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

Yaichiro turned to Junko, and gave a smile, having finished his meal. He elected to introduce himself. He wouldn't want it to be as awkward as when he first boarded the Sakura, would he?

"Kage Yaichiro. I'm actually one of the Eucharis' previous Engineers from a couple years ago. I've been reassigned to the ship as an 'advisor', but my responsibilities in that role have yet to be defined. I guess the short answer is 'maybe, maybe not'. It depends on what the Taisa has in mind for me. It will probably be in some technical capacity, though, so I'm pretty sure I'll be working closely with the technicians like yourself."

Hanako wanted to converse with the crew members soon, especially Sune, so she started the debrief promptly, standing near one of the walls and pulling up a holographic model of the NMX shipyard complex at Sbuhfaba.

"Today's mission," the Taisa said, "was to inflitrate the shipyard at Sbuhfaba and disable its defenses, preferably without being detected, so that the incoming fleet would be able to eliminate the shipyard more easily. As usual, we split into three teams: Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Things seemed to be disorganized, however, when the teams began forming. Some of the crew was not timely in their arrival and ended up having to be reassigned to Charlie Team. I was so frustrated by the wait that I, perhaps recklessly, went off on my own to attempt to inflict damage. I will give my account of what happened from there, then I would like the account from each team, in order. As the sole survivor of Charlie team, Junko will have to tell their experience. After the three team reports I would like the report from Yaichiro on the YSS Frederick's destruction."

"Upon entry to a shipyard, wearing 1H armor, I managed to make my undetected towards the interior where I created a malfunction by sending false signals through a control wire. The malfunction caused a team to investigate the computer. I followed them through the blast door into the computer room, stunned them, and then reset the computer under my control. I was later able to return to the ship and control that shipyard remotely. After receiving communications from the central complex saying that the larger shuttle was destroyed, I launched my salvaged Hayabusa starfighter from the ship and provided covering fire while the remaining shuttle escaped."

She turned to Sune and Takeyu for the Alpha team report.

I could really use a glass of wine right now, she thought to herself.

Sune opened his eyes, and turned to face Hanako as she gave her report. When she concluded and looked for Alpha Team's report he unfolded himself and stood, it was not really required. But for some reason it helped him to focus.

"Alpha Team departed the Eucharis in our Mindy-2a, and with active camouflage running hitched a ride aboard the outside of a shuttle. The shuttles were not going all the way to our destination, but close enough that we could glide and only use our propulsion to stop once in the target shipyard facility.

We gained access to the shipyard be means of an airlock following the workers who were coming off shift. From there things started taking a down turn. Outside of the airlock our power armor stealth would be ineffective. The corridor was filled with an unknown vapor, and covered in a thick slime that was filled with various insect creatures. If there had been no vapor we could have used our camouflage, but obviously it was not an option.

We proceeded along the passage way, when we spotted a Mishhu pushing a cart and heard screams unlike anything I had ever heard. The intersection was our original point for Bravo team to split off at. I approached the intersection and looked down the passage way into the hellish processing room." Sune paused and looked at the civilians in the room, specifically the children he considered what he would say next.

"In deference to the presence of the children, I will not describe what I saw, I transmitted my recording to the Eucharis, for any who wish to see it. It was after that point that the blast shutters closed and our original path was blocked."

Sune put his arms behind his back so he could clasp them out of sight. "At that point I made the decision that we needed to try and rescue what ever prisoners we could and instructed Bravo team to continue to their objectives. While Nayacesen-Hei worked to prepare our charges to create a diversion and seal the passage we were in from the enemy, we were attacked by some formidable large power armors I think. We both were hit by them and our Mindy's were clearly out classed. Even braced with my forearm shields deployed I lost 40% of armor integrity in one hit. I am uncertain what alerted the Mishhu to our presence. There was one in the processing room who saw me, and when we were attacked Bravo team was already on its own. The intercom reported that they knew about the five of us."

"While pinned down our attempts to blast open the blast door were unsuccessful but Nayacesen-Hei found a passage that our blast did open. After that it was a matter of good fortune that we wound up in a passage that lead us to where our guests were being held." Sune paused.

"Ma'am we have no idea how many prisoners were processed, but in the time I was making my recording, I estimated the rate at of processing at 1 person every 2-3 seconds. After that we made our way to the shuttle back picked up Takeda-Heisho and returned."

