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

"So," went Asher during the awkward silence of preparations, and the odd, chilling atmosphere that he could see in the opening of the Hangar bay. "Who thinks they'll get tha' lass' shot on tha' big bad boss lady this time 'round?" asked Asher, rolling up to his feet, and standing up straight. "I mean, I didn' see tha' last shot comin' from Tom when we wass' fightin' Eve, but there it was. Pow, right in tha' sucka'!"

"It hardly matters." Kai said, turning to Asher and Kyou, and then looking at the sprites who were passing into and out of the armor bay, dropping off newly fabricated weapons and Ammunition. "Westwood-Hei. Help me sort through this stuff and grab anything we will need for the Upcoming battle. Gunshin-Hei, could you retrieve Kurohoshi-Juni from the Med bay if she is well enough? And Try to find any other Able-bodied armor pilots and have them assemble here. We need to be ready as soon as possible, we don't know when we will find our enemy, and they will probably outnumber us." The Heisho said, finishing off somewhat grimly. he moved to the pile of new munitions and began to sort through them, looking for Missiles, a LASR, a plasma rifle, and any ammunition he could find. Perhaps another Gauss rifle like Asher's would be helpful as well.

Tom's face drained of color and he stared vacantly at the CFS display on his console. He had a small volumetric window open to display the immediate surroundings of the ship, ready to compensate for any potential threats to the integrity of the CFS shield.

More destruction and death. Innocent lives ruined by freak chance, frozen in time only to be skewered.

He said nothing. What energy he had left he gave to the mission.

Aside from conjecture, there was little Nyton could add to the grisly sight. The Nepleslian simply watched, studying what he could for any further clues or sudden threats while waiting word from Kai of any updates to Armor personnel. He had to admit though, that as far as unique ways to die, this had to be high on the list.

"Fascinating." Nyton quietly stated to himself.

The search went on, with Miharu negociating her way through the debris, heading back further in and toward the trail of wreckage when it came across intact vessels... until finally they found what they sought.

The sublight signature of the Mishhuvurthyar juggernaut, a trail of barely decayed engine exhaust that was like shining ribbons on Miharu's sensors. The enemy flagship was headed in at a much faster speed than the wounded light cruiser, with the estimate from the engine trail sampling they had being 4000 meters per second.

Another highlight was that there was significantly less ship debris closer to the engine trail.

"Murderous alien ... " Yukari said as she got Miharu on the straight and narrow path toward their objective.

She did some quick math, confirmed by Hoshi. A speed of 5,000 m/s likely was the most the vessel could hope to survive and still catch Melisson.

That left Yukari a fifth of a second to respond to threats, instead of five seconds.

"All hands," she said through her headset in Yamataian. "We are about to close on Melisson and her vessel. Complete your preparations. Quickly!"

Yukari put all the emphasis she could on that last word. It would be soon.

Instead of making all of the maneuvering thrusters evenly operate for her, she tipped the vessel on her Y-axis, functioning engine pointing ventral, and set the hard move to be starboard. That meant that as soon as the ship detected debris, she would go wide around it, instead of try to hop over it. If the piece proved too wide for that, she would kick the engine and force the ship to then hop.

"Accelerating to 5,000 meters per second. We should be on top of her engine wash in minutes."

Everyone on board could feel the ship lurch forward as she brought the throttle up.

Soon, puppetmaster.

Kyou nodded in response to Kai, and took off down the hallway, still in her armor. She figured she'd check both medbays, and if she hadn't found Masako by then, she would most likely be found in the armor bay anyway. As she ran, she made up a quick message.

Miharu sped across what was effectively a highway through the debris field, going hot after the Mishhuvurthyar flagship that preceded it. It's 2 kilometer-diameter CFS bubble brushed past ship wreckage on its way, and awoke sinister sentinels their enemy had left in her wake.

Pressed against large chunks of ancient warships and strapped with a modified fold booster that allowed them to operate under the dimension's stringent space-time conditions, the cyclopic eye of the 'hounds' gleamed before they disengaged from where they were camouflaged and they collectively went into pursuit of their wounded quarry.

Operated by brain slaves that had little regard for their safety, the four battlepods exceeded the speeds Yukari restrained herself to and caught up, the four emerging into the back of Miharu's CFS field and then slowed down to match her speed.

