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

Nyton would be unconscious if it weren't for the intense pain shooting through his leg. The hits he had taken from Mefpralphra's tentacle assault had been brutal but they were easily forgotten by the mangling his leg endured. Clutched tightly in the tentacle's grip it wasn't like the pain had been given any reason to subside any. In his current exhausted state he had nothing left to try and overcome the pain. For the most part he just hung there limp and suffered while being suspended.

There were limits to everything and Nyton had reached his.

Time slowed down and everything seemed deeper again. Nyton could barely see with his left eye to count how many tentacles were seeking his life. What he could see was the being narrowing her eyes at him. Narrowed eyes! It was almost humorous to know that a being as old as this one harbored enough dislike to actually focus on his destruction. I got her pretty angry didn't I? Maybe she won't forget just how much someone spat at her despite the majesty she claimed. I even cheated death quite a few times this trip; I got to swap bodies and become a full conversion cyborg. I think grandfather would be proud.

"Claymere, attack! Yuzuki, Freeman, distract the other two discs! Westwood, eliminate the armor around the bottom of her body!"

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A grin formed on Nyton's face. Attack? Attack with what and where? Good call Yukari but you still need to work on your ground command. he mused while looking again at the bladed tentacles that sought to claim his head. Each one seemed ready and would undoubtedly strike in unison. There was no way to twist around his head to avoid them. Maybe one or two but they would all end up striking something and the next one would finish it.

Dead huh? What was it grandfather said would happen when we died? It's so hard to remember now. Maybe I'll pass out from the pain just before I die. Do I deserve even that much peace?

Another deep breath, slow and measured, the stench of the room completely forgotten as Nyton savored his last inhalation of air. He looked at the tentacles again (how many times had it been? was time really moving that slowly?) and wondered which one would take him. It was then that he noticed something just past the tentacles. It looked to him like a light at the end of a tunnel.

Pain hallucination? he thought.

Confusion clouded his mind now. Just beyond the tentacles he could see the light become clearer. Inside that light were two people, one taller than the other. He wondered just what was he looking at. Was it another dream?

"Don't worry about us anymore, Ny. You don't have to feel guilty for not being there. Stay alive."

"I want siblings daddy! So you can't die yet!"

Nyton was confused by the words but somewhere inside he felt a slight weight drop. It wasn't much but it was enough to make him feel just a little bit lighter. Light enough to move again. That last breath he took had filled his lungs to the brim and it was with that air which he used to fuel one more battle roar. His torso raised up as he grabbed the plasma rifle on his back and fired.

Nyton fired at the tentacles holding him. He fired at Mefpralphra. He fired at the tentacles about to strike. He would sacrifice his limbs to deflect the bladed tentacles. He would twist his torso to take the hit. He would fire for as long as he could.

Yuzuki's AIES kicked in her inertial drive just as the Shosa released her, and the sprite had a brief but very colorful moment of full awareness, during which she felt as if she were privy to the inner workings of the entire universe, and aware of everything around her very keenly, like a ship's AI must be aware of everything within it. It coalesced into consciousness sharply, all at once. Then the moment was gone and she was back in the world.

She was a sprite. At her core, she would never, ever change. It wasn't what she had wanted to remember, but strangely it brought her peace. Her reison d'etra was here, in front of her, alongside these people, and she would serve alongside them until her body was wasted and her mind destroyed.

Vakaar Takaup.

"Claymere, attack! Yuzuki, Freeman, distract the other two discs! Westwood, eliminate the armor around the bottom of her body!"

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Yuzuki quickly filtered the orders through the sieve of current events with a lucidity that surprised her.

She caused the countermeasure pods on her legs to open.

She unloaded them in a sudden array of microjet streams, swerving and careening every which way forward - around her, around the massive bulk that was her enemy, towards and around the Shosa, the Taii, and Asher and Tom. Aimed at the disks, all of them.

