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

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Amaya's Gate:

Nimura shook her helmeted head at Tom and then her hands struggled up to remove her helmet. The Daisy's helmet then slids out of the power armored hands as a pale faced Nimura strained to force the M6 power armor's inner release, forcing the armor to widen at the shoulders so she could wiggle out.

Tom then understood why the stoic sprite had been experiencing such difficulties: the skin around her shoulders was blue and swollen - both her arms had been dislocated and she had been forcing them to move anyways. Even if she was not expressing pain, her shuddering body did show that she was at the very least experiencing a lot of it.

"The armor is not fit to be juryrigged back into working order, Juni. Neither can I presently efficiency fight," Nimura answered him.

Meanwhile, Kotori listened to the discourse between the Black Knights. She was secretly glad Nyton had answered for her. She used her skin vision to scan around the room, still not seeing any signs of the teleporting Black Mindy armors that had harassed her infantry personnel thus far, before thinking aloud: "Not being attacked by Meni and Mani during this time is a good sign. If Amaya has little defensive assets left, she must be consolidating them. They're hurt."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Glancing over at Nyton, Masako frowned a bit under her helmet. It was logical, but she didn't feel right about leaving the Taisa unguarded. "Sir," she affirmed as she made her way to the shuttle. Replacing her LASR with another Bazooka, the Warrant Officer replenished her ammunition and mini-missiles. She also switched out all her LASR and SLAG ammunition for more Bazooka rounds. It would only take a few moments for the experienced Warrant Officer as she took the time to glance over at Nimura.

"Nimura-hei," she began to transmitted before pausing for a brief microsecond. "You did well. Just rest and we'll take care of everything else." Masako sent before turning from the shuttle and stood beside Nyton. "Ready, Taii."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom looked over Nimura's injuries quickly. He wasn't a medic, and the engineer was happy that his face wasn't visible to the sprite. Instead, he tried considering her injuries from a mechanical perspective.

"If we can get the nanomachines from the hemosynthetic insert into your injuries, couldn't they help mend you faster?"

He motioned how he would lightly make an incision into her shoulders and would smear some hemosynthetic paste there. He made sure not to actually touch Nimura's injuries, however.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"I do not require surgery. If you do not understand how to tend dislocated limbs, then you should likely not attempt to," Nimura returned critically. "Mara will perform proper reduction for the dislocated limbs."

Mara turned in her seat to look back toward then. "Um, well, I guess. I know how to. I figure her self-healing will handle the bruises and have her combat capable in... fifteen to thirty minutes?"

"You should get moving, Juni," Nimura added. "The rest of this battle is yours to handle."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton looked around one more time and checked everyone's status again. Over their encrypted communication system he sent out data files from the analysis Hinoto had made regarding Mishhumachina, Black Mindy teleportation units, psionics, and the durability of the structure they were in. "Alright from here on out there will be no more discussion regarding the Taisa. The enemy likely knows she is here but I don't want to chance letting them get anymore intel regarding her location."

Time was ticking down but there was still enough for one more run down. "This is crunch time folks. Alright form up just like Kurohoshi-Juni said, Gunshin, Freeman, Ichigo, you three are front, Team One. Wedge formation, Ichigo on point, Freeman and Gunshin on right and left flank. Kurohoshi and I will take center flanking each other, Team Two, Westwood and Nakamura in the rear flanking each other, Team Three."

Nyton pulled up a map on everyone's screen to show them their current position. Most of it was still 'unknown' since they had not explored it but the scans from the Miharu gave them the best theory of what those areas appeared to be. The map showed their current location and highlighted avenues of advance with cover they could use during approach in the counterclockwise direction. "We will advance down the path you just came from. Given a choice between terrain that's been shot up and visited previously to that which we haven't looked at I'll take the better known route. Kurohoshi, I want you to send your drones down as far ahead of us as possible. Nakamura, same goes for you but yours will be trailing us from behind. The enemy already knows we're here and doing so won't tip them off any better. If the enemy decides to put another Mishhumachina in front of us then Team One will collapse and take cover. Team Two will provide security and assist in drawing it out while Team Three covers us and secures the rear. Remember, subspace missiles to defeat the barrier followed up by a barrage of heavy firepower. Try to time them together so the machina can't react to both. If the same type of attack comes from our six then Team Three collapses while Team One secures the front."

