Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate
Why ... ?!
Yukari was trying to stop herself from endlessly repeating the question in her mind. A dizzying storm of responses kept her from picking one, leaving her in the center with just the question, over and over and over.
She threw herself into
Miharu, amidst all the infinite sums of data the computer processed every second. It was like jumping into a cold pool, feeling her Neko brain be overwhelmed by the processes around her, but it flushed her mind of the distraction of
do something.
Analysis was her only answer.
Miharu helped her replay the incident in her head at lightning speed. Hinoto's succinct report, Nyton's cutting her off, the confession, the reply, the parting shot, the truly parting shot, and Hinoto's request.
Included in this was Hinoto's head wound, which Yukari got to see on the replay. That was present before the other events, so she started there.
She could not see the extent of the wound, but it did not bleed enough to make Hinoto faint, so it could not be that bad. The wound's cause was revealed with a very quick scan — some of Hinoto's blood-tipped hair was on the dark grey floor of the Sensor Dome.
Pulled out hair ... A struggle? Between Hinoto and Nyton? Why? Yukari filed that part away.
The confession was completely out-of-character for the cold-steel Taii of Nepleslia, a man of consummate professionalism and integrity. From Tom, such words might have meant something ... but from Nyton they only sounded awkward. Out of place. That he did not have to chew on every word as he spoke them made it even more strange.
What would cause such a confession? After all, the last time Nyton and Hinoto engaged in much conversation, Tom had to step in and mediate. Besides, what about Kotori?
Psychic attack was the obvious explanation, but the PSC registered no activity.
Hinoto's reaction was no less strange. She
knew Nyton was not of sound mind. She said as much, but did not say why.
Nyton's last words were the key. A "condition." What kind of condition? Mental? Physiological? Cybernetic? When did it show up? How does it affect him, his subordinates, his commander? Why did it manifest now? Why does Hinoto have to cure it? There were no answers, only assumptions.
Assumptions aside, Hinoto felt strongly enough about it to end Nyton's life and remove his memory chip. Did she want answers? She could not modify the chip's contents without manually connecting it to some kind of reading/writing device, so answers were a likely scenario.
The wound bothered her. The events immediately before the confession/execution showed the avatar and the officer working together without entering two feet of each others' space. There was no struggle, no argument. Nothing to cause a head wound.
Miharu's virtual shrug as to why the evidence conflicted with her recording was a clear sign of a conspiracy. Hinoto was the likely source of it; she was capable of that level of manipulation, where Nyton was not.
Why would Hinoto let Yukari see the murder, though? Evidence was the best answer; evidence showing the murder was not out of cold blood, but to reveal something else. The cause of her injury?
Miharu could do that, if Nyton was the cause. It had to be something only Nyton could prove. A conspiracy on his part?
She added it up. The only evidence that could confirm how Hinoto suffered a head wound was covered up by the victim. Hinoto then cleverly assassinated a fellow officer, in full view of the executive officer, after he uncharacteristically confessed his desires for her and sarcastically asked her not to give up on curing his condition, which was not described.
If a battle were not imminent ... Yukari breathed and decided.
"I trust you, Hinoto-san, but the Taisa will expect a complete explanation. Please do not keep us waiting long."
The orders to Sanjuro were succinct, and in text form in a glowy blue volumetric panel before his eyes.
Ashitaka-Heisho: Defer your current duties and begin manufacture of a Nepleslian body for Claymere-Taii, complete with the brain-based cybernetic data recorder system you have on file for him. Hinoto-san will be along shortly to provide the Taii's recorder chip.
Now came the hard part: Speaking to the Taisa.
Telepathic speech, converted into a text panel, made the most sense.
Yukari introduced the events as something that occurred a few minutes ago, summarized those events as recorded, the evidence she had about what happened, and her basic conclusion: Hinoto-san's killing of Nyton Claymere was justified on its face due to a possible conspiracy on Nyton's part, but further investigation was required.
She ended the missive with, "I understand the need to keep this confidential from the crew while we are amid the battlefield. Nyton is being restored with his memory device in tact. What are your orders, Taisa?"
