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

[Fred]

@black Knights:

For the time being, all Kai could manage past wheezing breathing was a half-hearted nod of his helmet to Yukari.

As the others guarded, Nyton and Asher concluded the fight against the remaining Ghost Mishhu. Nyton had been left twisting vainly in his efforts to get to his enemy up close and personal, but Asher provided him with the needed distraction as he came down and sent plasma flames across the top of the gray creature's carapace.

The pain, shock and panic coaxed out by the attack gave Nyton the slack needed to launch himself at the belly of the Mishhu - staying close so it could not phase away and them hammering at it for all he was worth with his pistol.

Asher found his target recoiling from Nyton's attack and the Taii became was too exposed despite the cover of their monstrous enemy, Arethusa's barrier flickering in protest. With a shrug he stopped the downpour from the plasma thrower to instead slash through the weakened carapace with his plasma torch, etching such a deep burn that it nearly cleaved the thing in two.

There. That was his kill.

Nyton skipped back to avoid the falling Mishhuvurthyar's bulk and then slumped, panting hard. Others looked about, inspecting the vicinity, but it seemed like that particular battle was over, and Melisson had fled deeper within her sanctum.

With heavy steps, Nimura crested the ramp, her bloodstained face twisted in a pained grimace as she moved within a Daisy armor that was barely functional. Her right eye crusted shut by bleeding from her forehead, she looked over at the volumetric displays depicting the stand of Hoshi's defenders and then looked to Yukari.

"Shosa," she croaked, struggling to have her voice be loud enough to be heard. "Gunshin, Nakamura, Rin and I should stay behind while the rest of you go after Melisson. We can... guard your rear."

@Defensive Line:

They had next to no cover left: their fortifications were all bur destroyed. The weapon pods were sorely taxed from repeated usage at times when it looked like they would be overwhelmed. They no longer had ammunition and were running purely on energy-based weaponry. Daisy armor plates were breached, muscle-bundles exposed raw. Hemosynthetic inserts and soldiers bled together.

Suzume and Nao had come back and reported to Mara, whom then had asked what was required to make the aether generator 'function'.

"Basically just plug it in," Suzume had answered.

"Can't it be done remotely?" Miharu's former avatar had asked.

"Not with the time and resources at hand, no."

"Alright," and that was it, Mara returned to leading the defenders against the continuous onslaught.

They had several more close calls, two which included mishhu bugs swarms flying in and reaching the medlab, forcing Miyoko to desperately defend against them before they could do any harm to the Taisa. At some point, a Mishhuvurthyar Elite had barreled through and fought Miyoko to a stalemate around the medlab's doorway before Masako could pincer it and kill it from behind.

Behind Miyoko and Ayumu, Kotori floated in the hemosynthetic tank, curled up in fetal position, her eyes closed. Miyoko had realized that if she had brought Kotori to the tank in the very beginning, the Taisa might had fared much better... but there was something about Kotori's earlier close brush with death from attrition that had the science officer believe the experience had actually strengthened the Signaler.

There wasn't even a whisper of Melisson's overbearing presence left at the back of her mind. Kotori was strong - strong enough! - to protect them... but all it would take would be a few railgun shot from a mere Mishhuvurthyar grunt point-blank to end her... and all the rest of the crew along with her.

The conflict dragged on. Tsuya's left was blown off at the knee, sending the Hei on her back screaming in pain. Then it was Suzume, whom lost an arm and took several shots in her flank. Both wounded were dragged away.

Energy reserves in magazines dwindled. Rifles overheated. Quickly, weapons were swapped for those of the fallen... but as the number of defenders decreased, even more pressure was placed on those left.

Until-

"Hinoto, transfer power from our artillery pieces to the force screens we set initially!" Mara ordered.

"Mara, you still have enemies within the perimeter!" Hinoto protested.

"Now!"

Forcefields fizzled back to life, cutting off thralls and mishhuvurthyar grunts from the rest of the horde. Thus isolated, the defenders had an easier time dispatching the opponents on their side of the forcefield. Enemy attacks started to pound against the makeshift wall.

"Everyone, get back into Hoshi!" Mara yelled, waving a her blood-slick armored arm as if to coax them to move. She was having them abandon their position - and their two artillery mounts - to gather the defenders into the even tighter bottleneck right in front of the medlab.

@Hinoto:

Hinoto reclined back against her seat, giving a hooded look to her many displays. She sighed, feeling a little jaded by all the dramatic events that were going on to the point of feeling overwhelmed and yet needing to remain proactive to give the rest of her crew a chance to prevail.

