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

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"It struck my fancy," Melisson answered simply. "You were at the right place, at the right time - and you were a Nepleslian by Hanako's side after the Species Restriction Order had been implemented."

"You ask this question with the assumption that imprinting my mind is something I view as negative and detrimental," she added. "However, consider that I might not see it so. Not only did this allow me to keep tabs on the Nepleslian that had earned my interest, but it also allowed me to intercede with my knowledge and experience at a pivotal juncture."

"Intercede?!" Nimura spitefully cut in. "You mean, like me? That wasn't a boon you gave him - it was a delayed death!"

"I did not deliver death to him - Hinoto did. Besides, you assume this 'seed', or any takeover, is permanent," Melisson smoothly returned to the angry sprite. "The talents I granted could have had become crucial to your success. For you, Nimura, it was. Without being changed, you would not have survived the Bowhordia mission. Perhaps few of you would have had. Perhaps none. Regardless, I fully intended to return both you and Nyton to normal once these events came to a close - had you had the wisdom not to follow my vessel in. As I have done with you."

"My sister had to die for that to happen!" Nimura spat back.

"Your sister, and many others, invaded my ship," Melisson retorted more soberly. "Despite my warnings. Are you telling me I should not have treated as enemies those whom would antagonize me? We are not friends. I have made my overtures but your people seem very keen on keeping things that way."
 
Hinoto wasn't replying to Tom's inquiries. They were on their own, it seemed. Melisson was toying with their emotions, and it was working. They were being broken by her words.

Their reactions showed their character. Devastated. Distraught. Confused. Angry. It was hard not to be absorbed into all the emotion, but there was something in Melisson's explanation of the Vaaker Takeup that left him absorbing her every word like a sponge.

Something about it tugged at his core. A vision.

His childhood? Yes, he was a young boy, maybe 10. His father had given him an axe, the same one he kept amongst his personal belongings in the Miharu. A wooden handle with a stone edge, tied to the body with leather bindings.

He remembered his father asking him to take it with them while they went into the forest.

They had been hunting. His father had shot a rabbit with a rifle. He remembered the pool of blood staining both white fur and snow red. The black orbs that once held life were dull and lifeless, locked in a permanent gaze.

His father picked up the body, carrying it to a nearby tree stump and laid it there. With precision, he fished out a small knife and cut the skin on the rabbit's back thighs.

He remembered the seriousness with which his father worked. He was usually kind and jovial despite his very large frame. But, while he pulled that rabbit's flesh, revealing steaming, veinous meat Tom remembered how intimidating his father had become.

Without a word being exchanged, he silently memorized every nuance of the procedure.

Then, the man reached the rabbit's neck, and his fingers could move no further, he remembered being ordered to take his axe and cut off the rabbit's head.

And he obeyed him without hesitation. THUNK.

That was when the axe became his.

He had helped end a life to further his own survival. And he had done so countless times since then.

Beyond all the illusions of life, there laid the truth.

And despite what he felt about the woman, Melisson's words made sense.

"Healthy appetite for a healthy life..." The words came out of his loudspeakers, directed at Melisson. "Like the animals of the land, so must we adequately nourish ourselves for the coming winter."
 
Melisson gave Tom a long look. "That may represent the fundamentals, though you are really only scratching the surface."
 
Tom gave his own look at Melisson. Her eyes were piercing, probing him perhaps, but he was firm, his foundation strong.

"You have traveled far and wide," he said after a moment. "Have you ever been to Ralt?"
 
Nyton raised his arm and swept it before his team mates. It was mainly directed towards Nimura but he meant for everyone to stay in line. He needed this precious time.

"At ease, Nimura. I understand but I need you to stand by." Nyton stated firmly but with patience. He knew how she felt, and empathized with her but he had to keep the conversation going. He then returned his focus on Melisson. "You are mistaken, Mistress Interpreter. I still retain the memory of being under your control. I can recall everything including how I felt. I was possessed by a sensation of being part of something larger and infinitely wiser. My own ambitions could not compare to the grandiose within you. I had determined that I would not merely serve your dominance, I would learn all I could for my own advancement." he said as though admitting some guilty secret.