A warning tone sounded as the four targets were outlined with diamond-shaped red targeting brackets indicating they were hostiles, with the MEGAMI then labeling them as Bomber Pods, each bearing a homing anti-matter torpedo warhead.

@Kyou:

Kyou attempted to negociate the central corridor, only to realize that it being one of the main paths from between the main hull to the auxiliary vessel meant that it was presently under heavy traffic.

A sprite pushing a cart that seemed laden with missile packs was pushing ahead, another sprite behind her with a similar cart close on her heels. "Make way, make way!" The grimy tech warned, not stopping. Kyou would either find a way to get out of the way, or would be smashed into (not a pleasant prospect considering that ammunition was probably involved).

"Yes, of course," Yukari said as the four blips appeared on console. "Yes. No better behavior could be expected of Melisson."

She swore, loudly. "Taii-san, please prepare your turrets," she said after another pair of seconds. "All hands, please secure yourselves."

The ship suddenly pulled the move Yukari had prepared, sans debris.

The bombers dipped their toes of the CFS bubble, but soon they were well inside of it again. Yukari was back in the asteroid belt of Tsuyosa, trying to avoid the Meng Po without crashing. She could see less, but if the brain slaves behind them wanted Miharu they would have to give chase.

"Saito-Juni, can you use the graviton projector on Hoshi to SHIMATTA!" Yukari cut herself off as she made Miharu dive below another hunk of docking ring from an Ayame-class carrier. "Something! Anything!"

Yukari wanted to hit the throttle and leave the bastard pods outside of time. A dagger-like protrusion from a obliterated Irim-class gunship made her put the ship into another hard dive, this time to the right, sending the crew for a ride they likely did not enjoy. She probably cleared the thing by less than two meters.

Sensors detected one of the bombers fired its forward plasma cannons, missing Miharu but probably getting a good zero on the ship's distance.

"Eh, alright then." went Asher as he stepped on over to the fresh stockpile of munitions. The Malifarian went along and began to pull out individual magazines, batteries, and packs, and set the down. Strangely, as he worked, and despite how rapidly he went, one could notice a certain neatness in how he laid out the ammo; each object was following a specific angle and tilt. "Y'know, iss' been three years I've been at this, not countin' tha' two I missed, and countin' tha' year I spent on tha' Shikaku. An'still I get a thrill from grabbin', sortin', handlin', and shootin' ammo."

"All hands, please secure yourselves."

Click to expand...

"Aw, son of a bitch!" said Asher as he frantically began kicking the neatly rowed bits and pieces of military equipment together in piles as fast as he could. One harsh jolt, and all the lined up organization would just be another disorganized mess.

"Please redirect questions to Nakamura-Heisho. He is currently in command while I am on the bridge," Nyton replied telepathically to Kyou as he saw the Bomber Pods making their approach. Yukari commanded him to use the turrets which he did begin to bring online but he labored to find an alternative solution which would not sacrifice precious energy needed for the CFS.

Gallant said:

... Yuzuki sent out to the engineering crew, 'Everyone alright? If you're still alive, make readiness reports, and any casualty reports, immediately!'

Click to expand...

"Nee-chan, I'm here and ready to work," Rin reported to Yuzuki. She was at a loss as to what to do, and, as a sprite, she was still fixated on the being led aspect rather than taking charge. It also didn't help that things were just feeling weird now that they were inside the gate.

Kyou frowned, and shrugged, abruptly having to try her best to imitate wallpaper as her flattening had become imminent. That said, as soon as she could, she went back to making her way to the medbay, looking around and poking a finger at Masako once she found her. "Nakamura-heisho wants to get you back in an armor if you're ready, Kurohoshi-Juni." She glanced around the medbay. "And we're supposed to bring anyone who's not needed and is qualified with us, because we need the firepower."

The chase was on.

The bombers doggedly tailed after Miharu, with the dreaded WARMS warning sounding out in prelude to the coming of an anti-matter torpedo from the lead bomber.

Yukari abruptly lifted the light cruiser's nose and in a sharp, curving rise zipped Miharu right under a large chunk of Yuumi battleship; so close that it was a near-graze (and that was due to the missing rollbar, at that).

With a well, timed push from one of the graviton projectors inside Hoshi's armor bays, the Yuumi chunk was shoved toward the pursuers and intercepted the homing warhead that had been meant for Miharu. In a bright glare from the forces unleashed, it shattered itself widely.

