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

Kai's Daisy's 360 degree vision informed him that Nimura had suddenly fallen to her knees, sobbing. "A- Are you allright, Nimura-hei?" Kai asked telepathically, a few grunts of pain escaping through his armor's comm system. Kai didn't know what to do. The best thing for Nimura was probably to put her into a Powered Armor, but they didn't have any extra. Kai would have offered his, but its synthetic insert meant it couldn't do anything to help her.

All Kai could do was continue to groan, as the pain slowly faded a little-not nearly quickly enough, nor as much as he'd like, but it was better than nothing. He turned on his sensors, looking about the room for something, anything he could use to help the damaged sprite.

The APR was steaming, the focusing components now passing the phase of red-hot into white hot, and sooner or later, if she kept on firing, they’d go blue and then burn past the rest of the weapon, going out of focus and rendering it useless. Yuzuki shifted her grip, snaking a gauntleted finger into the trigger guard of the attached SLAG. It wasn't effective, but the rifle was almost shot.

And then...

Her body on high alert, Yuzuki noted immediately Melisson’s change of target; although she didn’t know what, if anything, to do about it. The best course of action seemed to be drawing her away from the struts and keeping out of her reach, but Yuzuki wasn’t entirely sure how long she could successfully dodge and avoid the spinning energy-blades, let along how well she would fare against a phasing enemy. Kai had tried, and had fallen practically instantaneously. Somehow, she'd have to survive.

And keep them away from Tom Freeman-Juni, who was still attacking the struts.

Rising from bended knee, Yuzuki began to skip nimbly backwards, struggling to keep distance. When that proved inefficient she threw all her inertia backwards, gained altitude, and did her best to evade. Something about the sight of Melisson, skipping along so quickly…

Those eyes…

For a moment, Yuzuki felt her conviction waver.

Bring it, whispered the Anger, grasping hold of the flagging banner. Yuzuki gritted her teeth, whipped the rifle around and to bear. I’m not scared of YOU!

Mindful of her overheating weapon, Yuzuki took aim and discharged several shots one-armed at the blink-running enemy, her forearm weapons blasting a corona of light along the same path, her shield arm held up and at the ready. Yukari had been able to block the discs, and she had been much less mobile at the time. It seemed like a good option.

Really, it was the only option.

Come and get me.

Explosions and destruction was wreaked all around Nyton but he was still successful. The brazen idiot had even managed to make it easier and now that Yukari's defenses were even further weakened his moment to strike was getting nearer.

So close.... so close.....!

The moment of the kill was like a beckoning siren filling him with so much lust. The entire world was red now, a deep crimson so beautiful it could only be matched by the fiery red hair of his Mistress!

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the blood red haze melted and replacing Melisson was Kotori's voice. The invigorating violence transformed into a soothing warmth that was much more satisfying than the addiction had ever been.

I will protect all those whom you have determined to protect with every ounce of what I have!

Nyton's intended murder averted, the nodal weaponry had not even manifested but the effort was shifted away from his previous intent. Now the man had to act against the howling demon of Asher and the vicious assault by Melisson.

"Follow Melisson!"

Click to expand...

Given Yukari's condition he was a little uncertain to how she could stand against Asher but he had to trust in her ability. If anything she had already managed to do the most against him already by forcing him to remove his helmet. He could have finished it easily by shooting his head but he was not about to just kill their comrade. Then of course there was Melisson to deal with and his Armor was the only one that countered her phasing. With a slight pang of regret he dashed after Melisson, intent on putting her within the range of his phasing interdiction field. With Asher focused on attacking Yukari there was a chance to take advantage of the opening to go after Melisson.

Arethusa's barrier had begun regenerating but was still at low levels despite the speed at which it restored. Arethusa retracted the nodal appendages and returned the ASPs to Nyton's hands. As he flew he was cognizant of Yuzuki's counter-attack as well as Melisson's possible shift of target back to him. Nyton focused on trying to get close enough to keep Melisson solid and avoid her attacks while also not getting caught in the path of Yuzuki's fire.

