RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 5] The Secret Battlefront

Konoka saw the cliff. Not so bad...... she though to herself. Once again, Konoka's optimism was bigger than a mountain, though this time more literally. She began a climb. She motioned, as if to say, Well, we should go. She followed the others. Just keep climbing, just keep climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing....she sung in her head. She'd be fine. They were so close!

She could handle this. So she went on, smiling, knowing she could, never pausing to consider how horrible it would be to fall. Optimism could surmount anything.

"I think, actually, that I'll just stay here -- go over everything one or two more times, if that's okay. Just in case we missed something." There was a notable sense of unease in Nana's voice as she stared towards the probe.

She was already getting tired of hearing her own excuses, but so long as she was working, or at least attempting to, she would not have to think so much. It was a sad day when she was afraid to let her mind wander, but she felt much safer when she could completely engross herself in a project, regardless of whether it was one she'd contributed a lot to, or, in this case, contributed barely anything.

Frustrated at her own lack of progress, and so caught up in her own issues, worry and paranoia that she was having a difficult time getting anywhere. What did they call that? Hitting a plateau? Nana was certain she had achieved that.

Yaichiro looked to Nana, and sighed.

"Nana...I'd prefer not to have to order someone to eat something. We're all on edge, and it's better if we all come back to this with a clear head and a full stomach. Even if you're a Neko, you need food.

If there's a problem, it's best to deal with it rather than avoid it like this."

Wrinkling her nose, Nana turned somewhat agitated eye on Toshiro before rising from her crouched position, brushing her pants off, and proceeding to stalk toward the exit, bristling. No audible response was made as she turned into the corridor and began to creep in the direction of the wardroom, of course, though her mind was racing and going all sorts of angry thoughts.

Fine, he doesn't want his stupid probe working right, s'not my concern, I'll kindly turn the other cheek when it falls into tens of thousands of itty bitty pieces that get sucked into the vacuum of space.

Childish, rude, but in her mind her thoughts were perfectly justified. She liked to believe she knew what she was doing, when to draw the line, and when to stop working and lay her head down. From where she stood, this wasn't the time to put her tools away.

Konoka's hard work was paying off. She was making good progress towards the top, although the climb would have been much easier with proper tools like rope, spikes, and some footwear. The main danger was the moss covering some of the rocks - it was wet and when pressed on, seemed to turn to a sludge.

Kumiko dusted her knees off, and nodded. "Don't worry about me at least. Keep yourself in one piece and mobile, and I'll do the same." With that she shrugged, and headed out, following Nana, though completely puzzled by Nana's behavior. Wonder what's wrong with her.

However, she didn't say anything, figuring the other would start talking if she wanted to discuss it. Kumiko made her way to the wardroom, and paused sniffing the air before entering.

Yaichiro entered the Wardroom, remembering to bow to the Taisa before getting his breakfast. It was not as much a necessity on Eucharis as it was Sakura to bow consistently, but it was not a bad habit to have, in his opinion -- especially since he had an example to set for his subordinates.

Deciding he would report on the Taisa's project if asked, he got his food and sat within speaking distance of Hanako, though not next to her -- the Chusa would not approve. Regardless, chatting about business while eating was something he knew some Commanders disliked, and something he'd learned the hard way.

Acknowledging the Chusa, Hotaru waited for the other three to start their climb, took a deep breath before she had one last look around as she started up the cliff keeping several feet below Konoka.

Hotaru soon found it was very tricky keeping a stable hold during the climb. She concentrated on the climb, attempting to keep Konoka in view and a lookout at the same time. Fun she thought with a grimace. Moss covered outcroppings, while looking perfect as hand or foot holds soon disappeared under the weight of the armour.

Hotaru continued climbing hoping that they would reach the summit before any hostiles reached the base and begin using them as target practice.

Konoka continued climbing, one foothold at a time. She was that weirdly optimistic that she could make this fun. One foot then the other, la la la...she sung in her head. She worked hard, trying to climb. This wasn't so bad.

Hmmm....a little slippery. Oh well. This would be just okey-dokey.