The lead bomber and two of its wingmates served widely aside to avoid the hazard, but the latter one was not as quick and was intercepted by stray zesuaium armor sheets. The battlepod - quite rent - spiraled out of control and vacated Miharu's CFS field outside which it promptly froze up.

The other battlepods weaved around and were back into the chase, closing in again.

Nyton saw their options to be very limited. Their weapons would drain power needed for the CFS and life support. Armor teams could not adequately target the enemy let alone engage them. There were no torpedoes or a means to launch them. Their sensors were highly restricted within the scope of the CFS bubble. The terrain was practically unknown and impossible to navigate expertly.

Then again the enemy faced some of the same problems but without having to concern itself with survivability. If they managed to catch up and out flank them then it would be disastrous. What they needed was some means to capitalize on the situation at hand. The enemy could follow independently of their CFS but in order to close in they would need to be within it. The torpedoes could only function within the CFS so that meant systems were reliant on normal space to operate. What about the rest of the systems within enemy ships?

"Saito-Juni, the enemy ships have to have some sort of computer systems to operate by. Can you and Hoshi hack in and disable their systems? Guidance, sensors, targeting, their personal CFS generators; anything at all!" Nyton suggested.

--------------------------------------------------------------------


Meanwhile the transferal of patients was rushing steadily along. Ichigo had been pulled out from the hemosynthetic tank and outfitted with a portable trauma unit: a small tank that affixes to a single portion of the body to treat the most critically injured piece. The trauma unit was primarily for moving severely injured patients rather than field treatment. With Ichigo wearing one over her head, which was still mending from being split through the jaw, a team moved her via stretcher to the Hoshi's medical lab. Non-critical patients capable of moving were either discharged or put to work assisting with the move.

Masako would find herself also placed on a stretcher and being moved. Her internal injuries were on the mend but still massively sore. The shattered sternum had managed to lace itself together with a thin net of molecular bonds but was no more durable than tissue paper. Organs were intact but heavily bruised. It still hurt to breath but at least it was possible to do so without restriction now. She was between the two medbays when Kyou first looked in the Miharu medbay before catching up to her in Hoshi's. Masako's stretcher had been deposited on the floor near a dedicated repository for patients to standby while the medical team worked to set up.

Noticing Kyou, Ayumu walked over to address her request to Masako. "Excuse me, Kurohoshi-Juni is still in recovery for her injuries. Under normal circumstances I would not discharge her but," the nurse let out a quick breath, "given the circumstances, if she feels she can fight I can let her go. I would recommend some heavy pain killers although I cannot promise they will be effective."

With that said the nurse quickly moved on to return attending to the movement of medical supplies and patients.

"There's no time for that," Kotori snapped as the bombers matched Miharu's speed, their plasma cannons flashing as they fired, with a split-second dodge from Yukari sparing the ship from harm. This was only a prelude to the next torpedo lock. "Nyton, fire at will!"

"Come on, girl. Let's make it count."

Using the Brain Pod's necessity to line up for a lock, Nyton aimed for the one that just fired as tightly as he could with the Hoshi turrets. Targeting was boosted by the MEGAMI to time the rate of fire. With that in mind Nyton opened fire.

Hoshi's dorsal turret counterattacked with cobalt lightning that swallowed the bomber, destroying it along with its payload. There was a flare up from the consumed anti-matter warhead, but it was much muted from what it might have had been on direct impact.

A demonstration which was given by the last anti-matter torpedo the SMX bomber wing had, which streaked after Miharu through the explosion of the doomed Bomber.

Yukari never saw the torpedo coming. It had been easy to confuse the WARMS warning for the bomber which had just been destroyed. The MEGAMI, a quantum computer, had enough time to see it... but not enough time to do anything about it.

So, it only had time to say its farewells... farewells her crew would only register after the impact. "I was never meant to be eternal and I always knew my crew would eventually survive me. I was never scared of dying, but I could not imagine not being with you all tomorrow. If you have ever had any respect for me, do not allow me to become your tomb."

The torpedo struck just at the back of the main hull's sensor dome, and from that flashpoint the anti-matter explosion carved deeply into the front of the main hull, blunting the ship's nosepoint as it replaced everything on the upper and main decks fore of the main passageway with a giant crater.

