RP: YSS Miharu Mission 5, Part 2: The Fight For The Lost

There was terror.

It was a vicious thing that crept up on her, and pounced in immediately, the moment that she saw red. The world went into a macabre black and white, the color all drained out of it, like a painting suddenly white-washed. There was the rush of blood, flooding her ears, and she felt as if she were burning.

Ichigo.

Black, and white, and red.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye - the terrible violence. The uncontrollable, unrestricted, remorseless...

Yuzuki hadn't even had a stance to ease out of - the suddenness had thrown her wide. She had stared death in the face for a few brief seconds. Now, she could do nothing. The heels of her boots took most of the jar when she let her gravity manipulation go. When she started to breath again, she saw everything. In the back of her mind there was a full recording - and simply the knowledge that it was there, that it was always going to be there, was torture. Unsure what to do, or say, she stared unseeing.

And something else stirred.

She reached out, carefully, to the thing in front of her. For a few seconds, it appeared as if she were intending to comfort the single remaining twin, the blood-stained victor who now must, for sure, have a will all her own. And so it appeared until, in silence, Yuzuki turned and walked the rest of the way back to her discarded rifle.

And picked it back up, without a word.

Seeing Nimura fall down limply gave Nyton a sigh of relief as he struggled to get back up. It was not so satisfying an end to the match. Melisson still elicited sport from the event. Nyton had sought to deprive her of that by not giving her any kill. Instead Ichigo had sacrificed herself to satisfy the Dark One's craving for entertainment.

With a bit of a cough Nyton began looking for his helmet when he noticed Yuzuki picking up her rifle. Shaking his head he couldn't help but feel for the sprite. She had broken ranks and gotten tossed aside by Nimura like she was nothing. She was lucky unlike him. Now the man had to deal with his current damaged state and whether or not he could still be of any use to the team.

"All right, stop standing around and gawking, Nakamura go see to Ichigo and confirm her status; Shosa, maybe you should confirm Nimura is no longer under Melisson's control with Westwood to back you up; Gunshin, help me find my helmet. I can't bring my suit back to full speed without it." Nyton telepathically messaged to the team while he continued attempting to free his legs.

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"Understood, Juni. Do not be surprised if I require your assistance. After all from what you have described this is not something normally encountered."

Ayumu let out another gasp as she entered the bridge. She had never been here before she noted. However it was the Ketsurui princess that elicited the greater response. Her condition appeared horrid to the nurse. Surely she should be in the medical center now receiving treatment for the many lacerations, blindness, and assorted damage she had suffered.

"I will see what I can do but in this realm of psionic conflict I do not believe I can be of any help." she quietly admitted while approaching Kotori.

Setting down her medical supply bag Ayumu reached in to retrieve her medical scanner. "Taisa, I understand you are preoccupied. I cannot promise much but please allow me to do what I can." she said with a bow.

"Wit' pleasure." said Asher, slamming his fists together, and then looked back over at Yukari. He was glad that this dramatic episode was ending. Honestly, he would've felt better just killing Nimura and being done with that so they could continue their mission to save all of Yamatai, but... that's probably why he wasn't in charge. Hopefully, there wouldn't be any more crying and bawling over someone they can whip up out of a vat later on.

Iss it' too much t'ask f'a a lil' focus? thought Asher. Perhaps he was just too jaded to really understand. At any rate, he finally had some new orders.

"So, Yuka-boss. Good-cop, bad-cop, or bad-cop, bad-cop?" The Malifarian grinned under his helmet as he walked to wards Nimura. "Eitha' way, I can be bad-cop."

There wasn't much helmet for Nyton and Kyou to find, seeing it had melted off like the rest of the nodal armor. Arethusa's semi-viscous remains did quiver and move, recovering enough to free Nyton from its confines.

In the meantime, Nimura settled back from all four to instead be sitting on her haunches, her gauntleted hands coming up to grab on the unpowered helmet and pull it off.

