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

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Tom's hand fell upon Yuzuki's on his shoulder and he gave it a light squeeze before he stood up and spoke aloud with a firm voice that hid the pain sitting within him.

"We've no time to spare. Think of the others and our mission."

He turned and patted Rin on the shoulder. There was little more he could do to console the sprite right now.

"Let's go."

He made his way onto the elevator.
 
Yuzuki shifted her grip on the rifle, adopting in a series of hand-movements a more regular combat posture. Then she turned to regard the rest of the room through her blood-speckled visor.

A world of black and white - a series of grays, with minor bursts of color that people called human lives, casually wasted for someone's amusement. It was a horrific alien vision that she couldn't look away from, so the only thing left for her to do was to stare on helplessly, soaking it in raw. They were going to have to leave it, just like that - a ripped and shattered body, in a shell of armor, cast away to be forgotten. Even as she watched it, her vision blurred, and grayed. Regrettably, she didn't know what to think. Asher's callousness, Kai's good intentions, Freeman's anguish, Nyton's composure, Yukari's quiet compassion. They were coping.

It was impossible to even begin to see a world where such things existed, but there it was. Against that wayward thought, against that overwhelming empty pain, Yuzuki could conjure no defense - no rationalization would stand against it. So, woodenly, she transmitted over the engineering band;

"Rin, pry off the paneling on the inside of the elevator and bypass the control node, again, so that Freeman-Juni can access it and uplink to Hoshi. Ima!"

A few bits of muck sloughed off of her weapon.

Ichigo...
 
@black Knights:

When Nimura had stared down the business end of Asher's LASR, she started, blanching in fear.

Fear was not an emotion she was used to having to contend with. She did not resist Yukari pulling her back, if anything looking relieved for the menace Asher posed to be made to go away. When Yukari talked, Nimura gave her a plaintive look, but said nothing while Yukari talked with Hinoto.

"Knight Leader! It's good to hear your voice!" Hinoto answered the Shosa, clearly relieved. "I'm renewing PANTHEON link with all your units, standby."

While Hinoto spoke, Nimura had given Ichigo's armored corpse a long look before fat tears spilled down her cheeks. The surviving twin, her ears drooping, turned her head away from the sight of her handiwork and gently reached out to retrieve her helmet from Yukari's hand.

"No, Shosa," Nimura said during the pause. "Ichigo is not coming back; not with the MEGAMI destroyed. Hoshi only has officer-rank backups."

Hinoto suddenly spoke again, her voice sounding stricken: "Shosa, I'm detecting two additional M6 armors and one isn't showing any lifesigns. What happened?!"
 
Nyton said:
"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.
Click to expand...

"Right..." Miyoko said. She hesitated for a moment... leaving the bridge didn't appeal to her, since the only reason she was here and not on the front lines was to protect Kotori. For the moment, though, it looked like the best way she could protect the Taisa was to help keep her temperature under control.

Once she'd made up her mind, Miyoko raised her rifle and nodded to Ayumu. "I'll be right back. If you see anything at all suspicious, contact me telepathically." Fortunately, the kitchenette was a short jog away, but Miyoko took off like a bullet once she was out the door, not wanting to waste any more time than she had to.
 
"Ichigo is dead," Yukari said. "We have recovered Nimura. Please plot our next move, Hinoto-san; the defenders are relying on us."

On the elevator platform, Yukari handed over the helmet. "I said you would see her again." Her voice was small, but firm, over the radio. "I did not say she would return. For your sake and ours, I pray it is some time."

Ichigo's armor was essentially undamaged beyond the torn-off breastplate, but it would take too long to repair it. Nyton's armor appeared to repair itself even better than a Daisy's Yama-Dura armor, so though it lacked many of his handheld munitions, he still could use rifles.

"Westwood," she said. She appeared to gloss over the mispronunciation of her name. "Use your flamethrower on Ichigo's remains. She deserves a proper cremation, but this will have to do." She looked to Kai and nodded. "I will send the self-destruct code to her armor once the elevator closes."
 
Nimura made no reply to Yukari. After once more donning her helmet she then went and retrieved the plasma rifle she had lost when Ichigo had charged into her. Next was her blackened-but-still-serviceable shield which she refastened back on her left forearm.

Yukari heard a catch in Hinoto's voice as she said: "Shosa, you do not have to pull the corpse out of the armor - the Daisy's self-destruct is made to dispose of its wearer as well."

The mission operator took a bracing breath before saying: "Knight Leader, please bring your team into the elevator. Your destination point is 430 meters up the shaft to a junction point; the elevator will need to access the shaft leading portside of the vessel. You will need to take it and proceed 310 meters before using the hatch there to dismount. This is the closest the elevator will let you to the center of the largest psionic phenomenon on this vessel."

Arethusa for its part had returned to the initial floorblock-shaped silvery gel state Nyton had first seen it as over the PHALANX pad. Foot-shaped insets created themselves for him to step into.
 
"Hai," Rin replied to Tom and Yuzuki.

She made her way onto the elevator, and quickly repeated the process she had done with the panel on the outside. She was a bit less careful this time, but did move along faster as a result. Her actions felt horribly hollow, as more and more of family died. How many more would be dead by the time they could get back to Hoshi?
 
"Hai, Shosa." Kai answered, gripping the mishhu weapon he had picked up. he realized that now, with the implement in his armored hand, the urge to stab something increased greatly, but Kai steeled himself and turned away from Ichigo's body. they would take care of her, in the most proper manner they had available.

Kai walked to the elevator, and stepped on, waiting for it to move, trying to get himself back into the situation at hand, his mind was too many places right now, and he needed to focus. Hopefully the elevator ride would give him enough time.
 