Sune took his site and looked at Takeyu, "Nayacesen-Hei, what do you have to report."

Takeyu looked up, having been thinking about what Sune had just said. He was going to stay seated, but his upbringing had taught him to never sit when a superior officer ordered, or requested, something from him.

He stood up, thought for a moment, then began his own report. "Before starting, due to the presence of children here, I'm going to omit some of my report, I will write up a proper one later putting in what I didn't say here. Continuing where Sune-Heisho left off of, when the blast opened the hole in the wall, we found that the passage way beyond was a ventilation shaft. We didn't get far though before the combined weight of our power armors caused the shaft to buckle and we fell into what seemed to be a Cargo Room.

After getting my bearings, the Heisho ordered me to open a hatch. My initial attempts were meet with resistance and I couldnt' get it open, so I had planned to burn it open, but just as I was about to begin the handle came unstuck and it opened easily. Beyond that hatch we found another that had the words 'observation' above it, it lead into a passageway that had windows that overlooked another room, a door beyond lead to where our guests where," he stopped.

For a few seconds he was quiet, then continued. "After we rescued our guests, we made our way to the evacuation point, while the Heisho went to help Takeda-Heisho, I made certain the shuttle was cleared before everyone was allowed to board. After which, I flew the shuttle out of the hanger with a mere few seconds to spare," with that he stopped for a few moments more, he wanted to mention some of the things that had been troubling him but felt it wasn't proper considering their guests.

"That's all for my report, Taisa," said Takeyu as he stood there, wondering if she'd want more details from him, though he knew his report wasn't very good, not compared to what Sune had said, he felt it was the best he could do right now.

Kumiko stood up, painfully slow, but stepped forward to deliver her report. "I believe Jalen-Heisho covered the events up to our split sufficiently. After the split, Himeya-Hei and I proceeded onward into the station, with our goal being to find targets of sufficient importance to cripple the station with only our two packs. After proceeding though the station for a goodly ways, we encountered what I would presume was a second, full squad of Rippers." She paused.

"They seemed to be expecting to find us there, and on top of that, they seemed like they were either elite soldiers, or new models of the armor, because we were completely outclassed. We proceeded to deploy our Nodal Support Bits as a distraction, and attempted a detour around the now obstructed path. It was not far along our new choice of pathways that we received your message that we needed to complete our objectives as soon as possible, and leave the station."

"We happened to be near a room labeled RESTRICTED, more specifically a part of the defensive shields power relay system I believe. With our limited time frame, I suggested we plant one of our charges there and plant the other in a major intersection on our way back out. Before we could finish the task though, a much larger group of rippers then we had first encountered came into the hallway, severely damaging Himeya-Hei and I."

"With our time running short, we opted to plant both charges and teleport out instead. I handed my charge off to Himeya-Hei, and took up a position near the door, in an attempt to delay the rippers long enough for her to finish setting them up. She was hit badly by weapons fire, and we barely made it out before being killed despite my efforts, and I am unsure of whether she completed the planting of the charges or not. After engaging my teleporter, I do not remember anything until I awoke in the medbay, but the harm we had suffered indicates that the Rippers opened fire on us with Aether weaponry as we departed, incapacitating both of us."

Kumiko stepped back. "If you have any questions, I can try to elaborate, but I'm still in a bit of pain, so my answers may not be as accurate as I would hope."

Junko was anxious to give her portion of the debrief, if for no other reason than the new officer had been awkwardly left without a reply. She fidgeted with the cuff-glove seal as Kumiko finished her report before straightening up a little. “I'm afraid I won't be able to give as detailed a report as the others. I was standing my post in the Mainspace when we scrambled to the armor bay under Hamada-Taii.” She paused, a little pang of survivor's guilt eating at her as she thought about her still un-revived comrades.