She pushed back the annoyance of the bridge smelling of burnt Mishhu flesh - seeing it as unworthy of her notice - and then sent out a text update of the situation.

The Shlarvasseroth's main array appears to have deployed a fold sphere that now entirely encompasses the Second Draconian Fleet. The boundaries of this dimension are now strictly defined by the fold sphere's boundaries.

Space and time are now in flux, as their constants within the fold sphere are slowly being altered in an effort to normalize this space before - I suspect - transposing its content back to our reality at a time and location of the Infection Queen's choosing.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari did not believe the four injured crew could guard much of anything. Not for lack of effort. Nimura's armor was borderline nonfunctional; Kyou remained unresponsive, though her armor's AIES suggested things were improving; Rin remained out of the fight, but her armor was keeping her alive; and Kai would adjust.

It hurt to look at them, but not in a physical way.

The images of Hoshi silenced her in the short-term, but it was Hinoto's explanation that twisted nerves in her mind and squelched any further argument.

The lost ones would be led astray and into hell if Melisson did not die soon. She swore to the Pretender bitch herself that she would not let that happen. They were her responsibility. She would not fail them!

"You are ordered to survive," Yukari said to the Black Knight defenders in Yamataian, her voice cracking on "ordered." She tightened her grip on her revolver. "Further casualties are unacceptable. Do you understand?"

She did not wait for an answer, her AIES pointing her to the hatch through which Melisson had escaped. "Westwood, take point and head down the hatch! Freeman, support him! Claymere has the core with Yuzuki covering the rear. There is no time to waste! Let us go!"

 

[Kokuten]

The battle began to subside, Asher's focus began to widen again, allowing him to process something other than blood and battle. He looked over the dead Mishhu, and then the side-stepping superior, who seemed a little worn from his experience as a human bat. The Malifarian noticed that he may have taken the man's kill like Tom had taken his, but he tried to play it off.

"My bad, Clay-boss!" said Asher as he hustled on over, putting a hand on the superior's shoulder, and looking him up and down. "I didn't mean t'snatch y'kill there, boss. Y'looked like you was in trouble." The murderous Malifarian found himself rambling to the Nepleslian turn Yamataian.

"Westwood, take point and head down the hatch! Freeman, support him! Claymere has the core with Yuzuki covering the rear. There is no time to waste! Let us go!"

"Hai! Yuka-boss!" snapped Asher immediately after the order, blazing from Nyton's side and up into the hatch, flamethrower forward, and shield up.

 

[Nyton]

Right now, as Nyton gasped, he hardly felt like he could be the core for anything. Even Asher's words were hard to hear over his breathing. Prior injuries that were creeping up on him sapped away at his strength. The crotch shot from earlier was now overwhelming his momentary override and creating a tremendous weight that threatened to drag him down.

Steel is stronger than flesh. So how do you make the flesh stronger? By focusing that which is stronger than steel: your mind and will.

With a brief but loud shout Nyton forced himself to stand up fully erect. He continued to pant and it felt as though he would soon vomit but the man forced himself not to care. He'd been this tired before and kept going. He'd been this hurt before and kept going. This is what all that training was meant to do: to know that he could always keep going.

Hinoto's report did not keep him going. Yukari's orders did not keep him going. Pride did not keep him going. Not even his desire to kill the monster who had just slipped through his grasp keep him going. He was at war with himself now, nothing else. So he told himself to keep moving and so he did. It just hurt a LOT.

The first labored step. Then the second. A third, followed by a fourth. Arethusa's barriers restored themselves, slowly at first and then much faster. While Nyton walked he holstered the pistol, tossed off half of his LASR magazines and drew out his plasma rifle.

50 shots.

"I lost my LASR *gasp* in the fight- *wheeze* -welcome to have it if you find it- *pant* -ammo too." Nyton managed out before he started floating to move out in line with the others. As he passed by Yukari he silently put out his hand and patted her on her shoulder. They were in a hurry. He then quickly text messaged Asher:

You stole my kill. Thanks for the assist.

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

Ayumu was panting in both fear and exhaustion. She was no soldier and had not been used to this sort of exertion. Still, she equated it to the labor involved with fighting for her patient's survival. Except this involved more guns. While Miyoko had obviously done the majority of the fighting the nurse assisted however she could with her SMG. At least she managed not to accidentally hit Miyoko this time.

With their defenses unable to keep enemies out Ayumu had begun using whatever she could find to help defend the medical lab and in turn protect Kotori and any other surviving patients from being hit. She could not be so cruel as to completely seal off the medlab from the others but she had to find some way to reduce their exposure to enemy fire.