Nyton quickly texted to the two engineering members.

"What's the matter Mel? Is your Vaaker Takeup finally starting to catch up to you!?" Nyton taunted aloud.

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

As Akiko limp dragged her sister past Masako she tried to acknowledge the Juni when she recognized her. "Mas****an!" crackled over her radio while holding out a plasma rifle. "*ou ca* use this!" she said while offering the extra rifle.

Finally, the strut went down. Tom wanted to move onto the next strut, but before he knew it, Mellison and her discs were on top of Yuzuki. He had enough trouble dodging one, but two discs were insane. The fact Yuzuki was standing her ground against them made him pause.


He drew his shield to protect himself in case one of the discs came for him. However, he needed to even the odds against Yuzuki, and if that meant drawing Mellison's ire, so be it.

While the interpreter was attacking Yuzuki, Tom quickly aimed and squeezed off a couple shots of plasma her way, hoping to blindside the beast. He then sped off around the struts using evasive maneuvers.

@ vs. Mahou Shoujo Melisson:

Asher pounced in to attack Yukari, but a sudden twist found him blasting plasma flames widely off target (as well as drying the moisture in his eyes and making him squint, along with giving his face and neck what would feel like a sunburn later). The Malifarian growled in frustration as his Daisy's inertial control betrayed him, the AIES spinning him around.

He tried lighting his plasma torch and moving his arms to compensate and attack Yukari, but his machine was flailing around out of control and none of his attempts had the required range nor accuracy to accomplish his goal.

By then, Nyton caught up with Melisson while Yuzuki was laying down intermittent attacks through the phased opponent. The interpreter got caught in Arethusa's phaseshift denial field in the middle of phasing, and ended up getting stuck as real just as one of Yuzuki's plasma bolts smacked into the cobalt-flickering floating panes of power that serves as her armor.

A flash, and her defense seemed to splinter apart under the hit, leaving her only with the meager protection of her soiled babydoll dress.

Both her discs vanished from the air - their hunt after Yuzuki ended - to reappear around Melisson as one gyrated to block further attacks from Yuzuki and the other interposed itself to ward off Tom's attack. Her bare feet thumped on the floor as Melisson stopped her charge and reverted it into an aerial backward somersault, one that had her crash feet first into Nyton so hard it bore him flat on his back to the floor.

Arethusa tried to counter, but Melisson batted the weak riposte away - the M8 Nadia simply no longer had enough spare materials to be effective that way - before slamming her right foot over the man's chest hard enough to pin him despite his wriggling to get away.

"Fool!" she spat as she leered down on him. "You yet fail to understand anything for the sake of diminishing me for your own self-aggrandizement!"

Melisson's Varin armor reconstituted itself and glimmered back to life.

@Asher:

Asher's impotent growls of frustration came to a halt a Kotori's telepathic voice cut in through his bloodlust.

"If you are quite done trying to kill my first officer, I'd like you to return to helping the Black Knights defeat Melisson."

The look of insanity on his face faded. He also realized that he had just a moment before discarded his helmet bearing both his trophies: Amaya's panties and one of Melisson's dresses (albeit somewhat spot-burned) - the horror!

@Tom:

The Raltean man spirits soared as the trio of Nyton, Yuzuki and he finally managed to pour enough attacks at Melisson to compromise her defenses and force her to actively protect herself over attacking them full-force.

Then Nyton was knocked to the floor, and Tom was quickly deciding on how to compensate and save his Nepleslian friend... before the Infection Queen's will slammed into his. Tom was found wanting and she cracked through his volition and willpower to force him into her service.

His new aim in life was now simple: support Melisson and protect her as well as he was able to.

@Yuzuki:

The sprite heisho received a warning from her AIES: her plasma rifle's heat saturation was critical.

