Nyton was beginning to notice a pattern here, much like Yukari had, in regards to their advance. The death of the NH-25 had been a curious event, one that made him wonder just what kind of company Melisson carried on her ship seeing as they each had different initiatives. Or perhaps their purposes were not different, just the execution. After all if they had listened and allowed diplomacy to go through, their attack on Melisson would be thwarted. Likewise if the Kotori-clone succeeded in killing them. Melisson certainly had a mixed bag of tricks.
There was, again, no time to ponder this. Nor was there an opening to ask just why it was this Kotori even cared to mention continuing the fight from Lor. He remembered it, just as she said. After Kosuka had removed her head, he had deduced that she would get back up and continue to fight. He had been too late to warn Miles though who suffered grievous wounds because of her. In a morbid way it was interesting to see she had regrown her body from just the head. Had both head and body survived would there be two Kotori-clones? Plus given the nodal abilities of this body would it be possible to fuse her with the Signaler body and give original Kotori the freedom she had been seeking from her own self? Questions to ponder later though. It was obvious that Kotori-C had picked up a few more tricks since the last fight had occurred.
That was okay. So had he.
Code:
Shosa, can you tell if there are anymore enemies beyond that door? If it is safe then we can blow a hole through the door while fighting just to save us some time and possibly bottleneck Kotori-C when she moves to follow us.
Nyton suggested while linking up his sensors to Yukari and Tom's via AIES to get a better idea where Kotori-C was hiding now. He had used the C model in the mission on Bowhordia which gave him a good understanding of the capabilities of the enhanced sensor pack. With the enhanced power available to everyone within their squad's net they would all be aware of just where the enemy should be. The trick was figuring out how to locate it.
If there were no surface disturbances then she was likely hovering about. The air was thick with all manner of particles from the noxious atmosphere in the ship so movement through the air could likely be tracked by this method. He had to hope though that Kotori-C would not also be a part of this link with AIES. Regardless, if they could track her then she would be designated the name he had already mentally assigned to her as Kotori-C. It was ironic seeing as this would be the third Kotori they saw during this mission.
Arethusa, reholster pistols. Nodal defense mode. Nyton ordered while he resumed stealth. The few seconds of pause by the NH-25 earlier had already given his impressive barrier system the chance to restore itself. He also recalled a technical note stating that the nodal system would be able to defend itself from such attacks like what the NH-18 was capable of seeing it had grafted railguns to the suit. There was also the matter of Ichigo's original loadout which he quickly refreshed in case there were still any missiles or other extras available for Kotori-C to use against them.
"If she wants a fight we'll give it to her! Form a defensive net, don't let her close in! Don't just fire wildly at her either! Her agility is incredible so try to work your fire together to limit her options!" Nyton telepathically ordered the squad since none had been given. For his part the man hovered up and readied himself to move quickly in reaction to Kotori-C's approach if she really was so eager to continue their fight. She may have decided to focus on him so he stayed alert and prepared for an opening to exploit and fire upon her with his LASR.
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Ayumu was about to raise her voice and argue with
Hoshi about the danger of moving Kotori closer to the battle and point out the Taisa's previous resistance to the notion when she turned around. Kotori's latest cry caught her attention and she looked to see the ice begin to appear. The nurse looked at the ice, looked at Kotori, and let out a gasp of surprise. "Is th-the Taisa
creating ice?"
What was more disturbing was seeing just how useless the ice was being, melting completely as it came into contact with Kotori's body. "I-if her body is so hot that ice is just
melting right off th-then her physiology won't be able to withstand this for much longer. We may need to get her into the hemosynth tank now regardless of the proximity of the battle." she suggested. The nurse helplessly looked over at Miyoko as though the scientist might have an answer.
