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

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Bridge:

Hoshi materialized a single volumetric screen overlayed over the crippled viewscreen, showing the environs of the Gate, Miharu's position 8 lightseconds distant, and the new contact which was 14 lightseconds from the installation.

A rectangle drew itself over the new contact and a new smaller volumetric window was created over said rectangle to then expand in a zoom-like fashion, various scans probing it before, seven seconds later, revealing a dark spined shape which had its silhouette distinguishable visually thanks to the Blue Rift reflecting off blue on its many sharp quills.

"Dimensions are 3625 meter length, 1320 meter width, 1570 meters height," Hoshi announced. "Silhouette matches the Shlarvasseroth-type Mishhuvurthuar Dreadnought. Lingering scars over the vessel's zesuaium armor would match damage consistent to that suffered by the XSS Shlarvasseroth, Melisson's personal flagship, back in the Battle of Taiie."

Melisson's ship had emerged from CFS stealth and was cruising at .1c in direction to Amaya's Gate - it would reach it in 2 minutes.

Kotori sat on her own seat and beheld the close-up of Melisson's vessel silently for a moment before she ordered: "We move to intercept. Yukari, give me a superluminal jump that'll put us halfway between her and the Gate. I'll also need what weapons and shielding you can get me before we're nose to nose with that porcupine."

Yukari wouldn't need to reach high superluminal speeds; just hitting 7c would get them into position in a second and now that Miharu had the time to cool down, it wouldn't be a problem.

Nyton disposed of the dorsal/ventral turreted particle cannons on the main hull's starboard side as well as 12 weapon pod launch ports underneath Hoshi in addition to Hoshi's nose-mounted dorsal/ventral turreted particle cannons.

From Tom's perspective, Miharu could handle that much, though he was expecting a heat spike after the superluminal jump and the subsequent warming up of shields and weapons would already tax a good portion of the ship's present heat dissipation capabilities. Things were bound to be very touch and go from here on in.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"The Taisa ordered me to put Eve's bones into storage," Nimura nonchalantly returned to Yuzuki. Nimura closed the container shut and after sliding it into the carbo bay she added: "I'll attend to the units here. Nakamura-Heisho is in the other bay, likely trying to piece together his custom unit. Perhaps you can assist him."

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The beraggled engineer considered this for a moment, blue eyes dark and distant, her expression unchanged from the blackened, weathered scowl she had worn upon first entering. However, as Nimura watched, the edge of Yuzuki's lip revealed a chink. The engineer could hear the pilot in the next chamber, swearing - or at least, trying to swear.

Yuzuki clearly gave the suggestion consideration, and even glanced in the direction Nimura had indicated, but in the end Yuzuki said "No. If you've got the armors, I'll return to my post. I'd only thought... well, good luck."

And with that, she was turned around. Her eyes and thoughts once again traveled downward to the subdeck, moving away from the rising emotion that was already beginning to color her red. Was it excitement? Relief? Hope? A large part of her wanted to see him, to verify that he was still alive. In an uncharacteristic surge of personal honesty, she admitted to herself that her morbid curiousity had been the only reason for coming up to the armor bay. Was Kai Nakamura alive, or dead? If he had died, would he remember?

Yuzuki's brisk walk became a jog as she fled from the possibility, and she took the passage downward almost at a freefall's pace, landing neatly on the deckplates outside of engineering's main control.

The five-minute Heisho resumed her place at the console before the red-painted, flashing volumetric screens, elbow to elbow with the other suited, beaten sprites. It only took a few seconds for her to realize that they had almost completely lost control of the plant - the console was useless, and main engineering was almost completely worthless. She let the impression soak in for a few moments, and in the back of her mind, she saw Tom's face again, dirty and embarassed, on the doorstep of her room looking troubled and asking her advice. They had joked about the power demand, talked about the new sprites as if they had been given all the world to live in and an unlimited amount of time. Even then, somewhere in the back of her mind, she had known it was not really completely true. The readings were easy to interpret; the Miharu was on her last run. And a lot of the sprites - no, the people - that they had talked about so casually were now dead, or about to die. It chilled Yuzuki to think she was inches away from becomming one of them.

Somehow that made her a little more resolute, though she couldn't exactly place why. But the few ragged souls that still remained gathered around her, as if they were moths searching for a warmer flame to rally around. The thought occurred that she trusted Tom. Desperately, she grasped onto that.

