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RP [Open RP] Seizing The Opportunity (Kuvexian War Final Battle/Battle of Glimmergold)

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YSS Presurgance

"Tactical Control, I'm going to kick some ass in a Mindy!" Cheilith exclaimed, dashing over to a suit of armor and getting into it. The suit fit her perfectly, like a second skin. Once outside the ship, she jammed to Kwabba-an's music as she fought the Kuvexians with what was for a Mindy, a giant sword. As the battle progressed, she made her way back to Kwabba-an having destroyed several Kuvexian fighters with her giant sword. "This is awesome, thanks for the music to jam to Beat-Bug." The young Neko enthused.

@hyralt

YSS Densetsu

The Seventh fleet was a well-oiled machine after fighting the nebular battles for so long, as he watched the battle unfold Fletcher announced his next change. "One pass only, destroy as many Kuvexian ships as we can on that pass. Then reform for the Essai wormhole. We can let the Rikugun finish the details."


YSS Ranger

Black Wolf squad deployed from the Ranger's bay as they passed the satellite that they needed to take. "There are two entrances, Freydis, your team will take the hanger. I'll be with the other team and we'll go in through a maintenance hatch. We only have one pass, so let's secure this quickly and meet in the middle control room of the station. Then we'll jump out to meet back up with the Ranger." Sacre explained and Black Wolf split into two groups.

Sacre's half of Black Wolf landed on the station by the maintenance hatch. There weren't any civilians that they needed to protect on the station. There would be repairs needed anyway. She and her sister plunged glowing aether swords into the hatch and made quick cuts leaving burning metal behind. They yanked the hatch back, leaving the air inside to trickle into space as they entered. There were a couple of Kuvexian engineers, surprised by how the doors had been breached. A couple of shots later, they were both dead.

"We've got a problem. They set the reactor to blow." Estrid announced as they took over the engineering. Sacre considered for a moment, it meant that the dozen or so other Kuvexians were likely rushing for the small hanger and the ship inside.

Sacre put her hand on the control panel, "Aten, get in there and stop whatever they did. Freydis, they set the station to blow, we're defusing it, but they are coming your way." Sacre told the other fireteam leader then she turned to the working Neko. "Estrid, stay here and get it under control. My sister and I are going to assist Freydis."

The two Separa'Shan open the door, and more air flowed out of the station as they flew upward onto a central command deck. Sacre flared her shield as one of the slower Kuvexians took a shot with a rifle at her. It hurt her shield badly, but not as badly as Sacre's shoulder cannon hit the Kuvexian, penetrating armor and killing them instantly. Sacre turned to see that her sister had already taken care of two more Kuvexians. Sacre looked towards the hatch where they had been retreating too just in time to see the last one close the blast doors. Locking two other Kuvexians inside with the Separa'Shan. Quick maneuvers and the sheer power of their Mindy suits made quick work of the two who had been abandoned by their companions.

@CMDR Scotty
 
NDC fleet

Omega wing's close formation allowed them to expand the shields of the still shielded fighters to cover the ones whose shields were still in the recharge state. However, this made the shield over the formation significantly weaker. As they maneuvered and fired their cannons, though the slow firing cannons had trouble consistently hitting the Kuvexian fighters, Omega Wing's choice to use only their Cerberus cannons netting them few kills.

In response, the Kuvexian fighters continued to bombard the eight fighter formation, aether beams piercing the weakened shields and heavily damaging Tanisha, Kai and Miley's Starbreakers, rendering them immobile. They were out of the fight and would need to be recovered by tugs. Having satisfied themselves with what they could tell their superiors were kills, the surviving Kuvexians turned and ran.

Between NDC fleet and Kuvexians

The small group of three fighters' efforts to forestall Kuvexian missiles proved fruitful, providing a window of opportunity for several damaged NDC frigates to rotate to the rear of their formation and be replaced by fresh ships. However, their actions had drawn enemy attention. On Noro Starbaron Drawrimnt's orders, an escort gunship and three fighters peeled off from his personal squadron to eliminate the small group of fighters preventing him from punching through the NDC formation and escaping.

