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RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission San: Kaizen!

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Ametheliana

Head in the Stars
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YSS Kaiyō
Shuttle Bay
8日 2月 YE 39
0900 Hours


The Kaiyō was on a steady course away from Silent Palace, the Freespacer outpost the away team had briefly intruded upon, and towards their destination, Kuvexian space.

Taii Teien Eden had been waiting for a T7 Raccoon shuttle to make its way into the bay before entering. Once the doors to space had closed, she entered, her tall frame enveloped in her Type 35. Black hair hung down to her waist and moved with her as she strode forward. The shuttle had been dispatched from a Type 30 Space Yacht that had recently made its way to the Sixth Squadron's position.

She stood at the ready, waiting for the doors to the shuttle to open. When they did, she was greeted first by a diminutive Eihei Neko, who eyed her suspiciously before bowing quickly and with little in the way of respect. Instead, the samurai was quite the opposite, with squinted iris-less eyes and black hair wrapped tightly in a long ponytail behind her white yukata. The captain of the Kaiyō didn't have much time to address the issue that was the samurai's lack of formality at her authority, for behind the samurai was a young boy, not much more than a boy, that she felt obliged to nod to.

As the door slid open, William hoisted his duffle bag and made sure his two swords were tied off, before following Rei down the ramp. As he did, he looked the hangar. He marveled at it as he stepped out. It was one thing to go into space for the first time on a space yacht. It was another thing entirely to be on a warship. Then his eyes fell upon the lone Neko who had come to greet them. He recognized her patch as being the vessel's CO, so he bowed to her when she nodded, then stepped off to the side to allow the princess herself to exit.

Dressed in a pristine white-paneled Type 35 herself, the freshly minted Shoi Kohosei Ketsurui Aiko stepped onto the Kaiyō's deck behind Rei and her ward. Eden might have been tall for a standard Neko, but still looked up to the NH-33A princess' height. Her confident stride was fluid, only slowing for a barely noticeable moment when she saw the empty shuttle bay that greeted her. Aiko had been told that she should not expect special treatment during the course of her cadetship, but her well-attended Imperial send-off from the Ketsurui Clan yacht that had brought her here hadn't fully prepared her for this. A simply furnished white katana was gripped in her left hand rather than fixed to her belt, giving the impression she was ready to draw at a moment's notice—a signature of the Sora Mai budo she practiced.

"Ketsurui-shoi, reporting for duty," Aiko said after giving Eden a quick, exactly measured bow. The princess sounded a little less deferent than an officer candidate should when she spoke. Her posture was held so upright that her nose was almost pointed at the ceiling, and her red eyes peered down over her cheeks into the Taii's with an unrelenting intensity. "I am yours to command, kanchô."

Eden closed her eyes while bowing deeply, then lifted herself up and looked up at Aiko. "It is just me, today. I apologize, but I would like to introduce your presence to the crew when we are able to properly structure your introduction. How do you feel about having a dinner in your honor tonight?" The question was a test, and Eden was eager to see the tone Aiko would set with her answer.

"It would be my honor to dine and become acquainted with my new comrades, Taii, should you find such pleasantries necessary," Aiko replied. This far out from Yamatai on a wartime expedition meant the ship was always at Readiness Condition 3, so thought the suggestion of a feast somewhat irresponsible, but she would not deign to correct her commanding officer so soon after meeting her. "I am more interested in getting familiarized with the Kaiyō, in the immediate term, however. When is my first duty shift?"

"That depends," Eden replied as the shuttle's two crewmen began to unload Aiko's Kirie and Rei's Sarah M7. "What we need from you is to be the face of the front lines. To both rally the troops and be ready to become a part of them at a moment's notice. We will need you to learn the language of our enemies and to be able to speak with your fellow Yamataians all in the same breath. We will utilize you during missions, if you find that acceptable, and will leave you to decide what to do with the rest of your time aboard the Kaiyō."

William was quiet as the two talked, glancing instead over at Rei. This... he never imagined he would be A. a bodyguard for a princess B. In space and C. On a warship. To say he was out of his element was an understatement. He moved his hands so that each one rested on the hilt of his swords. The familiar grooves of the hilt relaxed him. He also liked the hilt of his new sword that he had made. Getting caught up with thinking about his new sword, he looked back up to notice that Eden had begun walking, leading the way out of the shuttle bay.