Once Arethusa had reconstituted herself to reform Nyton stepped onto the block. He re-experienced the slime sensation from before as the suit refitted to his body. With a quick breath of relief at being armored again he quickly accessed AIES sensors to locate his LASR and any remaining ammunition. Working much faster now that he did not have to plod along in the muck he used the nodal appendages as extra hands to pick up as much as he could salvage.

Nyton brought all he could retrieve to the elevator, depositing it to the pile of ammunition Asher had assembled. Adding to it were several Mishhu tentacle tip blades, railgun slings, a railgun, one railgun ammunition belt, miscellaneous pieces of body armor, one ASP magazine, and one LASR magazine. None of his grenades remained, no grenade launcher magazines survived, and most of his pistol and LASR magazines were gone. His surviving weapons consisted of the LASR, his accelerated plasma rifle with grenade launcher attached, and the ASP. The LASR's large magazine still contained 94 rounds while the ASP only had 12. He busily got to work replacing the broken sling to his rifle with a makeshift fit of a railgun sling.

This is definitely going be a problem if I cannot protect my ammunition. he thought to himself. It was no different from being an unarmored soldier in a battle. He had to take the same precautions before. Then again he also never planned on getting shot either. Offhand, Nyton filed a research note regarding the Arethusa's experimental design and her need for a means to protect carried ammunition.
 
Yukari popped open her right thigh compartment and put down three extra ASP magazines — all she had left. Then, she put down her ASP. "Those should assist you, Taii."

She switched to her rifle. Close quarters or no, the smaller machine pistol was not a weapon she was particularly confident about.
 
"Thank you, Shosa, but are you sure you wish to pass all of these?" Nyton asked while he finished assembling a sling for his LASR. As he did this he was suddenly struck by a bit of inspiration.

I think I can use these bits of body armor to protect my ammunition. Nyton thought while he tried to adjust the sling for his body.
 
"I am sure," she said, nodding to Rin to close the door and activate the elevator. "I am not qualified on the weapon."

Yukari made sure the AIES was active for Ichigo's armor. When her CIES unit confirmed it, she input the code to have the defunct armor self-destruct once Yukari's armor signature was 430 meters away.
 
"Very well then." Nyton replied as he accepted the magazines and second ASP. Grabbing some more of the Mishhu slings he fashioned together a makeshift system of magazine belts. He then attached smaller pieces of body armor to provide the ammunition some protection from being ignited. The other trick though was making sure stealth system would still properly hide these attachments.

"Shosa, while Nimura may still possess her combat prowess, her newly resurgent emotional state may make her unstable or reduce her effectiveness. I would express caution for the time being." Nyton telepathically messaged to Yukari.
 
"So, Nimura, now that you're all unbitchified n'shit, you ready to kill some big bad bitches?" said Asher, striking Nimura on the shoulder playfully, knowing full and well now by her uncustomary fear and Yukari's order that she was back to a different state. He looked over at Kyou, and sent her a message.

"Iss' alright t'ask that, yeah?" asked the Malifarian to the blue-haired neko.
 
Kyou shook her head, glancing over at Asher. "I'm not sure much of anything you do is 'alright', so assume no. Probably going to get the death glare from the officers regardless though." Kyou watched the officers dividing out the ammo, rather disinterested herself. "How long ago did she get controlled though? She seems completely lost."
 
"Nimura should have retained her combat prowess," Yukari replied, checking her rifle. She nodded at it, satisfied it would take to the task at hand. She only had to hope her marksmanship was good enough to deter the enemy. "Even if she had not, she is Nekovalkyrja, Taii-san. I am not worried."
 
"Considerin' how she's less of a icy bitch now, probably since all tha' time she's been an icy bitch." answered Asher to Kyou, bouncing up and down on his toes a few times. "How about you, Gunny? You holdin' up? Looks like all tha' engineers took it pretty hard."
 
Kyou shrugged. "I'm none too happy about how it ended, but I honestly haven't been around to form much of any connection with anyone at this point. I'm more worried about the rest of the engineers holding up if this drags on."
 
Once in the Hoshi's kitchenette, Miyoko got two large cups for the ice and water. Filling them was a bit of a problem--even though the Daisy was fairly nimble, its gloves weren't exactly designed with kitchen work in mind. Still, after a few moments of fumbling with an ice cube tray and a faucet handle, she managed to attain her goal. She added a few clean washcloths to the load, since they could come in handy if Kotori needed to be soaked in icewater... or to have blood sponged off of her.

The one upside to the situation was that her jog had gotten a little more blood flowing to her limbs. Between that, the Daisy's occasional massage, and her hemosynthetic healing getting some time to patch up a few scrapes she was starting to feel a little less uncomfortable... at the very least, she didn't feel the need to hobble half of the time. Of course, Miyoko could still only move so fast on the return trip to the bridge. She did, after all, have to keep from spilling her payload. Even so, it was a short walk back, and the whole trip didn't take more than a few minutes. She crouched down by Ayumu, resting the two cups and towels on the floor and then rising back to standing and raising her LASR again.
 
Nyton quickly blinked in and out of sight as he tested the stealth functions while wearing pieces of body armor. Testing it a few times he then moved on to attaching spare LASR magazines to his remade belt. The tentacle tip blades were strapped down by nodal forearms.

"It is not whether her combat skills are intact, it is how she handles having emotions again. Nimura has been without emotions for a long time. Her reaction to Westwood pointing a rifle to her head warns me that she may have to relearn how to cope with them." Nyton replied. He was trying to hurry now since they would be arriving at their elevator's destination. There was no telling just what Melisson had waiting for them. She had to know where they were and what they were doing. The fact they had gotten this far meant there would be more games ahead.
 
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