Perhaps it would have been considered overkill in any other scenario, but Drawrimnt knew that his window of escape was closing. As the gunship approached, its rather cannons fired twice at the small formation, its escorting fighters sticking close.

Over Sakura Fleet Depot

Matsuvo continued to fight, doing his best to help clear the airspace above the Fleet Depot for many of the more inexperienced infantry that had been pulled straight from training for this operation. He knew he could only clear a small area on his own, but it would mean that many more troops making it down to assault the Kuvexian positions on the surface fresh and safe.

And so, he flew through the battlespace, doing his best to clear what he could. The missile launchers on the Kalamari mounted shields had since been depleted knocking out two enemy fighters, with shots to their engines, and they were now positioned to cover him from the front, which he did his best to keep facing towards the enemy.

He spotted a new target, and a thought sent the manipulator mounted SMGs into action, tracking it as they spat rapid-fire Aether bursts. Individually, a shot wouldn't do much of anything to a fighter, but they were great at chipping away at shields, A half-second burst was all it took to strip away the fighter's shields as he flew past it, though the Kuvexian pilot managed a glancing blow which punched right through his barrier shield and turning one of his physical shields to slag, which he promptly tossed away.

In retaliation, the Kuvexian fighter received the heavy Aether Blade from both of his Kalamari mounted carbines slicing through its now unshielded underside, leaving it to explode as he sped away. More aether beams appeared and just as quickly vanished around him, his rear-aspect sensors informing him that it was another fighter, likely the first's wingman.

Matsuvo flipped around to present a small target, and pulled an EMP grenade off of his hip mount and sent the timer to a quarter second. As he and the Kuvexian pilot closed with each other, he did his best to evade further fire, his backup capacitor having recharged his shields almost instantly. Once within a dozen kilometer, he yanked the string out of the top of the grenade, tosing it into the flight path of the fighter.

At combat speeds, the Kuvexian never even had time to evade before the grenade detonated and significantly damaged its shields. Matsuvo rapidly changed direction, flying behind and over the top of the Kuvexian fighter, placing two Aether beams directly into the cockpit as he turned and flew away, searching for the next target. As he exhaled a sigh of relief at having survived another exchange, he reflected briefly on how little emotion there was in his fight in comparison to when he had first joined the Star Army. No righteous anger or nationalism prompted him to fight, he simply wanted the war over.
 
YSS "Presurgence"

For now, Kagura remained in the Kyoto-class carrier's big power armor bay to make sure the sortie proceeded without incident as some of the crew launched their Mindys and starfighters to help at Sakura Fleet Depot. She darted around in her AMES — its helmet slung to her belt in favor of the white command cap she wore — doing what fill-in work she could for the deck crew, assisting wherever needed. A first officer's place was on the bridge, and Hojo-taii would take her place there soon enough, but she still thought it best to be where she was for a while longer. It was of the utmost importance that the detour in Scrapyard not disrupt their combat preparedness, and so here Kagura would stay until everyone returned and began their preparations for the main engagement still to come.

Meanwhile, on the bridge...

There it was again. "Tactical control." Cheilith's words made the corners of Shoi Kohosei Kalena Matsushita's mouth curl up into a wide grin when the Mindy-clad soldier's confident declaration of ass-kicking came through. The cadet didn't try to stifle or hide her amusement, for only the volumetric displays in front of her at the mission operations station could see. Had it been said three times, now? Four? Whether her new comrades were the greenest batch of santô hei ever or in on something together didn't matter much. At least they were all on the same page.

"Gotcha, Unknifto-hei," Kalena said with a jovial tone that matched her face. "You're clear to go. Ops out."