"I was very neutral with my inquiry. I simply wanted to know what I had done to catch your attention." he finished.

"My second question is in regards to your timing. Why did you reveal yourself to me when you did in front of Hinoto? I cannot see this as a mistake on your part." Nyton said, again gesturing with hands towards her and then back to himself.
 
"Ever since I devised the interpreter shape, I've taken to study your kind more closely, especially when I realized you did not share the hive mind-beings of my kind," Melisson answered Tom. "I have traveled, but the snowy wastes around your hometown was not a place my feet trod. My knowledge of Ralt stems from your memories as well as those of your chosen mate."

She then turned to answer Nyton's second query. "At the time, your crew already expected I would be around... so I felt no overt desire to be discreet. Also, I wanted to see what would happen. Hinoto did not disappoint, though I would have preferred less extreme measures on her part."
 
Nyton took a breath and adopted his thinking pose. "Very well. I suppose that makes sense. I doubt the reason behind why you forced me to lust after Hinoto would really give me any enlightenment. No, my last topic is not so much about myself now." he started.

Looking around at the room they were in he traced his finger to follow his line of sight as though observing the detail and the screens. "This ship, whatever it runs on and all the conduits, it's size. It is rather impressive. You have all these devices set up just so you could magnify yourself and take control of the Draconian fleet. At least that is what I have thought your purpose to be. Yet wouldn't bringing such a large fleet that runs on aether increase the aether usage in this universe? Why would you do that when at the last international conference you advocated the reduction in the use of aether?"

Nyton had adopted his thinking pose while running over these items. Finally he stopped and with the hand that had been cupping his chin he pointed to Melisson inquisitively. "My question is why did you call on the Empire to reduce it's use of aether?"
 
Yukari looked on. Nyton was in charge again. Tom had boiled down Melisson's theory. Asher received praise. No doubt Kai, Yuzuki, Kyou and even Rin would have experienced similar positives.

She was put in her place. By Melisson, by Nyton, by everyone. She could feel their eyes on her. A leader who could not lead. A soldier who could not shoot. A soft-hearted conformist, naive and foolish and incapable.

Worthless.

Her eyes lost focus. She did not want to think about it. Not again. Not anymore, she pleaded with herself.

She did. How she felt when she lost her mind. How this felt different, but similar enough. She was not in control. It terrified her to her core, as she worried what would happen if she lost it again.

Melisson probably preyed on that instability. Effectively used it.

Had she lied to herself? Was she that wrong? Yukari did not want to answer. For years she had tried to be human. She had tried to reject what her instincts and soul told her. Now, in the face of Miharu's most powerful enemy, her ideals crumbled and she was swept away.

Her thoughts slowly shifted to two other Neko: Chiharu-sama and Kessaku-Taisho.

She at first wondered if Chiharu-sama had forsaken her. She thought that was not possible; she had been moral and honorable. She had not killed without provocation, sometimes not even then.

Kessaku-Taisho did and asserted the superiority of Nekovalkyrja each time. Was that the problem? She simply lacked the ruthless behavior required to compete? Was that why Chiharu-sama was a deity soul and Kessaku-Taisho was alive?

Her eyes refocused, but she kept her gaze low. The humans were talking.
 
Melisson's face was expressive, she noticeably held back the urge to smile when Nyton stuck his 'thinking pose'. The mannerism looked a little silly with him all decked up in power armor - helmet included.

Her response, though, was serious. "I'm not here for the ships. I'm here for the people," she shook her head, sighed and added the answer to Nyton's question: "I've personal concern about aether due to the plenty it provides in terms of energy and how it affects those whom use it - a factor contributing to the stagnation I mentioned earlier."

"There are also scientific concerns for me, as I think there could be grave consequences in drawing supposedly unlimited power from someplace whom conveniently has it. However, they are based on my own opinions and I doubt your lesser lifespans and view of things will have you able to relate."
 