“I didn't have a clear tactical picture as we boarded the shuttles; I only knew we were doing a prisoner extraction. The armor team all rode in the T7, with Lime-Hei's T8 keeping station with us while enroute to the LZ. I'm not sure whether our stealth systems failed or if a stray emission spiked on the NMX's active sensors; either way, we were engaged by an anti-starfighter battery just after turn-over on a least-time approach vector to the shuttle-bay. I'm a little hazy on what happened after that. Last I remember, a round from the NMX battery took out Mango-Hei and our control systems; miraculously we kept on profile for the bay, instead of auguring-in against the hull. It was still bad, though. I lost consciousness when I...” she shrugged, a little unsure of how to phrase it. “When, as far as able to figure out after the fact, I was ejected from the shuttle, losing both of my legs, my armor add-on packs, and most armor functions.

“To my knowledge the rest of the armor team was KIA on impact and, if not, the fire in the passenger compartment would have, well, finished it.” Her voice trailed off. Giving a debrief about the deaths of shipmates, even knowing they had ST back-ups, was not an experience she was enjoying. “When I regained consciousness, I found I was combat ineffective. I transmitted a request for help on the guard frequency and stayed behind cover in the corner of the shuttle-bay. By that time, shock was beginning to set in so I was neither in a position to observe the rest of the events before exfil nor was I coherent enough to understand what little I did see.”

Yaichiro rose when his turn came, and started giving his report.

"The YSS Fredrick was assigned to aid the Eucharis in searching for survivors through the debris here, deliver myself and Shika-Hei to the Eucharis, as well as various personal items and needed supplies. For the purpose of saving more lives, Gally-Shoi began preliminary scans and a Ke-T8 Kuma shuttle was detected, among other assorted minor items.

The Kuma was unpowered and not sending out any signals. In case it was damaged or full of friendlies hiding from Mishhu forces, we were sent out in our new Mindy 3A Power Armor to investigate and bring it into the DOC.

While we verified the shuttle as empty, and the Fredrick's sensors were scanning salvage in our general area, two NMX craft ambushed the Fredrick from the rear. One was a Frasworstch while the other was a Type 31A Bomber Pod; the latter of which initiated the attack by launching its missile directly into the Fredrick's engines, blowing the rear of the ship apart on one strike. I can only assume the shields were down to allow us to bring back the shuttle. Immediately afterward, the DOC was jettisoned.

We engaged the enemy promptly, I attacking the Bomber Pod with an Aether Beam Saber-Rifle, and Shika-Hei engaging with missiles. My shot missed, and the Frasworstch pinned me down and cause more damage to the Fredrick with missile fire while Shika-Hei engaged the Bomber Pod.

At this point I attempted to call upon the Fredrick's Weapons Pods, but they did not deploy, indicating I either lacked clearance to use them or that my command was not received. It was then that the Eucharis arrived, and the enemy changed tactics, slamming into the hull of and destroying the Fredrick in spite of our efforts and some well-placed shots by Shika-Hei. One of the three escape Pods was destroyed by the explosion, as was the SS Pod. As the ship had just left port, I am still wondering if the Fredrick had stored recent backups for her crew off-ship.

Afterward we brought the survivors from the two escape pods aboard for treatment, as well as the contents of those escape pods and the salvaged Kuma shuttle, which I suspect will replace the one lost in your last operation.

Unless there are any questions, that concludes my report."

"Thank you for the reports," Hanako told them. "Next I would like everyone to suggest one or two things that went well and one or two areas we could improve on in a future mission. This doesn't have to be in any particular order. After that we will break for some personal time where we can talk about things privately with each other. I know we've seen some disturbing things and it will help to express our feelings. Sune already has me claimed, but I after we talk I want to spend some face-to-face time with Shika and Toshiro since they have just arrived."

She turned to Toshiro. "Would it be possible for you to design a better salvage retrieval system for Eucharis? Something like an array of graviton beams? We will talk more about the technology needs after the briefing."

"Anyway, on with the AAR," the Taisa refocused.

Yaichiro nodded, in regard to considering the graviton beam idea as well as the other technology needs. Perhaps she noticed the scalable projectors that he had developed for KFY. Regardless, he felt that if there was no particular order, he should start with this AAR...he'd never really done one before, so here was a chance to try it.

"I can't speak on your most recent mission, but as for my participation in the incident with the Fredrick, we're fortunate to have even saved three people...still, I believe that if I had it to do again, I probably would have started by attacking the other target. Once the NMX Bomber Pod had unleashed its payload, my next big concern should have been the other Pod's missiles. I need to analyze my targets' threat levels better in the future."