YSS Kōkatsu

One of only a few SAINT ships assigned to Yui's massive armada, the Azusa-class light gunship Kōkatsu, coasted along in formation with the assembled fleet's command group. It was there on the order of Director Shida and would serve as a makeshift flagship for the intelligence service once through the Essai wormhole and linked up with the waiting Yui 7s. The Kōkatsu's team of assigned operatives were joined by another handful of SOFT groups from the elite Special Deployment force, too, to provide what specialized assistance they could directly in service to Yui-taisho and Star Army Command.
 
YSS Tokyo
Bridge


"Sending the orders now Taisho." Sure they were engaged, but this was work, and Eri knew how to separate. Eyes scanned over the various channels she had up and set up the message to the battle group at first. She made sure to keep priority on those ships that were damaged but could move, those that could be repaired and limp home if need be. They could move, and they needed protection for the moment. She made sure the healthier ships tried to get ready for rescue operations when the green light was given, but to the Taihō expeditionary strike group, she relayed orders to stay in place and begin clean up duties. Anything attacking damaged ships was to be given top targeting priority. Otherwise, with the first major fight over with, Eri sat back and shut her eyes for a second as she let the captains from the other ships slowly take over. She would guide and direct when needed, but for now she let them scatter and work as needed.
 
Daughters of Yamatai JP Featuring

@Cowboy as Sanda Hoshi
@Yandere as Tatsugami Kozakura
@hyralt as Kwabba-an Ternifac-xuralkhi

Guest starring @Soban as Cheilith

"That's our signal, see you down there," Kozakura's voice buzzed in Kwabba-an's helmet, then she watched for a moment as the dragon woman's power armor moved away. Her eyes were drawn first to the distinct shape of her helmet that wrapped around her antlers similarly to how Kwabba-an's wrapped around her antennae, and then once she was too far away to clearly see her antlers even at the maximum 300x zoom of her Armor Integrated Electronics System, she watched the segmented armor around her tail.

"This is awesome, thanks for the music to jam to Beat-Bug," a familiar voice sounded. It was that of the woman with whom she had briefly chatted back on the YSS Presurgence.

"May my music guide your big aether sword to its target, comrade," she replied with a smile. Then she shook some focus back into her head, and began her own descent, blasting at full speed towards the beacon blipping on her display.

"Xuralkhi-hei, the beacon's compromised careful on your descent!"

The words made her heart skip a beat, but she focused on the rhythm of her instrument and felt a calm come over her as her practice and training kicked in. In quick succession, she switched her Combined Field System (CFS) from propulsion over to stealth mode to make her invisible to sensors, switched on her photonics array to give her optical camouflage to make her difficult to target visually, switched on her Turbo Aether Plasma (TAP) engines to resume propulsion, and started a timer. Running the CFS in stealth mode without an onboard remote detection device made her completely blind, but it was a calculated risk that let her descend through the space above Sakura Fleet Depot without being targeted.

When her timer displayed the amount of seconds she had roughly estimated, she dropped out of stealth and switched her CFS over to shields. She had overestimated how far she would get, but this felt like the safer of the two directions in which her estimation could be inaccurate. The depot was still dozens of kilometers away, but well within teleportation range. She disappeared.

Kwabba-an reappeared a few meters above the surface of the ground and away from the wreckage of the main tower, then flew over to press herself up against the rubble. She swiveled her head to scan what was going on around her. The weapons fire that erupted around her transmitted out over her broadcast channel, and she continued to play her improvised melody along with it.

"Sanda Hoshi and Tatsugami Kozakura, I have my feet on the ground. Do you have eyes on a way into the depot? Also, we need a shorter way to address each other."

