RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 9 Side-Story] The Road To Eucharis

"Now we have a reason to be agitated!" Yaichiro said, relaying a 'empty' as the Kuma shuttle's status, but keeping its location logged as well as that of the container. The former might have to be used to help evacuate people on the Fredrick.

"We've got two confirmed, an old Frasworstch and a Bomber. Priority is the Fredrick's defense by destroying the target. Be wary or traps and hidden re-enforcements." Yaichiro said to Shika-Hei as he started for the enemy pods. He took aim at the Bomber and used the Aether Beam Saber-Rifle, in hopes of seriously damaging it with his very first attack to prevent drawing out the conflict.

It was time to find out if two years of simulations were enough to keep him from getting stale or not.

"Two contacts on the Frederick's six," Shika acknowledged calmly. "The Frederick's stone cold in the water. I'm engaging." Despite having no combat experience, Shika performed like he was supposed to, thanks to his gruelling training.

He swiftly maneouvred behind the jettisoned container -- it provided at least some cover -- then heated up his fire control systems. No sense trying to play with passive countermeasures now, since the hostiles had the jump on them in the first place. His drones prompted him for permission to engage, but Shika dismissed them immediately. He wanted to save them up for defensive taskings when the contacts started shooting back.

Shika fired a five-strong salvo from his armour's missile pods as soon as he had good locks. The projectiles flowered away from his person in looping trajectories, slashing towards the closest contact from separate and divergent vectors.

He locked his LASR in tight and prepared to provide cover fire.

"I've got overwatch, sir." If there had been any hesitation in his voice before, it certainly was no longer the case now.

The Frasworstch's side launchers popped open to release a massive blossom of 132 small missiles. Half of those curved into the burning Frederick while the others went after Yaichiro. The Bomber pod narrowly avoided Yaichiro's shots and decked behind the Frederick, continuing to pound the cargo ship with its anti-starship cannons.

Shika's missiles attempted to save Yaichiro's bacon and exploded in the path of the incoming missiles, taking out at least half of them.

- - -

YSS Frederick Bridge

"Hull integrity down to 20 percent!" the troll rumbled. "Systems failing everywhere!"

"This ship's a goner! All hands abandon ship!" Gally ordered. She joined the handful of crew heading to the escape pods.

Yaichiro had to hand it to the NMX -- for a pair of pods to do so much destruction was impressive...the Fredrick didn't even have a chance to deploy its weapon pods before being so heavily damaged. He grimmaced when the shot missed, and saw right around three dozen missiles heading his way after Shika-Hei's efforts. A few more were taken out due to the dense debris in the field, but the Officer still had to do something.

Training from simulations kicked in, and Yaichiro deployed half of his Ke-M2-W2907-MFMA missiles. Heat and various sensor hits appeared, to confuse the enemy missiles into missing their target. For an extra measure of protection, Yaichiro sped behind a ship's adrift airlock, hoping to use it as a shield if all else failed. Sure, he could have used them all, but he might need those missiles to cover the launch of escape pods.

Dammit! The Frederick didn't stand a chance, and neither did the pods. Shika's conservative approach wasn't going to be enough to save the crew. Not with only two Mindies onsite.

"Captain Gally, I'm coming over to you." He scampered over the container, his armoured feet leaving considerable dents where they had pounded the bulkhead, then pushed his power armour's thrust to its red lines at .375c. Shika tasked his drones to provide point defence for the escape pods, while plotting a vector that would put him close to the escape pods.

It still wasn't going to be enough...The flotsam and jetsam, and the chunks of hull sparring that had sundered from the Frederick made for an impossible combat environment. There was ample cover for both parties -- it was a miracle that his own missiles had found their mark.

Shika gritted his teeth as he did the math in his head. According to his working-out, he'd have a direct line of sight on the bomber pod for a heartbeat or so. He instantly spun on his axis and drew a bead on the bomber pod just as he passed the Frederick's ruined rear starboard. The shuttle drifted just enough to give him a fair shot on the bomber pod.

Shika fought the temptation to let loose. In what precious few seconds he had before his LOS was gone, he instead waited for the HUD targeting hit probability to rise above 90 percent.

Wait for it...


Not yet...


Now!

A keening noise filled Shika's helmet; the sweet music of a good lock.

Shika let rip with his LASR, sending a fusillade of AP rounds pouring towards his target.

Direct hit! The LASR rounds penetrated the top of the pod, leaving a trail of bulletholes. His AIES computer reported the somewhat underwhelming notes that the enemy health had only dropped to an estimated 75%. The pod returned fire with its side cannons, but hit debris instead.