Then she opened fire on the bulk of the thing, her rifle's focal lenses electronically adjusted as powerful as she could make it without outright destroying the rifle, hoping the ostentation would draw its attention away from the charging Shosa.

Tom's shoulder ringed with pain, adding another ailment to the growing list of physical injuries the engineer endured. He had stopped breathing normally, physical exhaustion and damage drawing only gasps from his lungs.

He wished he could hold his breath, but his heart would explode in protest. Even so, each breath he took scratched his chest like a grater ripping on his skin, and he wished he didn't have to draw so deeply from the air in his suit.

His companion, the AIES, told him everything he needed to know as he drew his plasma rifle and began firing as per Yukari's orders.

Like so much flaking metallic lint, Nyton's armor dangled in the grasp of the Infection Queen's tentacles. But he fought. He fought like a cornered animal and fear knew not him.

Asher, gouges, broken bones and all, continued his maniacal charges into the fray. Fear did not exist for him... nor did pain it seemed.

Yuzuki was up again, a spray of fiery defiance lighting from her armor. She had thrown caution to the wind, pouring all her efforts into this gambit. Fear recoiled in the face of her power.

And Yukari, he saw her charge. An injured Samurai laying her life down in the service of duty. Armed with only a shield, she meant to destroy her foe or die in the process.

Fear was shattered before her charging form.

Warriors fighting a primordial monster at the edge of the universe, battered, beaten, but holding in their bloodied hands the faint flicker of hope... their camaraderie and respect for the sacrifices that got them there keeping their exhausted hearts beating.

It would have been romantic if it didn't hurt so much. It would have drawn tears of catharsis from him if it had been just a movie and not him being amongst those holding that faint flame in the center of a whirlwind.

Perhaps some day he would be able to hold Yukari's hand as he watched that film, laughing with her as the memories of that horrible time faded away.

But for now Tom Freeman roared as continued firing his rifle, his forearm blasters and drones joining in on his push against that ignoble fear.

@ vs. Mefpralphra, the "Infection Queen":

The void-discs swooped around in their orbits over Mefpralphra, intercepting the shots Nyton sent toward the Umbral Elder's eyes, the shots Tom fired from the side and Yuzuki's from the other flank.

Flares burst brightly, glinting chaff spiraling lazily in the air from the sprite's countermeasure missiles, and Asher moved in just as the discs were distracted and their opponent rearing back up with her eyes squinted nearly shut. The Malifarian bobbed to a stop right under his chosen target point and blasted away with his stream of plasma flames.

The plasma's glare was right into her possible field of vision, the energy attack capable of stripping her from her barrier and the ionized gases that continued to flow through hot beyond the measures of her senses. Asher had her taxed attention, and Yukari had her opening.

Deftly, she inserted herself through the curtain of tentacles. With a corkscrew, she gathered momentum. With her Daisy's gravity manipulation, she increased the mass behind her movement. With her improvised club, she struck at the prize held between the four jutting fangs.

The lower tip of the shield squarely collided with the crystalline orb. There was a loud, chime-like ringing that reached a crescendo as the Varin artifact splintered and cracked apart on the impact, showering Yukari with wet fragments that harmlessly bounced off her worn Daisy power armor.

At the artifact's demise the discs expired, and the lingering cover of the floating crystal plates also misted away. Mefpralphra's defenses were gone!

With the protective covering off, her limbs were vulnerable and Nyton lost no time in jamming his rifle's business end against the tentacles holding him. Two blasts and he had the appendages seared through so badly at the impact points that they were severed, with him freed.

Her mouth free from holding the artifact, Mefpralphra unleashed a terrible roar and twisted to glare at Yukari with her four eyes. Yukari and the others froze, the roar carrying a hint of fear-based psionics that involuntarily immobilized them just as much as a deer caught in an incoming car's headlights.

Tentacle-tipped claws - all sixteen of them - poised back and then snapped forward within that lull, but the fear-driven pressure released them almost as soon as it gripped them and a flurry of prescient telepathic commands assaulted Yukari right before every blow.