@Yukari:

Yukari watched Asher ineffectually flail for a bit before he calmed down and gave his discarded 'trophy'-decorated helmet a rather comical forlorn look.

...and the answer she had been waiting from Hoshi came in: "Shosa!" Hinoto said, "Those discs are spatial rifts - a subspace collapsing warhead might temporarily disable them. Also, her armor cover is nearly impervious to projectiles, but a powerful directed energy attack should very briefly take it down. Outflank or disable her disc protection, open her up with a plasma rifle shot, and in that brief window of opportunity she'll be vulnerable - hit her hard!"

@Kai:

Nimura hung her head, panting, choking, whimpering as tears slid down and off her face. When Kai telepathically spoke to her, her head came up.

She did not look fine. But she did not voice that. "You're the only one whom can cover their backs now," she sent to him. "I suggest you at least deploy a drone to cover each ramp down."

The pain in his chest throbbed in silent protest to Nimura's claim. His body - pain-wracked along with shivers and chills - didn't feel up to defending much of anything.

That bitch! She still controlled his armor! How could he disregard this fact!? Forced to resort to desperation tactics, Asher did his best to try and redirect his damage towards her, but no avail. There seemed to be no real way to assault his target now. This was it. He had failed! The one person he needed to kill was controlling him. He felt dismayed as he realized how far away his 'one true purpose' was away from him now. In that same moment, another burst of rage seared forth from his insides. Loud curses and angry screams, he was like a petulant child. A very well-armed, petulant child.

"If you are quite done trying to kill my first officer, I'd like you to return to helping the Black Knights defeat Melisson."

Click to expand...

The air in Asher's lungs was increased as he sucked in a tumultuous amount of air in a mind-shattered gasp. His brain, forcefully manipulated as it was before, was now feeling more... released. Still, it was unwelcome. It was hated.

You soul-sucking bitch! When I kill your precious underlings, I'm going rip out whatever solid mass is within you and use it for a condom as I fuck your skull... !

Then, it felt like a film was being ripped off of his head. Invisible fingers dug deep into his psyche and seemed to tear down walls and passageways, opening his mind to the big blue sky of free thought. He was truly Asher again.

...Y'lucious backside iss' what I mean. Fuckin' it, that is. With m'wang. Treat me right, n'I'll treat you right, baby.

Unsure of why he even thought that, Asher turned his head towards the battlefield, noticing the battle already going on. It seemed he had missed several minutes already, and it seemed to hurt his feelings, in a way. The Malifarian began jerking his way towards the battlefield, only to realize he had been molded solidly within his armor. And...

Where's my fuckin' helmet. It almost a more declarative statement, rather than a simple question. He looked towards the ground, and found his helmet discarded on the ground. A look of horror spread painfully across his face. Amaya's panties and Melisson's dress, in the murky dirt, becoming filthy and much more unrecognizable as the battle went on! This was a catastrophe! No one would believe those were their garments at this rate!

"Ey! Someone get m'helmet! Those panties iss' a source' a'powa!" cried Asher, looking desperately at his helmet.

The Infection Queen's takeover of Tom's mind manifested itself quite differently for the engineer than it had for Asher and Nyton.

Tom was not a powerful, ferocious warrior like Asher. And unlike Nyton, Tom lacked the former Nepleslian's physical prowess and killer instinct.

The Raltean relied on cunning and teamwork to survive. Where ability and skill failed, tactical thoroughness would make up for.

So the Infection Queen's tendrils reached into his mind and gently coaxed those qualities out of him for her personal gain.

Tom's AIES uploaded new tactical data to him as he took his plasma rifle into his shield hand and held his LASR in the other.

Yuzuki. Her plasma rifle was overheating. She'd need a replacement to be sent to continue working on the next installation. That would distract her long enough.

Nyton was in trouble, under the heel of Melisson. More than likely, Melisson would end him quickly, removing the 2nd in command from the group.