"Saito-Juni! Please, move the body of the Mishhu in front of the Taisa's chamber. Maybe it will protect her from a stray shot!" Ayumu suggested while throwing equipment and even dead bodies on top of each other to create a makeshift bunker for herself and others. Deep down though, while she was afraid for the lives of her patients, she was also just as terrified for her own.

With every new addition of wounded crew members however she was forced to pause and do what she could to save them. Blood from new patients would spray over her eyes, blinding her before she could wipe it away. It made no difference if she wiped away the blood from her face, her hands, arms and uniform were already covered in it.

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

"On**chan, w* g**** go!" Akiko shouted over her radio. The younger sister quickly grabbed onto Shizuka and began to drag her back as fast as she could. Akiko's DAISY was trashed and barely functional. One leg remained twisted at the odd angle from earlier.

What made it more difficult for Akiko was that Shizuka was not responding. Shizuka had lost so much blood that she not only lost most feeling but was growing unconscious. The large chunk of metal from the barrier that had punctured her side was still embedded but there had still been large amounts of blood flowing out.

Shizuka blinked a couple times while she felt herself being pulled by Akiko. "C*** ON, onee-chan! Le** GO!" whined Akiko. "Please, someone help me pull onee-chan!" she then shouted out loud to anyone who could hear.

 

[Gallant]

As the group sped off, Yuzuki cast her gaze aft; back over the scene of the battle, which had scarred and blackened the observation deck; back to the broken, limping, discarded forms of her sisters and comrades. Every fiber of her being wished to stay and stand watch over them, because if they were left to their own devices, and any more Misshuvurthyar appeared, there was no question in even Yuzuki's uneducated mind that they had run out of hope.

Yukari was leaving them to die.

That's too much.

Kai. Nimura. Rin. Kyou. - All enlisted, with no backups, no extra bodies to wake startled but well into, should their end finally come in this terrible place. Nothing left but blackness. Duty and conscience raged a terrible war within the sprite, threatening to tear her to shreds, but somehow with all of her feelings in turmoil she remained whole and sane. Living with such a decision seemed impossible.

She had tried so hard to keep them alive, tried with everything she had, and Yuzuki felt very strongly that it should have been she who had taken the fall for Ichigo; she could have done something for Kyou; she could have woken up, for Nimura, faster; she could have done something for Kai. Kai was a real person. Why did he have to die?

There they were; those forlorn souls whose lives, in all likelihood, were over. For what? Yuzuki could not feel for the thousands and thousands of lives that were out beyond her arm's reach, while there in front of her, the only people she had ever known were left to die. She watched, unable to let go, for as long as she could. Then they were gone and out of sight as she turned the bend and sped along after the group, after the Shosa who had been strong enough to make that impossible decision.

Toward whatever lay before. Toward Melisson.

I hate you, the Anger whispered hotly, enough that Yuzuki found herself whispering it under her breath too, I hate you.

 

[Fred]

@Asher:

The power armored Malifarian flew through the ascending ramp and crossed the open armored door Melisson had fled through.

The room he came into was circular, with a central path that opened on six alcoves - three on each sides. Straight ahead through the room was another armored door, that one closed and sealed.

To his right, the alcoves included a plushy four-poster bed, with moldy, half-ripped curtains - the bedsheets were undone and dirty.

More dove-gray, formerly white babydoll dresses hung on a coathanger while others made a piled-up mound on the floor in another nook.

There also was a much different mound, piled up bones and empty carapaces of Melisson's accumulated humanoid and mishhuvurthyar kills, forming a macabre nest inside a gilded cage large enough to 'comfortably' house an humanoid (traces of rotting meat still hung to some of the bones - the room probably reeked of rot and death).

To his left, there was what looked like a kitchenette where half-cooked (arguably, "half-butchered") remains of an elysian male lay over the counter, his large wings ragged and limp in death. To Nyton, the Elysians' face would look alarmingly like the XO of the ASS Vanderhuge.

Another alcove looked more like an office study, with a high-quality leather chair that overlooked a desk arrayed with many monitors. The monitors were active, showing replaying recordings from things such as from Yamataian news broadcasts, Nepleslian soap operas, movies old enough to me online rentals and recordings more pointedly made over past major battles, with ample communication traffic on the Yamataian-side being overheard.