"Freeman-Juni: I can't take control anymore from main engineering, but I have enough bodies for a repair team." There was an angry groan from the totalled fold drive, and a few wayward aethyric crackles accompanied it. "There's too much to do, and we can't do it all, so you'd better tell me where to start, Tom"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kyou's shoulders slumped when she got the message. She sighed, and sat back up. "Sorry, Ayumu-san. Looks like I had less time then I'd guessed. Claymere-Taii wants us back to armor bay." She stood up, still wearing Kai's jacket. "On my way, Claymere-Taii. Do we know how many yet?" As she sent that back, she made her way back out of the medbay, heading for the armor bay to look for a new M10 to use, since her last was dead for the time being.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nyton took in a breath. It was Melisson for certain. They had seen her back at Tsuya. He even recognized it from Lor. Unfortunately there were also many weapons aboard the ship not to mention Melisson herself.

"It's Melisson. The Shosa put us at battle stations so move out." Nyton messaged back to Kyou, hoping the name of their enemy would motivate her to move faster.

Melisson. Nyton thought with a pause. His recollection of what happened was no longer as bitter as it had been. Up until just recently that is. This experiment in melding Nepleslian technology with Yamataian genetic engineering was yielding more than he imagined. Returning to the present the hybrid man focused on the data screen. Taking coolant levels and the ship's status into consideration he knew he would have to be careful with his gunnery. Time to show you who my mistress truly is. he then thought while feeling a calm he never thought possible before. He let a half smile grow across his face.

"Hoshi, can you synchronize with my thoughts to achieve a faster command uplink? I no longer have the Real Time Interface link but my mind still remembers the data and I can process things faster now. Since I can communicate telepathically can we produce the same result in lieu of the cyber link?" Nyton telepathically communicated to the MEGAMI while double checking if they had any torpedoes left.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Asher sailed into the Armor bay, coming to a jogging stop as he looked around. He spotted Shikaku, scarred and battletorn, it's arm was still ripped in half. Then, he turned back towards his old Daisy, also scarred and worn down from the dismantling assault from Amaya. The Malifarian bit his lip, looking between them. In all honesty, he didn't want to pick up yet 'another' M10 after trashing his last two armors, but now wasn't the time to be concerned about that.

"All personnel: Reclaim your battle stations," Yukari said over the comm, voice smooth. "We have a new contact. I repeat, all personnel: Reclaim your battle stations."

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Alright, time t'get workin'. thought Asher. Since Shikaku wasn't battle-ready, he started disarming the unit, beginning by yanking off the Aether blade. Then began to disengage the teleportation unit. He gave that a bit of time to ensure he didn't damage the unit in removal. Finally, after taking off the two more important pieces, he pulled off the helmet and put it on his head.

With that, he chugged off to a fresh M10 Dragoon with Aether blade under one arm, teleportation unit slung over his shoulder, and a slightly scarred helmet fit snuggly over his head. He looked off for Nimura and then sent her a message via telepathy.

Hey, tundra tits, we still got some capacitor's from after our last engagement?

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

When Kai was ordered to battle stations, and to switch to an M10, he sighed for a moment, then rushed to the other armor bay- he would be back here in a moment, to snatch up the extra Aether rifle he had procured- he had half a mind to switch pauldrons out for the spiked one, but he had neither the time nor the knowledge how to use the piece in combat, so it would be useless.

He passed Kyou and Asher, the helmet he had used previously under his arm, then he found the M10 he had pilfered it from earlier, and mounted the machine, Starting it up silently, glowering and looking as if he wanted nothing more than to just kill whomever was attacking them himself just to get them out of the way. He was obviously unhappy at the M10- It was much bulkier and lacked the finesse of the Daisy, as well as it's power supply and runtime.

As Kai finished starting the suit up, he popped the helmet back on and closed it with a small hiss, practically storming off to the other armor bay to grab the heavy rifle, before stomping back, and looking about for someone to help him properly attach the thing to his armor so he could use it for more than a few moments.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Doshii Jun said:

"All personnel: Reclaim your battle stations," Yukari said over the comm, voice smooth. "We have a new contact. I repeat, all personnel: Reclaim your battle stations."

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Miyoko cringed as the call to battle stations came. After the conversation with Yukari, it wasn't like she wasn't expecting it, but that didn't make it any more pleasant to think about. The sensor specialist joined the small crowd of armor personnel leaving the medlab, then took a different path from them, heading up toward the bridge at a brisk pace.