Asher... he was dangerous. Best to distract him as well.

Yukari. Weakened, but the leader. Eliminate her to promote chaos in the ranks.

The LASR could handle her. Armor piercing rounds were best suited for tearing through Daisy armor and hitting vital organs beneath, after all.

A perfect plan.


He tossed the plasma rifle towards the Heisho, then started to take aim at Melisson...

...and at the next moment twisted his aim to target Yukari and release a controlled burst of rounds at his lover's head.

Nyton's wide eyes observed the effect of Yuzuki's plasma on Melisson's armor. He was taken by surprise when Melisson flipped and struck him hard in the chest. The air escaped from his lungs with an audible "OOF." The pain from previous injuries flared up for a few seconds after the impact of the strike.

Despite Melisson's appearance Nyton found himself pinned down by the force of her leg. Even though he continued to struggle it was already a foregone conclusion that he was not escaping. As air returned to his lungs he continued to frantically attempt escape just for show while he heard Melisson's retort.

"Fool!" she spat as she leered down on him. "You yet fail to understand anything for the sake of diminishing me for your own self-aggrandizement!"

Click to expand...

"How can you know me so well and still think me so stupid, Mel?" Nyton replied out loud.

Nyton used his current escape attempt to cover his motion and reached for Melisson's right leg with the arm closest to it. His hand would grip tightly to her ankle. At the same time as much of the nodal weapon as Arethusa could muster from his arm, while no longer effective as a weapon, traveled up his hand and wrapped itself around her leg to securely hold her down on his chest. Gravimetric drives would pull down in order to anchor Nyton to force him and Melisson to be held fast to a stationary position. At the same time he reached over to his shoulder with the other arm as the nodal weapon securing the plasma rifle to his back spat it out to place the rifle grip in his hand, much to the relief of his back.

Nyton intended to sweep his arm holding the plasma rifle across the floor. The nodal weapon on that arm would travel up his hand to secure the grip and prevent the weapon from being knocked out of his hand. While it swept he would turn his wrist, using the nodal weapon for leverage and strength, to point the barrel and fire point blank at Melisson's leg to disrupt the armor again. Once the armor was gone he would bring the arm up and aim the plasma rifle up Melisson's crotch in an attempt to cripple her center mass as much as possible and return the favor from earlier.

Even if his second shot was interrupted he trusted that the rest of the team's firepower would either distract or hit her. If it distracted her he could try again. If she turned her leg into a bug and escaped then at least he would still be alive. If she chose to take a few hits and kill him then he already had Arethusa locked with his final orders to continue anchoring Melisson and give the others a better chance to hit her.

Yukari saw Asher's confused look before she heard him, and it was evidence enough to free him. She pulled herself from her own mind, coming back to the room of glowing red orbs and the white-hot cocoon of the Infection Queen. Asher again was in control of his own armor.

Her HUD showed her barrier was at 2 percent; she shunted power away from her tachyon sensor and back into her forearm weapon. With Asher back, she was ready to coordinate people again.

Each time someone new is dominated, but it also is a matter of who can do the most harm, she thought. Yuzuki or Tom ...

She processed Hinoto's information and kept her shield in front of her. She absorbed the text messages flying about. Tom gave up his plasma rifle to replace Yuzuki's overheated one, and Nyton ... Yukari watched as Nyton tried to maneuver in a way that would give him the upper hand on Melisson, who seemed to be ready to have his way with him.

A plan came together in Yukari's mind. She prayed for it to work.

"Yuzuki, Freeman, pressure Melisson but do not go for the kill! Westwood, helmet on and fire SSD missiles at the two discs! Claymere, down her armor!" Shield still up, Yukari brought her gun arm just to the side of it and locked onto Melisson's body.

If Nyton missed, she would use her revolver. If he hit, a stun bolt right to the demon's temple.