Sune tried to reflect on what they could have done differently in the mission. Given how vague the briefing was, and no idea of what they would face once inside. He considered them lucky that any of the Away Team came out alive.

"Taisa, for the moment there are two things that I can think of. This new unknown Power Armor that the NMX have developed presents a clear threat to our Away Teams. We need to rethink our strategies, keep groups larger and packing more powerful weaponry. Splitting up has become a liability."

Sune paused for a moment, "On board ship, perhaps a better method of fire control, perhaps an automatic system, one that deploys some sort of foam that when exposed to high heat bonds with oxygen and expands. Thereby stealing the oxygen from the fire and smothering it as well."

"That is all I have at moment Taisa." He concluded.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully; thinking back on the teleport unit that he had on his power armor.

Though his understanding of the teleportation was limited; he only knew about the units max range, power need and how to fit it and use it, he lacked the understanding of knowing whether it could be used for exthremely short-range jumps, such as within a mere ten feet of the original jump point.

To allow a power armor to jump, even a mere ten feet, would give the user a tactical advantage and cause the opponent to be put off their guard, but such a jump could require more power but if it IS possible... he stood there thinking.

"Taisa, I may have a solution, but it would require discussing something that is rather sensitive - and not for the ears of civilians, no disrespect to present company of course - if it's alright, may I talk to you about it later?" he asked while removing his hand from his chin.

Nika listened intently as the discussions ran between the crew and their Taisa. Once most of the reports are made, they moved on to AAR...

"Taisa... we need intel... from this operaiton, it's clearly revealed that the enemy had expected our arrival. Also, they have PAs, which outclassed ours..."

"However, they underestimated the speed which we took for this operation... Still casualites are high..."

Her stomach rumbled, and she settled back, slightly red faced as she went about opening up her ration pack to get some solid food to eat.

The volumetric display switched from the shipyard to the image of the NMX power armor the teams had fought against.

“According to the data,” Hanako said, the armors that you encountered are called the ‘Ripper’ type. According to specifications they can absorb about two and a half times as much damage as your Mindy armors can, owing to tough construction and their arrangement. Whereas our armors are nearly skin-tight suits, the Ripper is a small mecha piloted by a well-protected brain unit.”

“I agree, some sort of automatic inert gas system or an ionized water mist system would be useful for controlling fires,” Hanako told Sune. She looked over towards the technicians suggestively.

Hanako frowned suddenly. "I just got word that our light starbase and the rest of the squadron ran into some NMX and are trying to get around them. It will delay their arrival until tomorrow. Instead of sitting here broken I think we should start repairing the ship by getting replacement components from the salvage."

Salvage operation, I wonder what we can actually use from here. The majority of the ships in the battle were either NMX or Elysian in design. I doubt that they would be compatible with our systems. There was only one other Plumeria-Class in the system and it left in far better shape than we did. Trying to fit dissimilar tech into our systems is a challenge for our technicians. And I suppose gathering material to be reprocessed in the fabrication area if its functional would be an option. Just means people getting back into Mindy's I wonder how many functional ones we still have. Sune thought, he gathered any of the refuse from his ration and placed it back into the pouch.

He took a moment to look at the two 'new' assignees, and sent a query to Charisma as to the rank of Kage Yachiro. A Shosa, well looks like the Taisa has a new First Officer. he thought uncertain as to how to react to this development given his experiences with the other XO's the Eucharis has had while he was aboard.

"Taisa, should we wait for the engineers to provide us with a list of what kind of things they want us to look for before we start sending out salvage teams, and given what happened with the Frederick, should we deploy an overwatch perhaps using the fighter you were in, to provide security for the salvage operation?" He inquired.

"Please forgive me for interjecting, but whatever we do, we should do it promptly." Yaichiro said, noting how long itemizing every system manually could take. He was sure to emphasize that he was speaking out of necessity for promptness, rather than out of authority. After all, the question was posed directly to the Taisa.

"With most of the systems shut down, determining exactly what systems and parts we need could be fairly time consuming. While precautions and preparations certainly are warranted, we should remember that for every minute we wait, the debris field of the Fredrick is being propelled further apart by momentum. While it's morbid, it is currently the closest and most concentrated source we know of with raw materials and system components which are likely compatible with the Eucharis' systems and Fabrication Bays. We need to be timely to take maximum advantage, whatever we decide upon."