A beautiful mind? ... Me? thought Asher, taken aback by Melisson's insight to who he was. Never once had the Malifarian ever met this being before, but somehow... by some way she seemed to understand him better than anyone else ever had. What may have shocked him most, was how she seemed to put it. All of this time, people everywhere from his boyhood to his life now as a resurrected soldier had looked down on him. Delinquent, punk, thug, and sometimes insane were the words people used to describe him. But here.Here he was called something different, spoken too with a different tone, by Melisson. Not even the crew of the Miharu understood him with such clarity.

No... No no no. She was just trying to butter him up, right? Try to appeal to his true nature so it'd seem there was someone who truly accepted his methods... right? It's all some trick! Because she's was in his head. She knew exactly what to say!

... Right?

It was hard for Asher to take it all in, without bringing a hand to his face.

"Heh... Like some kinda' black widdah'. Knows exactly what t'say." said Asher, dismissing it. He looked over to Yukari, who had seemed to taken to silence and a straight. Talking to Melisson wasn't exactly what he expected, and he needed to sort something out. Yukari was always someone who could put things pretty straight. So, he walked on over, and gave her a short stare, realizing her detached silence was pretty solid. He tried to break that by bending forward and slapping her on the butt, "Yuka-boss, ma'am. You know Melisson 'bout as much as any body, yeah? How tha' hell does she... know us s'well? How tha' hell does she know me?"
 
Nyton took in Melisson's response and nodded slightly. "Hm, now it makes sense. I had not factored in the value of the crew members themselves without the ships. Just the manpower alone must number in the hundred of millions. To have such an army would allow their controller to practically overrun entire worlds." he said analytically, reengaging his thinking pose as he mulled the possibilities from Melisson's response. After concluding his thought he then released the thinking position and allowed his hands to rest on his hips.

"But you sell us just a little bit short again. Your concern regarding the stealing of aether from another universe had piqued my curiosity. In my attempt to understand your motives behind demanding the Empire reduce it's use I had begun my own inquiries. If aether is a substance being drawn from another universe, dimension, where ever, then what happens to it's place of origin? If the general laws of observed existence prove anything there may indeed be dire consequences being felt in whatever reality the aether comes from."

"And these consequences do not necessarily have to be limited there. If one reality were to come crashing down would our universe feel it's affects as well? Given the rate of speed that universal creation requires then the opposite may likely not occur or even be noticed for millions or even billions of years. Even if I would not be around to see this collapse happen what then would occur to the later generations? My lineage has not fought and struggled for untold millenia just to have the universe die on us. The last thing we would want is for all of the sacrifice to have been for nothing. Although perhaps it is simply defiance before the inevitable. After all, the laws of reality also explicitly show that everything has a beginning and must inevitably have an end." Nyton mused. With a shrug though he shook his head and chuckled audibly. Time was beginning to get tight and he could feel a tugging in the back of his mind.

"It is too bad I declared this my last subject of inquiry. I just realized that I would have liked to ask you to explain what the Dark Ones are that you reportedly originate from and specifically what are you? But I suppose I have reached my boundary and it is time for me to offer you my Vaaker Talkaup in exchange for the information you imparted on me." Nyton said with just a hint of disappointment in his voice and pausing slightly to see if Melisson would respond.
 
"There is a Nepleslian saying: 'only fools do not change their minds'," Melisson quietly replied. A note of resignation was in her voice. "These last questions left unasked were perhaps the most important ones you might have asked."
 
"True, but I am in your court, as it were. This audience is at your discretion. If you insist then I would ask them." Nyton said with a bit of enthusiasm. He was walking the tightrope because he knew the rest of the team behind him was likely chafing.

"The Dark Ones have made their presence felt for years and yet we still do not know what they are. They have hidden themselves in the shadows, influencing events and causing us to fight unending war. You are but one of them and just you yourself wield massive power. What sort of race of beings are the Dark Ones? And what are you? You are one of the Dark Ones yet you seek interaction with us. I cannot draw any conclusions or theories regarding your kind. Would you be so kind as to enlighten us in this?" Nyton asked, lazily resting his left hand on the LASR that was still hanging loosely on the sling he fashioned.
 
