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RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 5] The Secret Battlefront

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After hearing the entirety of Misaki’s instructions and order, Hotaru was glad that she was unable to get a shot off, though she had thought through the possible repercussions. Saying a silent farewell to the fallen, Hotaru acknowledged the Chusa's orders, doubled checked the location of the rendezvous point with the route Karei and herself were to take.

Looking over towards his DAISY, Hotaru said “Karei-san, ready to move out. It looks like we have quite a hike in front of us.” Reading her armour’s status and happy with what she saw, Hotaru strode off into the jungle with her eyes constantly scanning the surrounding area as Kanashii began to follow her.

After the foliage closed up behind them, the sounds of the jungle slowly returned.
 
Following closely behind Misaki as the order came, wondering just how the hell they had been spotted so soon. The loss of two crew-members also stung a bit, though they would be brought back from their backups... if anyone survived, that was.

This sure as hell didn't go like planned... Kim thought privately to Misaki, checking her weapon status and ammunition as she moved. Naturally she held her fire, given the order, something she both respected, and yet rankled.
 
Konoka was dragged roughly away from Cherry-Heisho for her own safety. Of course, she could do nothing. She was sad, so sad. How could this have happened? With all the planning...She loved helping people. Yet she couldn't help Heisho, or anyone else who may have gotten hurt. There was nothing to be done. Stars! How could she be so USELESS? No matter what, some things were beyond her help. No matter how much smiling, or optimism, or training, or planning, or just plain ignoring, some things couldn't be helped. No matter how wonderful the world was, sometimes things sucked.

She'd had that horrible worry in the beginning. That gnawing feeling something would go wrong. She wasn't a psychic, just sensitive, caring, and always worried. Well, she had to move on. There was a mission going on. Was there some form of optimism in there? No, just reality. What could be optimistic about it? Well, at least I'm ok...she thought. So what? Everyone ELSE always came first.

That was right. EVERYONE else. She couldn't help Heisho. However, she could help Hotaru-san. She could help. She could! She looked where Hotaru-san and Karei-Hei were going. She'd follow them. She rushed after them. Stay in this minute, she told herself. One minute ago, you couldn't help Cherry-Heisho. That minute's over. Now, Hotaru-san needs you. So go. And off she went. Catching up to them, she thought to Hotaru-san, Need some help?

Helping was life.
 
At first, the team was still very much in danger as the fighters fired into the jungle, searching for signals...but after a while, the five remaining members of Alpha team seemed to be alone in the jungle. It was the late afternoon and the air was humid and stifling hot. In every direction, thick, moss-covered trees densely populated the marshy wetland they trudged through. Every step meant more sticky or slippery mud below their armored boots. The team had to stay fairly close, or risk losing one another in the foilage.

The sky seemed to be getting slowly darker as the sun began to set, filling tiny gaps in the overhead canopy of leaves with fierce orange or increasingly dark gray clouds. Yet, with all the planetary-scale jamming and the concealment of the forest, they seemed to be safe for the moment.

- - -

Onboard the ship, Blueberry was working again on deck six. By now, she had built a pumping system in the Fabrication Bay and was using it to empty the water out of the ship's lowest deck so she could get inside to scrape out the mud and seal the hull breaches. If she could get that done, they could start replacing the burned and damaged equipment down there, including the anti-gravity system that would help them escape this planet.
 
Need some help? asked Konoka. Hai Konoka-san, you’re welcome to join us, replied Hotaru. Once Konoka joined them, Hotaru informed them both about the need to use hand signals and to keep verbal/telepathic communications to a minimum. After getting two acknowledgements the squad began to move off with Hotaru acting as point and using the Daisy's UWB radar to try and get a clearer picture of what may lie ahead.

They soon left the fighters’ bombardment behind, with the jungle closing in around them, it felt like they were the only ones out there. Hotaru began wondering what type of forces they will probably end up facing and if their rescue efforts will be in vain if the prisoners had already been executed.

After slugging through several kilometers of soggy, marshy jungle, night came on and Hotaru instructed her squadmates to use their night-vision and infrared capabilities if they hadn’t been already using them as they slogged on towards the rendevous.
 
