Re: [Mission 7.1] Universe at War - Battle of Nataria
Battlefield: Nataria.
Chaos spread in front of the Eucharis.
Orbiting around Nataria, two large fleets had joined in combat. Aether twinkled, destroying ship after ship after ship, leaving the shattered remnants floating through space. It was in this regard a fairly regular battlefield. However, there were several irregular things about it. The most prominant would become rather glaring, if one were to scrutinize the visuals received from combat a little more closely, with a sharper eye.
There were thousands of Yamataian ships, fighting thousands of Yamataian ships.
A cursory scan of the debris field that now hung like a small asteroid field around the planet of Nataria would reveal a primary composition of Durandium and Yamataium: Very few of the enemy ships had met their end at the hands of Yamatai. The chaos in front of the Eucharis actually looked like
civil war.
The warnings from Taisho Yui had been dire indeed - the Mishhu were using Yamatai's own legions against them. Not only was there visual chaos, without truly knowing which ships were which, it would be difficult to determine who to attack until it was too late. Most of the ships fighting had met their end, blindsided from one side or another, while engaging a definite enemy. It wasn't the enemy they could tell was an enemy. It was the ones they couldn't.
Most of the actual NMX battleships, groups, and squadrons were scattered in loose formations around the perimeter of the planet, sustaining Anti-FTL fields, and running scans, watching the battle from afar without truly engaging themselves.
The Eucharis had entered the battle area outside one of these perimeters.
Very quickly, surprisingly quickly in fact, they were noticed by one of these perimeter groups. Rather than soliciting attention from the massive green and black hulled enemy vessels, several smaller vessels painted white with Yamatai's rising sun broke off from strafing the planetary defenses and veered directly into the course of the Eucharis and its battlegroup.
They looked like Sakura-class gunships.
There were four of them.
Even as they aligned into an attack pattern, a transmission came through.
From the YSS Salvior, Captain Mizutani-Shosa, to the YSS Eucharis and Crew
Blood was splattered on the walls.
The officer that stared at the camera looked like a corpse. She was perforated in a half a dozen places, her uniform ripped and torn beyond recognition save for a few scraps of white that still clung like some perverse, ragged flag over her right shoulder. Her hands and arms were covered with blood up to the elbows, and it dripped off of her fingers slowly, already drying.
In the background, the lights of a regular bridge illuminated the carnage.
She had killed her own bridge crew.
Her gaze was lifeless, her head held limply and to one side, but her lips moved well enough for the purposes of addressing those aboard the Eucharis.
"THERE IS WAY THAT IS EASY," she growled, ."AND THERE IS WAY THAT IS HARD. LIKE WAY THAT IS HARD, BUT IS TOLD TO GIVE CHOICE."
