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

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Well I doubt we can carry it back to the shuttle unless you can find some way to slave remote it back. I have a feeling the Taisa will be using it to get back to the ship." Nyton said, beginning to grow concerned for Kotori.

"I know Kotori-sama said that Amaya was hers but we should check on her status. For all we know she may have already won but could use some help."

"I wouldn't chill out if I was you guys just yet, two a them Nekos that got away from me are still out there." Asher informed, setting the unit down at his feet and pulling out his Gauss Bazooka. "They flew in where that big fuckin' thing came out, so I ain't sure what they might be doin' right now."

"That's true. Ichigo, Freeman, if we salvaged whatever we can then let's get moving. We still have at least two known enemies still running loose and the Taisa is dealing with a third. Let's form up and move out so we can finish securing the Gate." Nyton said before kneeling down. Setting the saber rifle down he decided to keep one of Meni's ribs and stuck inside one of his ammo compartments. With that trophy obtained he then picked up the rifle and began to follow up on Asher.

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton directed everyone back into formation placing Asher on point with Tom and Ichigo flanking him. Kyou's injuries were slowly healing as her Daisy's hemosynthetic insert worked to tend them. Nyton was still land bound and unable to fly. On the Nepleslian's mark they advanced very slowly this time towards the hangar the Akuma had come from.

With sensors reaching out as far ahead as possible they tried to detect Kotori and Amaya's life readings. With the amount of power the psionic was capable of Nyton did not want to risk them getting much closer. If anything they would be more a liability to Kotori. The moment either one of them came up on their scanners Nyton would bring them to a halt.

If Kotori won a narrow victory and needed immediate help then they would have to be on hand. That was what Nyton had reasoned. Plus there was the matter of the two nekovalkyrja of whom Asher had reminded them about. If they were still lurking about then either they were past Kotori and Amaya or hiding somewhere before.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Amaya's Gate:

The view they had of the next hangar was one of pandemonium.

Broken crates and ruptured cargo containers littered the ground half-hazardly. Some, whom had borne volatile contents, were twisted, scorched wrecks that orange-red flames limned, licking toward the ceiling. There were the wreckage of a couple of forklifts and also large chunks of what Tom guessed had been a Jilanth shuttle scattered all around. Smoke rose over the debris, filling most of the top of the closed hangar bay with a pall of smog.

One of the shuttle pieces seemed to have been flung into one of the catwalks bridging across the hangar. That catwalk was now a twisted wreck; with most of it bent roughly 45 degrees down to touch the floor. It was almost as if the objects had been picked up and clubbed around the hangar, and even once broken up each piece of debris had continued to serve as giant (often jagged) projectiles.

There was one lifesign in the hangar, up on the right-hand side of the hangar's second 'catwalk level'. It was presently out of sight - they would need a visual on the lifeform to confirm its identity.

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

As soon as Nyton took in the scene through the AIES view from the pointman he ordered a halt. There was and immense amount of destruction and everyone was ordered to take cover and go stealth if their suit was capable. Once he was sure they were out of sight Nyton rattled off orders.

"Freeman, head back to the Akuma. Fix it up and get it ready for use but be ready to shove a SLAG round into the cockpit if it turns out Amaya is up there. Ichigo and Gunshin head back to the previous command center. I want you to pull out some of those circuit boards for analysis. I want plenty of samples to take back to the ship. Gunshin you assist her and pull security."

Grabbing the teleportation unit from Asher, Nyton then handed it off to Kyou. "And carry this back with you. If shit hits the fan here then I want you to also get this piece of technology back to the ship as well. Move out."

Looking directly at Asher the Nepleslian then pointed up in the direction of the life signs. "Westwood, deploy one of your drones out to investigate. Be extremely careful and keep your distance. We need to identify who is up there."

 

[Kokuten]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Asher shook his arm, glad to be free of having to heave their device around. He had less enough control of his left arm enough without weighing it's strain down with more weight. It allowed his loose limb to do more important things, like hold the end of his Gauss Bazooka which he did, aiming it in the general direction of the life form.