The timer continued to count down and Nyton noted that there were a lot of bazookas being sported by different members. Hopefully it wouldn't slow people down, the one on his back was almost as tall as he was while collapsed. "If the Black Mindy twins decide to start teleporting into the middle of our formation and taking potshots at us then Team Two will react while Teams One and Three provide surrounding security and assistance. We don't know what tricks the psionics will have so stay alert and keep your defenses up." Nyton unconsciously double checked his own ADN device just to be sure it had been activated and was running properly. "When in doubt blow them up but keep the self destruct on your missiles ready to cook off quickly in case they try to throw it back at you. Expect the Nekomachina to be heavily armed with anti-Armor weapons and zesuaium shields and remember that even the terrain might be our enemy as proven by those shape shifters you've already encountered. Coordinate your shots and cover each other."

At that second the timer counted down to zero. Time's Up!

"Alright Black Knights, form up and move out! GO!"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Amaya's Gate:

The Black Knights deployed and retraced over the path they had previously taken counter-clockwise of the station. Using the access corridors, they made a swift sweep of the first power room, then crossed another access corridor and a vertical passageway to reach the control room; and then descended and continued to the other power control room the Mishhumachina had stalled them at.

No lingering enemies. No sign of hostiles. No hit-and-teleport attack from Black Mindy armors.

They reached the next hangar, which was in considerably better condition to the one they had made the initial landing it. The difference was actually jarring - it looked so clean one could've been tempted to eat off the very floor. There were many metal containers that were open in this section. From their numbers and the way they had humanoid shaped harnesses inside, a likely guess for their purpose might be to carry around stored up nekomachinas. All were empty, though.

Pass the bottom hangar was the continuation of the main accessway. The Black Knights scouted out the first power reactor room available from there only to get into a thick firefight with a squad of well-equipped nekomachina. Mostly relying on energy weapons and their forearm weapon on heavy burst settings, they managed to have the nekomachina resistance crumple down before they were able to mop them up and secure the chamber before they had time to make an orderly retreat and seal the corridor leading to the next control room.

By this point, they could make two observations.

The first was that Nyton's Super Phalanx was by far their most effective unit on the field. However, even the Super Phalanx's zero-point power supply was negatively affected by the Blue Rift's spatial anomalies. The skirmish taught Nyton that he could either use his plasma projectors, recharge his barrier if it sustained damage, or use his gravimetric propulsion. Despite the greater power the Super Phalanx boasted, in some ways it was more limited than the Daisies would were running off battery power.

The second was they were picking up phantom static from a lot of encrypted telepathic chatter. Abruptly, that encryption was cracked, leaving the Black Knights able to eavesdrop on the command and coordination chatter of the enemy! (even though the Black Knights had no equipment at hand that could crack encrypted telepathy)

"-then have the nekomachina posted to fire from cover over the ceiling's corner. Izumi, Nagisa, Yumemi and I will be dropping down to confront them. The rest of you stay poised over the ladder and provide fire support."

"Hai, sempai!"

"Nee-san, will Meni and Mani come?"

"They're busy helping outfit Surtur. We have to hold until the unit goes active. That monster is the only thing we have left that can turn the tide."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The lack of enemy activity, except for the rather annoying fire fight with Nekomachina, had put Masako on edge. Something had to give considering there should have been more resistance than this. Then came the sudden ability to listen into the enemy's encrypted telepathy, which seemed entirely too much of a coincidence.

Using her own encryption in combination with burst transmission, the young Warrant Officer contacted both Kotori and Nyton. "That seems too much of a coincidence," she stated. "If this is true, it means we know what's up ahead. If it isn't, couldn't this be a trap?"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom motioned for his team to pause and set up a defensive position in light of the new information pouring into their armors. As he was scanning the area, he awaited further instruction from his superiors.