"Understood, Taii," Aiko acknowledged, stepping forward at Eden's heels while her own clicked loudly atop the Plumeria gunship's polished floor. "I pray that my yojimbo's presence—as well as Wil-kun's—can be accommodated for without trouble. Have you encountered the Kuvexian menace yet?"

Eden nodded at the question. "We have encountered those that are in line with the Kuvexians—the L'Kor. They threaten our abilities to end the war with the Kuvexians easily and swiftly. The Sixth Squadron is closer than ever to space they occupy and we have begun the process of outing them from their hiding. The last time we were up against them, they committed seppuku, mass suicide. We don't want them to be so lucky next time. They will die when we permit them to. They will live only if we permit them to."

Rei's brows went up in astonishment at the words that came from the Taii's lips, but remained quiet, hands held together underneath her white sleeves. She looked to William to gauge his reaction to that which the Taii had said.

William looked a little taken a back by the comment, but his face fell back into its normal deadpan expression. He knew that he would need to get used to this type of sentiment, but it was still so new to him. He had never killed anyone, or seen death first hand... He had a feeling he would experience both while he was stationed here.

At that moment, Boss spoke to the captain urgently. "Taii Teien Eden, Catherine Ross has a communication coming through. I must direct you to the bridge."

"I can talk to her here," Eden said quickly.

Boss said only, "You'll want to see this."

Eden looked between the three of them and moved her jaw as if chewing something tough, then her eyes grew bright after a moment's thought and she waved for them to follow her. She made her way to the bridge and entered first hurriedly, siting down at the command console. Those there stood at her entrance, saluting, then were back in their chairs to keep working the systems they operated. Rei stopped short of the bridge and motioned for William to stop at the entrance to it, saying nothing but making it apparent they were to act as guards there. Aiko herself proceeded inside after Eden, keenly attentive to the developing situation.

"Saki," Eden said to her first officer. "This is Princess Aiko, Yui's daughter and public relations officer." They had of course discussed Aiko's arrival to the ship already, but Eden said this more for the benefit of those on the bridge.

Before Saki could respond, Eden was connected to squadron leader Catherine Ross' comms and said only, "What do we have?"

Catherine Ross was short, saying, "L'Kor. An entire fleet."

Eden looked down at her screen, which was showing her the visual of two carriers, a battleship, and several dozen bombers.

Even though the princess' face remained stern and focused, she could feel great excitement swell within her chest. How fortunate she was to see action so quickly! The prospect of slaying Yamatai's enemies on the battlefield almost prompted her to dart off the bridge and into the big power armor that had made the journey with her, but she stayed her impulse. And still, she remained silent; for all she wanted to ask the Taii questions, now was not the time. She was there to learn, after all.

William had stopped and waited outside with Rei, but was listening intently. When he heard that the ship was going against an entire fleet, a lump began to form in his throat. An entire fleet of the enemy? He just got here, and they were being thrown to the wolves? He swallowed hard, and shook his head. He couldn't be afraid. This is what he wanted to do. He chose this. He had to live with his decisions.

"Are you okay, Musuko?" Rei asked the boy she had adopted and brought to war.

He nodded. "Hai, Sensei. I'm fine. W...What can I do to help?" He asked, steeling himself.

"Eeto..." Rei said. "If a threat to the princess arises, cut it down as swiftly as it emerged."

"Yes Sensei. No harm shall come to Princess Aiko... Not while I still draw breath." Her son replied.

Rei nodded to him, both in agreement and pride.

Back on the bridge, Eden asked Ross, "What is the plan of attack?"

"Away teams of the three ships besides your own will be dispatched and will down the bombers while our ship-based weapons will take out the carriers."

"What of Kaiyō's away team?" Eden asked Catherine Ross. "What of the battleship?"

"We are sending your away team onto the battleship to destroy it from the inside."

"I trust we will not fail."

Catherine Ross said, "We will be within range to deploy in minutes. Standby."