"Step right!" "Duck!"
"Roll forward!"
"Shieldblock head!" "Hop back!"
"Deflect with shield, center body to the right." "Move in and duck!"
"Widen your stance!" "Backpedal twice and duck!"
"Tuck and roll right!"
"Hover up six feet." "Shieldblock and let it carry you down to the floor!"
"Duck." "Brace shield hard to left flank." "Roll with the blow to a crouch!"
"Skim left, orbit her!"
"Stop, deflect tentacle hard to the right." "Roll inside!"
"Fly through the opening in her tentacles and get clear!"

Breathlessly, using her body at its utmost heedless of her pains, Yukari almost perfectly escaped Mefpralphra's withering volley of attacks Mefpralphra meant to tear her to pieces with only her sensor package shredded off her back by a near-miss.

Hinoto's voice blurted into their team's channel: "Now's your chance! You have to stop her main body from phasing and strike her your hardest!"

Yukari could not believe herself. The moment her shield connected with the orb ... then the beautiful sparkling flash of the orb's remnants sprinkling off of her armor and helmet.

Providence, she thought.

The roar made her freeze, but when she heard Kotori's soft and steady voice piercing her mind, she simply moved.

Now on the ground, she stepped right then knelt, dodging the first attack. She rolled with the help of some gravity manipulation, a lashing tentacle making the ground behind her shake. Up from the roll and looking toward the hideous maw of Mefpralphra, she brought her shield up just into to take a thudding strike to it. Her armor carried her back and she shield-bashed another tentacle out of her vision, standing perpendicular to the alien's front.

She rushed forward, ducking as a fleshy black bar swung over her head. She skidded to a stop and widened her stance a bit too much, splitting her legs as another tentacle wooshed over her. Her armor brought her to her feet and she crouched just in time to avoid a tentacle slashing into her neck. She felt a slight wrenching of her armor; her sensor package went black on her HUD.

Already tucked, she rolled right, ground shaking again at the appendage pounding into it.

Yukari came up from the roll and leaped two meters into the air, a tentacle swinging at the empty space below her. She brought up her shield and braced as the tentacle swung about and pounded into her shield, the force taking her back to the ground. The tentacle tried to keep her standing, but she ducked anyway, and a tentacle from the right whacked away the one holding her down.

She held her shield up near the left side of her head and took the hit, then rolled with it into a kneeling position, avoiding a strike that was aimed at the right side of her head. She left the ground again and slid along the perimeter of her tentacles, circling, avoiding several strikes before she stopped.

Yukari bashed a tentacle toward her right side, then rolled forward. When she came up, she felt so glad she saw only glowing red orbs instead of black lines and gnashing teeth. She pushed with all she had to fling herself out of the opening, tumbling in mid-air until her feet touched down on the bit of non-orbed space of wall she had looked at, lifting her head to see the unarmored Mefpralphra.

She started to breathe again. And pry out a concussion grenade from her thigh compartment.

"Claymere, stay near her! All Knights, watch for Claymere! FIRE!"

"Fia'? What?" asked Asher, his flamethrower still aimed at Mefpralphra. He pulled the trigger, beginning to empty the current canister into the beast. The Malifarian put the weapon on his strong arm and continued to unleash the flames, he held out his broken arm, and despite the pain, pointed at the flamethrower. "Y'mean 'dis fia'?"

His mind kept track of his allies AIES feeds, seeing if any swipes were to be made at him. When his current canister emptied, he'd slap the next canister in and continue his fiery onslaught on the move.

"I'm pretty sure y'mean 'dis fia'."

Like so much glass, shards of the Varin artifact rained to the ground and so did the Infection Queen's defenses.

Then the pure hatred held in the monster's eyes pushed against his will, strengthening fear in one final roar. But, like a harmless wave, the fear washed over Tom's body and dissipated as soon as it came.

Yukari's graceful weaving in the face of the monster's retaliatory strikes had him sigh in a mix of awe and relief.

They had struck true, earning an opportunity that Hinoto yelled into their ears.