Missiles crashed down around Yaichiro, emitting blinding flashes as they impacted his countermeasures and, to a smaller extent, the airlock he’d hid behind. The Fraswortch pod then fired a scattered volley of 16 of its subspace detonating missiles, using them to create sensor interference.

Yaichiro's optics were spared the bulk of the blinding flashes thanks to the shadow of his cover -- though the light did still increase notably and briefly when the missiles hit the hatch. Though he was forced to grunt from the acceleration of the explosion against the hatch, he was shielded from the bulk of the force.

The winded officer caught his breath briefly as his sensors indicated an increase in the subspace interference, the volley of subspace detonating missiles causing him to lose the pod on sensors...

He was at a distinct disadvantage, but had an idea. He sent an encrypted command to the fast-fading YSS Fredrick, to release all the Weapon Pods not near the escape pod launching points for support and target acquisition. Maybe he could even take the opportunity of their deployment to escape from behind the hatch. He backed away from his "shield", but stayed behind it, knowing that it wouldn't hold against much more. An NSB broke from the octahedron and peeked from the lower corner of the hatch, trying to get a visual lock -- or lure the pod into an attack from which Yaichiro could get a vector.

He withheld the option to launch any Weapon Pods near the escape pods -- he didn't want to inadvertently lure the enemy into attacking the escaping officers and soldiers, after all.

With his peeking drone, Yaichiro could see the battered Eucharis approach the Frederick.

Sensing they were outmatched, the pods fired everything on the escape pods and then plunged into the Odori as their final act, finishing off the small cargo hauler. It exploded violently. One escape pod exploded. The other two were damaged.

Yaichiro acted fast. Yamataians and Nekos could hold their breath for a brief time in space even without an AMES, so he surged toward the Kuma Shuttle and dragged it across space toward the space pods in a hurry...he kept an eye open for adrift personnel as the communications channels crackled with efforts to give orders and establish contact.

"Shika-Hei! Salvage the Fredrick's SS Pod if you can! All Escape Pods, report status! Eucharis, this is Kage-Shosa. Encountered enemy ambush to the Fredrick's rear while salvaging. The enemy has just kamikaze attacked to finish off the Fredrick. There may be more enemies, be on guard!"

He was closer to them, so Shika's sensors told him what Yaichiro could not have known. The SS pod had been destroyed.

Shika would brood over the AAR media for days and weeks after the engagement, memorising and critiquing himself over every little opportunity not taken and mistakes made. But he'd never recall screaming once his Mindy's sensors report the Frederick's catastrophic detonation, and the destruction of one of the escape pods.

"NO!"

The young ensign quickly configured his drones to shoot at will, then threw himself into the open without regard for himself. He emptied every missile he had at both NMX pods. A total of fifty-five mini-missiles streaked through space, with Shika following in their wake. Shika discharged what little ammunition was left in his LASR at the bomber pod on full auto. He made himself an easy target, but he had a plan...

He was vaguely aware that the Eucharis had arrived, but he did not take much comfort in it. The Frederick's crew was as good as dead if the NMX contacts weren't dealt with immediately, if they hadn't been seriously hurt in the last attack already.

Shika's missiles slammed into the kamikaze'ing pods at the last moment, but they could not stop them from slamming into the doomed ship.

"Yaichiro, this is Eucharis. I am attempting to retrieve the pods," Hanako responded.

Eucharis slowly moved ever closer and then extended the ship's expanding docking port to snag one of the two remaining escape pods. The Phod aboard it quickly climbed out of the leaking vessel and into the Eucharis. Once he was safely aboard, Hanako released the pod and went to get the other one.

"Can you face the hatch on this one towards my airlock?" she asked Shika and Toshiro.

Yaichiro had towed the shuttle back to the place where the other pod exploded, but only managed to find the body parts of a red-paneled Neko...he gave a deep sigh at the sickening sight. This part of war was something the veteran-turned museum curator had certainly not missed. He then heard Hanako's request, and turned back.

"Understood, Taisa." The officer pushed the shuttle back toward the Eucharis's general direction to let it drift there, then surged past it toward the ship. He'd catch it when it drifted near, but meanwhile turned the pod as Hanako directed to properly face the airlock.

"Ready."

Gally-Shoi and the troll scrambled out of the escape pod and up the docking tube toward the Eucharis. Both were bleeding from shrapnel wounds. They hobbled along deck three in the direction of the medical lab.

After the pod was released, Hanako contacted Shika and Toshiro. "I am glad you made it. Gather all the usable supplies from the escape pods into the shuttle and bring it into the shuttle bay, the come aboard. We need your help on the ship."

- - -

Continued in [Mission 9.2] Salvaging Parts and Hearts

OOC: Congratulations, you made it! Post your arrival in the 9.2 thread and join the recovery efforts. Welcome to the YSS Eucharis!