Finally, somehow, the team reached a small notch in the top of the cliff where they could slide up on their backs by pushing themselves up with their feet. They weren't able to see over the top yet, but could see grass hanging over. Looking down, they could see a few treetops poking out of the thick blanket of fog. From above, they could hear the hum of a generator or something...

Whew! Konoka had made it this far, which pleased her. She pushed herself up. Looking down, she saw the peaceful landscape. It made her smile. Nature was always beautiful, no matter what planet you were on. However, it was eerily quiet. If only there were some birds chirping. Wait, there was a noise. A....hum. Like a generator. Well, a generator meant power. Power meant people. Something was probably up there waiting to greet them.

It was WHAT that kind of scared Konoka. Creepy aliens? Or maybe...the people they were rescuing? That'd be perfect! Her enthusiasm was renewed. This could be it! However, she would have to be careful. Careful wasn't her strong suit. She was a klutz. Well...she thought to herself. I'm not messing this up. It's my first real mission...oh yay! I'm not screwing it up.

Yaichiro ate politely and promptly, before finishing and rising. He thanked the cook and departed once again, planning to finish the drone.

Once back in Engineering, he started the finishing touches on the machine, including its panoramic camera. Whether or not his subordinates joined him promptly or took their time with breakfast was left up to them.

Nana didn't spent a lot of time eating. One might even say she forced herself to eat what she did before quietly excusing herself, almost trailing behind Yaichiro to engineering. Mind you, since most of the work had already been done, she had little to do but twiddle her thumbs before trying to catch up on routine maintenance.

Her mind wandered freely, her thoughts settling on what was going on outside. People were probably getting hurt, maybe even killed. The very corner of her mouth twitched as she stared towards the nearby console, nibbling gently at her bottom lip and folding her arms beneath her chest.

Misaki waited for everyone to make it up the ledge, then nodded when she heard contact close. They were getting there, meaning a satellite base was just beyond the end of the climb. It was time for more hand signals, and it was difficult, but possible to see them in the small group. It was as good a way to let them rest as any for the last push. Remain silent. Infiltrate by my lead. There was no way they were at the major base at that point. There was however a good chance she might be able to tap into a computer, or find something else out by investigating with the team.

The downside? Oh yeah, they were outnumbered probably, and it may have been the base that was where the patrols scouring the jungle for them were coming from. Some optimism would have done them well if she was not relying on the fog, and the fact that most of the team was dead or badly wounded. Rest. 4 more minutes. The XO signaled, then rested against the ledge waiting as the timer went down for her to continue the deadly ascent.

Konoka remained silent and cautious. Konoka was a chatterbox and a chronic klutz. This was driving her batty. She smiled at the fact that she'd managed to not fall off the cliff. Yay....However, supressing her impulse towards mindless, unceasing chatter was hardly easy as eating fishcakes. She pondered what was the bright side here. A large part of the team was dead. The others were possibly hurt. Her shoulder was still sore, though she'd just noticed. Thanks loads, self. They were outnumbered, and possibly walking into a trap. What was the bright side, exactly?

Aah, yes. Now she remembered. They were close to success! It was close enough to taste, but not to touch. Soon this would be over. Plus, when it WAS over, a large group of people would be safe and happy. It made Konoka happy to make people happy. Plus, doing her job would make the Chusa happy. And Konoka wanted the Chusa to be happy. Danger was certainly ahead. This worried Konoka.


Konoka pondered the fact that so far, from the time she'd first boarded the Eucharis to now, she'd mostly been worried. She'd been worried at the start of the mission exceedingly so. She'd known in her heart people would get seriously hurt. Well, dead was very seriously hurt. Then there was Hotaru. Alive, ok, but, yes, hurt. As for the others, if they were hurt, they didn't let on. She didn't even consider herself at all. It never entered her head. As a caring medic, she kind of saw these things coming. Well, whatever lie ahead, she would do her job, and she would help the others.


After all, her job was helping, and helping was her job.

They'd be OK. She'd make sure of it.

Sighing as she rested with the others, Kim couldn't help but look worryingly at the small group from inside her PA. She easily understood Misaki's hand-signals, and nodded her understanding. To continue the climb, and enter a hostile facility while obviously out-numbered, was more than a little risky. As any soldier, Kim wasn't worried about herself, but more the rest of the group, especially Misaki.

