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

At the sound being so close to the group of Daisy's, literally on top of them actually, Rin raised her gun and was prepared to shoot at whatever lifeform it was that had intruded upon them. But, seeing it fall apart and off of what her HUD displayed as the form of Nyton, Rin turned towards the nearest Misshu she could see, just waiting to see if it would swarm onto their position.

The bug was so close to an excuse to finally start slaying the monsters, but the sprite kept herself in check.

Yukari let out a breath everyone could hear. "Damn," she said in Yamataian, realizing she had been holding that breath for what felt like several minutes.

She turned her head away from Nyton's freakish armor and toward the top of the tunnel. "Quickly, while they are feasting. We are nearly there!"

"Man, I'm hungry." said Asher aloud, watching the worms feast on their dead compatriot. His stomach growled within the sealed armor he piloted it on ahead. Moving towards an objective staved off the whole 'waiting' sensation. Though, it sometimes allowed him to focus on other things, like his hunger. "Can you eat Mishhu? I bet a shishkabob would be pretty good!"

Kyou actually had to strain to resist moving closer to Asher to slap him upside the head at that point, not entirely sure if he was kidding or not. She couldn't believe anyone could actually watch that and feel hungry, but he'd already proven that he had "interesting" tastes. Pushing down the feeling of nausea the sight had caused, she continued moving with the squad, keeping close.

it was... Odd, what happened to the bug that fell on Nyton's shoulder. After Kai had jumped, so to speak, ready to fire, he had noticed what had become of it. Falling down in two pieces, and being summarily devoured. This vessel was odd and disgusting, its insides completely beyond what any normal person would deem worthy of use. He could understand the tunnels, and the odd layout- gravity manipulation was common enough, but the fleshyness, the worms, the disgusting ooze and goo all over the walls, it was almost too much. Kai's AIES ran through several visual filters before the yamataian stopped on one that made the images a bit less disgusting.

Finding herself ignored due to what seemed to be an important discussion, Masako decided it was best to check in with the Defensive Line. "Mara-shoi, could I have a report on the Defensive Line?" she transmitted via encryption before moving behind Miyoko.

"Saito-heisho? Is something the matter?" the Warrant Officer asked softly as she placed an armored hand gently upon the woman's shoulder.

When the bug impacted against Nyton his immediate thought was to kill it. There was no telling what sort of symbiotic telepathy or pheromone detection method the monster possessed to alert the rest of the ship. If the critter's impact hadn't alerted something then the chattering noise it was making while it tried to right itself would. Were there some sort of sensors? Or maybe everything was just linked together in Melisson's hive mind?

Before Nyton could even react to his thought the suit took matters into her own hands and eliminated the bug. The method used was quaintly efficient and effective. "Nice job, Arethusa. I like your style." he quickly said while moving faster but skirting cautiously away towards the edges of the larger 'patches' of bugs that crawled about the ceiling, if that was at all possible.

"Fine, sorry," Miyoko responded, giving Masako a weak smile. "I was just checking in with Hoshi to see if we have any obvious problems coming up that nobody had thought of... The whole situation has me a little nervous." That was a bit of an understatement.

"Hoshi says there are no hull breaches, so we may want to both head to the defensive line afterward if we know that's the only direction attackers can come from." Miyoko glanced out the doorway toward the rest of the ship, then back at Masako, giving her power armor a companionable pat on the arm. "I'll go suit up. Good luck." With that, she turned and set off toward the armory at a brisk hobble, her pistol still held at the ready.

To take her mind off of her nervousness, Yuzuki took a deep breath and examined the ship interior in more minute detail.  The structure could hardly be called a ship.  The bugs feasting on their fallen comrade were most certainly not a crew.  The technology at work here, even the lighting, was wholly organic and unnatural, and although she attempted to find within her secondary memory a parallel within the Miharu systems, she was an engineer rather than a doctor.  The colors alone made her want to retch.

Before she could take the time to really be scared, or offended, or even curious, the righteous anger burning in the pit of her stomach offered her a different outlet.  If this ship was a living, breathing entity, then they must have wounded it.  It could feel pain.  She began to look at the walls with a new and more vicious eye.

If it was alive, the ship could -die-.  The Black Knights were like femtomachines, except instead of fighting off disease or augmenting mental and physical function, they were on the warpath.  Yuzuki checked her grip on the APR with a fresh impatience.  

All she had to do was find a vital organ.

The bugs were a disgusting sight, but he couldn't help but look at them briefly as they devoured their own.

Ok ok... don't touch the ground.

He checked his sensors for any updated developments that may have occurred when the slug-thing smacked into Nyton's armor. If the bizarre thing was a sentinel of some sort, the group may have to move quickly.