The light cruiser was sent reeling as if some giant mythical hammer had struck it; the flickering grey-green haze of spewed coolant, evaporated metal and gouts of plasma fires licked out of the giant wound. Inside the vessel quaked as it made structural moans and shrieks. The roar of escaping atmosphere drowned out cries as the gaping hull breach allowed some of the crew to be swallowed out in space - Kyou narrowly escaped that fate, her power armor's barrier flickering and becoming depleted as it shielded her from the edge of the anti-matter explosion while other sprites were turned to ashes.

To Yukari, Miharu's last words registered in her mind a moment before sensations she had shared with the main hull became numb. Hoshi immediately compensated, reaching out with artificial puppeteer strings to reclaim control - but that much was almost akin to necromancy: Miharu was a empty husk, and Hoshi's AI would only allow her to go through the motions of living for a little longer.

Tom had statistics and system reports, mostly drawn from Hoshi's estimations. The impact had knocked down structural integrity to 7%, and that wasn't a dependable figure since atmospheric retention fields were failing all along the main hull, that including life support systems clearly being compromised. The scope of the destruction included the sensor dome, comm array, two fusion reactors, the MEGAMI, the main hull's medical center and the fabrication rooms amongst elements the software could even label.

Hoshi's own sensors and comm array could compensate for the main hull effectively having been beheaded, but there were more complications: what coolant and HS fluids that had been left was hemorrhaging out. With the edges of the crater so saturated with heat and the ship's own cooling capabilities grown insufficient, it would expose what was left in the subdeck to dangerously high temperatures that would most likely damage the equipment - most imperatively the fore center CFS unit and the not-so-distant port capacitor banks. Tom still had people down there as well!

Kotori had clutched at Yukari's seat as the vessel nearly seemed to shake itself to pieces. Most commanders would order to abandon ship by this point - but not Kotori. Circumstances granted them no such luxury.

Baring her mouth into a fierce snarl, she had one hand snake out to grasp Yukari's left shoulder, the nailless fingers sinking through fabric and flesh with bruising strength, the physical pain making the distinction between the dying main hull and the Shosa clearer. "Race after Melisson!"

As the two bombers circled around the twisted shell of an Irim gunship above, Kotori's head whirled around to yell a "Destroy them!" at Nyton.

Asher quickly kicked the last piece of assigned munitions into a pile before the torpedo struck, and took him off his feet again. This time, he didn't get to ball up, but instead landed on his stomach. His hand went quickly for his 50mm and gripped it tightly, and quickly began to rise again, before freezing to the sound of mournful farewell.

"I was never meant to be eternal and I always knew my crew would eventually survive me. I was never scared of dying, but I could not imagine not being with you all tomorrow. If you have ever had any respect for me, do not allow me to become your tomb."

Click to expand...

It was a cold, still moment, he looked frozen upon finally realizing the message. There was a chilling reminder of the hopelessness felt after that Mishhu tore the Shikaku open. It brought vivid memories of the silence following the death of the entire crew, and the bare whisper of another survivor out of all them. Though, for what followed that horrible moment in his life was what drove him never to fail. He would not fail Miharu.

"Sounds like we got our shit cut out f'us, Naka-boss." said Asher in a rather up-beat tone, taking a bit of pride in how some of his piles had survived the shock, unrattled. Already, he was contributing to the inevitable success!

Rin went wide-eyed at the farewell after having stumbled and fallen to the ground from the impact. No... no. She had to have heard wrong, right? Miharu couldn't die, right? The sprite's home and mother - the practically legendary ship that faced overwhelming odds at every turn in every mission and still pulled out a victory - couldn't have been defeated now when they were so close to the ultimate goal. This was impossible. If Miharu was to be defeated, wouldn't they all be dead too? Yes, the ship almost seemed to crumble further with whatever just hit them last, but Rin and her sisters, along with all the others, were certainly still alive. There was just no way the ship could die and yet those within the ship would still be alive, right?

This had to have been some horribly cruel joke. It HAD to. Miharu must have gotten bored or something. There was no other reasonable option. "Kaa-chan, that wasn't funny!" Rin telepathically sent out. The only reply was silence. "Really, this isn't funny. ...Why aren't you saying anything? Come on... the joke's over...."

Tears welled up, and the sprite meekly hugged herself. It was suddenly so cold and everything became so empty.