"Westwood, deploy one of your drones out to investigate. Be extremely careful and keep your distance. We need to identify who is up there."

"Copy." replied Asher dutifully deploying one his drones, and advancing forward. Since it's range was limited, Asher had to keep a certain distance to the remote controlled set of eyes. So, he only went far enough to where he could himself covered, while letting his drone get a clear view of the mysterious life-form.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Amaya's Gate:

"Come, Kyou-san," Ichigo turned and retraced her way back to the previous control room - passing by the junkyard of mishhumachina parts along with the abandoned Akuma mecha and the remains of the two Black Mindy - to attend to Nyton's orders.

Once on site, the sprite kneels by the already opened maintenance panel under the array of consoles and began lobotomizing the computer inside, pulling out clear alien circuit boards one after another.

* * *

Asher's drone ranged out into the hangar, its optic sweeping around to make sense of the smoke-obscured silhouettes of debris, broken machinery, and warped supports.

Slowly it ascended to get a view of the catwalk level and gained a visual on the lifeform.

It saw Kotori against the wall, pinned to it by a zesuaium wakizashi that had been driven into her to its hilt just an inch to the right of her bellybutton.

Her yukata was soaked with blood around the belly wound and the stain went down as far as the lower hem of the bathrobe, where red droplets intermittently dripped. Her left sleeve was also dyed red with blood that came from an open rip to her shoulder. That rip revealed a deep gash that had parted skin and muscle nearly to the bone. She also had an assortment of scrapes, bruises and scabs covering her exposed limbs, but those seemed like minor wounds.

A curtain of long black hair hid her face as her head was bent forward to stare at where the swordhilt produced - the hair to the left side of her face was drenched with blood and there was a sizeable scorchmark on the wall behind her, head level. Both of Kotori's hands were wrapped around the wakizaki's swordhilt and she was obviously straining in an effort to pull the blade out of her (which meant also pulling it out of the metal wall it had been driven into).

An Type 30 NSP rested by her feet, its muzzle stained with what looked like a residue of oil and melted fat (not to unlike how a frying pan looked after having cooked bacon in it).

Less than three meters away, Amaya's corpse rested on her back, her eyes lifelessly looking at the ceiling. The nepleslian woman looked almost unscathed by the battle she had with Kotori except for a large rent that had sliced through half her neck, severing her trachea, both jugulars and nearly reaching the spinal column - it was not the clean cut of a katana so much as flesh brutally torn apart.

Blood still seeped from the killing neck wound, sliding down the side of the neck to be filtered through the grate-like catwalk to steadily drip to the hangar's floor.

 

[Kokuten]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"It's tha' Boss, looks she got in a pretty intense fight wit' Amaya. Boss won, looks like it, took a blade to the stomach, but pretty much ripped out that bitches throat!" Asher relayed to Nyton, his tone indicating a certain pride of serving with such a commander. With his report sent he turned the corner and approached the wounded Neko. For a moment, he gave Amaya a glance with his own eyes before looking the Taisa up and down.

"Damn," said the Malifarian, tilting his head at the hilt, rather than instantly diving to help, "She got ya good b'fore y'fucked her up, eh, ma'am? Nice kill, by tha' way." He chuckled, putting away his current weapon to grab the hilt of the blade. His helmet turned towards her face, as if silently asking for permission, after a few seconds he asked, "Need some help?"

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

When Asher hovered up, the Taisa had half-turned her head in his direction. Through her black hair he saw one of her amber eyes fixate on him as he replaced her hands with his Daisy's armored gauntlets over the wakizashi's hilt.

"Please," she answered to Asher telepathically. "Pull out the sword in reverse to how it came in."

Now that Asher was up close, he noticed that the belly wound wasn't the only thing staining the Taisa's garment red: there was also blood trickling down her neck along with slow fat drops falling down her chin.