Asher zoomed down, scooping up his helmet and slapping it on his head. Suddenly, he was imbued with a gracious power. Amaya's panties represented her death, and the decoration of her rather cute panties on his head added flavor to his already unique look. The underwear were secure in the Hentai-Kamen style. The dress, was secured much like a jungle commando would wear a head-band. Thus. He was Hentai-Kamen Commando! It seem prerogative to have a T.V. show now.

"Yuzuki, Freeman, pressure Melisson but do not go for the kill! Westwood, helmet on and fire SSD missiles at the two discs! Claymere, down her armor!" Shield still up, Yukari brought her gun arm just to the side of it and locked onto Melisson's body.

Click to expand...

With that, it was time to return to battle. Asher took a look at his remaining defense missiles as he acquired a lock on the two discs.

"What tha' fuck!? Who tha' hell stole half my counta' missiles!?" growled Asher in disdain. None the less, he stomped his foot down, bringing the pod to bear, leading the discs slightly in it's direction, and fired his payload of double missiles.

Confirmed hit.

Well, at least that’s what it looked like. The moment that the phasing Melisson became corporal and slammed into Nyton, Yuzuki checked her weapons fire, though she continued her evasion, darting around towards the struts…

…catching the Juni’s rifle in route, switching it out with her overheating APR. She did not, however, open fire on the struts. Yuzuki jetted around one, ducking low over the half-charred forms of the one-human birthing creatures, her armor’s AIES tracking movements and patterning and giving her a few good trajectory estimations. Her next few shots would have to be good, and now that the pressure was off, she could accomplish that. But what was her target?

On the one hand, the Juni had asked her to continue firing on the struts, and judging by the reaction it did not take a fully fledged human being to realize what this was about; the struts and the giant technological egg-thing were important. Yuzuki was unfamiliar with Varin technology and could only assume it was some hitherto-unfathomable facet of the Mishuvurthyar’s ship systems. Disabling it would cripple something. Something important.

However; the Shosa had given a different order, in a different manner. Had Melisson somehow begun giving orders through their own communications channels? Or was the telepathy the problem, and this a lure to draw Yuzuki away from the struts? Was she being dominated, or affected herself?

Yuzuki circled, strafing sideways with her good rifle trained on Melisson, for all the world like a falconing hawk flying at check. She considered her options.

Eventually, the Shosa’s orders won out. Pausing in her flight to ensure that her own movement wouldn’t throw the shot and trying to attack from an angle that would put the Taii out of the direct line of fire, Yuzuki drew aim and began to apply pressure the only way she knew how;

Concentrated plasma fire, assisted in intervals by bursts from her forearm weaponry.

@Tom:

Tom meant to squeeze the trigger. He really had. But when he had been about to-

"No. You're not doing this to me again."

He knew that voice, he knew it! It represented things he reviled, things he held in distaste, even things he hated about himself!

Time went at a crawl. His trigger finger was tensed. Yukari was busy with other things and oblivious of the danger as she assisted Asher, landed, and made ready with her forearm cannons.

"...Stop!" There was strain in the intruding voice. "I... said... STOP!"

...and then he stopped, the Infection Queen's pressure on him lifted. To a keen outside observer, it had just looked like Tom had lifted his rifle toward Melisson, that his aim had wavered up, and then that he had hesitated and lowered his rifle.

Somehow, he got a sense that Kotori was very weary.

@ vs. Mahou Shoujo Melisson:

It went like clockwork, smoothly, with not a second to spare.

Nyton had used the foot Melisson pinned him with to pin her against him. Taking the plasma rifle was a time consuming, awkward process, and Melisson beat him to the attack by diverting the disc that had protected her from Tom (whom was supposedly in her thrall) to finish off Nyton. But then, Asher's mini-missiles came roaring in and pop-sizzled into non-existence on their target.