Nimura's short black hair stirred from the rising heat coming from the floor. The expression on her face was one of meek confusion.

All the air escaped from Tom, deflating his emotions like a balloon. The damage Ichigo received was decisive; dead black on her Daisy's chest in his HUD.

"She's gone, sir. My sensors confirm it."

Gone. His right hand soldier for this entire mission, a caring friend, a compassionate and hardworking leader of technicians.

Emptiness welled within him. Ichigo was one of his closest friends on Miharu, a soldier whose dedicated service earned her the rank of Heisho.

A pit formed in his stomach, a painful sorrow that dragged sharp talons in his core.

But he couldn't fall apart. Not here. Not in front of the other sprites. He had to keep it together. For the sake of the sprites.

"Yuzuki. I need you here..." His mental words to his new right-hand technician lacked any the fury that had built up within him moments ago, replaced with a paternal melancholy which invited the sprite to cry on his shoulder.

His sensor suite hookup continued its work on the console.

Sliding the last thermite round into the magazine, Masako glanced over at Akiko and Shizuka as she slid the magazine into place. Smiling under her helmet, she glanced around the room and sighed.

"Same with you," the Warrant Officer replied before glancing over at Tsuya's location. She seemed to be all right for now. For the second clone of Masako, the kiss they had shared had been but an hour ago at most. However, the Raven-haired Neko realized much more time had passed for the enlisted woman. Shaking her head suddenly, the Warrant Officer grimaced. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts.

Raising her 50mm Bazooka to her shoulder, she aimed it towards the entrance and prepared for the second wave.

The sprite stopped beside Tom, looking down at the console. It was difficult to tell through the helmet, but her movements had a sort of detached aspect. She wasn't even carrying the rifle the right way - had simply grabbed it by the barrel, and was toting it along.

A few moments later she had digitally interfaced with Tom's AIES, combining both processors and focusing them on the interface. The software that Hinoto had installed in Tom's SAS needed to be adapted, further, and one processor wasn't enough. If they weren't going to call back to the ship, this would have to do.

Yuzuki stated, in a level tone that resonated with the adapter's static fuzz, "Input: Door Open."

Klarp pufniss valrep ptklon buzzed the static, an electronic echo that nearly exactly mirrored Yuzuki's telepathic link.

Then, Yuzuki put her hand on the Chief Engineer's shoulder. It was perhaps the only camraderie that the sprite was capable of at the moment.

Nyton shook his head but was not surprised. The damage he saw done to Ichigo had been severe but he had not wanted to write her off as dead without further confirmation. There was no time to mourn her though. While Arethusa attempted to regenerate herself, Nyton was forced to turn to other things.

"Shosa, you might want to see if we have connection with Hoshi again and let Hinoto know what happened." he mentally messaged to Yukari. Standing up he began to move towards Nimura, the ASP still in his hand. His body would normally be aching right now if not for his pain blocking out. His Yamataian body was regenerating him, perhaps not as quickly as Arethusa though. Experimental models always had something to glitch about. Then there was the loss of most of his ammunition. So much to worry about and not a lot of time to do it with.

Right now though there was a confused sprite crouched on the floor looking up at them. With a stern look Nyton addressed Nimura directly. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Nyton said:

"I will see what I can do but in this realm of psionic conflict I do not believe I can be of any help." she quietly admitted while approaching Kotori.

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Miyoko nodded. "For now, we need to just do our best to keep her alive and awake. Let's focus on what we can do without moving her. Check her blood pressure and breathing. If her blood pressure isn't high, give her a transfusion to help keep her with us." As much blood loss as Kotori had suffered, Miyoko couldn't see how it would be high, but if she was suffering aneurysms, something had to be behind it. "If her breathing is too shallow, we'll need some oxygen for her. Once those are under control, we can worry about the harder parts."

Talking through the treatment with Ayumu was helping to keep her nerves in check, at least. "Just keep your head and do your best. I've seen you work, and you can handle this. Once the Black Knights kill Melisson, we can take her to the medbay."