The ant musician's Time-Modulated Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) Radar picked up a signature on the other side of some rubble. When the signature didn't respond to her Identify-Friend-or-Foe (IFF) transponder ping, she flew into action while she was waiting on a response from her cohorts. Kicking on her TAP engines, she flew over the pile of debris and descended onto a Kuvexian in heavy power armor carrying a massive gun. Luckily for her, the kuvie had been distracted, firing at some other target, otherwise the big weapon might have torn her apart. She lashed out with her Aether Beam Sabre-Rifles (ABSRs), thrashing at the other's power armor as it reeled around to try and fight back. Her attacks came fluidly with the rhythm of the music that she played, and as the creature tried to line up its weapon on her, she used her lower arms to swing her solid Zesuaium bass guitar, using it to knock aside the barrel of the Gatling gun before it came to point at her. A moment later her sabres found a weak-point in the armor just at the neckline and dug in, causing the Kuvexian to crumple to the ground. Without pausing, she sought cover against a nearby wall and looked for her next target.

Sanda jumped a short way then realized that the giant power armor wasn't following her. She turned and looked back, only to see the giant power suit with it's head blown off. She went back to the suit and stood over it, as if posing for a picture. "Haha. Not so tough are you." Sanda scanned the area around her, looking for more targets when she heard Kozakura call out over the comms. Letting her know that she had landed but the rest of her transmission was cut short. "Tatsugami-Hei! Tatsugami-Hei! Where..." Her own transmission was interrupted by more plasma fire. She returned fire while seeking cover of her own.

From her new vantage point, Kwabba-an saw a set of Daisy power armor standing atop a set of giant power armor. With a quick glance around, she flew along her cover from one wall to another in the direction that she had seen the Daisy. When she saw the telltale flash of plasma weapon fire, she peeked around the wall she was pressed up against and tried to figure out where it was coming from.

"I see a Daisy under fire. Is that you, Sanda Hoshi? I cannot see its origin," Kwabba-an broadcast out over the standard Yamatai channels.

Sanda knelt down and began returning random fire. She heard a Kwabba-an ask if she was under fire and laughed sarcastically. "No, I'm just getting my hair done. Where are you?" She looked around for the music-playing bug.

"Oh, my mistake," Kwabba-an replied in earnest, but continued to try and aid the Daisy. "I am up against a wall near a set of giant armor. I do not believe the enemy can see me. I will try to approach."

With that, the ant-like woman continued her movement along walls towards the giant armor atop which she had seen a Daisy moments before.

Sanda located the four-armed Mindy suit. She still couldn't see where the enemy fire was coming from but by the number of shots flying at them it had to be at least a half dozen. Sanda believed she could probably take them herself if she could find them but the smart thing to do would be to try and draw them out and take them in a cross fire with Kwabba-an.

"Just call me Sanda, It means Thunder which is exactly what I plan to bring down." Sanda said with half crazed laugh. "Look, I'm going to try and draw them out, see if they'll show themselves. When they do. Blast them!"

"Roger that, Sanda," Kwabba-an responded promptly and readied herself by bracing one of her ABSRs against the side of the building. She knew from training that her Mindy's CFS would compensate for the recoil of the weapon so the bracing was wholly unnecessary, but it still gave her some feeling of preparedness.

Kozakura continued her game of cat and mouse while the other two were linking up, she heard their transmissions and moved her lips to reply but no words came out. Her eyes continued to scan for the threat, they'd moved while she was in cover but where to? Heart still pounding she ducked back into cover as plasma fire splashed right past where her head had been. Playing back the footage her helmet had captured she located her foe's new hiding spot. Kami preserve me, she thought in the instant before she dashed out from cover and over a segment of open ground before leaping into the air with assistance from her Mindy's propulsion. Her sights lined up and she squeezed the trigger causing a burst of aether fire to shoot from the weapon's barrel. The Kuvie merc she was locked in battle with was slower to respond and fired in a panic as Kozakura's shots landed home.

Plasma wizzed by Kozakura's body and she quickly boosted to the right and then landed adjacent to the wounded Kuvie. With a swift spinning motion she drove the knee spike of the Mindy's right leg into the abdomin of the Kuvie merc. Upon pulling her leg back a mixture of blood and mechanical fluids drained out from the wound as her enemy collapsed to the ground.