The sudden inclusion of the enemies telepathy into their conversation was very unexpected.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Eh heh heh heh." Asher chuckled, his grip tightening around his rifle as he started to bounce on his toes again, "Surtur, eh? Now that sounds like a fight." The Malifarian only seemed more excited because of this information, despite Meni and Mani already being something more than he could handle. It was something in his blood that made him tingle and dance every time he knew he was about to go into something life-threatening.

"Y'know what'd be cool? If we could juss' laze' a target in 'ere and have tha' Miharu juss' punch a big ol'hole in this section. Juss' y'know, erase these guys, so we cn'skip straight t'tha' fun stuff. Shit, that'd be a hell of a boom too, eh heh heh heh." chuckled Asher darkly.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The teams had performed smoothly and efficiently making the battle with the Nekomachina a simple exercise. The lessons Nyton learned from the battle were vital. Using the combat computer he was attempting to apply a means to work around his limits.

"Telemachus, one of the biggest impairments will be lack of gravimetric propulsion in time with the plasma projectors. Try to adjust the timing so that I can use propulsion bursts in conjunction with momentum to maneuver during combat."


"Try to squeeze it in between actions as necessary and if we are taking sustained attacks where mobility is not as essential."


Telemachus heard Nyton's voice sound calm but it could detect his frustration at the limitations the Blue Rift was causing. During the time on Ether while the subject of the Blue Rift's phenomena had been brought up but there was no way to fine tune the system to compensate. Such access to the PHALANX technology was restricted to the KFY vessel.

This adaptation though had to be made quickly. There were more pressing matters pushing Nyton to react. The sudden telepathic chatter was odd and uncertain.

"-then have the nekomachina posted to fire from cover over the ceiling's corner. Izumi, Nagisa, Yumemi and I will be dropping down to confront them. The rest of you stay poised over the ladder and provide fire support."

"Hai, sempai!"

"Nee-san, will Meni and Mani come?"

"They're busy helping outfit Surtur. We have to hold until the unit goes active. That monster is the only thing we have left that can turn the tide."

Click to expand...

"That seems too much of a coincidence," Masako stated. "If this is true, it means we know what's up ahead. If it isn't, couldn't this be a trap?"

Click to expand...

Listening to the intercepted encrypted telepathic transmissions along with Masako's suggestion the Nepleslian paused to think. "I wish we could make contact with the Miharu and get some data. Encrypted telepathy shouldn't just suddenly get picked up like this."

Nyton then motioned for the team to reconfigure. "Team One cover the entrance to the next control room. Team Three cover our six and keep security on this side." he ordered while coming closely to Masako before opening a direct line to her.

"Kurohoshi, I want you to send in your drones and give us some insight on the next room. We need to at least get a look so that we can track possible enemy positions via AIES. If the enemy is there then we won't have much time to react so we'll have to get ready to move in with targets locked as fast as possible. A barrage of guided missiles may keep the enemy occupied enough to let us charge in. At that point we follow up with some more heavy demolition and keep the enemy pinned and reactive." Nyton stated. He then looked at the diminutive neko with an inquiring glance.

"Your thoughts?"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Yuzuki fretted, and she wasn't very good at it.

On the one hand, she had an engineer injured in a dangerous space. On the other hand, the space needed at least somebody standing by, for when the ship returned to proper operation. Yuzuki would gladly have put her own body in harm's way, but that simply wasn't possible anymore.

Well, when the time came, there would be somebody.


And then;

"Okaa-san, who is in medical right now?"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Amaya's Gate:

Meanwhile, the telepathic chatter from the enemy continued.

"Yumemi, anything?"

"I thought I saw six Daisy armors and a Phalanx, but only very briefly. It all got muddled before I could get any details."

"Muddled? Since when does your clairvoyance ever gets muddled?"

"Maybe it's because the Gate is on," another rationalized.

"Too late for second-guessing ourselves - so, here's our plan of attack," another sterner voice cut in - the leader apparent. "Let's wait for them to get two-thirds into the corridor before dropping down. Nagisa and Yumemi, I want you two to focus on protecting us and the nekomachina... be ready to brace for explosive attacks; don't let any though - especially the Phalanx's plasma blasts. Izumi, you and I will use those bearing balls we got earlier as telekineticaly-accelerated projectiles."