The last compartment had another office, though that one was of a different nature: filled with books and manuals. The titles went from "Romeo & Juliet", to "Yuuko's Manual to Star Army ships", "From Zero to Badass, the All-About-Learning-to-Speak-Nepleslian-Book", "The Beginning and the End, a study of Entropy, by Micheal Dickers", a catalog of "Yuuko's Undies" store, a strategy guide to the videogame "Murasaki Densetsu 7: the new adventures", the hit-novel "Byebye, and thanks for all the slaves - A Mishhu Tale" and more. The desk was also arrayed with a series of glue-together KFY ship models on stands to prop them up in mid-ascent position (the Nozomi, Sakura and Irim models looked particularly well painted).

"Westwood," Hinoto's voice broke in on his reconnoitering the chambers. "The armored door ahead leads to the ship's main computer room. You'll have to smash your way through."

@Akiko:

Armored feet trod toward where Akiko struggled to move her sister. Her Daisy's armored shell broken all over, Mara looked something like some mythical titan as she lead the defense from the point, had survived anything the Mishhuvurthyar had thrown at her and was still moving, still defending, still commanding.

Akiko did not recall Mara ever showing this much presence. Mara had teased, played and joked, but never looked this dependable despite having been the ship's avatar.

With one brief access from AIES to AIES for information, Mara sent to Akiko: "Her Daisy isn't healing right because the insert was stabbed several times with Mishhuvurthyar paralytic venom." She bent and helped lift Shizuka. "We'll get her to the medlab and give her an hemosynth transfusion. You can defend her and the Taisa if any Mishhu breach through. Make sure not to leave her weapons behind."

 

[Tom]

The battle was over, and they were victorious. But the losses were stacking. Tom took a final glance at those being left behind and nodded, before sprinting into action.

His legs felt heavy, but he had to carry on. The final battle was before him and the others, and he had to give it his all. For all he had been through, his Daisy was in relatively good shape. So was Asher and Yuzuki. And counting Nyton and Yukari, they had 5.

Five against one. They made it this far. They would finish the job.

Tom slung back his plasma rifle and reloaded his LASR, choosing to wield that weapon as a balance to Asher's plasma-pummeling antics. Although the plasma rifle was effective, the LASR just felt better in the engineer's hands. It allowed tighter precision on his shots, and he liked that more than the brutal splash damage of plasma.

It was then that the engineer absorbed the macabre display that was Melisson's private quarters. Oddly enough, already being covered in blood and guts made him somewhat immune to the disgusting sights of flesh and bones around him, but he was extremely grateful that his helmet's oxygen supply was internally circulated.

The books and memorabilia hinted at the more intelligent side of Melisson, a kind of humanity-gone-utterly-wrong ring to it, like there was a mad logic behind the serial murderer.

That bothered him more than anything else in the room, and he bristled as Asher found the door leading to the main computer.

He waited for orders, covering the man who would blow open the door.

What would their final test be?

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Surrounded by wounded crew members, Miyoko's first instinct was to help Ayumu patch some of them up, maybe even getting some of the more lightly wounded ones back to the front lines. That quickly proved to not be an option, though--with the Mishhu force's probing attacks at the medlab, she couldn't afford to divert her attention for a second, let alone take off her armor to let her work with her hands.

As the battle wore on, Miyoko's anxiety wore down to a dull focus... it took her constant diligence to cover all of the possible vectors of attack and fight off the Mishhu coming through, not leaving her with much time to worry about what was going on on the front lines. If the Black Knights won, she'd find out soon enough... and if they lost, she'd probably be dead within five minutes.

"Saito-Juni! Please, move the body of the Mishhu in front of the Taisa's chamber. Maybe it will protect her from a stray shot!" Ayumu suggested while throwing equipment and even dead bodies on top of each other to create a makeshift bunker for herself and others. Deep down though, while she was afraid for the lives of her patients, she was also just as terrified for her own.

"Good idea," Miyoko said at the suggestion, in a rather weary-sounding voice. She glanced around the room warily, then stepped out the door and made sure that the way was clear before she crouched down to grab the Mishhu's corpse. It made her thankful for her power armor... the Daisy's muscles were necessary to move the massive thing, and she thanked her helmet for saving her from the smell. Once it was inside, she dragged it up against the hemosynth tube, forming a rather crude barrier in front of it. It wouldn't stop a prolonged assault, but it might block a little stray small arms fire.

 

[Gallant]

Yuzuki trailed into the room, the last person there, and planted herself just to the side of the door, her back to the wall and the heel of her power armor's boot subtly sticking out a little into the portal so that she could maintain a visual on the passageway without exposing herself to fire, should the worst happen, and their skeleton rear guard of injured crewmembers be overwhelmed by swarming Misshuvurthyar.

Yuzuki tried to put it out of her head, and succeeded rather well; this room gave her much to ponder.