 

[Kokuten]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The Malifarian chuckled, securing his hands around the hilt tightly.

"What, iss' not like I c'n juss' push it on through, eh?" said Asher putting one boot on the wall. "Now... Here..." He started to pull, "We..." then he started to put his back and body into it, applying his own built strength, "Go!"

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Once Asher got himself straining at the blade at the right angle it slid out of the wall with ease. Kotori's reaction to the blade being pulled out was to tense up with a pained "Arhk!" cry coming out. That, along with her sagging and falling to her knees, finally gave Asher a good look at her face.

The source of the bleeding was now plainly obvious: the left side of Kotori's face - her entire left cheek, from the cheekbone to the lower jaw to the left corner of her lips - was gone, replaced by dangling shreds of skin and glistening muscle fiber. It was as if he had been granted a cutaway view through her cheek of her gums and teeth (molars and pre-molars also seemed cracked). The nekovalkyrja's labored breathing whistled out from in between uneven teeth as blood now also pumped out in regular intervals from where the sword had previously transfixed her.

The bloody puddle under Kotori, after the dripping crimson fluids had filtered through the catwalk's grate-like floor, was steadily growing with each viscous ripple.

As for the wakizashi now in Asher's hands, it had a 20 inch long blade and where the blade was not painted red with blood, the blade seemed to be transparent.

 

[Kokuten]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Hmm! This iss' a pretty nice blade... thought Asher, dazzled by the Wakizashi's properties.

"Say! Boss, think I cou--..."

For what seemed like minutes to him, Asher stared at his Captain. The damage to her face was unexpected, and even almost disturbing. He had just earlier drowned his boots in Mani's skull, doing something not too dissimilar. Yet, the Taisa, and her face... ...a face he respected greatly of the woman who commanded the ship that he not only followed, but saved his life at Taiie. Even if he couldn't tell, this was the Captain that ordered life be breathed into the body he occupied, an opportunity that let him experience such a battle.

The comrades he had fought with so far, the ones that had died, died swiftly. None of them suffered all such wounds and lived long enough to be consumed by their pain. In that moment, he had to resist lopping her head off to erase such an image. Even if she truly didn't feel the pain, it was the idea that she might have felt it that drove such an insane thought.

Instead, he went to one knee, blade supporting his weight one way as he looked at her closely.

"You alright, boss?" asked the Westwood, his tone less lively. It seemed to be the only thing he could work up.

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Good job rescuing the Taisa, Westwood." Nyton comm'd over to him. The sight of her injuries were troubling but he trusted in Kotori's resilience to keep her alive despite the damage done.

"Black Knights, we have confirmed the Taisa's victory over Amaya." was the quick message he made before stepping out, still wary over the last two remaining nekovalkyrja.

"Westwood, see if you can release some of your hemosynthetic fluid from your suit to pour onto Kotori-sama's wounds. That should help advance her regeneration." Nyton suggested while he kept his LASR up to cover them. At the same time he looked for anything that may be of use from a stashed medical kit to a sheet of metal that would work as a stretcher.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Thankfully for Asher, the catwalk's flooring was made out of zesuaium, so the point of the wakizashi - which was actually a transparent zesuaium sword - didn't punch through the material and send Asher comically sprawling down on his side.

"No, I'm not alright... but I'm sure Kai and Masako are worse off," Kotori answered. She extended her right hand to take the Type 30 NSP that was by her left knee and reholstered it to her belt, and then wobbly returned to her feet.

Using her lefthand to cover her disfigurement, she motioned to Asher to wait and then she looked down to address Nyton: "Taii, report. What's the condition of the two other opponents? Did you salvage anything?"

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton heard Kotori's telepathic communication and was a little flustered that he could not reply back in like. Nor could he fly up there to assist so he cautiously advanced towards them, still wary for enemies.