Asher arched a brow as Nyton went ahead and took the initiative in question Nimura despite telling Yukari and himself to do such. So, instead, he broke off and walked over to Ichigo. Another lost soldier in this warped, distorted battlefield. It was enough convoluted mess to make one paranoid of others. Still, at the very least, he wouldn't allow Ichigo's equipment to go to waste.

"Alright, Ichi, less' see what you're holdin'." Asher squatted down next to the dead person. It was around then that he found himself realizing he had taken her to the Med-Bay earlier in the day, and that he had helped stuff her into a hemosynth tank to keep her alive and from pain. As he searched the body, he felt satisfied with the fact that she had died quickly. At the very least, she didn't suffer.

"Huh, she came fully equipped..." said Asher aloud as her surveyed through Ichigo's armaments.

Tom said:

"Rin! Cover our position! I'll handle the panel!"

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"H- Hai Juni!" Rin replied, dragging herself and her toolkit out of the way. While she was quickly shoving back in, which only would take a few seconds, the sounds behind her were finally registering. There had been a scream... and then more very violent sounds.

The sprite really did not want to look to see what carnage there was. She also had no choice in the matter, and had ignored the possible sight of what had happened through her armor. Rin gulped, before turning around, her shield and LASR at the ready. By this time, it was already all over.

At the scene before her, she lowered her weapon. Yuzuki wasn't by her anymore, which Rin guessed was why she was supposed to guard them now. Instead, her orange-haired sister seemed almost in a daze. Then there was Nimura, who was obviously still alive. It wasn't that much of a surprise, but what was surprising was that something seemed... different about her. From here, and from the lack of attention to Melisson, Rin had no idea what it was. Finally, there was a Daisy on the ground. She looked at the tag for who it was and gasped.

Ichigo.

The young sprite checked the vitals given by the Daisy. Dead. Then there was the blood. Just blood coated the area around her three sisters. She bit her lip and tried to hold back tears. Her sisters had fought, one of them died, and she wasn't even there to do... something, nor was she even paying attention to it! She lowered her head, her body shuddering a bit from dry sobs.

It happened so fast. But it did happen.

Now they were 8 + 1, and with a corpse inside a damaged, but easily repaired, armor.

Yukari stood with her arms at her side, hands unclenched, shield still in a defensive position. Taking it in. Trying to make sense of it all. To make something of nothing.

She walked by Nyton and knelt in front of Nimura. She looked so different ... in her eyes. They registered the thoughts behind them, then held them up for anyone to see, if they just traded a glance with her.

Nimura was not a shell anymore. Neither was she a whole person. Ketsurui Sharie ... More royalty. Yui's first natural daughter, first daughter born of a loving act rather than from pieces of her digital soul. What was left of that daughter was inside Nimura, a lowly ship-generated crewmember.

Melisson's puppet strings seemed to go on forever.

"Nimura-san," Yukari said, the faceplate of her helm rising up to reveal her face behind transparent material, so Nimura could see not only Yukari's face, but that Yukari was looking at her without judgment. " ... " She was about to launch into something. But she cut it off, feeling the words rang hollow. She had no right to speak them.

Not after Ichiro.

"Let us keep going. We will need your help." She held out a hand for Nimura to take, so she could be brought to her feet.

@black Knights:

Nimura obediently took Yukari's hand and allowed the Shosa to help her up. She needed it: the Daisy was unpowered through Yukari's command override and the sprite had to move the armor under her own muscle.

As if in a daze, Nimura softly replied: "I think... I remember... this place..." to Nyton's question. Her eyes came up to look inquiringly into Yukari's, but didn't linger there as she continued to glance around, reorienting herself.

Her eyes settled on the lifeless armored form of her twin, whom Asher loomed over. "Ichigo," Nimura whispered before awkwardly trying to make towards the dead sprite.