"Can I use pyrokinesis too?"

"No point - they're pretty heat resistant and it's not like you can cook the people inside unless the PSC comes down. So, I'd rather we open up with that while slowly wearing down their PSC. With luck, Yumemi will be able to stun enough of them for us to finish off the rest ... I suppose you can use it then."

"Alright!"

Though Kotori was not privy to the words Nyton spoke to Masako, she herself told them telepathically: "I got a view of them." She told the Black Knights. "There are four NH-25 nekovalkyrja above the ladder ready to come down. Six more are in the control room - two NH-17T and four NH-27. There are eight nekomachina crouching on the walls of the vertical shaft, ready to pop-up from the ceiling to fire at you."

There was a short pause before the Taisa added: "I'm decrypting their messages. If I concentrate on them, they can't hide what they tell each others from me."

@Miharu:

"Nurses Kazuko Ayumu and Mizuki Azumi, as well as Chief Medical Officer Ashitaka Sanjuro," the ship's AI replied to Yuzuki. "They're presently treating Kichi - she was wounded earlier by a mini-missile volley from the Black Mindy intruder."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton grinned at the stroke of luck they were having. Apparently Kotori was already refining her powers. The intel gave them some crucial insight without the need for drones. He tagged identifications along with the powers that they could expect to encounter.


Nyton quickly messaged to Masako via direct encrypted comm. "Kurohoshi, send our 'aide' a quick telepathic message. Just four words. 'Appearance Description' and 'Keep Practicing.' I want to know who is who so we can focus on who to shoot at. Hopefully the enemy's abilities will get suppressed as well but we're not going to depend on that. That will just be a bonus."

He quickly sent out the list of identified enemy combatants over the encrypted channel to the whole team and then formulated their advance. "Alright we need to move in fast to stop them from activating this Surtur. However I don't want to tip them off that we know where they are yet. The enemy is planning on dropping from the ladder in a coordinated psionic attack. Four will be leading this strike while six more will provide support fire from the ladder point along with eight Nekomachina hiding along the vertical shaft. Their time of strike is when we arrive at two thirds into the corridor. Yumemi and Nagisa will perform defense with barriers while their leader and Izumi are going to use telekinesis accelerated ball bearings for projectiles."

"Ichigo, take my bazooka and load up with explosive rounds. Westwood, you be sure to load up with explosive rounds. Westwood and Ichigo will form on my flanks, bazookas ready to go. I'll take point this time, wedge formation again. We're Team One. Kurohoshi, you and Gunshin will follow up two meters behind as Team Two while Freeman and Nakamura fall in the rear three meters behind as Team Three. Each team is to coordinate their attacks on the enemy simultaneously. We will advance to about the half way point of the corridor, a good bit shy of their intended attack point but hopefully close enough for us to land accurate solid hits. Team One will commit to a barrage upon the ladder to prevent the psionics from advancing. Team Two, you will commit to eradicating the Nekomachina position. Hit it with a bazooka and missiles to flush out and destroy them. Immediately after we open fire with our initial strike Teams One and Two are going to rush the enemy's position and prevent them from catching us in the corridor. During the rush we won't be able to use our heavy weapons as easily so press in with secondary weapons in a suppressive fire storm. As soon as Team One reaches the ladder I want heavy fire being sent straight up at them. Team Two, you will then cover Team One while securing the rear. Team Three, you're focus is to cover Teams One and Two's advance along with picking off any enemy forces that might slip by the initial assault. Once the attack begins you will hold position and provide accurate suppression of the enemy in case any surviving Nekomachina scurry out or if the enemy manages to knock any of the advancing team members down. Once Team One reaches the ladder point and Team Two provides cover you will advance and join us in preparation for the next rush." the Nepleslian explained.