Kumiko thought of something then, and opened her mouth, pausing. She wasn't sure if she should just wait until later to bring it up, since it was something Takeyu might know about, with his explosives knowledge. With that more or less decided, she decided she should contribute to the decision. "If I may make a suggestion, we should leave 2 or 3 of us behind to work on assessing the ship's systems, that way we know what needs to be replaced first, and what we can fix ourselves. On top of that, we could relay specific parts we need to expedite repairs to whomever is gathering materials, so they could keep their eyes open for things we know for sure we need, rather then just raw materials. The chances of finding intact, working parts we need in the wreckage isn't great, but we might get lucky, and every little bit helps."

Takeyu wasn't quite sure what to say; being at a loose for words wasn't normal for him, but in this case due to being exhaused he honestly couldn't think of anything.

He listened to the exchange, and just couldn't help but glanced toward the wall. The Frederick..... yea salvaging it might provide us some parts and useful material, but I'm worried about whether the NMX might come back, we'll be caught with our pants down and whomever is not on board will be left to fend for themselves, he bit his lower lip in frustration.

His thoughts were a jumbled mess, all he could think about was the mission but also the matter at hand; his mind raced right back to those Rippers, all he could do was wonder what he could've done better, what mistakes he had made. Was it a mistake to have changed the Mindy's loadout at the last second? Was it a mistake to assume that they had not been compromised? And now, what would they need to fix the ship?

Takeyu had to sit down, and he placed a hand on his forehead to think. After a moment of thought, he raised his head. In Mining, Salvage is sometimes part of the job... not all raw materials are mined from asteriods but can also be recovered from abandoned ships, he remembered, though it only happened once. "If enough of the Frederick is still in one place, then it won't be as difficult to salvage what we need. Those who go aboard should also keep an eye out, even though the ships just a debrie field now, it's still very dangerous...." his voice somewhat cautious but careful and calm. What worried him the most was any unexploded ordanances that might be onboard.

Yea, I'm seriously going to go get certified in explosives use the next time time permits... he thought with a mental smile.

Junko frowned slightly as the others spoke. She still wasn't exactly aware what they would need salvage for, but the immediate operational necessities were still apparent to her. “Ma'am,” she said, looking up toward the Taisa. “If we are going to conduct salvage recovery ops, I would suggest that we give work on the shuttle bay doors priority. The immediate importance of firefighting and emergency repairs overrode it, but I recall Jalen-Heisho listing the doors as a concern a while ago. Beyond that, I would suggest allowing whoever is left aboard on engineering watch to proceed normally.

"Thanks to Yaichiro-Shosa,” she nodded at the officer politely, “we'd already be ahead of schedule, seeing as the main systems already shut down. We could proceed with standard stress tests and work-ups; main power and propulsion could, barring the need for any major repairs, be back fully online in relatively short order. And even if a few systems require a lot of work, the more components we can return to full operational status, the easier it is to troubleshoot and catalogue any problems in the rest."

"With speed being a factor," the golden-eyed Taisa began, "we should just go grab whatever looks useful and bring it back to the ship. Specific parts can be made in our fabrication bay. Now that the technicians have stabilized things, we do not have to rush as much. If we run into anything we cannot handle, we will call in the nearby Elysian fleet. I agree that having the fighter on standby is a good idea and that repairing the shuttle bay door is a good next step for the repair effort. The area is not safe but it is not a warzone either...so we should try to relax a little and socialize as we go about the salvaging and repair efforts."

"Current systems that need replacing are a number of armor panels, environmental systems, two of our smaller engines, turrets, and anything wardroom or galley related."

"Sune, you said you wanted to speak privately with me. Do you want to come with me in the starfighter?"

"If you need me here for the diagnostics and repair work, Taisa, I could loan the new Mindy 3A to someone else whose Power Armor was destroyed in the last mission. Or I can go out with the rest of that team and and use my knowledge of parts to pick out important elements. It's your decision, of course."

Yaichiro said, not really sure which team he qualified for. On one hand, he was an Engineer. On the other, he had a functioning Power Armor where others might not. That was a decision the Taisa would need to make.