Fortunately, the discs also ceased existing. Arethusa had lost its barrier to the subspace collapsing effect of the missile that had caught in extremis the disc meant to end his life, but that was a pretty good tradeoff, all things considered.

Then Yuzuki's plasma shots bore in, struck Melisson's exotic cobalt-colored aura of little crystaline-looking force panes and shattered them-

Right in time for Nyton to have brought his own accelerated plasma rifle to bear. A muzzle flash later, the plasma bolt exploded against Melisson's torso and then splashed outward, turning her dress to ash and calcinating the flesh over where she had been directly struck, and searing her beyond there over her upper torso, arms and upper legs.

Her crimson hair writhing like snakes as it burned halfway through its length, Melisson reared back, the direct plasma attack tearing out from her teeth-filled mouth a drawn-out, agonized shriek which was abruptly cut off as Yukari's stun bolts smacked the weakened Melisson twice, the momentum finally yanking her out of Arethusa's restraining grasp to then flop away on the floor limply.

Her flesh was sizzling and smoking. Her limps twitched from her hurts but otherwise she did not move. Her eyes were closed, not dead, but clearly comatose.

Melisson was down.

Yukari paused for just a few seconds, then left the ground to rush in, mind already blazing through several potential outcomes, all of them deathly to the demon.

She wanted to. She wanted to kill her so much.

"Hold fire! Hold fire!" she shouted at their minds anyway. "Hold fire!"

When she came close to Melisson's crumpled form, she paused and checked herself, but kept her revolver pointed at the demon's head.

Several times Yukari wished Melisson simply would die. She killed so many of her sisters and comrades, manipulated their mission, and damaged and fractured their minds. She was a galactic scourge, her and her Vaaker Talkup, and she was a personal enemy.

Even though it was Eve's murderous behavior that spawned their true mission, Melisson started it all with her annihilation of the 5th Expeditionary Fleet.

Even though it was Amaya and her minions who killed the Empress Kotori, Melisson ultimately was responsible.

She is a war criminal, she told herself. She must be brought to justice.

In a way, Yukari charged the demon with Kotori-Taisa's situation, even if she felt guilty over it. How Kotori never would know what it was like to raise a family as a human would, to birth children and raise them. How would she ever share a life with someone now? She was custom-built to be Yamatai's best weapon against the NMX and the Dark Ones. Even after all of this ... even if they survived, Kotori never would know peace.

Neither would the people who Melisson had seeded. Those souls were innocent, no more deserving of the demon's manipulation than Nyton was. They had to be saved from the invisible shackles placed around their minds. Killing Melisson might accomplish that, but it might not, either. There was no telling who else could be seeded. Yukari knew of the prominent ones, but others could exist. People in places high and low that could, at any time, become killers.

Her thoughts narrowed to what Melisson said: That Miharu's would receive accolades when they returned to Yamatai. Would they? She still saw black-panelled SAINTs gunning them down the moment they finished giving their report. The crew was far down in the muck with all they had done to get to that point. Unknown alien technology, a rogue faction, a rediscovered fleet ... SAINT would not risk the story becoming public.

Would Mistress Yui-sama save them? She was unsure. With the data Hoshi had, the crew was of little use. Kotori was a princess; she would not be killed, but sparing her crew likely was not in her power. Sora-hime already could have been reformatted, the tales of the Miharu purged from her mind. The crew who survived might suffer that fate, too. Kotori might not ever know peace, but the crew would not even know themselves.

Yukari grit her teeth. I cannot let this crew be ruined by the people they saved.

She looked down at Melisson again ... she shivered as she forced out a halting breath through her clenched jaw. The lost will have their justice, and the infected will have their cure. But my family will be protected!

Melisson, who had tried so hard to destroy them, would save them somehow. Yukari was sure of it.

"Westwood, remove the remaining strut. Claymere, Yuzuki, Freeman, cover him."

Yukari gently moved Melisson's body against one of the pulsing walls. It felt strange to even touch her, especially with her unarmored, but still protected, hands. Melisson was warm. Soft.