She stood in silence, taking in the scene with the articulate detail of a cartographer mapping an unknown area. There was the bed, with its ragged trappings, where very likely Melisson spent her nights in a faux impersonation of sleep. There was the study with its large assortment of hobby gear, and particularly the models, which were detailed enough she could make out the ship classes perfectly. There was the body of some unfortunate winged male, laying across the counter top like some trussed up turkey. Madly, Yuzuki wondered if the demon-woman had a cooking-blouse, like the Juni did. All of this seemed like one great hobby. Even the golden cage, with its corpses and skeletons, hinted at a sort of mind that Yuzuki could only understand enough to know she should despise it.

The caustic thought that stole on her next was a logical conclusion to that train of thought, coaxed only a little by the Anger.

In short, from all that she had seen and heard, it seemed that if any physical things mattered to Melisson, these things would be those. Slowly, because the eye registers movement quicker than shapes and Yuzuki was not keen to have the rest of the group guessing at what she might be planning, she docked her APR in favor of the Gauss Bazooka, with its incindiary payload.

One, two, three.

But only one shot would be needed, when the rest of the group passed on, leaving these precious, precious things at the incised rear guard's mercy.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari's mind processed the surroundings as seen through the armor's vision. It added up: Melisson wanted to know her potential enemies, likely to more effectively subvert and eliminate them.

Or absorb them. She suppressed further thoughts about it.

Hinoto's order to Asher was clear, so she did not add anything to it. Her ears did pick up on the Yamataian military communication Melisson somehow accessed. Did she use Eve's links to PANTHEON to obtain those? Was PANTHEON deciphered? She floated to the monitor with that traffic and examined it.

 

[Fred]

@Yukari:

From a brief overview - extensive thanks to her sensor package augmented with the Mishhu OS that allowed her to pick up information much faster from the consoles - it looked like most of the tactical information on display dated a few years, back when Melisson and Eve's partnership had been stronger. The more recent information seemed to be constructed over intercepted transmissions, newscasts, prisoner interrogations and NMX reconnaissance.

Melisson did not appear to only study Yamatai, Nepleslia, Elysia and the UOC as opponents, but also the Neo Mishhuvurthyar. There was too much research done on the matter to take Melisson's potential use of the Second Draconian Fleet against the NMX as a falsehood if what was on display was accurate and not just for show.

That said, Melisson's great proficiency as a strategist and attention to pertinent tactical details turned the store NMX information into a probable treasure trove of in-dept tactical information, one that could prove just as pivotal against the NMX as Black Spiral obtaining intelligence for Melisson had been back in YE 29.

Military assets, resources, supply routes, IFF codes, detailed ship plans going as far as weapon and shield modulation frequencies, planned ship refits... it was all there.

Yukari briefly skirted around a file containing the four seasons of a Nepleslian sitcom called "Andrew & Jessie", but found nothing important there aside that Melisson was probably a great fan. The video files had been accessed a lot.

Some digging around revealed Melisson's plan with the UOC prime minister to accept her nation's surrender and turn the UOC into a protectorate so that Melisson could gain the credibility of conquering the UOC and keeping the paws of other NMX warlords off her 'prize', which she would allow to self-govern themselves as long as their military assets were kept in reserve and that she received a 10% tithe in raw resources to maintain her vessels. The only concession Melisson had wanted was Motoyoshi Tio's life. Ayana had agreed to 'sell out' her nation to save it from destruction, only to face rebellion from the Black Cloaks. Melisson was aware of Ayana's location and rescuing her had been on her lists of things to do after dealing with the Second Draconian Fleet.

She located the coordinates for several 'True Nekovalkyrja Empire' colonies 'south' of the UOC, hidden amidst the masses of nebulaes around there.

There was information on Varin colony worlds north in the stars above the Pirate's Cove nebula. They were apparently present to study two other species: the Iromakuanhe Astral Commonwealth and another species called the Xudathi.

Some notes also indicated that Melisson had traded Varin computer technology to Amaya in the past, since the technology in question performed very well even in conditions of high quantum flux. That likely identified the veined crystalline circuit boards Ichigo and Tom had brought back from the Gate as Varin in origin.

Lastly, files that jumped to Yukari's attention contained detailed activity listings of several important individuals that would put SAINT spies to shame. These involved important personages such as Robert Davis, the Vanderhuge admirals (one of them apparently had one of Melisson's bug-selves, whom he was treating as a pet), several Nepleslian senators, Tange-Katsura Ayana, the Lorath Senator Aegis, Lorath Queen Destiny, Lorath High Priest Tomoe, Eve, Amaya, Samurai Kôsuka, Nyton Claymere, Nimura, Ketsurui Hanako (there were apparently two Hanakos, one whom Melisson had captured and marooned on a planet who'se coordinates set it hundred of light years south of Yamatai) and Ketsurui Yui. Basically, people Melisson had come into contact with at the Interspecies Relation Conference and even beyond since many names Yukari didn't even recognize...