"MEGAMI..." Nana began, her voice quivering. She'd known this ship's AI had another name, but, at this time, she wasn't sure of what it was exactly. Quickly shaking her head, and rubbing her hands together after setting down the boxes, she straightening up, dragging a gloved hand nervously across the back of her neck.

"There's..s...several yards' worth of cables that have been obliterated in the fire. Is it essential they be fixed now? B..because there's damage to the hull that needs to be addressed, and we don't want the cables getting wet if I fix them.." Speaking slowly, forcing out the clarity, she felt her knees shaking, and had to lean against one of the melted walls for support.

I said this was too much.. I knew it. I'm not cut out.. I'm.. I'm not. With tears in her eyes, Nana sank down onto her knees, opening the boxes of wiring with shaking hands, biting down on her lower lip, I could have done this.. if I had them.. if I had Kessah.. or Yuriko.. or Sumaru, but...they...

Her mind reeled, and, in a sudden fit of frustration, she smacked the box of cables away, right into a wall, before standing upright and rubbing furiously at her tear-stained eyes, swearing quietly to herself.

Get me out of here..
 
Noting Blueberry's work, Yaichiro sent a communication to her.


MEGAMI displayed a window for Blueberry, showing the water lines which were safe to connect to. Meanwhile, it showed Nana what junctions to jumper to bypass the damaged conduits.


Nana, how are you progressing?
Click to expand...
Yaichiro sent next, unaware of Nana's distress.
 
Konoka was glad to have a situation to deal with to keep her from thoughts of earlier sadness, and that unnerving feeling of uselessness. She now realized that was the first time she'd considered that some things were beyond help. In a word, 'help' described the foundation of Konoka's philosophy, her purpose, goals, and a large part of her cheerfulness and job sasitsfaction.

Staying in the present, she reminded herself, the jungle was dense, lonely, and kind of....scary, at least at night. Having her usual non-stop chatter and mission-ready speak-whenever-possible way of acting silenced, she was quite left to her thoughts. At least there's no scary monsters! she thought happily. Then, thinking, she realized the dense jungle hid whatever "monsters", or at least fairly frightening local wildlife, or , seriously frightening, unseen enemies. Worrying, she realized they could easily be ambushed. She suddenly became very alert. That could be bad...real bad....

She made a motion to her squadmates to be equally alert. She hoped they got the message. She didn't see or hear anything, but she was seriously worried, and majorly freaked as well. ANYTHING could come out of that jungle, and they'd have little or no warning...Scary monsters indeed. At least I KNOW that could happen, so I'm ready...she told herself. For a second, her worries switched from her squadmates to the people she was trying to rescue.

What was happening to THEM? Were they OK? Had their captors hurt them? What if they were.....No. She would NOT think that. They had to be alive. And she hoped they were OK. She cared about them, even though she knew little about who they even were, and knew none of their names, nor had they ever met. She was very worried for their sake. She promised to help them any way she could, any way at all. Somehow, she'd make sure they were OK. She had to be able to help someone. She just had to.
 
Sinking into a crouch and sniffling softly to herself, Nana slowly, weakly tried to gather the wiring back and put it back into the box, her hands quivering. Her response to Yaichiro came slowly as she began to rifle around in the wall panel, beginning to remove the faulty wiring and dropping it onto the ground.

If the wiring is replaced in certain spots it can be left alone.
Click to expand...

Nana stared straight ahead, misty-eyed and feeling almost incapable of doing her work. Dragging one arm across her face to wipe away tears of frustration, she brushed her pants off and slowly dragged her palms down across her face.

I'll come assist you after I've done the minimal repair work, if that is what you want.
Click to expand...
 
When night came, the weather had come with it. It wasn't long before heavy rain began to fall on the jungle, filling the team's ears with wet white noise and obscuring their vision even further with sheets of rain and splashing droplets. It didn't help that the night was already pitch black aside from occasional flashes of bright lightning, which made night vision tedious.

As one of the flashes briefly lit the jungle, Hotaru saw something dome-like in the bushes. It looked potentially man-made...

- - -

Back on the Eucharis, it was night shift and Hanako had just turned the bridge over to Blackberry and eaten a ration before moving down the Fabrication bay where she began working on synthesizing replacements for the machinery that had been destroyed on deck six. By now, Blueberry had pumped out the water and scraped out the mud. Now it was time to haul the broken equipment out and replace it. With hard work, the Eucharis could be ready to take off by the time the armor team reached its objective...
 
