RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 9.2] Salvaging Parts and Hearts

Konoka smiled. "Sir, it was never meant to be easy.....sometimes, that's what makes it so rewarding. Still, I fully intend to keep this home a while longer.....Since your last departure, Kage-Shosa, I've realized..."

Konoka seemed to be thinking about what to say next. In times before his one, she'd had various and ample times to recall just how haplessly difficult she'd found things when helping teh Shosa shen she begun her journey aboard the Eucharis. Of course, the Shosa had been gracious as ever after his restoration, claiming the job would get easier. She' just treat shock, and live through experience.

Experience HAD taught her something: He lied.

"Kage-Shosa...." Konoka continued with a small sigh. "Back on my first day, you said experience would make this all easier. I don't mean to say you could have expected all this, but...." Konoka laughed softly, with a wry smile. "I might just be mad at you for lying!" she joked semi-seriously, gesturing. "I've learned that fate will always throw worse things at you, usually more than you were prepared for. I didn't expect to have to restore you then, and I didn't expect your return, now. But...I-I've begun to think fate's a fan of those who help things along for themselves when given something they didn't expect. Gosh, it's weird.....Uh, sorry, Shosa, heh, right....."

"I do hope you've not been missing out too much! The senses do give us access to the most wonderful parts of the world, so....I think I'd like to pursue the project of....fixing you....when I can, sir....Ah, but it seems the situation has begun an unexpected change again. Best of luck, Shosa, you probably will soon have orders to distribute, or some such thing."

Here we go again, Konoka thought.

"Ah", she sighed, and sent a query to the Taisa: Miyazawa-Hei here. Pardon, Are there some orders I should be fulfilling? If not, our.....rather mysterious new crew members might need checking up.

"Nepleslians..." Sune started, then pondered Hanako request. Why are Nepleslians wanting to talk? Talking has never been the strong suit for Nepleslians... he thought, More to the point, wardroom is trashed, bridge is out of the question. The lounge was sealed so it should not have been affected by the fire. Taisa, I believe the lounge might be..." Sune paused as his Uno glasses showed multiple ships emerging from hyperspace. After the ship's emerged the sensors confirmed their identities.

"Ma'am the rest of the squadron and our starbase have just arrived. I would suggest that we dock the Eucharis and transfer our guests to the starbase and get the ship into the repair dock. Then instead of meeting the Nepleslians aboard the Eucharis in her current condition, we could meet our guests on the Ikoi? The Nepleslian people appreciate strength and power. So it would not do for Ketsurui Hanako, Princess of the Empire and the Taisa for the 2nd Squadron to meet them aboard a ship that looks like its barely operational? Impressions are important in diplomatic situations if I am not mistaken."

The scene inside of the upper cannon assembly maintenance conduit was a total mess. Panels were strewn everywhere, joined by lengths of cable and fragments of malfunctioning equipment. Junko’s legs were currently the only part of her in the conduit; her torso was buried in between the bulk of two waveguides while her arms worked busily at adding to the piles of junk in the conduit. She finally backed out of the tight repair space, having to contort and twist her body to extricate herself with snagging her AMES on anything.

She dragged the last segment of ruined control run with her, dumping the coil on the deck plate next to her. That was the sixth such cable she had removed – and replaced – in the course of repairing the cannon, and she was thoroughly sick of them. Still, the waveguides were now functional again, so she decided to count the effort as a victory. Her work done, for the moment, Junko worked her way back down the conduit, shoving the piles of refuse in front of her and pausing frequently to reattach the access panels she had removed earlier. Reaching the hatch to the main cannon junction, she pushed the whole lot through and let it clatter to the deck as she slipped through and sealed the hatch back up.

She briefly pondered what to do next before deciding that however little she wanted to clean up the trashed material now, she would hate doing it later even more. The piles were quickly sorted, with the bulky control runs loosely coiled and set in a corner of the compartment, while the assorted equipment fragments were nudged into a waste receptacle. Finally, she collected the Repair Kit and laptop from the deck and made for the exit. Back in Power Systems – and finally able to stand again – Junko stretched as best she could inside the AMES before locking the hatch and throwing the override switch back to ENABLED.