Keep Nyton alive!

He fired at the monster as he closed the distance between Nyton and he. He was prepared to protect the Taii with whatever means necessary because he was what kept the infection queen from running away.

A bit of steam wafted up from the APR; Yuzuki didn't care much. She swapped it out for the Gauss Bazooka, with its last couple of rounds.

She stopped in the air, calculations almost completely unnecessary; the only thing she adjusted was the blast's projected effect on the Taii. A few degrees away from him would hopefully ensure he wouldn't catch the brunt of it; like she had done with Nimura's enemy, Yuzuki aimed for the beast's rear, hoping that the bulk would protect her comrades.

Then, she fired. The round spiraled out.

Strangely, the Anger's voice did not intrude into her waking mind. Yuzuki realized suddenly that it was her own voice whispering, burn.

The destruction of the defensive armor was just the opening Nyton needed. As soon as the tentacles were burned through he fell away limp, stopping in mid-air mostly from Arethusa's effort. Before he could collect himself to maneuver he was frozen by the unearthly howl. Exhausted and badly wounded Nyton could barely resist the paralyzing effects.

For what seemed like forever the only thing Nyton heard was the sound of his own breathing as he tried to move his body again. There was so much pain that he could barely think. The paralyzing fear overwhelmed him and in his weakened state he felt unable to overcome it. Yukari meanwhile was deftly avoiding the vicious tentacle strike with incredible finesse. He needed to move before he was targeted next!

Nyton took another deep breath. Slowly, the effects of the paralysis had receded. With that he started moving wearily and still painfully.

"Claymere, stay near her! All Knights, watch for Claymere! FIRE!"

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With Mefpralphra's defenses down everyone was given the signal to press forward. Nyton's helmet was damaged so the HUD was not available to give him an accurate display of how far away he needed to be. Working by memory and with only one good eye he estimated the effective distance of the field and flew towards Mefpralphra's flank to stay close while avoiding the tentacles. As he flew he strafed with his plasma rifle aiming for her eyes and side.

An eye for an eye, bitch.

@ vs. Mefpralphra, the "Infection Queen":

With fury, Mefpralphra fell upon them following Yukari's miraculous escape, using her mass to bodyslam into Asher as he reloaded. The quartet of sharp fangs parted with fillets of saliva stretching in between before they bore in and gnashed deeply into Shikamaru's breastplate, digging in search of the ripe flesh ensconced beneath. Without any room to use the flame thrower, Asher expressed his disagreement by lancing her underside with his white-hot plasma torch, but she wouldn't budge off him.

Yukari's concussion grenade finally proved to be his saving grace, the blast's impact knocking her loose from over him, though not without ripping Shikamaru's breastplate away and leaving his torso only protected by bent supports and the much-abused synthetic insert.

As the Umbral Elder tottered to the side, using her tentacles to spear into the floor and right herself, Yuzuki's first thermite round fierily exploded into her yet unwounded flank, tearing a wailing cry from her as the rough hide withered and boiled, with the thin skin stretched over her other ear frill burned cleanly away. Maybe that did something to her hearing? There was no way to tell.

Scrambling forward like some giant spider, she made to run Asher through before he could get mobile, but a shot from Nyton washed across her front, the splash of plasma ruining two of her eyes. She screeched, slowed down with a pair of tentacles whipping up to nurse the wound before she spun herself around, two other tentacles sailing into the air to pulp the upstart Nyton for his temerity.

The Taii ducked under one, but the other was about to catch him when yet more plasma struck it, disintegrated the limb into so much ashes before it could strike him. Other energy beams struck the tentacle that had swept path him and severely burnt it, preventing any backswing: Tom had appointed himself his guardian, and was upholding his role.

With the Infection Queen turned toward Nyton, Yuzuki faced her back and she loosed another thermite round that exploded into her creature's rear quarter. The hideous elemental explosion carbonized her back, in the process eating through the base of seven tentacles that became useless charred lengths of once-flesh.