Nyton quickly created a small map detailing the plan displayed for all Armor Team members showing the intent of each team. Three dots representing Team One slowly advanced while two dots representing Team Two followed behind at a distance of a few meters. Team Three's dots were a few meters behind Team Two. Once Team One arrived at the halfway mark of the corridor they fired at the ladder's opening and began advancing faster. Right when the Team One dots did their attack Team Two dots also attacked the vertical shaft and advanced quickly. At that time Team Three's dots stopped and held position to cover the first two teams. As soon as Team One dots reached the ladder they began shooting up. The Team Two dots arrived shortly after and covered Team One. The Team Three dots then began to rush forward quickly to catch up.

"Does everyone understand your role? We move in ten seconds so let's do this." Nyton said enthusiastically. He couldn't wait to fight live targets again. At the same time he worried if the clairvoyant Yumemi already knew they were being listened in on and lied about her ability being muddled. Then again Kotori had mentioned she had 'seen' the enemy moving into position as described. This one time would be their only chance to fool them before Yumemi likely realized her clairvoyance was compromised. With that in mind he reasoned she would likely be one of the most dangerous opponents depending on just how up to date her clairvoyance could keep her.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Well, that answered some of Masako's questions, though the Warrant Officer couldn't help but grimace slightly at the information. Psychic Nekovalkyrja were all but extinct now a days in Yamatai, but apparently every last one of them had gathered under Eve's banner. Well, this will probably be the end for them completely now, the young Neko thought before switching her Plasma Rifle for her Bazooka.

"Understood," she would reply to Nyton before crafting an encrypted burst transmission for Kotori. It felt a bit wrong to just send four words when she could say so much more, but she followed the Taii's command and sent them anyway. "Appearance Description" was sent first before the subsequent "Keep Practicing" followed. With that done, Masako turned to Kyou.

"Gunshin-hei, with me," she ordered before frowning. One part of Nyton's plan that was flawed was the part about the Hei and her firing missiles and Bazookas. She didn't know what Kyou was carrying anymore with all the re-equipping and rearming, but she did know that neither of them had attack missiles. Masako pondered about bringing this up, but realized that Kyou and her could probably deal with the Nekomachina without missiles. "Do you have a Bazooka on you?" she asked over a direct channel.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Understood, Claymere-taii." Kai answered, quickly, stitching out his Plasma rifle for the bazooka, so he could give heavier support from the rear. While he wasn't too keen on just being cover fire, the Yamataian knew it was essential to a good fight and that they would need every bit of cover fire they could get in order to press on. In a few brief moments, the heisho had telescoped the bazooka out and began running through a listing of what ammo he had, trying to shuffle HE and AP rounds to the top of his magazines if they were mixed.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kyou grimaced in her armor. "No ma'am. All I have is Plasma Rifles and a LASR." She paused. "I... did have an idea though. If we're mainly trying to disrupt and suppress them, why not hit them with the Anti-Radar missiles? The chaff and distortions should shake them up, and should give us time to take them out."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"I gotcha, Clayboss, stick wit'chu and blow up tha' ladda', go to tha' ladda', and recieve support at tha' ladda' ." Asher chuckled, repeating his orders so that Nyton would know that he had heard them. With new orders and placement given, the Yamataian left Kai's side, and hustled up to Nyton, taking a spot at his right flank. He exchanged his plasma rifle for his Gauss Bazooka, and then aimed down the corridor for a moment, as if trying to sight it. In all honest, he was a little proud at being put at the forward part of the assault. It was like Nyton knew how to boost Asher's morale beyond the already existing height it was at. "Boss, y'won't regret puttin' me up front! I might have a lil' nick n'burn unda' my arm, but cn'aim good'nuff."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate


"Hello? If someone could give me a quick patch, I'll get out of the way and back to work." Nao spoke, stepping into medical. Though she looked relatively unscathed, it was already clear that something was wrong; her listless voice was already worth a note, but the sprite's posture was too...relaxed, slouching even. As Nao stood there waiting for her turn, the sprite started to wonder just how she got there. Though moments ago she was walking down the hallway like a zombie, the thought mildly entertained her for some reason, there was probably more to her short trip through the ship.