"Boss?" Eden asked.

"Bringing the away team up to speed, now," the AI said before issuing commands to the entire away team wherever they were on the ship. "Please report to the power armor bay! Enemy craft spotted. The away team will go after an enemy battleship while the away teams from our other ships take down bombers and our ship-based weapons destroy their carriers. Jôtô Heisho Murakami Mitsuko will lead the attack on the battleship. More information to follow as it comes in. Hajime!"
 
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Mat had heard the order to mobilize, and quickly went to the power armor bay to suit up. As normal he was armed with his Aether scalar SMG with the customized detachable Aether saber. He sported a pair of wing boosters and a back mounted NSB launcher as well.

Scuttlebutt (Navy slang for rumor) had it that they were going to be seeing some new faces. This time he would not make a fool of himself for a first impression.
 
Yoshida marveled to herself as she suited up, fresh out of a shower, gleaming like a shiny new medal. So many battles back to back- it was a wonder they hadn't had any casualties yet in her mind. Yoshida smiled brightly as she thought about how well they were doing thus far, and hoped that it would continue like this forever. In the back of her mind however she had been preparing herself, for the first signs that their forward attack group would be truly in trouble, losing people, maybe even a ship. Going up against whole battleships and bombers, that sounded like the sort of thing they'd start losing people to. "So how is everyone feeling about our next fight?" She asked as she hopped up and down, stretched, and curled her tail into a number of weird shapes, even a triangle.
 
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YSS Kaiyō
Power Armor Bay

Anastasia made it to the bay area in a fairly good time. Whereas most days she'd be seen with her red paneled daily uniform, she was dressed rather oddly. She was wearing somewhat baggy black pants with white trim, and a comfortable white tanktop, designed to fit around her wings. Given how little she wears short sleeves, you could see she surprisingly has fairly well toned arms. Her black hair was tied back into a lazy ponytail, and from one look at her you could tell she just came from working out.

Anastasia walked across the Power Armor Bay, going about her regular pre-departure checks as she normally would. Once satisfied, she opened her own armor and stepped back into it, carefully sliding her wings into place within their metallic cousins.
 
A blur of motion streaked past Yoshida as a speeding Elysian whoosed a gust of air in her face as an air brake.
"Alright, I'm here, let's do this, there's a battleship, we're boarding, let's beat things up..."
Meissa leapt into her power armor.
"So what's the plan? Does the battleship have a blind spot we can breach and board from?"
 
Outside Bridge

Mitsuko entered the corridor that led to the Bridge, seeming slightly distracted. Her gaze pointed a bit too far upwards, perhaps lost in thought. Most likely sorting through dozens of mental lists. She was still able to balance the tray of drinks and snacks she had carried from the Wardroom as she walked without any issue, thankfully. She'd been asked to bring the refreshments for some new arrivals, although no further information had been provided. The Neko had a few ideas about that, after the slip before their last mission.

None of those ideas involved a certain Samurai. Or a former student. She had almost walked right past them, only pausing when the need to request permission to enter the Bridge had pulled her away from her mental paperwork. "W-william? What are you...?" She blinked, her eyes switching targets. "R-rei? What are...you...?" Murakami trailed off, trying to process the current situation, before the more pressing one they were heading into finally caught her attention. "You should really be in class. Here." She pushed the tray of snacks and steaming teacups into William's hands before turning and hurrying away.


Power Armor Bay

With several of her fears about their special guest reinforced, and now several new worries about other unexpected guests, Mitsuko seemed particularly frowny as she arrived in the Bay to prepare. She did her best to push those worries to the back of a long list, and focus on the current issue of all of them possibly dying. "I trust you all heard our orders?" She looked at the few that had already begun to suit up. "This is a battleship, not a pirate vessel. Mindys are not powerful enough to take down our target through straight-forward assault. This won't be as comparatively easy as our first mission." She shook her head, obviously unhappy about the thought.

"This is a boarding action. It will not be a battle in open space. We need to get close enough to perform proper reconnaissance of the enemy battleship. Then use this information to determine the best point of entry." They should all be familiar with that idea, with Mitsuko having guided them to two loading bays so far. Even if the second had been altered for unloading something other than cargo. "And then fight our way through the vessel to Engineering. Or the Bridge." She took in a breath as she tried to stand up tall and make sure they were all paying attention to her.