Supported by a declining number of limbs, and her smoking body looking weakened enough to need that support, she pivoted to face what appeared to be the largest threat to her life, Yuzuki, only to find Asher waiting for her, flamethrower spewing out plasma right into her two remaining eyes.

Blind, Mefpralphra reared back and away from the killing plasma, roaring in a mix of pain and anger; but Nyton allowed her no reprieve. With Arethusa having restored his helmet, he braved the heat and pumped an additional plasma shot right into her maw - the result drawing from his enemy a startling, breathy choke. Tentacles flung themselves blindly in his general direction, but Tom kept up on covering him and with commendable marksmanship destroyed a tentacle claw before it could hit the Nepleslian.

Nyton only ended up whipped aside to get sprawled on his behind for his trouble. Though this brought yet more suffering to his aching body, that also left him clear of the Infection Queen.

Yuzuki fired and her thermite round, her last one, exploded into the softer underside of Mefpralphra. The massive boom of heat wreathed her in fire, silhouetting her black against the red-gold glare of the flames.

Their opponent's remaining tentacles writhed, curling protectively close before she slumped and fell to the floor. One limb twitched feebly, then another, and she tried to rise... until her burning body lost all strength and she remained still.

Melpralphra the Infection Queen kept burning and smoking, now a mound of calcinated flesh and nothing more. From the edge of the fight, Melisson looked at the scene, the pyre of what had spawned her reflecting off into her red-irised eyes. Her head straining to keep her chin off the floor, Melisson managed weakly: "So, this is how we die." A faint, oddly relieved smile appeared on the alien woman's face.

Yuzuki lowered the gauss bazooka, with its smoking barrel, and surveyed the carnage it had wrought with a surprisingly detached neutrality. Her breath still came hard, and her brief moments of clarity were slowly fogging back into a sort of wobbly delirium that caused her to blink a few times. But she could see, and she could think, and she could function so at least there was that. The others were in much worse shape. She had been really lucky. Really, really lucky.

Yuzuki discarded the bazooka almost negligently, casting it aside onto the oddly technologically looking deck. It produced a heavy metal clunk, the empty barrel resonating from the impact. It was just extra weight.

Shortly thereafter, Yuzuki let her feet touch the ground and stood with her own weight. The insert of her armor was gently massaging the back of her neck, and along her spine where the worst of the stress had been, but her thoughts still felt somewhat jumbled. She drew the APR, more out of a desire to have something in her hand than with any intent to fire it.

In the ensuing silence, Yuzuki didn't feel like speaking.

The reforming of Arethusa's helmet spared Nyton the further stench of the room and the burning corpse of Mefpralphra. As he lay on the floor he could see through his left eye and witness the burning mass of the self-declared god they slew. Nyton watched the immolated body of the loathsome being and found himself at a loss for words. He had never slain such a monster before. What does one say after such a battle? For a sweet long moment his pain was forgotten while he stared at the dead beast. The one thing that did come to his mind was that the titanic battle was over.

The mission however was not over. They still needed to escape. Pain returned and Nyton needed to breath deep with every grimace of agony he felt. Before anything else could be done he had to report back to the ship. They had to know their status so he reported back over the squad shared link to the ship so that all members would hear.

"Hinoto, this is Nyton. Mefpralphra is dead. We won."

Just those few words made Nyton's jaw burn with pain. Even keeping his jaw shut and minimizing the movement his face felt as though it were on fire. He continued to breath, exhaustion having taxed all of his strength, barely able to protest the agony he felt. That was when his AIES notified him to Melisson's movements. His paranoia of the Interpreter had kept him alert to any movements from her. Unfortunately there was little he could do at the moment as his body resisted all signals by him to move.

"Shosa, Melisson is still alive. Don't let her get up!" Nyton telepathically messaged to Yukari.