Sanda took a deep breath then jumped from cover and ran towards Kwabba-an while blasting the away with both her Plasma rifle and her 50mm Gauss Cannon. She ducked into some new cover, fired more carefully, then ran again. This time she headed away from her bug friend so that the enemies eyes were following her. A plasma shot grazed her shoulder and Sanda fell behind some crates, activating her stealth as soon as she was behind cover, then rolled several meters to the right behind some other crates, hoping the enemy would think she was down and come running.

Kwabba-an saw (and heard through her visual to audio transcoder circuitry) the simultaneous flashes of Plasma and Gauss cannon fire. Using this as a distraction, she flicked on her TAP engine and flew up in to the air to try and guage where the enemy fire was coming from. When the Daisy stopped firing and sought cover, the enemy started shooting again. Kwabba-an responded by lining up her ABSRs and firing twin beams in the direction of the power armor that was firing at her compatriot in the stealthy armor. Both beams went wide, and she growled to herself and disappeared.

Reappearing next to the enemy, she began hacking away at the Kuvexian, screaming out in musical fury and simultaneously stepping up the tempo of her bass. This time, however, the enemy threw an elbow in her direction, catching her off guard and causing her to lose her sense of the beat for a moment. The moment in question was just about long enough for the Kuvie to line up its rifle, and without thinking she tried to spin out of its sights as it fired off a blast at point blank range. The plasma shot caught her, but only glancingly off her shoulder's CFS shielding.

Without leaving her enemy a moment to fire again, Kwabba-an rose her sabres and slashed once across the barrel of the weapon pointed at her and simultaneously stabbed upwards into the joint of her enemy's armor at its neck. The result was that the weapon was cut in half, and in her frantic movement she managed to completely cut through her enemy's neck, causing its head and body to fall away in two different directions.

Kwabba-an had half a thought about how she probably ought to feel bad about having taken a life, but quickly regained her focus and sped over towards the Daisy that had been under fire.

With her landing situation finally secure Kozakura looked around for a good vantage point. Finding the stairs up to a catwalk she made her way higher up. "Hoshi-hei, Xuralkhi-hei, I've taken care of my little problem. Where are you two? Trying to keep my eyes out but there's a lot of smoke obscuring things."

Now that she had a moment to take stock of the battle field without being fired at, Sanda checked her scanners and located Kozakura. She was to Sanda's right and about 40 meters away. Sanda couldn't see her directly because of the smoke. "We're just to the south of you, Tatsugami-Hei. We'll move towards you and regroup."

Hearing the long sequence of syllables that formed her and Sanda's names spoken by Kozakura's voice, Kwabba-an scrunched up her face within her helmet as she tried to think.

"Perhaps we can refer to each other as Daughters of Yamatai? Or daughters for short? Or perhaps sisters?" Kwabba-an suggested.

Keeping her stealth suit activated, Sanda moved cautiously forward towards Kozakura. She made it to just under the catwalk where the reporter had taken up overwatch and reapeared. She opened her comms again, "Tatsugami-Hei, I'm right under you. Kwabba-an, you see us?"

When she realized the Daisy was in stealth mode, Kwabba-an resumed her travel in a northwards direction, given that Sanda had said they were south of Kozakura's position.

Kozakura blinked as a friendly sudden appeared below her, "I've got a visual on you now...sister," she replied somewhat awkwardly to Sanda. The Yamataian in Kozakura clearly was not used to such a familial designation with one she had met just twice now.

"I do not see you, Sanda," but Kwabba-an cut short her transmisson as her UWB radar picked up a signature on top of a structure to her north. This time, the radar signature did respond to her IFF transponder, correctly signaling that it was a Mindy. "Never mind, I believe I see our sister."

Sanda remained silent for a moment while activily scanning with her eyes and sensors. Daughters of Yamatai, that sounded cool, but calling one another sister was a step too much for her. Especialy in the middle of a fire fight. It wasn't that she did like her fellow fighters, far from it. It just made the tough Nepleslian wasn't use to such things.