Stairs! That's right! There was a staircase Nao had to go up to get to the hallway leading to the medical lab. The stairs were a part of the multi-function bays, and she had...agonizingly taken a step at a time while holding tightly to the handrails. It had felt like an eternity going up the forever staircase for the sprite, at the top of which she had to take a short breather. For some strange reason, each step made her back hurt even more, much like an old person. 'Why was I feeling like an old person?!' she thought. Nao traced her steps back further.

The short elevator ride was nothing special, but it was around here that Nao remembered that the pain and exhaustion had started to kick back in. Even though it was usually crappy, the sprite occasionally wished there was elevator music in the Miharu. That was definitely one of those times.

Right outside the gravemetric engine Nao had to look over. Essentially 'hers' until stated otherwise. 'I remembered hurrying towards the elevator, but deliberately slow. Why was I going slow? Wait. I was worried about something. But I should be going faster if I was worried!' Nao tried recalling a little further back. Maybe that was where she found out what sent her there in the first place.

The sprite's eyes had glanced up at her personal status while monitoring the engine's status outside of it's room. Second and third degree burns on the back. Suit integrity was at a minimum then. If it was that bad then, then now...

Nao turned her head towards a distant mirror in the med lab. Or was it really that distant? She looked like she was slouching, yeah, but she wasn't really slouching. It was her life support pack. The AMES' backpack was almost melted off her suit and back, looking like a large drop of sap would while clinging to the side of a tree. She could make out the rough patch she had made to cover up the suit breach earlier, and several tiny holes she hadn't noticed.

She fell to her knees. "Just...just a quick patch up so I can get back to work. I'll find myself a new AMES on my own. No...need to. Worry."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Boss, y'won't regret puttin' me up front! I might have a lil' nick n'burn unda' my arm, but cn'aim good'nuff."

Click to expand...

"Glad to hear it Westwood. Alright let's form this up and move." Nyton said taking position and aiming his LASR/SLAG. Ichigo took her position next to Nyton with the bazooka he had given her. The Armor force moved out and began advancing. No sooner had they stepped foot when Nyton began to realize a flaw in his initial plan.

Hmmm, we're not going to hit anything like this. he thought as they set out. "Black Knights, slight adjustment to plan," he began, 'We're going to have to spring the ambush so get ready to advance all the way to the two thirds mark before we fire and rush. Team Two, you've still got those Nekomachina and Team Three you're covering our advance. Good luck."

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The medlab's lighting was slightly dimmer than usual but that had not stopped Azumi from noticing Nao's entrance, nor her condition. "Doctor, we have a situation here, stat!" she yelled as she rushed over to catch Nao before the engineer could fall further. Ayumu heard the cry and stepped out only to nearly trip over herself before she could take Nao's arm opposite Azumi.

"Oh dear, let's get her to a table immediately." Ayumu said as the two nurses lifted Nao up and supported her weight. They brought the injured sprite to an empty table and set her on her chest, taking note not to aggravate the melted area of her suit for fear of causing more damage. "Got get three bags of hemosynth and start an IV. We need to get this suit off of her." the head nurse stated before grabbing medical scissors and other cutting instruments.

Looks like she has severe burns under her suit. Get ready to apply fluid to her wounds once we have them exposed. She may be going into shock as well so have the hemosynth chamber on standby. Ayumu directly transmitted to Azumi via encrypted telepathy.


The AMES suit was durable and Ayumu was forced to put a good bit of effort before she could cut away one of the sleeves to allow Azumi an opening to begin the IV. "You're going to be just fine. Now can you tell us your name and what you were doing?" Ayumu said, trying to keep Nao talking.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Anti-Radar Missiles are used as missile countermeasures usually, but since they distort radar with aetheric distortion and chaff it might not hurt to at least try," Masako responded to Kyou before snorting. "Anyway, just use your Plasma Rifle and let me do most of the heavy ordnance work then." the raven-haired Neko stated as she inwardly cursed her pre-mission planning.

Switching to the team channel, Masako made a double-clicking sound to confirm her teams readiness. Now it was all just following Nyton's Team in and drive the Nekomachina out of hiding so they could be wiped out.