All pressing repairs completed in Power Systems, she strode over to the hatch in the deck and began working her way down the ladder to Engineering. Mid-climb, she decided to check in with her fellow engineers and thus triggered the AMES communications suite.

“Nayacesen-Hei, this is Takeda. How are your repairs coming along?”

Takeyu cursed silently to himself as he got only half way through the cut on the first brace; he had underestimated the damage to the door, from below it looked to be light and not so much of an issue, but from where he was he had seen just how bad it was.

His cutting tool only worked for so long, the door had been forced into the upper area of it's assembly, thus making it difficult to cut off. As he was about to try again, he heard Junko's message.

Nayacesen-Hei, this is Takeda. How are your repairs coming along?

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He turned the cutter off and thought for just a moment before responding.

"Nayacesen-hei here, Slow going, Heisho. The second door was shoved into the upper assembly, I can't cut through it with the cutting tool, the tool itself doesn't have enough cutting power, may have to resort to using an Aether Blade."

Yaichiro was surprised by Konoka's comment, and wasn't able to respond before she was gone. He did, however, manage to send her a message.

"I didn't mean to lie, and thought it was truthful...but even if I knew it not to be, what would you have done if I said it never got easier? Would you have been able to keep going? Either way, I think I told you what you needed to hear at the time to keep going. Now, you're experienced enough to know and act on your own experience."

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With that, he started toward Engineering, keeping the AMES on in case he needed to patch up any hull or line breaches. He hadn't been relieved by the 2nd Dock's crew yet, after all, and his rank might require him to handle officer-grade duties immediately afterward anyway.

Konoka managed to send yaichiro a quick reply:

I don't blame you for it, Shosa. Your counsel was.....insightful, even. I've had much time to think, too much, even. It is a different world now than when I began. My hope is for the hope you had....I only believe you lied as long as it stays a lie. It might not be if I make this easier for myself. This will turn out well if we do our jobs right. You have yours to do ,anyways. I'm so glad you returned! Now, your work can be done how you do it best. I think I'll let you go be an asset to our good old Eucharis' fate! Yay to you, Shosa!

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With a slight smile, Konoka awaited the return of her own talent's necessity, or whatever else she was ordered.


We all had our own ways to help, after all. And, of course, for Konoka, helping was always going to be life!


Konoka, in her own silent wonder, wondered if some things ever change.

Nika found herself spacing out again, realising that Yaichiro had already left the area, she made a telepath message to him,

"Gomen Kage-Shosa, do you need any more assistance? If not, I'll head to the bridge and help our Taisa in manning the ship."

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Yaichiro received Nika's message and responded fairly promptly, noting that she was still willing to assist in an area outside her skills.

"Nothing at the moment, feel free to aid the Taisa as needed. Thank you for your help."

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Yaichiro started working on ensuring that any leaks in the liquid coolant system had been repaired and bypassed, as he verified that the coolant levels weren't dropping. and noting the progress of Takeda-Heisho and Nayacesen-Hei. He also sent a message to Sune, since he was the leader of the groups that had actually gone inside the Mishhu ship.

"Jalen-Juni, may I please have access to the sensory data of your Power Armor from the mission? I may need to know some details if I have to handle the questioning of the enemy, and something also doesn't seem right. It was reported in the debriefing that the enemy responded faster than expected, and I want to take a look at that when the opportunity permits. This isn't an order, by the way -- just a request. Feel free to decline if you aren't comfortable with it."

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Yaichiro had noticed even from reports alone that the NMX had been fighting smarter than their predecessors. Things here and there had made him wonder if there was a mole somewhere, giving intelligence to the NMX, though he'd chalked it up to paranoia thus far. He'd been guilty of that with the Uesu issue. The comment of how fast and unexpectedly the NMX had responded on what was apparently a secret mission, however, made him strongly reconsider that line of thinking.