Demons, she thought, often take human forms to conceal themselves among the mortal. She smirked as her side throbbed at her. But the divine are not fooled, Melisson.

"Oh. Right." Kai's voice came out of the armor's speakers, still pained as his stupid Yamataian OS proved itself nowhere near as capable as the Neko OS- something he'd known- but he continued to try and rid himself of the pain anyway. He groaned loudly, shifting to allow room for the minuscule drone hangar to open,l the drones drifting out to hold vigil over the entrances.

"H-Hey, Nimura. Why don't you take a break, then?" he sent to her, deciding it was time to just let his Gravimetric system move him upright instead of trying to do it manually.

Alliances were made clear once again, this time by the guiding voice of Kotori.

It gave Tom pause as he realized just how subtle the infection queen had worked his mind, as well as how complete her dominance had been. Yukari was the most important person in his life, a critical part of his moral fiber. His love for Yukari was woven into the fabric of his soul as tightly as the gold in the ribbons she wore on her neck.

And, just like that, without him even realizing it, the Infection Queen had brought him within moments of killing her. The monster had mutated his love, a feeling as real as the heart that beat in his chest into a probability, a statistic.

A number.

Eyes widened in horror, he looked down at his LASR. The thing seemed alien to him, a horrible cancer that didn't belong in his possession. His arms raised above his head to toss the weapon to the ground...

...then he paused as reality sped up in his mind.

"Westwood, remove the remaining strut. Claymere, Yuzuki, Freeman, cover him."

Click to expand...

What had happened? Melisson was down?! When did that happen?

The LASR fell back into place. He didn't question it. He simply followed orders, whispering 'thank you' in his mind to Kotori.

This is going to be close!

Nyton stopped thinking and was only doing. It was the only way to keep going without any hesitation or urge to try and defend himself. Melisson had moved quicker than he could extract his plasma rifle. Apparently she had decided she could take a hit because that was the only explanation for why she stopped defending herself long enough to use her barrier to kill him.

Just keep going!

His breathing was sharp and time seemed to slow down as the blade approached. Then, just like the movies, the blade was stopped. It was like the scene where the hero faces off with a massive blade edging closer only for it to stop mere inches from his face.

Except the blade was destroyed by the subspace missile. With the barriers gone it was easy for Yuzuki to disrupt Melisson's armor. Just as he had calculated, hoped, and trusted, the other members of his team came through for him.

"Checkmate!"

Now that the armor was gone Nyton followed through on his follow up and blasted Melisson with the plasma rifle at near point blank range. With satisfaction he witnessed her fall back, her body severely charred and ragged while being shot by Yukari's forearm guns. For a second life felt very appreciated as he breathed in deeply the air that almost ceased to fill his lungs.

Then Yukari's order was put out and he knew he still had work to do.

Nyton stood up and pointed his rifle at Melisson's twitching body. He almost expected her to immediately regenerate and jump up at them again. He almost yelled at Yukari when she picked up the body to move it to the wall. To him the body was just as dangerous incapacitated as it was active. It bristled him to see Melisson lay there helpless and not do anything but in the end there was no point to slaughtering this body. It was just as expendable as her Mishhu soldiers. Their true target was the real body of Melisson's true form.

"Roger that, Shosa." Nyton radio'd as he took a ready position and scanned around for any new hostiles. They finally had the upper hand and it was up to Asher and his firepower to finish destroying the struts for the psionic amplifiers. Once those were gone they could attack the real body.

We have almost won this, Kotori. Just a little more and after we get out of here I swear I will brush your hair for as long as you like.

"Dibsontha'skull!" blurted out Asher as Melisson hit the ground, making callzies on the first chance he could get. There was a short pause there. "Unless I get Eve's skull. I cn'be fair." Despite all they had gone through, all they had done, there was no short celebration. Not because of a cheesy it's not over yet, but because he'd come out of this so far with a pair of panties and a dress. Other than the uniform on him at the moment, those two things were his only possessions. He wanted something that wasn't so... girly.