* * *

The command entry did it. There was a rumble of activity, and shortly afterwards the elevator's large iris-hatch opened, revealing a carvenously room beyond that could have been used for loading fightercraft or to transfer heavy cargo.

Now that they had access, what remained was to enter the command that would lead them to thier destination. Only, the Shlarvasseroth interiors had more in common with an alien anthive than the traditional deck-arrangement of KFY-built vessels. They could guess (they knew 'up' was the preferred direction) but contacting Hinoto for getting the precise destination was likely in order.

@Bridge:

Kotori, her head cradled on folded forearms resting over her console, returned a feverish moan of acknowledgment to Ayumu. Heat radiated from her body, heat that would've signified heatstroke and death to a human.

There was really no way of really telling how long she would last, but her body temperature was slowly but steadily creeping up. Assuming no spikes, she had twenty minutes until her body temperature reached the boiling point of water.

@Defense Line:

There were bestial screeches echoing from further down the two tunnels that were more 'ground level'. Some of the defenders shifted uneasily, the semi-muted sound of Mishhuvurthyar telepathy being scratchy at the back of their minds.

Finally, the enemy came in sight. A tide of movement from both passage carpeted the carbonized floor. The horde had been replaced by a massive crowd of humanoids. Magnified vision revealed Yamataians, Nepleslians, Nekovalkyrja, Trolls, Elves, Elysians, Phodians, Loraths, Helashios and Jiyuuians amongst thier numbers... most shambled ahead, drooling and pasty skinned. Several still had their wits, had their skins marked with alien patterns and were armed. Some others were reluctant slaves pushed and prodded ahead.

All directed to overrun the defense line's position. Masako recognized that the Mishhu were sending fodder ahead to deplete the defenders further.

"There are innocents in there!" Suzume blurted out, appalled.

"If they get too close, we'll have to shoot," Mara grimly returned. "Even if we have to kill ten-of-thousands of slaves, no thrall of the Mishhu gets past us. We will defend the Taisa."

"No," Masako spoke to the others. "Don't let them out of the tunnels," she ordered while gritting her teeth. "We can kill more of them per volley if we fire into the tunnels." the Warrant Officer explained as she aimed directly into one of the tunnels. For one brief moment, her digital mind paused to look at the poor souls she was about to sentence to death. Could one of them be that little girl? Or had that girl already been eaten?

It was a pause for only a milisecond as she fired a thermite round straight into the passageway before angling her bazooka to the other tunnel to fire yet another thermite round. The Veteran of the Defensive Line couldn't help but feel sick as she pulled the trigger and allowed a cold-blooded calculation rule her actions.

Asher had been in the process of recovering the equipment off of Ichigo's dead body. So far he had managed to separate some of the easier to remove equipment off the body. Though, he would need clearance of extra time to get anything else off. As he worked, he kept 50mm set at his feet, and he was just about to move Ichigo's LASR when Nimura started making her steps.

"Eh?" Asher hummed as he shouldered the LASR and pointed it at Nimura. It took only a second for the weapon to link up to his suit's AIES, allowing him to draw a bead onto her head. "Hold up there, sassy. Where d'ya think you're goin'?"

"She died to free you from your slavery. Unfortunately her sacrifice will be for nothing if we do not get moving quickly." Nyton said urgently before he turned to let Nimura face the consequences of her actions. He was facing a big problem of his own after checking the magazine inside the ASP. There were approximately twelve rounds left after the fight. His LASR was somewhere, wherever he had dropped it in the muck. He wasn't sure if the LASR still even functioned. All his grenades were gone, most ammunition had cooked off, and he had one plasma rifle strapped to his back which could only fire 50 rounds before the charge was used up.

Awkwardly, while Arethusa was still regenerating, Nyton began looking around for whatever surviving magazines or armament he could use. Slings could be replaced using the Mishhu's own equipment. He also picked up one of the tentacle blades and considered using one of their railguns as well.

