES for an extra medical consideration via AIES to focus more attention to Nimura's shoulders via her suit. "I suppose that is the best I can do given the circumstances." Ayumu told Masako.

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On the bridge Shizuka and Akiko worked diligently to finish sweeping up and moving all the large pieces of debris to be properly reconstituted. Once they finished up Akiko looked around and cheered in delight. "We did it oneechan!"

Shizuka nodded quietly and then faced Kotori. "Taisa, my sister and I have completed our task. Is there anyting else you would require of us?"

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I am no geneticist but I think I can comprehend the idea of manipulating a series of superior traits into a training program. It is only what my family has been doing for generations the old fashioned way. I am a little disappointed that Masako perished how she did. I believed she was a lot stronger than that. I suppose I overestimated Nimura as well. At the same time though the thought of possibly facing such an opponent capable of knocking them down so easily excites me. I do enjoy making my kill but the harder the kill the better, don't you think, Mistress? Nyton thought. It was strange but in the back of his head something said that his enjoyment of their discussion was indeed odd. Then again how often did he get to talk with a tactical genius of Melisson's caliber? Even if they were on opposite sides he had to admit that her skill was admirable.

"Very well then, one more attempt with the present strength however I think we should have a third team standing by as an immediate response force. That way there should not be as much delay between reinforcements. I just don't want to waste time and resources pushing with inadequate strength when one more thrust using the majority of our forces would do the job in one go." Nyton responded. Part of him desired to go flying in there himself to add to that response force.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kyou immediately triggered her capacitor once she was under cover, in an attempt to bring her shields back online as soon as possible. "Not a clue, I didn't see a thing! They can't teleport this close, can they?"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The door opened to the bridge, and Yukari bowed toward Kotori. "Taisa," she said, then calmly took her spot at the navigator's seat, her blue visor returning to her face. Her pigtails rested over the front of her uniform.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom needed to move. The repairs were going along steadily, there was nothing he could do that Yuzuki wasn't handling well. He had already looked over the repair log a bunch of times. Each sprite was doing a specific job that didn't necessarily require his help. Besides, they would ask him if they needed it.

Essentially, he had nothing to do. A sudden problem he discovered that sometimes came with being an officer.

"Yuzuki," he said. "I'm going on patrol."

He took special notice of how insulated from the world he felt in his Daisy. It was as comforting as it was depressing. The security of thick metal, regenerative liquid and powerful weapons wrapped around an unnatural second skin. It was a shell that hid his true self from the world.

He left, following a route which would bring him across the entire ship.

"Yukari," he ventured out to her with telepathy. "Is everything ok? We didn't really have any time to talk.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Yukari was already immersing herself back into Miharu when she heard Tom speak to her. While she unconsciously registered his telepathic signal, the ship registered his IFF beacon, placing him in her internal view of the vessel.

He sounded ... lifeless. It made her recoil in her mind and grit her teeth.

"Things are not good, or bad," she said, trying to force some warmth into the computerized sound of her telepathic voice. "They are what we must deal with now. The NH-23 Kotori is dead ... and she told me many things before she died. I do not know if any of it included clues about how to proceed, but I am not processing it for another minute.

"I was trying to write a song for her, when we crossed paths at the Main Passageway. Something by which to remember her, as she was alive, too."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"I see... Tom replied. "That is a relief. I thought the pressure of everything might have been getting to you. It... it hard to lose a friend, and it brings me happiness to know that you respect the fallen in such a way.

His beacon was moving out of the subdeck and towards the Hoshi.

"The repairs of Miharu are coming along nicely now. I want to extend my thanks to you for keeping us alive as well as my apologies for my insubordination earlier. It was a necessary step towards our survival, but the costs were... high. The mission was essential, however."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Yukari bit at one side of her bottom lip.

"No one enjoys being made a fool, but I served the purpose the Taisa and the NH-23 needed me to serve. It was for the best."

She paused for a couple seconds.

"We are going to survive this, Tom," she forcefully sent as she started running diagnostics against her proposed maneuvers, testing for maximum capability. "Even if I must be a fool for most of it, even if you must be slathered in grease for most of it. We will survive this."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom recoiled slightly at the strength behind Yukari's telepathy, but it came more from instinct, as a child would move away from a sudden, loud noise, than emotion.

"Of course," he said. "It is my intention to survive this mission as well. We have a wonderful future together, but we must do our best here ... first."

Yukari could hear the engineer taking a deep, controlled breath.

"I'm sorry, Shosa. I am sending you an update of our repair logs and will resume my duties now."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom had his shield. Yukari had hers. If he was at all going to respect hers, as he had in the past, she had to do the same.

So she did not.

"No," she replied. "I am not just the 'Shosa.' I have a name. Please, use it. Let me know you are still here, with me."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom paused at Yukari's reprimand. His eyelids slowly opened and closed a couple times, taking in his lover's voice.

His eyes were red and sore. His face contorted into a small grimace of pain before, just like that, the thinnest wisp of a smile formed on his lips.

"Yukari."

His steps slowed.

"Sorry... I'm just... tired," he said. "But I still have you. As long as I have you..."