Even so, It's not over yet was a good reason to stay ready. The Malifarian turned around, scanning the rest of the room for whatever remain. He wouldn't be caught off guard. Not this close to the end. I mean. He hated stories where everyone or just someone died in the end. That sort of tragedy was hastily written, and made him break expensive entertainment systems. With his feet.

"Westwood, remove the remaining strut. Claymere, Yuzuki, Freeman, cover him."

Click to expand...

"Gotcha, Yuka-boss! This strut's comin' down in..." said Asher, switching to his 50mm Bazooka as he said so. He braced himself, to fire in quick succession.

"One!" His shoulder-mounted cannon, aimed, fired a DU/NAR round into the strut. His AIES lit up around the strike point, making his cannon adjust to hit the same spot.

"Two!" His declaration sounded the next shot, which tore into the starting hole. Following this he raised his 50mm, the one of two faithful weapons that had guided him through this ordeal like a lantern through a cave.

"Tree!" with his accent murdering the last number, the 50mm Frangible sailed forth from the bazooka, piercing through the air, and precision aimed into the hole his two DU/NARs had made.

Amaya's files said Melisson could not be captured, and perhaps that was true with the Infection Queen still alive. But if they killed it, the bugs comprising Melisson's body would lose her power without losing her knowledge.

No data was available on what happened when Melisson was stunned. Apparently she fell like many other organic beings, as the demon did not stir, even after Yukari was done moving her.

She turned to face the Queen's cocoon as Asher attacked. Amaya knew precious little about what the Infection Queen could do. Without connections to the psionic amplifiers, it might be limited in psionic power. Also, Kotori might be able to assist them still, though she did not hold out much hope for that. Poor Kotori, she thought. She must be well past exhausted.

"Claymere, use Freeman for cover until your barrier has recovered. Yuzuki, shield up! Weapons ready!"

Yuzuki blinked herself out of the daze that she had found herself lost in.

“Hai,” she said, “Shosa-san.”

As she drifted closer to the little group, Yuzuki found that she was feeling strangely high, as if all the blood rushing around in her system had simply frozen after the final shots were fired, but there was no satisfaction after that initial high. After all the blood that had been shed to reach this point, and after all the sacrifices that had been made; even after striking down the object of her wrath, Yuzuki could not feel any better about the path that had led her here. Somewhere deep in her mind, there would always be a record of this. The pain of it all did not magically go away; it left her feeling empty, and helpless, and tired.

It was hard to imagine what the others were thinking – after all they had gone through, and all they had seen. It couldn’t have been easy.

This was a fight that had been long in coming; longer than her modest lifespan, anyway. Dully, Yuzuki realized that she was the only sprite in the group. The rest, save Ichigo and Nimura, had stayed and defended the ship. Ichigo was dead. Yuzuki wondered suddenly about the rest of the ship, and contemplated grimly how many sisters she would never see again.

Eventually, Yuzuki found herself watching Yukari in particular out of all the Knights. Yukari-Shosa. The 'fake' nekovalkyrja. Yuzuki wondered at how heavy the Shosa's burden must be.

Yuzuki wondered if, as long as she lived, her own burden would ever get any easier to bear.

"For all we know her skull will just fade away once we kill the real body. That is the one I would want a souvenir from if I didn't think it would be toxic."

Nyton moved over by Tom, adjusting his position to cover a blind side. Arethusa was already regenerating her barrier but it was still at minimum levels. He remained alert and ready for any new attacks as well as the opening to strike Melisson's real body. Occasionally he would still cover Melisson for any signs that she was stirring.

Exhaustion was again creeping up now that Nyton remained static. He did his best to push it out of his mind and body.

Just a little bit further. was his constantly repeated mantra.