Melisson likely had all of them seeded. There were files on Nobumoto Shinichiro and Motoyoshi Tio, but both had apparently thwarted her by changing bodies.

Knowledge was power, and Melisson had a lot of it. Too much, even, and the Mother of the Mishhuvurthyar had barely even tapped into it with her broad power base.

 

[Nyton]

As Nyton observed the room of death that served as Melisson's personal quarters he mostly just tried to gain his fourth wind. Heavy breathing was forced to become steady. Effort was put forth so that twitching muscles would be made to relax. The work was worthwhile though as he felt himself slowly returning to life.

It was a fascinating study to Nyton even as he was struggling to catch his breath. The pile of dresses. The four post bed. The pile of death in the other corner. Then there was the kitchen with the corpse.

Gilgamesh-?

The familiar looking Elysian brought a few memories back to Nyton. How much of what he saw was influenced by Melisson?

Then there was the study full of monitors. The message traffic was hard to track given his state and he relegated most of it to his memory chip so that he could focus on the mission. Then there was the office full of books. His eyes studied the titles, again data for his memory chip.

Nyton continued to scan around, his dulled senses attempting to remain alert while tracking with his plasma rifle for any threats. Nodal weaponry continued to actively hunt for any threats as well. Already Arethusa's barriers had been restored by the time he was halfway inside the main circular room.

"Stay sharp everyone. I don't trust this room." Nyton telepathically messaged to the team. He moved up to follow Asher to the next armored door which lead to their advance. With his rifle up at the ready he set himself to cover Asher along with Tom once the door was broken through.

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

Akiko looked up at Mara with awe. "H-hai!" she meekly replied as she grabbed Shizuka's nearly defunct plasma rifle with one hand while still dragging with the other. "On**chan! Yo*** gonn* be alr*ght!" Akiko radio'd while she continued to drag her crippled sister to the medical lab with Mara's help.

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

"Oh Chiha-ru!" Ayumu was interrupted while struggling to work and getting sprayed with blood. Suzume's injuries were particularly difficult with trying to stop the bleeding from the arm and holes in her side. Occasionally the blood managed to splatter on her whenever she applied treatment. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Miyoko push the dead Mishhu in front of Kotori. Tsuya continued to thrash nearby but she was too busy to be able to focus on more than one patient.

More commotion could be heard as the defenders made their retreat to establish another choke point. The defenders were just outside the door. The notion of just how close the enemy had become was chilling her to the bone. Ayumu tried to ignore it by focusing on her patients.

Deep down though she just wanted to curl up into a corner and hide.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari closed her mouth before she started to process everything she had acquired.

Several new races, one with technology she did not understand. Tech even Yamatai likely did not understand, though as Yukari stored more and more into her AIES, she hoped understanding could come. Especially because that race viewed itself as an observer of the two others. Such an aloof position to be in; she did not doubt they had the capability and will to do so. But what was Melisson's interest in them, beyond what technology they had? Seldom did the demon do things for one reason.

True Nekovalkyrja Empire colonies ... Black Spiral worlds? Or worlds loyal to whoever ruled the True Nekovalkyrja Empire? Who that would be, Yukari hazarded just one guess: Black Spiral's founder. A lethal proposition for one of the oldest original Neko in existence, but Kessaku Irim perhaps was ruthless enough to break from the old Empire and forge her own, just for her kind.

For Yukari's kind.

The seed list was incredible ... and unsettling. Melisson seeded almost any important person she came into contact with. At least four of those seeded no longer had to be concerned, but what of the others? And Yui herself ... that was more terrifying than even Yukari's lasting suspicions about herself being seeded, with Melisson in her mind for so long.

She tightly stored the data into her armor's AIES and took a few slow, deep breaths. As important as the data was, it only reinforced the necessity of the mission — and surviving it. Melisson had to die, as did the Infection Queen.

 

[Kokuten]

"Phew! Damn! Mel needs t'pass tha' chocolate cake!" noted the Malifarian, looking around at the deathly room and it's deathly design. He took a short walk around, giving it all a quick once over to ensure that it was empty. One thing that caught his eyes was the dress hanging on the clothes hanger, something of a clothy trophy that he could possibly claim on his way past it. He'd have to stick that garment alongside Amaya's panties and what ever bone he got from Eve's corpse.