Kwabba-an took a risk and flared her TAP engines to quickly fly up to what she presumed was Kozakura's position. When she spotted the familiar Mindy with the tail and antlers, she smiled to herself, but any other reaction she would have made was cut short when multiple plasma blasts whizzed by her armor.

"I have given away our position, sisters," Kwabba-an announced as she span to return fire in her ABSRs' pulse mode, while also redirecting her TAP drive thrust to try and put some cover between her and the incoming blasts. She didn't expect her pulses to hit anything, and they didn't, but it gave her a chance to reach the safety of the elevated position that Kozakura had reached, where she promptly pressed herself flat against the ground and tried not to think about how she'd drawn the enemy to them.

Kozakura was initially glad to see Kwabba-an, but upon receiving more fire from the enemy forces she instantly dropped to a kneeling position and returned fire, though with only a submachine gun her effective range was much shorter than the rifle bearing forces set against them. "We should probably push deeper into the facility..." she called out to the two others, "If we can reach the security center I can probably take over the feeds and transmit them back to the fleet so they can coordinate our forces."

Somewhat thankful to be underfire again, Sanda took a knee and returned fire with both Plasma rifle and shoulder cannon. Her scanners were detecting hostiles all over the place. "We've got no shortage of targets here." Sanda growled as she shot a soldier in the head. "But you may be right." It did sound like a tempting target. They might even be able to take all of the perimiter defences offline as well. Then their allies could stroll right in.

"I am in agreement with Tatsugami Kozakura," Kwabba-an said as she crawled towards where Kozakura was returning fire. "Our comrades will undoubtedly use this information for glory."

"Yeah, either of you have any idea where the security center might be located?" Sanda raised her shield and set her plasma rifle against it then began marching towards the nearest suit, blasting as she went. Her power shields soaked up most of the incoming fire but her phyiscal shield attached to her left arm blocked whatever made it through. The fire coming at her faltered. It was one thing to shoot at a target. It was another to shoot at a target that was coming toward you, oblivious of the fire and blasting away at you. Sanda made another four kills before taking cover again.

"I do not," Kwabba-an admitted solemnly as she pulled herself into a kneeling position next to Kozakura, once again pulsing at their enemies to provide the vague notion of cover fire before ducking back down again.

Kozakura began to move at a slow crouching walk along the catwalk towards an entrance to the depot, occasionally stopping to give surpressing fire for Sanda. "After you deal with that squad we should probably move before more show up. Last thing I want to do is get pinned down on the backside of the facility as a noble distraction."

Sanda couldn't argue with that logic. Even if they didn't know for sure where the security center was, they did know it wasn't here by the outer wall. "Give me some cover. I'm going to try something." Sanda got knelt down behind a scan of the surrounding area. Her Daisy suit had some advanced sensors, made with recon in mind. On her heads up display a map began to appear. Hostile contacts showing up as red dots, many many red dots, began to appear on the overlay. Yellow lines showing power cables also started running between buildings. One building stood out. It had several groups of red dots around and inside it. Plus several yellow power lines ran to it from all directions. Sanda wasn't sure exactly what it was but it was a safe bet that the building held some significance.

As Sanda called for cover, Kwabba-an pulled herself up and started blasting pulses in the direction from which they were taking fire. As she did so, she noticed that Kozakura was moving towards what looked like an entrance, so she followed along while continuing to fire.

"I think I've got something." Said the tattooed Nepleslian, as she sent the image and data to her Sisters. "I've got a building about 300 meters to our East that looks like it's well powered and has quite the defence around it. Not sure it's the security room but it's bound to be important to them."

"That sounds promising,"
Kwabba-an said through clenched teeth, frustrated that she couldn't seem to hit anything. She hadn't been awful on the firing range, but it seemed so different once the targets were returning fire.

Kozakura watched as the data poured in, it definitely looked promising. She stopped moving towards the entrance to the nearest building and leaped over the guard rail of the cat walk, using her thrusters to slow her descent she landed on the ground once more and moved to back up Sanda.