"That means equip yourself with extra shielding and weapons designed for fighting in tight corridors. Try to remember the basics of SACQC." She turned towards Yoshida. "This means no missiles." Then she looked up in the air. "M...Boss, contact the Bridge, please."

"Teien-Taii, could we please have all visuals and any sensor data related to the enemy battleship..." There was a short pause here, as the others noticed her eyes flickering back and forth for a moment. Calling it 'the enemy battleship' on her notes repeatedly was going to become a hassle. "...henceforth referred to by the designation 'Albatross' uploaded to all armors in the Power Armor Bay? We will gather further information before attempting to board."
 
Outside Bridge

William was hyper vigilant as everyone ran through the corridors of the Kaiyō. It could be called sensory overload. To say the student samurai was scared was an understatement. His face remained blank, but for his mother, she could see it in his eyes. His hands were gripped tightly around the hilts of both his swords, to the point that his knuckles were turning white. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He had the easiest job. Stand here and guard the door...

He was shocked out of his trance by a very familiar face. "V...Vice Principal Mitsuko?" He asked as she shoved the tray of snacks and tea into his hands. "Um thank you Mitsuko-Sama. Good luck!" He called as she turned and walked away.

He stared down at the tray. He looked to Rei, but then remembered that she could not eat in public. He turned then and calmed himself. "Permission to enter the bridge please?" He asked.

Rei's eyebrows pushed together, considering the question, and she said, "Hai! You may of course do so."

He walked into the bridge and he stopped in the doorway. He was awestruck by the room. He shook his head and approached Princess Aiko. "Excuse me, your grace." He said bowing deeply, fortunately without spilling anything. "Would you care for something?" He asked, presenting her the tray.
 
When the call to assemble went out, Carter burst out of Engineering, and sprinted down the corridors to the Power Armor Bay. He was one of the first to arrive, and began quickly, almost frantically running down the list of pre-mission checks on the assembled Mindies. He diverted his intent, analytical gaze over to Mitsuko for a split second when she arrived, before going back to his work. "You heard the Neko."

Carter edited his own loadout considerably, swapping his focus onto defense and combat longevity. He changed out his Nodal Fabricator for a Gauss cannon extension, ditched his grenade launcher, and added an Energy Cloak Shield Projector in place of his LASR's shoulder mount.

After he had suited up and ran his personal checks, Carter stood back, quietly listening to the comms chatter of his teammates, and steeling himself for the coming mission. This wasn't like the others. It wasn't an ambush or a minor skirmish. This was a full scale assault on a heavily armed battleship. The pressure was on. He could not, would not choke now. Not while there were fellow soldiers counting on him.
 
Bridge

The Princess Aiko stood proudly behind Eden, just off from her right side, legs planted further apart than shoulder width. The katana she carried extended between her hands and the ground in front of her as a rest, though the youngest Ketsurui clearly wasn't putting her weight onto it. She looked absolutely regal while the bridge crew came to life around her—there was little else for her to do yet, after all.

When William entered and addressed her, Aiko's eyes shot to the side to meet his. Even being surrounded by the plethora of new faces, the young Nepleslian boy was still the only person she'd met who could see eye-to-eye with her. Everyone was so short in Yamatai!

"Hai," Aiko said, the hand nearest to Wil freeing itself from atop her sword and over to the tray. She retrieved one of the teacups and nothing else and brought it to her lips for a sip. Her face was still fixed forward, and her gaze had already returned to the bridge's viewscreen as she drank.

"Your dedication and initiative is noted, as always, Wil-kun," she told him, holding her teacup just below where her neck met her chest. "Though I am unsure as to why we needed tea now. Is it some kind of First Expeditionary tradition? A glorious ceremony that will ensure us one last refreshment before death?"

Aiko's eyes closed as she took another dainty mouthful of her drink.

"No matter!" she said in a demanding way. "Disperse the rest to our comrades here and then pay attention! If you are to attend to me on this ship, you should know what they do, too!"
 