Hanako returned to the bridge and slowly maneuvered the Eucharis over into the repair bay of the Second Squadron Dock.

"Ah", Konoka sighed, and sent a query to the Taisa: Miyazawa-Hei here. Pardon, Are there some orders I should be fulfilling? If not, our.....rather mysterious new crew members might need checking up.

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"Please get them ready to transfer onto our light starbase. From there they will be able to catch shuttles home."

Back at the main displays in Engineering, Junko glanced at the ship systems overview for a moment before replying to Takeyu. “Well, it looks like we’ll be pulling into the Ikoi shortly. I’d hold off on anything drastic until we know whether we’ll be in dock long enough to perform proper repairs or not. In fact, I’ll check on that right away. Wait one.” She quickly keyed up the intercom on the main display, grabbing up a handset as she switched from the AMES communicator. “Bridge, Engineering. Is there time to get a proper overhaul from Second Docks or is this a touch-and-go?”

With the reply given by Yaichiro, Nika made her way to the bridge, noting that Hanako had moved the ship into the dock of the starbase.

"Nika reporting on the Bridge." The neko replied as she stood at attention, "Taisa, since we have docked, let me take over the controls. I'm sure you have other more important things to handle."

Takeyu glanced through the opening, having seen the station appear. As he waited for Junko's reply he pushed off the door and onto the ground, then fast walked over to a nearby wall.

As he was checking it over, awaiting to see what Junko would say, he got her reply:

“Well, it looks like we’ll be pulling into the Ikoi shortly. I’d hold off on anything drastic until we know whether we’ll be in dock long enough to perform proper repairs or not. In fact, I’ll check on that right away. Wait one.”

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He didn't reply, since he knew she was probably communicating with the bridge and thus didn't want to risk interrupting something important. Meanwhile, he checked for any signs of cracking on the wall, to relay to the possible station crews. provided they stayed long enough.

Sune had followed Hanako to the bridge, along the way he had tried to figure out if she was going to take his suggestion or not since she had not said anything to him. Once he saw her bringing the ship around and heading towards the Ikoi he had his answer. He moved to the systems monitor station, and logged in. The Eucharis may not have been at 100 percent but the work of the technicians and others had gotten the various tactical systems online.

When Junko's message came into the bridge, he replied. "Takeda-Heisho, the Taisa and I will be meeting with some Nepleslians aboard the Ikoi, so you should be able to make use of the repair facilities. I would suggest that you compile a prioritized list so that the most critical items get taken care of first just in case." he replied.

He then sent a message back to Yaichiro.

Jalen Sune said:

Kage-Shosa,
You have my permission to access all the data in the Mindy I was wearing.

The curious fact is that prior to the arrival of the Rippers, I had just seen the processing center and a lone Misshu saw only me. But barely a minute passed from then when the Rippers engaged us. I find it unlikely they had people just sitting in those armors waiting for no reason.

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"Taisa, once our guests are off ship do you want our prisoner transferred to the Ikoi to be held until transportation can be arranged?" he inquired.

Yaichiro had confirmed that the coolant system's leaks had been bypassed successfully, and noted the location of the areas needing repair or replacement for the crew at 2nd Dock or for later reference if needed. He then noted the ranges and the modes for the life-form scanners and the anti-bug systems, and started calculating how to best arrange them within the Eucharis -- taking note of how many such systems were delivered as he did so.

When the records for Sune's Mindy became available to him, he reviewed them at well above real-time speed, a task for which he was thankful to have a digital brain. He saw what Sune meant, and felt a more-than-subtle rage at the sight of the "processing" of the captured. While he'd heard rumors, he'd never seen direct evidence of it.

Pushing those feelings down for the moment with a shudder, he contacted Sune again.

When the opportunity arises, I think I'll want to discuss this matter with you further; in person. It needn't interfere with your current duties, however. Whenever is convenient for you would do, though preferably before the prisoner leaves our squadron's control.