@black Knights:

With as much speed as caution would permit to maintain optimum concealment with their thermoptic stealth, the Black Knights made it to the end of the tunnel without further incident.

The next hub was dominated by a grand balcony-like platform which was the arrival point of the cargo lifts of the Mishhuvurthyar flagship. A massive flat-shellclam-like door indicated where the elevator was and was presently closed. Not too far in front of it was a group of type 1 Mishhuvurthyar.

Some were gathered around containers and holding racks that appeared to stock supplies such as the railguns, body armor and tentacle-bladed caps they had glimpsed on the Mishhuvurthyar soldiers from before. Ten of them appeared in charge of logistics and policing what was distributed, while another five were present and obviously in the process of being geared up.

As Asher peeked around the corner and provided the view for the rest of his team, Hinoto spoke: "Alright. What we want to reach is over there." A foreign-looking control panel to the elevator hatch's left became highlighted on their displays. "You'll have to work it open while being careful not to damage the inner workings inside, sever that elevator's function from the main computer's network and physically link up one of your SAS packs with the processing unit of the elevator console."

"I'm uploading a Mishhu operating software emulator," the Mission Operator continued. "The SAS that gets connected will have to stay put while I have Hoshi's computer hack it. It shouldn't take long, but until then the rest of the team will have to defend your position."

The highlight of the elevator's console went away and instead thier fire control system then singled out the fifteen Mishhuvurthyar present. "I think about two-thirds of them appear to be stationed here and won't be leaving soon. The other five should depart shortly. It's your call, Shosa, if... khhk! -gage now or wait until th- ESH fzzzzhizts hufzz...for az-ey... -ing... Kzzt shhh ZZZT!-"

Abruptly, communication jamming cut off communication with Hoshi.

@Bridge:

"...if you should engage now or wait until those five leave before attacking-" Hinoto said over the comm before a loud 'KZZZT!' had her flinch away from her displays.

She blinked a moment before reopening the channel to try again. "Knight Leader, this is Hoshi. Respond.... Knight Leader, please respond!"

Nothing.

Hinoto's eyes widened in dismay and her ears flattened back. "Not now!" she whined at her console and was about to launch in a frenzy of electronic warfare countermeasures when a shuddering gasp drew her attention.

She turned her head to look up at the feverish Kotori, whom was clutching at her station, her forehead resting on the glassy surface of her console. Her labored breathing, her tense body language looked different as she strained from extra effort compared to before. Hinoto could barely make out at the edge of her conscious the encrypted telepathic chatter of the mishhu, creepy phantom voices at the back of her head. There were so many voices that no single person could truly decipher the mishmash of the orders being relayed... but Hoshi had a quantum computer and it could help its avatar Hinoto make the difference.

"Thank you, Taisa," Hinoto murmured before she turned back to her work and opened communication with Mara. "Defense Line, brace yourselves. The first mishhu wave has been ordered to charge your position."

Yukari swore. Communication being cut off ... but interarmor communication remained. Perhaps that meant it was a shipwide blackout, but she doubted that. Afterall, Mishhu could use telepathy relays that were not so easily blocked.

Left in the dark, and without a map to go by. All they could do was go up.

She breathed hard, seeing the Mishhu before them. She had to think fast, and she had to be right.

If the others had something to say, she tuned them out. She focused. Suzuka Yukari was the leader of an armor team, a horrible position but there she was, and the team expected her to do something.

"Freeman," she said as she passed on Hinoto's instructions. "Please take the elevator under our control."

On the remaining six armors' HUDs, a line drew their vision to the balcony area. There, blue silhouettes showed the positions Yukari wanted them to take. It was a basic firing line, as if they were an execution squad. "We fire from there if Freeman and I are discovered. Eliminate the armed targets first with precision fire. Maintain stealth; after your initial salvo, if you are not targeted, take a new position on the opposite wall and use precision fire a new target. Remember, only if he is discovered.

She paused. "Be vicious and swift."

Nyton studied the map, the proximity of the Mishhu, and the allotted position Yukari had shown them. As he did so he tried to imagine how frustrated Hinoto must be at having had communications cut off from them. Without sounding assertive he simply assumed an even tone over the Armor encrypted comm. "Shosa, might I suggest you allow me to take two members and move to a position on the Mishhu's flank over here. Meanwhile you set up on this side here at an angle so as not to draw fire on the elevator panel we need to hack into," he said, drawing a line on the HUD and putting three Armor silhouettes in staggered positions on one side of the Mishhu group. He then repositioned the other team members at an angle on the opposite side and away from the elevator rather than in front of it.