"Huh..." he looked over at the Elysian corpse in the kitchenette to the side. "Looks like Mel wass' havin' chickin' 'fore we showed up, n'not in tha' Yamataian way. Heh heh."

"Westwood," Hinoto's voice broke in on his reconnoitering the chambers. "The armored door ahead leads to the ship's main computer room. You'll have to smash your way through."

"Smash?" responded Asher, licking his lips, "Thass' temptin', but I think I gotta' more ammo savin' plan, y'know, considerin' that we ain't gettin' no shuttles or Ichigo's t'resupply us." He yanked Melisson's dress off the hanger, and tightly wrapped it around his helmet like a bandana. As he approached the door, the fore-arm torch came to life in a hot, blistering blaze of searing plasma. The Malifarian started at the base and began to cut his way up and around, trying to make a hole just big enough for entry.

 

[Nyton]

Asher tied Melisson's dress around his helmet.

Nyton was tired but he could not help begin to chuckle. There were so many more important things to focus on such as all the important data Yukari had saved. Without warning he suddenly burst out laughing despite trying to remain alert.

A good laugh tended to sooth and invigorate the soul. After a several seconds of laughter he felt better. So much better that he sent a message to Asher in gratitude.

Thanks for the laugh. You are forgiven for the kill-steal.

 

[Fred]

@Asher:

Torching the door open wasn't exactly as quick as blasting their way inside, but just after Yukari had finished her datamining the tough door yielded to his plasma torch, an aperture large enough to allow a power armor passage having been created.

The flying sparks from his invasive soldering unfortunately made big black spots on his new trophy... but he could probably grab another dress in better condition on his way out.

@Yuzuki:

Cautiously, the power armors crossed through the hole Asher had created. Yuzuki was the last in line, and once only she was left to cross through, she turned and aimed her bazooka at Melisson's things.

"Yuzuki," Hinoto's telepathic voice intruded just as she was going to pull the trigger. "If Asher tries to save up his ammo for the bad guys, you should probably follow suit rather than engage in infantile acts of destruction."

Grudgingly - it was not like she could ignore Hinoto as she outranked her - Yuzuki lowered her weapon and crossed through the passage Asher had opened for them.

After crawling through, Yuzuki straightened up to join the others, whom from the movements of their helmets were still trying to take in the scene.

The chamber was a large oval, but its walls differed from their usual luminous fleshiness as they had been grafted all over by circuitry as if some demented Nepleslian cyberphysician had been redecorating the place. Patches of the ground made contrast to that as they looked more like sheets of clear frosted ice veined in the same patterns as the salvaged Varin circuitboards.

The pulsing red glow of the breathing fleshy walls, anchored rigidly in place by the cybernetic grafts alone with the comet-like flickers through the veins of the crystalline floor patches gave the place quite the surreal look that competed with some of the mindvistas Melisson had presented them previously.

A depression was made in the center of the room, and there was a double ring what had surely been captured human females - a smaller ring of 9 and a larger one of 15 for a total of 24. Emphasis having been human: they had been entirely repurposed as breeding units that would incubate the Infection Queen's Ghost Mishhuvurthyar offsprings. They were naked, hairless and slick with milky slime, large and swollen of belly, legs splayed wide with their knees bent.

The womens' arms, buttocks and feet were no more, instead fused to the fleshy floor to the point where they were part of the floor, or the floor part of them. They were no longer people.

Two of the 'birthing units' could no longer be qualified as alive. Their belly had been split open. One was a desiccated bony husk with mummified skin while the other was still freshly dead, a trio of grayish mishhuvurthyar broodlings crawling over her, laboriously prying away flesh, muscle and sinew to bring to their small underbelly mouths for sustenance.

The dominating feature of the chamber was however the large cybernetic cocoon that hovered in midair in the center of the room, just in the center of the rings the repurposed women formed. Glistening with gunmetal-gray sheen, the cocoon was like an inverted flower bug that had yet to bloom. Easily the size of a small schoolbus, it was supported up by a series of three reinforced struts - each spaced out by 120 degrees, that reached out diagonally to be anchored in the ceiling.

"There she is," Yuzuki heard Hinoto say over her team's comm channel. "There's a large mishhuvurthyar-like lifeform of whale-like proportions within that cybernetic casket. Each of those support struts connect the casket to each of the Shlarvasseroth's psionic amplifier arrays."

Before Hinoto could add more, Melisson phased in half-a-dozen meters ahead just as enormous mental pressure suddenly was exerting against their minds, coaxing a nasty throbbing headache that threatened to become worse. The alien woman giggled like a schoolgirl as she made a dancing twirl on her appearance.