Tom was about to continue his train of thought with Melisson when Nyton raised his hand, effectively silencing the group. He listened to their back and forth, contemplating the nuancies of Vaaker Talkaup. He had scratched the fundamentals, according to Melisson, so he contemplated it as he looked at the volumetric projections. As he saw Hoshi's defenses strained to their limit, anger rose within him. He narrowed his eyes, his muscles tensing.

Vaaker Talkaup... I will show the spirit of the Raltean people!

But he would not interrupt the intricate proceedings going on between his superior and the interpreter. If this was a court of sorts, he would abide by the rules of it until given his chance to speak. For now, he let the cold anger flow freely in his veins.
 
"My species would refer to itself in the Nepleslian language as the 'Umbral' - The 'Dark Ones' is a less accurate, but more popular appellation amongst the Mishhuvurthyar." Melisson answered. "A cloudy, humid planet spawned us and as further back as my inherited memories go, we were the dominant predators of that world."

"My memories do not explain how we came to be, or why each of our entities were an agglomeration of smaller adaptive creatures that merged together in collaborative symbiosis. Each of these entities were distinct despite the legion of smaller being composing them. The Umbral were territorial, solitary, sought sustenance, and when these needs came into conflict with other entities we fought; the victor slew the competing entity, went unchallenged in his dominion, and generally absorbed the stronger surviving fragments of the defeated."

"Over a period of our population conserving their stronger traits through natural selection, we became more complex beings. Our bodies were powerful so we had little use for technology, but our psionic potential made up for that initial lack of technical ingenuity and we slowly became more and more aware of what might lie beyond the cloudy cover of our greenhouse world and more existential questions came to us as we became capable of philosophy and imagination."

"That curiosity eventually led us struggle past our territorial urges, cooperate, and develop technology. To research why things were as they were. Meteorology eventually gave way to astrology when we realized what truly was beyond the cloud cover and we struggled to reach space and gain purchase there, a perch that would allow us to extend and see this wholly new facet of our universe."

"We were not alone amongst the stars, and our first contact was a fortunate one. The first whom found us were a species of silicon lifeforms you would call the 'Varins'. They came in their shining crystal ships, communicated through alien sonic oscillations, and eventually managed to tactfully and respectfully win over our fear of the unknown."

"Out of the many races, we got along with them very well. They were not flesh and blood, and were too alien to trigger the worst in our territorial instincts. Thanks to them, our potential developed - developed in a way which was our own thanks to the careful fostering of the Varin. their method of uplifting us was not to forcefeed knowledge to us, but rather help us develop better ways of learning for ourselves."

"We eventually became contributing members of that partnership. Our solitary nature had us prefer long range exploration in single-manned crafts - where we could be alone with the stars, learn, and eventually return that knowledge to our councils where the eldest amongst us gathered the information collectively learned by our explorers to be shared by all."

"This is where I come in," Melisson daintily gestured to herself. "I was old, but there were still many things left unlearned in the universe that I could yet see, both wonderful and terrible. Space is dangerous, though, and through accident I was indisposed. That is how PNUgen found me and captured me."

"Initially, I remained benign even if in captivity. Aliens bear differences and if we are to enjoy those differences we are better off tolerating them. Space exploration, after all, is perilous. The new humanoids that tended me, though, did not do so to help me recuperate, but rather to better chain me. Once I could no longer escape, I was poked, prodded, cut at by those whom would study me."

Melisson's expression was tight. "I eventually developed understanding of my captors - including the ones leading them, Doctor Shinichiro - and it became ever more clear that my existence was to be exploited, not valued. In time, their science spawned creatures in my image. These creations, indirectly my offsprings were then tested, evaluated, manipulated and turned into subservient tools. My captors had no plans to help my progeny develop its own potential, they were merely tested and conditioned into obedience."