"Come on guys, it'll be fine. It's just a battleship."
Meissa seemed to ignore the absurdity of her statement. She seemed to be very keen to add a battleship to her growing list of Cool Things I've Killed.
She still kept most of her weapons, though. She decided her current loadout was well-rounded and suitable to take on most threats, with a heavy bias towards explosives and drones.
Just don't overextend your Aether limits, don't short any capacitors, you never shoot missiles anyways, you'll be fine.
"Shouldn't we still bring a few things for space combat?" Meissa asked. "They might see us scramble Away teams and decide to do the same." After all, it was a sort of logical thing to do.
 
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Power Armor Bay

Yoshida caught Mitsuko's words mid hop, and froze in place as she registered them, like a neko in the headlights. The only odd thing about it, was that she was still in the air when she froze. "... No missiles?" She asked rhetorically as she looked over and pouted for a second, before moping back over to her armor rack and, tried her best to refit her armor while she was still in it with the help of the arms for the rack. The missile pods, were replaced by the much less exciting but still useful energy cloak projector, and capacitor, on the left and right shoulders respectively. "Yes I understand..."

She sounded absolutely depressed for a very brief moment before shaking it off and taking stock of her gear as a whole. With only her LASR and nodal support bits as her offensive weaponry, she decided to check the registry for any other, heavier hitting handheld weaponry. She was for the most part, disapointed at the selection, even as she barely paused. Until she came across something that made her eyes nearly pop out of her skull, as she wondered shy she never noticed it before. An Aether Gatling rifle. Over one meter long, this multi barreled fire spitting monster, in her mind, this would do very nicely. "... Please Allow me a moment to swap out my primary weapon!"

She didn't even bother to discard her extra ammo, the one hundred round clips for her LASR, as she strode over to its container, a box that kept it nice and pristine. She keeled, unhooked it, and slowly brought the behemoth of a weapon out of its container. With a grin, she turned to the others. "Could always use a good squad support weapon yeah?" She bounced on the balls of her feet, still an odd sight to see one doing that in power armor, as she tested the weight of the weapon, and then its handy low power gravity manipulation module. She also took the time to ensure the weapon was in full working order, with a fully charged aether battery and no jammed parts.
 
"Carriers. That means, fighters, lots of them." The small Caelisolan, nearly impossible to see from behind her cherry wings, finished priming the remaining weapons systems. "Less predictable than missiles, yet much larger targets." She muttered these thoughts to her self and yet also audibly, a habit it seemed. Busy checking the systems of the ship, and its weaponry in finer detail she had not taken notice of the new arrivals. She also, at an earlier time, requested Boss to record the Arbl's performance for later self-evaluation, in an attempt to not only improve herself but also possibly work on modifications to the weaponry. She's not nearly technician-level for applying a possible modification, but she always had ideas wading through her mind about increasing accuracy, fire rate, and occasionally even the potential damage of a shell. That last part was tricky but the crazy boom boom birb may be a help in that field. Another time, another time... The carriers come first.
 
Power Armor Bay

Anastasia pondered for a moment, before clunking over to the same armaments storage unit as Yoshida. After browsing the potential weapons of mass destruction, she decided she her kit was well enough for ground combat. She returned to her position by the edge of the bay, waiting for the command to deploy with the group this time.
 
Bridge

Misaki was straight staring at the princess for a moment, in both disbelief and pure sudden fright. She looked to Eden out of the corner of her violet eyes and walked over to her. She gave a mostly calm smile before leaning down and placing a hand on Eden's shoulder, transmitting through encryption,

"She sounded urgent, what are we facing?"

She kept her hand on her shoulder, though tried to make it not obvious. Though she was a bit flush with the presence of a princess. She felt she was making the right choice in letting her have her old quarters, for she would have been to shy to do so now.
 
Power Armor Bay

Orion eventually made his way to the power armor bay, noticing he was actually late for his first mission he scrambled to put on his power armor. It was his first time and he was pretty nervous.
 
YSS Kaiyō
Bridge


Feeling the reassuring and calming touch of Saki on her shoulder, Eden's smile appeared as she relayed back telepathically in a matter of nanoseconds, "This entire operation is urgent. She is right to be so, as well. We are facing a fleet!"