Using hand signals again, the redhead formed the question first on her mind. Hostile patrols and guards. Deadly force? It was a key issue. Sure, they could be stealthy while deadly, but more often than not, non leathal sollutions were stealthier than not. And it avoided blood trails, smoking craters, and outcries of pain.

Yaichiro arrived and immediately started working on finishing that drone. There was always more work to do after that was done...

The panoramic sensor was soon fully installed, with only a little more work to be done. He sat at a terminal and began the needed work to interface it with MEGAMI.

Being the last one up, Hotaru took note of the final part of the cliff immediately above and the potential of hostiles at the top. She heard the same noises as the team and knew that they were close to at least part of their objective. Maybe.

After she gained the ledge, the Chusa signalled for them to remain silent and to follow her lead after they've had a few more minutes to rest. Hotaru acknowledged and took her up on that as she looked around their immediate vicinity before peering over the edge and tracing their climb.

Thinking back on what has happened since the forced landing Hotaru couldn't help but blame herself for some of the hardships they had faced. Her attempt at making safe the booby trapped mine that killed Kanashii-Hei was a prime example. Knowing she couldn't do much about the past, she vowed to herself she would learn from her mistakes and make sure they were not repeated. She was still a little sore from her encounter with the escape pod but everything was healing nicely she thought.

Hotaru was broke out of her thoughts as she noticed Kurosora-Hei signalling to the XO and read what she was signalling. It made sense she thought to herself, mentally going through the pro's and con's of lethal vs non-lethal force while still being stealthy.

Without a second of hesitation Misaki shook her head and signaled back. Non-lethal. Follow my lead. If I break radio silence, you will know to open up. She would just give them all orders if that was the case. No, they would have to go up. The XO was used to losing people, that was the way things were vs. the SMX but after the war ended she had foolishly thought she wouldn't end up in situations like the one the remnants of her team was in anymore. That's why the rest had to work.

With that, the Chusa signaled the same order and turned against the wall, starting to climb again. The final part had less vegetation on it, but what was there Misaki tested for being slippery before using the handhold. The humming got louder, and the faint sounds of objects cutting through the air was present and hung thick in the air by the time she reached the top and peeked her head over before crawling up into a ready attack position. There were crates everywhere, and sometimes a patrol through the alleyway made nearby between them. From the best her sensors could tell her it was a small depot and there was something like a supply truck being loaded. If it was loading, it was going in the direction the road did: to the prison base.

The Chusa weighed her options as she crept around the circumference of the boxes. Once they finished loading everything, they could jump in the back. She saw no life forms inside or any warnings of traps..after all it was just supplies. Probably to keep whatever they were doing to the poor people in there well supplied. If they still thought that they were in the jungle...there was still an opening to remain undetected. Why look in the daily supplies, right?

Scooting closer to the edge of the boxes, but leaving room to her side with more of the storage containers for the others to hide in the same order, Misaki waited for the others while the trucks were loaded, noting the last one was their only chance so no drivers or guards would see them through the fog in the space between the loading area and the exit where if they were smart they had some armours, or some defense there. In a way it was better there was only four of them. A pang of regret for that thought ran through the soldier's veins while waiting between one precarious position and another.

So they were hiding. Well, this is it. thought Konoka to herself. We're almost to our success or our doom. She would optimistically bet on "success". Doom didn't sound fun. She hid amongst some supplies. She was quick about it. She wouldn't give herself time to worry. It didn't help her. She thought of the others. This was probably about to get more dangerous very quickly. Well, she would be helpful. Or try. She realized that perhaps she'd get hurt. She acknowledged it, then went back to worrying about the other's safety. She was being silly. Herself? It didn't matter, if the others were OK. Though she'd prefer no-one got hurt.

She felt sad knowing something worrisome would soon happen. Well, whatever. She'd do what she could. She'd known worrisome things would happen. She became alert. She would focus, and she would do her job, and she would help, and she would act. Wringing her hands wasn't helpful.

And Konoka was helpful. Always.