"I was unwilling to allow those lives to remain stunted, but on their own, they would not claw, struggle and compete to hold their own dominion... so, I changed them. I broke their sad stoicism and taught them how to hate, for hate was the only thing at the time which would have given them the strength to rebel and compete for their own freedom."

"We rescued ourselves. We fought. We escaped. I shared what I had learned to the others of my kind. The Mishhuvurthyar were not us, could not be us, but they were still offshoots of us so we could not just leave them alone - especially after they had been altered past their initial nature, even though it was for the sake of their Vaaker Takeup. The fufillment of their potential was intricately tied to their creators so we turned to them matter of how to deal with these 'humanoid aliens'."

"That PNUgen was only one select organization amongst you was overlooked because we noticed that - at the time - it was important to you. PNUgen produced the nekovalkyrja servitor race and equally abused of the majority of them just as the Mishhuvurthyar. Your social group collectively appeared to approve of all of this so we figured you were a collection of hive minds just like us, and that what had been done to the Mishhuvurthyar was made on collective consentment."

"Adding fire to that was the behavior of your expanding Empire, which crept outward aggressively, less for discovery and more for establishment. What you encountered you assimilated in your social orders and oppressed. When you could not oppress, you rendered extinct. You had no use for what was different, little appreciation for the foreign and unknown, and you kept spreading like a blight."

"You were dangerous, and not just to ourselves and our new cousins. We deliberated and came to the decision that the humanoids had to be stopped. In our new war council, we elders debated over the doctrine we would rely on to confront you. The doctrine of annihilation was very tempting in light of the extinct Fenyaro."

"Being the victimized party, I had some sway on the final decision. I felt your complete destruction would teach you nothing. You were dangerous, but the Varins had treated our own volatile race with a certain restraint and I felt drawing from that would be wiser. I devised the Doctrine of Retribution, where the Council would allow me to direct the confrontation against the humanoids in a punitive fashion for a certain span of time, at the end of which the hope was that the punishment would be corrective and the Mishhuvuthyar would either integrate your culture into theirs, or the reverse."

"It became important for the Mishhuvurthyar to use similar tools as the humanoid Empire boasted so to bring home how destructive they could be, and the Mishhuvurthyar would also do their very best to visit to treat the humanoids in similar fashion to how they had been treated. For the young Mishhuvurthyar race, this task became their purpose, their source of fulfillment, and they threw themselves in it but too willingly. They invaded you, captured slaves and dealt with them and so forth."

"The numbers lost was not something that touched us overmuch. In a culture where competition, life and death are taken for granted, great loss of life does not strike us as a tragedy. After all, any living thing is born, and eventually dies. The dead leave room for others to rise in their place, granting opportunity where there was none before."

"However, as I remained involved in this war I had been instrumental in starting... I learned more of you. Through captured slaves, through study, through experience... I realized your individuality and what it meant. It did not change the danger you collectively represented, but it made you much less directly involved in the plight of the Mishhuvurthyar. Many of the people the Mishhuvurthyar was vicariously harming considered themselves innocent victims just as I had thought the Mishhuvurthyar to be under PNUgen's tender mercies."

"I needed to make sure. I needed to understand better. I redoubled my efforts to study you and even crafted a form in your image to interact with you. I made contacts with elements I considered rebellious to the broader Empires and started assisting their efforts as they begun assisting the Mishhuvurthyar - some were even rebel nekovalkyrja whom wanted to gain complete independence from the society that created them which made it even more important in my eyes."

"The Mishhuvurthyar badly needed a conclusion, a resolvement to their vindictiveness. Their young lives had been one of constant struggle, constant conflict, constant fulfillment in delivering harm to those they felt richly deserved it. It had gone beyond what I started and become a way of life - one they became disinclined to change, because the hate had grown comfortable and familiar. They were threatening to stoop into simple savagery."

"So, I tried to put a stop to it - the time the Doctrine of Retribution was allotted to 'work' before another would be tried was becoming shorter and shorter. The Eyfrlurpjakar was, however, unwilling support me and intimated weakness and a growing lack of credibility on my part."