Once on the bridge, Miyoko paused, finding Tom in her usual spot at the Operations console. With everybody preparing for battle with Melisson, she didn't want to interrupt just at the moment, instead deciding to wait and see if an opportunity to ask for orders presented itself.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Yokaishimasu," Yukari said, gently angling the battered vessel toward a good point, then smoothly increasing the throttle to 7 c.

Despite the ship being cooled and there being no threat of violent decompression, Yukari thought she could feel Miharu protest. Well, not protest, maybe ... more like plead. Plead her to be easy on her, as best she could.

Yukari turned the nose to face Melisson's behemoth vessel after she hit the waypoint she had set for herself. "In position," she toned. "All shields angled fore. Port-side turrets are operational and ready."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

@Bridge:

With Yukari easing Miharu into position, Kotori motioned Miyoko to her and vacated her seat, obviously meaning for the battle-promoted Juni to handle her command station.

In the meantime, Hoshi's AI supplied Nyton with: "Without SPINE, all I can give you is the same as what you got from a Daisy helmet interface: greater ease in operating system navigation and telepathic commands."

With visual of the three-pronged prow of the Mishhuvurhyar flagship looming larger and larger on a magnified display, Kotori ordered: "Nyton, use our particle cannons to fire two warning shots off their port bow."

@Armor Bay:

Nimura stared back at Asher a moment before answering: "I doubt the teleporter module will be of anymore help to you. Installing capacitors may cost you room for other weaponry - do you have a good reason for wanting them?"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"That is already better than nothing." Nyton replied.

"Nyton, use our particle cannons to fire two warning shots off their port bow."

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"Roger that, Taisa." Nyton said as he began lining up the remaining turrets that could comply with the order. He targeted the empty region of space off the port bow of Melisson's ship. With the Miharu's condition in mind he then commanded the turrets to fire twice while trying not to overheat or stress any systems.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Nimura stared back at Asher a moment before answering: "I doubt the teleporter module will be of anymore help to you. Installing capacitors may cost you room for other weaponry - do you have a good reason for wanting them?"

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Asher set down the teleporter next to the M10 he had picked out of the line. His helmeted head turned back to Nimura, putting only one arm on his hip as his other one still twinged when he tried to move it.

I'm juss' goin' off tha' previous load-out of m'last arma'. I figga'd we may need t'do more a'that pinpoint sabotage shit, or somethin' like that. Did Clay-boss or Koto-boss tell you otha'wise?

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Tom tried to ignore the juggernaut of a ship before them and the feeling of how insignificant Miharu was against such a foe.

The die was cast and this was the lot he found himself in. He would just have to have faith in the Taisa and whatever plot she was scheming. It was really all they had left, given the insurmountable difference Tom perceived in the combat strength of the two ships.

Faith was sometimes a difficult thing for Tom to wrestle with, especially when it lay within the confines of a war. Survival was the cause he could give himself up to most easily without feeling like a hypocrite, but the logical constraints of the current situation made that utterly impossible.

"Freeman-Juni: I can't take control anymore from main engineering, but I have enough bodies for a repair team." There was an angry groan from the totalled fold drive, and a few wayward aethyric crackles accompanied it. "There's too much to do, and we can't do it all, so you'd better tell me where to start, Tom"

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Tom nodded in silent appreciation of the efforts Yukari and Nyton were making to ensure Miharu didn't tax herself to death. He continued monitoring the situation and adjusted coolant and energy levels to compensate for the upcoming spike in ship temperature.

"Energy levels stable for now. Keep it easy."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kyou, just finishing up suiting up in a new M10, turned around to look at the others. She picked up her stolen beam saber as well, attaching it as best she could. "Well, you guys are more experienced then me. What should I grab this time out, since we're a bit outgunned?"

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Turrets swiveled into position and cobalt lightning jumped from between their prongs, crackling right by the Mishhuvurthyar vessel's upper-starboard claw.

Once. Twice.

The predicted heatwave struck each turret as they fired, going up into the light-red zone and then slowly dipping back down into the yellow-zone - Nyton saw it as a 250% increase in weapon cooldown. One shot per turret every 25 seconds rather than the usual 10 second cycle would avoid damaging the hardware.

The Shlarvasseroth lumbered on a few seconds after the warning shots before it decelerated until it reached a complete stop... and Yukari received a notice on her console displays: Melisson was hailing them.