"Phew!" went Asher, taking a glide across the battlefield. The wounded Malifarian was breathing heavily, his stomach still recovering from the frontal trauma he had endured from spending a few loving moments in Mefpralphra's mouth. Asher was, though, not focusing on the victory, however, but the spoils in which it garnered to them. Pure celebration had to wait, with what else waited for them in their return home. Besides, the way he thought about it, why have a little celebration now when you could have the biggest celebration for everything? Holding off the festivities would give him every right and reason to have the best wines and alcohol delivered to the victory party.

Still, these thoughts were for later, and now was for hovering over Melisson as she laid on the floor. He cut his drives and landed on both feet, straddling her dying body and resting hips down a upon. He had to use his right arm to balance himself, since his left still hurt like hell. With that he began to bang his crotch plate into her mid-section.

Chunk

Chunk

Chunk

"Hey guys! Check it out! I'm doin' t'her body what she did t'our heads!" laughed Asher as he restrained Melisson, continuing his lewd antics.

Yukari could only blankly look at the charred mass before them.

The alien was ... dead? Her sensor package was gone; she could not examine her vitals with radar. It certainly appeared very dead. How did one tell with an alien?

When she heard Nyton's call about Melisson, she looked over — and she knew. Mefpralphra certainly was dead. The relieved expression Melisson carried was unmistakable.

Yukari wanted nothing more than to hug Tom for the rest of her life. She had earned that, had she not? They had killed one of the most potent and real threats to Yamataian sovereignty the Empire had ever faced. The Umbral would think twice before engaging Yamatai again. Peace was won.

Was it not?

Melisson's movements reminded her that even though the alien was dead, they still were on an NMX vessel with hundreds of thousands of Neko trapped in timeless space.

She flew to Melisson's side, but stopped there, concussion grenade in hand.

She raised her visor and glared at Asher, eyes retaining some of their greenish glow from the battle. "Westwood, get off of her. Now."

Slowly, her armor helped her kneel so she was closer to the demon's level.

" ... " Her loudspeaker reported itself as damaged and nonfunctional. Yukari winced, but she had to trust her PSC to protect her.

She took a deep breath first. Then let it out in a huff. She kept her helmet's visor up, so the demon could see her eyes when she sent to her.

"Melisson, I am arresting you for murder, under my authority as a Star Army officer," she sent, unencrypted so all could hear. "No harm will come to you, unless you resist."

Parts of her darkly prayed for the demon to fight, to give her an excuse to cave in Melisson's head with her shield's scarred tip. She was kind enough to take notice about the demon's wounds. "Can you walk or fly?"

"Aw... c'mon!" Asher sighed, denied his first spoil of victory, and getting off of Melisson. The Malifarian stepped away for a moment, looking down at his superior and the ultimate enemy of Yamatai. He boiled his disappointment away silently, until the emerald-eyed Shosa began to speak.

"Melisson, I am arresting you for murder, under my authority as a Star Army officer," she sent, unencrypted so all could hear. "No harm will come to you, unless you resist."

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"Y'WHAT!?" exclaimed Asher, in complete shock, he threw his hands up into the air. "Don'tcha' even remembah what happened las--..."

Shaddup! Thass y'superia' y'talkin' to, numbnuts.

"I mean c'mon--!"

Superia' offica', shut tha' fuck up.

"She's tha' fuckin'--!"

Shosa > Hei.

"But--!"

Not equal, but greata' than.

"--!" Asher threw his arms up into the air.

You'ze an insignificant grunt.

The Malifarian turned away from them, and punched the imaginary something that was standing behind him before turning to speak again.

Nope! Tough tots, twiddle tits.

"Argh! Fuck!" Asher shot the Mefpralphra corpse a few times with his Plasma Gun. He turned back to his superior, knowing now that everyone was fully aware of his dissatisfaction with the decision made. "Can't I at least just stick it to her? Juss' once? Iss' f'justice! Thass' perfectly acceptable!"

"The fangs of a dying snake are just as venomous as a healthy one. Your Shosa's demand just saved your life," Melisson pointed out to Asher in a deadpan fashion, giving him a tolerant sidelong look from where she lay. "I just need to be close to phase one of my smaller selves into you, and your crotch was very close."