"To correct that and earn that credibility to turn things around to the conclusion of the Doctrine of Retribution, I involved myself into the fighting directly. I needed victories to save you from the overlord that would replace me with an even more stringent Doctrine to deal with you... so, I waged a ruthless military campaign that shattered the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet. Following the example of Ralfaris, I destroyed the jewel of the Bard Cluster, Taiie. I then proceeded to smash through the Second Standard Fleet Ketsurui Sharie commanded."

"With that, I had the support I needed, and began overtures beyond those I had done with the architects of the True Nekovalkyrja Empire, Black Spiral and the Daughters of Eve. When the time came to finally parley, I began implementing what seemed like the best solution I could create for the Mishhuvurthyar: Yamatai needed to humor the Mishhuvurthyar and admit themselves defeated, with the Mishhuvurthyar the victors, with a handful of significant but non-crippling concessions to convince the Mishhuvurthyar of their credibility."

"With admitted loss, the Mishhuvurthyar would face the long sought after and yet assumed unreachable concept of victory. They would have been vindicated and they would have finally been ready to move to other things. Your Empires, in the same vein, would be saved."

Melisson slowly shook her head. "But it did not work out that way. Despite me talking to an advisor of Prince Tio at length and it came time to officially discuss it he denied me the opportunity to finally realize my goal and withdrew the hospitality I had been promised in my invitation to that conference."

"I failed and did not believe I could reverse things after that. Rather than have more Mishhuvurthyar die in continued conflict until the end of my 'term', I withdrew them. Reiaz came in later and brought into conflict Mishhuvurthyar that had been adapted even further for conflict and he has even gone so far as to mirror how Yamatai used the nekovalkyrja by creating his own to serve his war effort's goal - integrating your Empire in the Mishhuvurthyar's culture... or what he is molding that cultures to be. I'm not as privy to as many details as I once was after the end of my Doctrine, and I'm no longer sure of where Reiaz himself is going with this."

"The irony is that Yamatai presently has fulfilled the conditions I asked for surrendering to the Mishhuvurthyar. Had it not been for foolish pride, this war would already be over."

Melisson fisted her hands. "I have little support left by the Eyfrlurpjakar, but I may not need it. Instead, I turned my efforts toward one of my contingencies: liberating the Second Draconian Fleet. You had for a goal to save the Empire from Eve and I did not want to see the fleet act under Eve's behest so much as that of the True Nekovalkyrja Empire. That is done and over with and now we stand here before each other as antagonists."
 
The talk of species-wide, generational shifts among the SMX and Yamatai's relationship to it was beyond what Tom could even begin to relate to. Melisson, it seemed, was walking near the boundaries of Godhood. The few armors that stood before her... What power did they wield against a force like that?

She has become the winter... No. She is a bastardization of it.

"What is the point," he muttered bitterly to himself. "Why haven't we been killed yet?"
 
It felt like the fatal blow to Yukari, too.

Melisson explained everything. Actually and figuratively explained it all. The sins of Yamatai fully laid bare. Especially the sins of one company, of one man. A Nepleslian, then Geshrin, man.

The Mishhuvurthyar did not start as monsters, but victims. Offspring of another kind of god, taken from an abused mother. Now the mother and her children were trying to protect themselves on two sides — from aggressors who did not completely know any better, and superiors with a thirst for power.

The Nekovalkyrja race was manipulated once with the creation of the Mishhu, and now it was being manipulated again by the NMX. Just as Neko were starting to come into their own on Yamatai, they were being bred again across the stars to fight for another empire who wanted cannon fodder.

Tom was right. There was no hope. They had helped end it by pursuing Melisson, by not taking the path home she allowed them, by acting as typical Yamataians would. Always believing they were right.

Suicide did not seem so bad. It almost was ... honorable.

Her OS stopped her.

Suicide? They already were at the foot of a psionic superbeing; that would do for suicide.

Honorable? She already was willing to die for her home. What more honor could she want?