@Armor Bay:

"It is my sense of things," Nimura answered Asher before turning to Kyou and answering her with: "Most Mishhuvurthyar are going to be vulnerable to the LASR, plasma rifle, grenades and flamethrower."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Alright alright." Asher waved Nimura off, before bringing down his armor to floor of the power armor bay. The Dragoon Core unit was going to be well enough for him. It had everything a standard the standard Mindy II would have going into combat, even the Saber Rifle. The only real exceptions were the iconic features of a Dragoon unit: the boarding cable, the Yama-Dura shield mounted on the left arm, and the faithful Plasma Gun-Torch on the right.

"So, Kai, Kyou." said Asher struting past the mentioned woman to his old Daisy, which carried one of his more preferable weapons, the Flamethrower. "Got any plans afta' all this shit's said n'done? I mean, y'know afta' we totally win this shit." The Malifarian pulled the plasma-spewing weapon off his old armor and went to fetch a fresh canister for it, before setting on back to his own M10, settling the Flamethrower on the weapon hangar. He stepped back, and held up his hands in a framing gesture, as if reviewing the armor's position for a picture.

"I'mma call' you... Shikamaru. Thass' a good name afta' Shikaku, right?" thought Asher aloud, before beginning to crawl into the unit. "Yeah, thass' a good name."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Fred said:

With Yukari easing Miharu into position, Kotori motioned Miyoko to her and vacated her seat, obviously meaning for the battle-promoted Juni to handle her command station.

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Miyoko gave a grateful bow to Kotori, then slid into her seat a little reluctantly... no matter the situation, sitting in the commander's chair just felt weird. In more ways than one, since the generic controls it provided weren't as familiar to her as the more specialized ones on the Operations console. Still, Miharu knew her well enough that she was able to bring up her usual array of sensor feeds and ship status reports, though doing so just made her cringe as she was reminded of how much damage the ship had taken.

The sight of the Mishhu ship drawing near, coupled with the two warning shots fired by the Miharu, didn't help Miyoko's mood. She didn't know the exact statistics, but enough of the crew had been in the medlab that she didn't suspect they were in any fighting condition, and the status she was looking at made the Miharu look like it was in a similar shape. Her earlier, stress-induced confidence had faded--Miyoko was tired, sore, and simply hoping not to die now.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kyou nodded, looking for what she had in mind. "How about psionic grenades? Didn't someone mention those before?" As she spoke, she picked up a LASR and it's SLAG, attaching the two before slinging that on her shoulder, and a Plasma rifle, attaching it's RGL as well. "And to be honest, Asher, I haven't even thought about it. Assuming we survive this, it depends on where the ship goes, I guess."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

Kai's M10's helmet turned toward Asher, but the Malifaran would be unable to tell what the Tami Native's face looked like at the moment. He remained silent for a bit, before answering. "I want to Liberate Tami from the mishhu, so my family and friends can go back home, instead of having to live as refugees on Yamatai or the space stations they've left to."

Kai then motioned to Kyou, and asked her "How do I attach this rifle to my armor, Gunshin-hei?" while surveying the room for any weapons he could use as backup. Their inventory right now was pitifully low.

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

"Huh." mumbled Asher as he settled into his M10. The Malifarian activated his suit and took a look down at his gauntlets as his AIES began to kick in. The soldier stretched his arms and then brought his fist together with a shocking crash. "Well, I'm not too sure m'self. I ain't got no family t'save or shit like that." The Malifarian chuckled before turning to the both of them, holding up his hands.

"What I do know, iss' when we kick these Mishhu's asses, iff'n they got asses, I'm gunna' eitha' A, get piss drunk. B, find some physical comfort, eh heh. Or C, be summarily executed f'completin' m'mission." declared Asher, a finger in the air, before tapping the Flamethrower he had attached to his weapon hanger for Kai's sake. "S'all short term shit, n'stuff, but tha' long-term stuff's usually handled by someone in tha' logistics sector."

Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate

The sudden heat spike was expected but the severity of it took Nyton by surprise. It was worrisome to see their weapons effectiveness reduced but he had resigned that they would have to win by means other than their firepower. "Easy there, girl. I know you can't help it so lets make every shot count. I'll do my best to keep the strain to a minimum." Nyton telepathically projected in a soothing voice. Hoshi was right in that it was just like being in his Armor, but on a larger scale. It also made him more acutely aware of just how much pain the ship was in.

While Nyton made his telepathic message he reported the condition of the ship's weapons to Kotori. "Weapon heat output reducing effectiveness. Expect twenty five second cool down between shots to safely fire turrets, Taisa." he said before the hail could be accepted.