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Sune looked at Yaichiro's message, and sent a reply.

Jalen Sune said:

Shosa,
The Taisa and I have a meeting with a group of Nepleslians. Once that is concluded I will locate you and we can talk more about the last mission. Jalen-Juni.

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“Aye aye, Juni,” replied Junko. “Engineering, out.” Terminating the transmission, she quickly switched back to Takeyu’s freq, keeping the handset to her ear. “All right, Nayacesen-Hei. Apparently we’re going to have some time in dock, but how much exactly is unknown. The Bridge has advised us that prioritizing repairs is in order so we can make the most of our time. If you want to meet back here in Engineering, we can compile the list. I’ll contact Kage-Shosa as well.”

Junko felt like a switchboard operator as she changed frequencies again, this time pinning the handset between her head and shoulder as she used both hands to key in the change. “Kage-Shosa, this is Takeda. The Bridge is advising us that the amount of time for repairs in Second Docks may be limited. I’ve contacted Nayacesen-Hei and asked him to report back to Engineering to set our priorities. Do you have anything to contribute, sir?”

"Yes." Yaichiro responded, walking over to Junko, since he was also in Engineering. He opened a volumetric window in the air in front of Junko, showing the locations of the Life Form Detectors, Anti-Insect systems, and the Scalable Graviton Beam Projector Arrays.

"The Taisa wants these upgraded included as part of the repairs. The parts are in the cargo bay. The Ikoi can handle the external projector installations faster, especially while it replaces damaged hull panels, but we should handle the Life Form Scanners and the Anti-Insect systems."

"Roger that Heisho, I'm on my way," he stopped what he was doing and made note of several things that he noticed about the shuttle bay, minus the door, the shuttle probably could use a work over

As he left the shuttle bay and entered the power armor bay; he stared at his power armor that hung from the overhead rungs. Noting the dent on the side, he made a mental note to work on his armor when the ship wasn't in need of priority repair.

With that he left the bay and quickly hastened toward Engineering.

"Very well," Hanako told Nika. "You can power the ship systems down to docked standby mode. Once the ship is connected to external power, you can shut everything else down other than standby systems such as door motors and life support, and of course the computer's independent power generator, which is always on. I am showing that we are in position for the station's gangway to connect to our port side docking airlock."

She turned to Sune, "Yes, have the prisoner transferred to the dock. We may even want to introduce her to the Nepleslians." Hanako toyed with the idea. "Just so they can ask her questions, of course," she added, wondering if Nepleslia was a party to the agreement on fair treatment of prisoners.

The Taisa next took a moment to respond to incoming communications. "Engineering, this is the bridge. This docking is estimated to take approximately three or four full days."

Finally, Hanako responded by text to the NSS Asp, which had just arrived nearby.

With that done, The Taisa went to the recreation room to help the rescued people get ready to move.

Sune turned to Nika, "Looks like you are minding the store Himeya- Jôtô Hei. I must make some arrangements and then rejoin the Taisa. Catch you later." he said as he crossed the bridge.

The first place Sune went to was his quarters. He took out one of his Ta-W1-1a - Katanas and attached it to his belt. He adjusted its position to where he wore it during his workouts. He checked his NSP ensuring that it was fully charges. Okay, now to recruit a few guards to escort the prisoner. She has been cooperative, but she is still the enemy. We never even asked what he name was.

Sune entered the recreation room, he saw the Troll from the Frederick and the NH-27 that they rescued. They should be sufficient to escort one NMX prisoner. He walked over to them and said, "Heisho Hammer Stonefist, and Tokuhichi Erika, I need you to guard our prisoner while we transfer her to one of the holding cells on the Ikoi."

Jalen said:

Kage-Shosa,
Just wanted to let you know the NMX prisoner is going to be transferred to one of the holding cells on the Second Dock.

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He then crossed over to where the Taisa was to see if any of their guests would need assistance.