"Sorry for the wait," Melisson apologized in good humor. "I accessorized for the occasion!"

As if on cue, Melisson's girlish body flared blue and cobalt-flickering panes of force materialized about her in an almost 'magical girl-like' transformation; they were much like ephemeral crystalline surfaces veined with energy filaments that covered her body as surely as plate armor, though they weren't actually touching her skin and dove-gray dress so much as floating a hair over them.

Arms were flung wide and elliptoid force barriers that looked like glass-panes with water-like distorted transparency came into existence on her arms before she charged after them, her body unpredictably blinking in and out of phasing as she closed in.

 

[Doshii Jun]

"SCATTER!" Yukari shouted as she took to the air, trying to ignore the urge her body had to shiver with pain and malaise from the psychic attack. She did not try broadcasting a telepathic message, settling instead for telepathic typing that was sent as text.

Westwood, Yuzuki! Each take out one of the support struts of the Infection Queen! No more, no less! Claymere, keep Melisson from phasing! Freeman, support Nyton as best you can while keeping your distance!

 

[Nyton]

"This is it! Lets do this Freeman!"

Nyton let out a breath, forced all fatigue, headache and pain out, then moved in to intercept. This time Melisson was not fighting unarmed so he determined to maintain some caution until he could figure out what the energy fields on her arms were. Arethusa mapped out the range of effect for her phasing interdiction and he was determined to keep Melisson in it. Nyton fired his plasma rifle and moved defensively while allowing Arethusa to attack with nodal strikes when possible.

 

[Kokuten]

Thanks for the laugh. You are forgiven for the kill-steal.

Asher wasn't sure what exactly he did for the forgiveness, but at the very least, it was a load off of his mind. Despite seemingly playing it off as if hadn't affected him, it had been eating at him like those Mishhu were eating at that woman's stomach. Man. Those little shit-flies go through a chick fast. thought Asher as he stared at the decaying, warped women on the floor. He wasn't exactly sure how much they were suffering, or even if they could think any more. The Malifarian only knew is that he'd be killing everything and everyone in this room that didn't walk in with him.

And then, it suddenly felt like Asher was trying to think real hard. The pain in his brain from the psychic assault made him waver a bit, but he was able to get his footing again. He needed to get through this, he thought! He needed to focus on something else other than this blasted ringing in his head. So, he looked at Yukari, and then Yuzuki. Alright, went his thought patterns, I just need to picture these two naked and...

Helmet removed... Armor dissappearing... the image began to become real in his eyes and then...

Done, Yukari and Yuzuki were now naked in his eyes, and so was Melisson for good measure. Psychic assault successively buffered!

"SCATTER!"

With that, Asher simply went in the opposite direction of all his allies, his gravimetric drive carrying him over the floor.

Westwood, Yuzuki! Each take out one of the support struts of the Infection Queen! No more, no less! Claymere, keep Melisson from phasing! Freeman, support Nyton as best you can while keeping your distance!

And now he turned around, going towards Yuzuki to get closer to his objective. He switched from his Plasmathrower to his 50mm gauss cannon as he went.

"Iss' you an' me, wrench wench!" said Asher as he went by the engineering Neko, leaning to the side a bit and slapping her on the butt on his fly-by, to encourage her. "Nice ass by the way! Naka-boss should be proud!" With that, he lit a target up on the support that he was aiming to hit, and sent that to Yuzuki so they wouldn't hit the same thing. The Malifarian touched down on his feet for a moment and brought his shoulder-mounted 50mm cannon to bear. He fired off two 20mm DU/NARs, stationary, into one focused spot before rising off the ground, following those two shots with a 50mm frangible from the hand-held cannon.

 

[Tom]

Ugh! Tom recoiled slightly at the psionic attack slamming into his head, but just the sight of Melisson and the danger she presented made him fight through it.

Yukari's order to scatter was nearly telepathic to the engineer, so quick was he trying to make distance between himself and Melisson greater. If he could help it, he'd try to stay out of fisticuffs range.

The lessons of Meni and Mani and Eve were fresh on his mind.

Got your back, Nyton!

Drawing Melisson's attention would prove foolish... Nyton was the best person for that, but something in the back of his mind told him that Melisson had some tricks up her sleeve. Attacking so brazenly against superior numbers just didn't make sense otherwise...

But Tom couldn't calculate until the interpreter showed her hand. All he could do was be prepared to react.

So he protected Nyton. He set his drones to be defensive while he tried to circle around Melisson to flank her.