Sanda stood up and fired again. Yeah, it looked promising, but 300 meters was still a lot of room between them and the building, and a whole lot of people gunning for them inbetween. Kozakura and Kwabba-an had Mindies so they could teleport right into the building. Sanda's Daisy however did not have such tech. She'd have to activate her stealth again and try to sneak past all those guards. Luck for her, that was what she specialized in.

Kwabba-an saw Kozakura leap off the catwalk and disappear around a corner, and remembered that she probably shouldn't group up and provide the enemies with such a convenient target. A flash of plasma fire ricocheted off her shielding, and she dove to one side along the catwalk, managing to roll out of the dive without missing a beat of her music. A quick scan of the field ahead of her gave her a rough idea of the distance to her enemies before she disappeared.

Popping back into existence some distance away, the ant musician looked using the Optical Tracking System in her armor's skin, giving her a somewhat confusing view of her entire surroundings all at once. It took her the span of half a second to orient herself before she saw three enemies turning her way from their position grouped up behind a chest-high wall that had been giving them cover until she appeared behind them.

With one more use of her teleportation module, the insectoid woman was suddenly next to them. It is important to mention at this time that many cultures who develop their theory of music independently of outside influence do so in combination with a theory of dance that is deeply intertwined to the point of being inseparable. It is with an understanding of such a theory that Kwabba-an began to move.

Kwabba-an's Sabres traced sinusoidal paths through the space that her enemies occupied. These paths had opposing peaks and troughs were perfectly synchronized with the rhythm of her fingers on the strings of her bass and the steps of her feet. As she tore through them, she couldn't help but sing out a wordless tune that rose and fell in harmony with her movement. When the last of the three Kuvexians fell, Kwabba-an couldn't help but feel disappointment as she ducked behind the wall and wrapped up her leitmotif of carnage.

Kozakura tapped Sanda on the shoulder to get her attention before using hand signals to gesture that she was going to move towards their objective. Sprinting away she used the readout on enemy positions to help guide herself from cover point to cover point as she moved along the ground toward the enemy's fortified location. Looking over the building it was a medium sized structure with a second floor that was larger than its base. The top most floor looked as if it was lined with windows except security shutters had been drawn shut over them. She didn't want to assault it from the bottom up but moving into the building from the second floor was probably a bad idea. As she surveyed the building she noted two guards posted at an entrance on the first floor.

Sanda gave Kozakura a thumbs up and watched her move out, admiring the way she gracefully moved from cover point to cover point. Sanda took a deep breath and activated her stealth again, disappearing from sight and sensors and began moving towards the building's entrance.

Looking around, Kwabba-an found herself lost. At least she wasn't currently under fire, she thought to herself, as she tried to calmly scan around. When her radar showed a friendly some distance to her east, she assumed it was Kozakura, and resumed her darting movement along walls and obstacles in that direction.

Weapons fire erupted around the musician, kicking up a fine mist of debris around her. Kwabba-an dropped to the ground and waited a moment for the cloud to dissipate enough for her to find the nearest obstacle to crawl behind. Peeking at her radar readout, she saw the friendly reading somewhat ahead of her along with a couple of presumed enemies further still.

"What is our plan, sisters?" Kwabba-an asked of the others on their shared channel.

In a hushed voice Kozakura responded, "I see two guards in front of an entrance to the building. I assume they're firing at you, so I'll take them out." Taking a deep breath she mentally prepared herself to teleport closer. Kozakura had never liked teleporting, something about all of your molecules being in one place and then suddenly in another gave her the willies. As she exhaled she stowed her submachine gun and drew the two aether blade katanas, before blinking out of existence and reappearing at the chosen destination. The moment she blinked back into existence the guards started to move but they were too slow. The closer one was quickly bisected as the blade in her right hand sliced clean through their environment suit from just below the arm pit, through the chest cavity, and to the opposite hip.