"There is a good chance that when we open the panel or when Freeman opens the door the enemy will be alerted. If they become alerted while we are all in a straight defensive line then they have a better chance at hitting Freeman and the necessary control panel during the conflict. Instead we should seize the opportunity while the five combat types are still in the middle of arming. My fire team will take precision shots on the ones getting ready causing the enemy to focus on us. We will continue to fire while the support Mishhu scramble to cover or retaliate along with whatever assault ones remain. Before they can draw a bead on us your team will open fire and we will have them in a cross fire. This will keep them unbalanced enough to give us the chance to wipe them out quickly with as little risk to our lives as possible." Nyton coolly stated.

The fire control then focused on the weapons cache that the Mishhu were arming from. "While Freeman connects to the panel and hacks in the rest of us run security and attempt to sabotage the weapon supply here. This equipment should be safer to attempt sabotage at as opposed to the torpedoes. And I know I would be able to establish a few good means of preventing anyone from following us with this equipment as well." Nyton concluded, already imagining setting up traps and fire line trip wires like the ones he did back home.

"Do it," Yukari said. She was not in the mood to argue, or strategize, further.

I should give him command, she sourly thought. His tone aside, Nyton knew better, she reminded herself, and that was what mattered.

"Yuzuki, Rin, with me." She took her position on their side of the chamber. She kept her ASP out, not wanting to alert the enemy with the clicking of a new weapon off of her back.

"Be vicious and swift."

Click to expand...

G'damn, Yuka-boss knows how t'talk dirty! At that, Asher stepped out, still cloaked, with his plasma gun raised to fire. The weapon focused on the far Mishhu, and he was about transmit his selected target to the rest of the squad, before Nyton picked up and began his suggestion. This interruption didn't sit well with him.

Yukari's words had gotten the man riled, because it seemed like they were about to swoop in and commit those Type 1s to a vicious and murderous bloodbath. The Malifarian was now in fighting mode, and still was with his leash being yanked back. He leaned back in, and his body began to shake in the sickening anticipation of action. Still, their commander had seen the wisdom in Nyton's plan, and had decided to commit to it. So, the grunt committed as well.

Kyou was getting more and more frustrated as time went on, especially when they finally had a plan worked out to kill some Misshu and get moving to their actual destination, and their commanders just had to go and hold a nice long discussion about it. She kept her mouth shut, since it wasn't her place to question her superiors, and just got in position like a good little girl, lining up her shots as best she could to avoid the chance of crossfiring her own team members.

"Hai, Shosa."

Rin floated and set up next to Yukari, though a bit more forward than the officer because the sprite figured it'd be better for the lower ranked individual, especially one with extra shielding, to take some more shots than the one commanding. Rin brought her forearm shield up and readied her LASR and SLAG, already aiming for one of the Misshu. On the HUD, she marked her target and that she would use an incendiary grenade on the tightly bunched Misshu around the equipment. If no officer was objecting, then soon there would be some fried calamari.

"Roger, Shosa." Nyton telepathically replied. Raising his LASR, he then marked off team members.


Nyton then carefully moved towards the flanking position he had designated as the fire team's location. Using AIES to sync up with all the other team members he chose a combat Mishhu that had not already been painted. Focusing on a vital spot and tracking it's motions while being assisted by the suit's aiming system the man set himself on his unexpectant enemy. Once everyone was ready he calmly squeezed down on the trigger which would send out the message simultaneously.

She joined the Shosa and Rin as they moved, flanking to the right. For some reason, she found that was her default position - she had the urge to be on the right of the Shosa. So, she flanked, tense as a metal cable under heavy load as she examined the enemy from her new vantage point.

So this was what it was like.

In her HUD, she painted the target, flagging the one she was going to take to the rest of the armor team, and she sighted in with extreme care. As she did, she realized there was a minor tremor in her aim, and the suit was attempting to compensate - she thought for a moment that it might be some minor fault in the Daisy's stabalization system, but just as quickly she realized that it was her own hand that was shaking.

This was the first time she had ever actually fired a gun.


Her finger moved of its own accord.

Tom was uncomfortable at the discussion between his two superiors in the group. Something felt off to him, but that could have been the butterflies in his stomach.

I have to move quickly to the control panel after shots are fired...

Tom aimed his LASR and followed Nyton's instructions. Ideally, he would like to hit a Mishu who appeared to be in a position to alert more of its kind to their presence, but he wasn't sure who that was.

He tried to optimize his stealth, firing in the middle of the cacophony of bullets that were sure to ring throughout the hall and cutting off his fire before the others finished.