Yukari's demand went unanswered for the moment, at least until the matter with Asher was settled.

After a long pause where he stood with his gun at the ready, watching the corpse of the Infection Queen burn, Tom finally relaxed his stance and turned around.

He was numb with pain, panting and about to pass out from exhaustion. But they had won. It was done. They had killed the Infection Queen.

Had it really been only a day? So much had happened in such a short time that he hardly recognized the shift. Just yesterday he had been eating with Yuzuki in the wardroom, patching Miharu with Ichigo and the other sprites and strengthening his love with Yukari.

In that brief timespan, his life had been irrevocably changed. Or at least he knew it had, but the weight of the revelations had yet to hit him. Would he ever be able to wrap his head around them?

Yukari.

He saw her and instinctively approached the most important person in his life, standing by her side as she looked down at the prone Melisson.

"S-shosa. I still have my suite in order if you'd like to use it."

Yukari faced Asher. Her gaze sharpened as her eyes burned green.

"You think I am not sympathetic?" she said, gesturing back at Melisson with her shield arm. Her other still hurt too much to truly use. "She deserves death." She glanced sidelong at Melisson. "But she is more useful to us if she is alive and captured. I do not know how ... " She looked hard at Asher, fist clenched. "But she will protect us. Somehow."

That was when she noticed Tom standing above her.

"S-shosa. I still have my suite in order if you'd like to use it."

Click to expand...

She did not look at him. The sound of her blood racing around in her body suddenly deafened even her own thoughts as her mouth went slightly agape. He — he meant his sensor suite. Did he not? He had to have meant that. She pushed the very heated thoughts down, down, down back to where they belonged. She could not think those things right now no matter how much her body ached for even a hint of them. Just a hint. A caress. Some kind of touch that was loving instead of menacing.

She actually shook her head to clear her mind, then focused again on Melisson, the only one to notice the varied expressions that crossed her face. "No harm will come to you. Not from my crew, not from the Empire, so long as you are under my protection. That means you are to respect this crew, even if they are unwilling to return it. They understandably are hostile."

Melisson's eyes flicked back to Yukari's visor and the red eyes stared into the emerald ones as Yukari mentally spoke.

She replied: "The thought of being destroyed does not concern me - I actually could dispose of myself if I wanted to avoid capture... like at the sham Pisces conference. Or I could have escaped by phasing through the floor. But that's not what your victory has earned you."

"I will be your trophy, Suzuka Yukari." Melisson agreed, giving an awkward head-lying-on-its-side nod. "But it is because you have won my cooperation, not my submission."

"You have spared me because you expect things of me, and I admit entertaining the preference to survive so that one final remain of what spawned me might not go to waste. What I do is still by choice, and I am not to be trifled with. If your crew missteps, I will react. If this causes deaths, it will be our mutual loss."

Asher was silent for that comeback. Sometimes, he hated bitter reason was, especially with the fact that he couldn't dry hump Melisson. Still, Yukari's reason was the most convincing thus far, if not the only one. The Malifarian sighed, slapping the palms of his hands together as he paced back and forth, trying to concoct an imaginable idea and solution to the situation. And then... Something!

"Hey, I think I got it." said Asher, slapping his fist into the other, a figurative light bulb flashing above his head. "Melibutt's all 'bout her pride, n'stuff, right? I mean, she's gotta' tinier dick than Eve's, n'she's tryin' t'compensate for tha' hell outta' it. So 'ere's what we do. We juss' singe her pride, yeah? Do somethin' and threaten t'show tha' whole universe how not big'n bad Melibutt is. Y'know, put her in a non-phasing box, n'shake it around. Oh! We could post tha' video feed a'me lap-spankin'r from behind! Or uh... break somethin' she takes a lotta' snuff in. Yeah."

He looked back to the way they had come from, specifically for Melisson's room.

"Where's one'a 'dem ship models at?"