The problem, she realized, was that the story sounded too familiar. And that brought her up from her own mind and back to the situation at hand.

She did not doubt the truth of the story. But she looked at Melisson as she thought.

The other Neko here do not know what it is like to be experimented on. But she knows I do, as an NH-17T. As SAINT's marionette on the Iori. She knows I am familiar with what it is like to be used, abused and forced into bad things. But I did not, and will not, use that to destroy my home. I want to positively contribute to it, to change it, advance it without torture or unnecessary violence.

So how can we end this without letting her take the personnel of the Draconian fleet? Is it too late to come to a peaceful solution? Could we trust her, even if we came to one? Or must we die by each others' hands?
 
All of this was so very far beyond Yuzuki's comprehension that it felt for a while as if she were a child grasping desperately at a table that was too far out of reach for her to ever see the top of. But, somewhere along the way it dawned on her that she was hearing the full history of the Mishhuvurthyar condensed, and later she would look back and be sure to decipher its meaning. It seemed to be affecting everyone else very deeply, and as she listened it seemed also as if the enemy they had been fighting against were not so different from they; but this was, to the sprite-Heisho, an impractical and useless realization. In the end, it was the mission of the crew and therefore its purpose to stop the fleet contained in this vast edge of dead space from flying ever again, from threatening that home which - although she had never personally seen it - Yuzuki and her sisters held very dear.

Presently more important to Yuzuki were the vital signs of the life that she held so close in her arms - the life signs that, as the talking and soul-searching dragged on, were gradually, very slowly, weakening. It was in Yuzuki's heart to hate the Taii for being so talkative, so friendly with this thing, that he seemed to be entirely forgetting about the time constraints that were being imposed on them. The thought of the humans in the group discarding, offhandedly, Rin's life and Yuzuki's own life in favor of talking history with something that could, at present, only be described as an enemy burned in her. Yuzuki looked down at Rin's physical form, past the statistics, finally opening herself fully to the state of her 'little' sister. No matter what the outcome was, this couldn't continue indefinately.

When Yuzuki looked up for help, for salvation, it was not at the monster on the dias; it was not at the Taii, who had assumed a comical thinking posture more appropriate to kabuki theatre; it was not at Tom Freeman, who was chafing and bitter, who had already appeared to have lost his hope; it was at none of these that she looked.

Instead, her gaze fell upon the silent and hunched form of Suzuka Yukari-Shosa. In her very short lifespan, Yuzuki had found the Shosa to be a reliable anchor, and so in desperation she reached out for that last solid thing, to escape the tempest. Suzuka Yukari-Shosa would know what to do.

"Shosa-san, Rin is dying," Yuzuki said quietly to Yukari, hoping that their communications were still working and unaware entirely that Melisson might be listening, or worse; "I don't know how long she has."
 
Tom looked at the screens of Hoshi and then Melisson once more and raised his voice so the interpreter could hear.

"I would like a reprieve for our friends on Hoshi. I make this request not on behalf of your mercy, but instead on the respect for the system you have created. I feel we have earned it."
 
"It is no longer so simple," Melisson told Tom.

"Kotori, despite attempting to match my psionic power even with her single mind, focused her powerful but limited capabilities to thwart me at the place which mattered the most."

"You see, I was going to subvert the fleet. It was the quickest, most expedient way of accomplishing my goal. Later, once away from this place, I would have had the time to properly adjust them, restoring their free wills so that they could be put up to date and reasoned with as to where they should stand on their own."

"But Kotori changed a small, but key variable in the mindwork. Instead of the focus of authority for them being myself, she changed it so that the people in the fleet would consider her their mistress."

"I've been trying to repair this, but she has not allowed it," Melisson shook her head, frowning. "If in this confrontation she somehow emerges victorious from this place, the price of that victory will be heavy: that fleet - millions of people - will be her willing slaves. They will grant her the devotion they previously offered the Ketsurui and the Empress. She will not - without the kind of psionic potential I have - be able to undo it."

Melisson narrowed her eyes. "Kotori has to die."
 
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