Kumiko sighed. She'd been working all day, trying to get the CFS up and running, with wiring that would hold until she had more time and less stress to work with, but it would hold for now. Since then, she'd been wandering the ship, replacing/fixing wiring wherever it was needed. She stumbled slightly as she went, eating a ration as she moved. I may have been with Search and Rescue before, but this is something else. She took a quick drink of water, and moved to reconnect some wires that didn't need any replacements. She sent a quick message to Yaichiro. Sir, where do you need me? The repairs to the CFS are done for now, and most of the wiring in the ship is back in order. Tell me where you need me. She hoped her fatigue didn't show in the terse message.
 
Yaichiro responded to Kumiko and Nana via telepathy. His body was a bit tired as well, but all nighters were something he was accustomed to. His new body just had to readjust to keep up with his mind.

It's past time for shift change. You two try to get a little rest, but don't change out of your uniforms tonight. You might be called on at any moment.

I'll stay up for now though. I have work to do.
Click to expand...

It'd be just him and Blueberry tonight, if she kept on working. He expeced Hanako to go to sleep soon as well.

The water getting in the ship was good in one way: While it was being pumped out the water tubes, he was able to keep some of the water and use the HSCS-2 to split it into its individual atomic components. The Fusion Reactors now had excess stores of hydrogen, and a fresh influx of oxygen gas was available to the ship. Silicon from the more sandy water near Deck Six became fodder for the fabrication bays and the HSCS-3 repair system. Every little thing helped in this situation.

He then contacted Blackberry, for some information. The Main Sensor Dish was a lost cause, and he had to find an alternative to repair it at least partially.

 
I just LOVE this weather! thought Hotaru sarcastically. What little visibility they had was almost totally obscured by the heavy rain. She had signalled the other two to close up so they wouldn't lose sight of each other. It would be dangerous if they got split up now.

When the rain hit they they started to sink a little more each time and their progress had slowed with the jungle floor becoming muddier by the minute as they continued slogging on randomly lit-up by flashes of lightning.

As the latest flash lit up the immediate area, Hotaru saw something in the bushes a little further on, it was dome-like in appearance. Quickly signalling to take cover, she sent a brief text message via laser to the squad explaining the situation.

Hotaru kept her weapon trained on the area she saw it in, trying to get some detail on her display. She began hoping against hope it wasn't a Mishhuvurthyar. She had studied the required works during training and didn't feel like an extended stay with them.
 
With thoughts returning to her squadmates again, Konoka strayed nearer to the others. She really wouldn't want to lose them in the jungle. What would happen , if one of them was all alone in the rainy jungle with mean alien-thingies, maybe a Mishhu even? She was worried now. She wouldn't let that happen. She kept her eyes peeled, small form closely behind the others, mind alert, heart worrying.

She really didn't like the way they were sinking in their steps. Pictures came to mind of the ground cracking and them squishing down right into a cunning trap. OK, maybe a little farfetched. Yet she had way too much time and way too much silence, which made for way too much worrying. Lightning flashed. She jumped. She wished whatever controlled the weather, some great power in the sky, whatever, wouldn't DO that. She was freaked enough already.

Taking cover, Konoka got a text. It seemed Hotaru-san had seen something. Something...dome-shaped. What was dome-shaped in the world? Basilicas. Somehow she thought whatever lived here wasn't seeking spiritual comfort in a jungle. Balloons? Nice try, Konoka. Towers? Certainly not the fairy-tale princess kind. Alien skulls? She hoped not. Secret underground hatches leading miracously to dungeons? She hoped she was that optimistic.

Whatever it was, she readied her weapon. She squinted, trying to see what it was. She agreed with herself on one thing: Whatever it was, she wouldn't let anyone get hurt if she could help it.
 
Looking closer through the pouring rain, Hotaru and Konoka could barely make out the object. It seemed to be made of metal and had...Yamataian kanji on it! It looked as if an escape pod had become buried in the mud. The hatch was partially visible. Perhaps there were some supplies...or even survivors inside.

Communication was difficult. The rain was interfering with laser communications and the darkness made hand signals hard to see.