"Meni and Mani have been eliminated, Kotori-sama. Our engineers were able to salvage both teleportation units off of their suits. They are currently restoring the Akuma and gathering samples of the enemy's technology." Nyton announced over Asher's loudspeaker, using AIES to transmit over the link. He kept the volume low so that she could still hear it while not being too loud for any possible enemy detection. Unfortunately he had no other way to communicate over to Kotori since she did not possess a radio.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nimbly, Kotori gathered herself and leapt over the catwalk's guardrail to land lightly next to Nyton. Despite being mobile, the hiss of pain coming out through her teeth betrayed much.

"Then I take it their power armors no longer need their hemosynthetic inserts; I'll make use of them instead." Kotori, still speaking telepathically to avoid using her mouth, said. "Taii, I sent Sigurd to the last control room - get in touch with him via communicator and get a situation report from him."

Kotori turned away to head toward the corridor where Meni, Mani and the Akuma lay. She began limping that way, adding: "Oh, Westwood, that wakizashi you hold is part of a daisho pair. There is a transparent zesuaium katana in this hangar. Please find it - both are mine and I would rather not lose them."

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Understood, Kotori-sama. Please, use my body to lean against, your highness." Nyton said, this time over his own loudspeaker. He stretched out his arm to offer support while trying to shield her with his body. Using AIES he then attempted to communicate and locate Sigurd's position.

"Sigurd, status report. Have you managed to secure the last control room?" Nyton comm'd.

 

[Kokuten]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Uh..." Asher said, looking at the blade for a moment, surprised that the Taisa had been impaled on her own sword. At any rate, he had been given his orders, and directly by the Captain, so he gave both Nyton and Kotori a wave.

"Yes ma'am, n'sir." he said respectively to both the Taii and Taisa. Then, he hopped off the catwalk, and softened his landing with a burst from his thrusters. On his own now, he started scouring the room for the other blade. He was looking for just a hilt, as it would've been easier to spot than an entire sword. First he would start looking nearest to the battle, giving Amaya an obligatory curb-stomp as he looked, making his boots even bloodier than before. If near-by searching did not yield anything, he would start in the outlying areas, perhaps where debris had landed.

 

[Fred]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kotori accepted Nyton's support, though Nyton's suffered a bit for it in the form of blood smears. Well, at least, without hobbling so much, the pain in Kotori's abdomen would likely be less pronounced.

Sigurd readily answered Nyton: "I am at position and holding, Taii. The site is secure and I have access to the station's command interface. Two NH-27 nekovalkyrja appeared ninety-three seconds ago, but they were swiftly disposed of. Internal sensors show no other lifeform or power source not associated or already secured by friendly forces."

In other words, the Gate was theirs.

* * *

Asher's search for Kotori's second sword proved to be a bit like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Even if all he had to do was find a hilt, there was so much broken junk lying around that a hilt was pretty tough to make out.

At least kicking the dead Amaya had produced a satisfying crunch when he had kicked, and again when her body had rolled off the catwalk to fall the several meters down to the floor. Perhaps he could arrange his search pattern to conveniently have him curve back to where she now lay...

 

[Kokuten]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Wait... What am I doin'..." Asher looked back at Amaya with a grin spreading on his malicious face. Indeed, what was he doing? Everyone was probably dead Black Spiral-wise, and Kotori's weapon was proving difficult to find. So, why not pilfer the corpses for a trophy or two? Amaya especially, as she would likely have something of worth to take home. At least, if the Hei had a future after all of this.

So, with a greedy bit of mirth escaping his lips, he hopped gleefully to Amaya's body and kneeled to look for anything of residual value.

 

[Nyton]

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton did not mind the blood on his Armor rather making it a point of humor. "Well Telemachus, I promised blood would be spilled although we both were hoping it would all be our enemy's."

Point noted. We still garnished some blood at least.

"Sigurd reports the last control room is secure and the last signs of enemy resistance have been destroyed. We have secured the Gate." Nyton announced to Kotori as soon as he received comm from Sigurd. He quickly followed that up by relaying the same news over the comm net to the rest of the Black Knights and to Mara's shuttle.