"Directing visuals and sensor feeds to all of your HUD right now," Eden said as she moved her hands over the controls. "Nito Hei Asuka, I want you to continue to relay new information as it comes up."

"Of course, commander!" Asuka replied before biting her lip and working at inputting what was necessary to get the most information out of the sensors.

"Let the away team know what exactly they are looking at, as well." Eden asked of the sensors operator.

"Right!" she said to the captain. "Away team, Albatross has a convex hull with two incisors that break up the oval shape of the front, which has fins and is blistered with guns. The back is comprised of three engine blocks mounted up that are connected to the front portion with a cylindrical middle, on which there are two hangars on either side.

"One is open to space right now and will be the easiest point of entry, next to cutting a hole in the hull, though we don't know what it is made of and what it will take to get through it." Asuka finished by saying, "That is all, away team. Do with that information what you can!"

"I believe in you, Kaiyō!" Eden said. "Jôtô Heisho Murakami Mitsuko will lead your assault! We are the proudest Empire in history and will remain in that position, high above the L'Kor and Kuvexians, alike. There is nothing we cannot do for our Empire and there is nothing our Empire would not do to remain superior to all that face it!"

To the squad leader Mitsuko, she said, "Any other information that you may need, I will supply with haste to further ensure mission success!"

"Santo Hei Arnbjorg," Eden said. "Let the away team know our position!"

"We'll be within range of teleportation to Albatross by the away team in less than a minute," came the purple-skinned Neko's voice to power armor bay.

Power Armor Bay

Three infantry members and the medic stood in a line and looked to one another, wide smiles on their faces as they did. They had grown close in the time on the Kaiyō and were apt to jokingly racing one another everywhere. To the wardroom, though showers, during meals. Now was not an exception. Telepathically, the medic counted and on three, or san, they all jumped forward, entering the Mindy feet first.

"I won!" Madoka giggled the moment she had fully gotten in, "I always do."
 
Carter let out a slow sigh as he heard when the team was planning to deploy, and began charging a teleport to hold until it was time to embark. Standing in the back of the PA bay, near the door, Carter watched Orion arrive. He hadn't seen much of the Elysian, though he was listed as a marksman. With a quick decision, he walked over to Orion, and said "Suit up. When we head out, call your targets and pay attention to the ones your squadmates mark." He nodded towards the bay exit, leading out into space. "Stay focused. I've got your back."
 
Power Armor Bay

Anastasia paled upon seeing the new information appear on her helmet's HUD. They were taking on a fleet, a whole fleet. Fortunately nobody could see the nervousness in her suit, but she began to pull herself together. It was going to be a very long day.

Anastasia looked over and saw the new transfer walking across the bay, another Elysian. She gave a small wave to him, knowing exactly how he must be feeling.
 
"You'll be fine, Orion. Just stay close, listen to orders, and don't get pegged by a PD laser."
Meissa shuffled towards the bay exit, checking equipment here and there. She looked around at the Away Squad.
"Who's calling the shots this time around?"
 
Power Armor bay

Yoshida let out a long, slow breath as she took in the sight, an enemy fleet. She hoped if there were casualties, that she wouldn't be among them, after all it would look bad for her to die the first mission she took the gattling rifle out. A brief scan around the room told her others seemed to be thinking the same thing, for one reason or another. "Pretty sure Taii Eden said Mitsuko was the leader here Meissa!" She brought the large gattling up onto her shoulders, with both arms around the back of it, lightly pressing it to her neck to pin it there as she spoke. It almost looked wrong, how large that gun was compared to the size of the neko about to wield it in pitched battle.

"Speaking of! What's your plan Joto Heisho? We'll follow you anywhere!" She sounded like she truly believed that, even though she obviously couldn't truly speak for all of them, much less the non-nekos in the group. At least she certainly sounded chipper, confident that their leader could pull off anything. Though her body language betrayed her anxiety, as her wrapped around herself in a protective hug, around her left leg, and she was no longer bouncing on the tips of her toes, she was too still really, for what she normally moved like.
 
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