- - -

Back on Eucharis, Hanako told Charisma to notify her of any updates and then tried to catch a few hours of sleep.
 
Kumiko nodded to herself, then stumbled off to the ward room, believing that she could rest there without falling asleep, keeping herself ready if needed. Anyways, she'd be near the coffee if nothing else. So she stumbled her way to the ward room, and nearly fell into one of the booth seats, almost dozing off on the spot. "murphl..." She mentally reminded herself that she needed to stay awake if possible, as long as she could, which would be much longer if she wasn't as physically exhausted, so a bit of lounging around resting would bring her back up to full strength, or close to it.
 
Nana began a slow trek towards her quarters, head hanging, eyes misty. Distraught for reasons she could not even understand, she would quite literally crawled into bed after kicking off her boots, curling up with her pillow as a means of security. Though falling asleep for a nap would be an effortless task, actually having a restful sleep was an entirely different matter.
 
Konoka's heart leaped. There could be people! Maybe just supplies. Maybe nothing. Even if there were no people in there, they must be somewhere near here. What if there was something scary hiding in there, and the people were gone? her worrying voice nagged. Well, she really needed to stop worrying. It was eating at her optimism. She motioned at Hotaru-san to help her check it out.

Why was she jumping at this chance so hard? Maybe she was just that darn helpful. Maybe she was leaping on a shred of optimism to cling to, to stay her cheerful self. Maybe she was making up for earlier, convincing herself that doing something good would make her a useful person. Anyway, she was excited. There was definitely people in the area, or had been. And she would help them.

She had known they were out there. She just needed that reassurance they would find them, and here it was. She was so happy. Her optimism, her confidence, her zen, all had been restored. She breathed out a sigh of relief. Now, she had to check this out. Whatever it was, she was ready now. She could handle anything. It just took a little hope. Hope was always there, you just had to know where to find it. Also, she hoped this would work out. She'd make sure of it.
 
The jungle was unforgiving.

It always had to be, didn't it? Why couldn't it be like the jungle in the original simulations she had? Glad it was not her first battle one a planet so hostile, Misaki had taken point all the way to the rendezvous point stipulated before silence had taken the remaining members of Alpha. Not even being able to talk for fear of sensors still scouring them, the Chusa had a tough mission ahead. Without fleet support they had to take a compound with what, maybe a few hundred enemies? The size of the protection fleet meant to her that there were high priority prisoners being held for stars know what purpose. Their lives were worth their own, it went without saying.

By the time they had reached the deep rendezvous point, Misaki scanned upwards to ensure that the flat patch of ground did not show above the canopy. She helped Kim set down their rations, then looked around at the area. Luckily a few logs laid strewn about, left over from a storm and could support some weight. There were places to sit for the team when they arrived. Seizing on it, she took a fallen branch and started to write in the mud rather than expose herself and the team to the elements. Primitive, but effective.

How painful was writing kanji in the mud with a stick? The XO was learning in just that moment, several times having to erase it, or go back and make something deeper. Kim is probably laughing at me... The vetran of how many SMX engagements bent over a patch of mud? She probably looked foolish. And how many had she almost lost through bombardment? No, there was no escape. No turning back. For once in her life she knew that option had never really been available to her. The wonderful singular path of a Ketsurui weapon. Cheers? Well, thankfully the spread out armour team had not been too far apart on paths, so most should have been coming out of the forest nearby. She did not know about the escape pod, nor how close it was. The only company was Kurosora's silent DAISY, and the incessant pittering of rain.
 
Hotaru approached the object cautiously before identifying it as an escape pod. To be doubly sure her team did as ordered, Hotaru went up to both of them and briefly signalled that they were to take up flanking positions on either side of the pod while keeping a look out for hostiles. With the mud covering them depsite the heavy rain, they blended in quite well with the jungle Hotaru thought.

She tried scanning the pod attempting to detect any lifesigns but with the jamming across the planet she wasn't getting much in return even though she was scant feet away from it. Clearing the remainder of the mud away from the hatch and upper part of the pod, Hotaru was unable to find any intact identifying marks denoting what ship it was from.

She indicated to her team that she was opening the pod and to be alert. After getting affirmative replies, Hotaru began the sequence of opening the hatch before moving off to one side out of the hatch's direct line of sight as a precaution.
 
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