As Nyton was scavenging there was a nagging thought picking at the back of his mind; Melisson had mentioned freedom was the prize for the kill. Except only Nimura had apparently earned it. So what did that mean for him?

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Ayumu studied Kotori and was at a loss for what was causing her body heat to rise. Obviously it was her resistance to Melisson's psionic powers but she could do nothing to alleviate that. Instead she tried to do what she could to address the symptoms instead. "Very well then, Taisa, I am going to administer some cooled hemosynthetic fluid intravenously. I also have some regular coolant cream we typically use for on the spot burns. I would like to also try some basic cold compress as well. This won't stop the rising heat but it may soothe it a little bit to make it a little more bearable. And the extra healing may be able to help extend your body's endurance. I won't risk using pain killers though since I cannot even begin to guess what that would do to your concentration." the nurse prescribed as she pulled out the bags of hemosynth IV and the burn cream.

"Saito-Juni, I need you to make a run for some ice and water. I will do whatever I can to alleviate the Taisa's temperature." Ayumu said before she got to work.

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"It's horrible, onee-chan! Are those really people out there?" Akiko asked.

"I'm afraid so, Akiko-chan. And we'll become like them too if we don't do what we must." Shizuka replied while reloading her LASR.

Yukari activated Nimura's armor, giving the Neko the ability to walk on her own. However, she stopped Nimura from getting closer, using one arm to hold her while the other held the Neko's helmet.

"There is no time, Nimura-san. We need to keep moving. You will see her again, if not soon, then — "

When she saw Asher raise his rifle against her, she stared him down. "Get on the elevator, Westwood. Save your ammunition."

Yukari restored communication with Hoshi. "Hinoto-san, respond. We are boarding the elevator. What is our next step?"

Asher kept the sights of Ichigo's LASR painted on Nimura's head. How easy it would've been to erase another person from existence with a simple pull of the trigger. Such a sensation brought wonder to his mind. Nimura was a friend, right? She killed Ichigo under their enemy's spell, to which that enemy claimed she was released. Was she really released? Could they really move forward without another hindrance from her? This mission was important, not just to Yamatai, but to the Malifarian himself. He had loved ones that would suffer should they fail(which Asher knew they wouldn't, of course!)

But... Could they really afford the risk?

"Get on the elevator, Westwood. Save your ammunition."

Click to expand...

Asher's gaze drifted towards Yukari, eying the straight on stare of her helmet's mask. He could not see her eyes, but he could feel it enough through what he saw there.

"Hai! Sazuka-Shosa!" snapped Asher, his reply quick, forceful, and reminiscent of his time in basic to when he responded to superiors in proper Yamataian. He set the laser down, and quickly grabbed up the munitions from Ichigo's Daisy, and piled them up with his 50mm. That done, he moved double-time to the elevator with the pile cradled in his arms, and then dumped it on the elevator's floor. "Alright, we got spares for whoeva' needs'm."

Kai made to follow Nyton's orders, but others were swifter. he too, could see the display of her condition on his armor's HUD. The end of the battle had been sudden, and hard. While Kai had only passingly known Ichigo, her death shocked the Yamataian- surely they would have been able to succeed without any killing. But no, that evil thing known as Melisson was toying with them, having her sick twisted fun with the lives of the Miharu's crew. It was Disgusting.

"Should we move her?" Kai asked, referring to the downed sprite. Even though he barely knew her, the thought of leaving her here to be eaten like that bug did not sit well with him. As Kai made his way over to the body and the elevator, his foot kicked one of those tentacle blades.

Absentmindedly, the Yamataian picked the melee weapon up, and looked over it, still walking, before stopping next to Ichigo. "It's not right to just leave her here."

Kyou stayed out of the elevator for the moment, reasoning that it made sense for at least one head not occupied by command or death (in some cases near-death) to remain on watch. Especially with the possibility that Melisson might still punish them for the interference in the duel. That said, she kept herself ready to respond if anything should appear, sensors running as actively as they could without straight out giving away their position.