As the second guard turned and readied their weapon, Kozakura was already moving. Circling sideways to get around the falling body of the first guard, Her left hand swung her blade in upward arc across the space infront of herself, slicing the guard's weapon in twain. However for her troubles the broken weapon was hucked at her, bouncing harmlessly off her Mindy's armor. With a flick of her wrist Kozakura changed the direction of her blade and cut back downward, slicing through the second guard. Though while that was happening two shots rang out from a ballistic small arms weapon. Kozakura looked down to see a small caliber pistol just before it clattered to the ground. Panic ran through her mind at first, but she felt no pain. She did however get a blaring warning about armor integrity levels that did not help with the initial panic. Though on closer inspection her integrity was holding, but she'd just had a really close encounter that left her heart pounding even harder than it had been previously.

"Entrance secure, I think I'll let you two take point in breaching it though," Kozakura said.

Kwabba-an waited patiently until she heard the sound of Kozakura's voice, at which point she took a quick glance up over her cover before hopping over and closing the distance to her comrade.

"Understood," Kwabba-an intonated her understanding as she studied the entranceway, then looked down at the blades of her ABSRs. "Do either of you have any explosives, sisters? I fear my blades may not cut it."

Sanda reapeared behind the two. She glanced down at the two guards sliced to peices. "Nice work." She stepped up to the door and took her last charge of explosives and set it to the door. "This should work. Be ready. They're sure to have some tough guys in there."

Kwabba-an, who had been expecting the answer to be negative, quickly flew for cover once Sanda began pulling out the explosives.

Kozakura had shook her head in response to Kawabba-an but quickly moved to get behind some cover while Sanda placed the charges. While waiting in cover she sheathed her blades and switched back to the submachine gun as she didn't know how tight things would be inside.

Sanda moved back and to the side out of the blast range. She smiled as she said one of her favoirite things. "Fire in the hole!" The blast blew the doors inward. As soon as Sanda pressed the button she was moving forward, blasting away with the Rifle. Inside the room were about a dozen technicians seated at various moniters and computer stations. Behind them were three Kuvexian power armor suits.

Once the worst of the blast seemed over, Kwabba-an had an idea. She dropped flat to the ground, but used some power from her CFS to float just above the ground. She then proceeded to fly into the room after Sanda, her ABSRs at the ready.

Screaming a Nepleslian curse Sanda rushed into the room. Her fire was directed at the Kuvexian power suits. Those were the greatest threat. Comprable to a Mindy, they had the speed, power and armor to make short work of the Daughters of Yamatai.

Kozakura rushed in behind the others and then fanned out once inside the building. Her eyes quickly processed the targets and instantly moved from the technicians to the suits of power armor. Flicking a switch from burst fire to full auto, she began to unload in longer somewhat controlled bursts of rapid aether fire at the nearest suit to herself. Due to the confusion caused by the blast they still had the upperhand for the time being.

Flying just above the ground allowed Kwabba-an to quickly put herself in melee range while avoiding the exchange of weapons fire flashing overhead. Her experience with cutting into Kuvexian armor below the helmet gave her the idea that their other joints might be potential weakspots. With this in mind, she pointed her ABSRs at the knees of one of the suits of power armor and accelerated.

Sanda only had a few rounds left for the big 50mm cannon but she made good use of them. Despite being in such a tight space, the tattooed Nepleslian fired at point blank range. At such close range, even the heavy armor of the Kuvezian would take some serious damage. Even as Sanda prepared to fire a second time one the the enemy suits rushed her with an aether blade. She was barely able to jump out of the way before another attack was launched and Sanda had to duck under the powerful blade. The next swing knocked Sanda off balance and before she could recover the Kuvezian thrust its blade into her into her shoulder. Sanda dropped her plasma rifle as her arm went dead but was able to roll away before her attacker could follow up.

While one of Kwabba-an's strikes glanced off the heavy armor, the other managed to cut through the knee joint, but not as cleanly as her previous ones had. Her enemy struck down from above with some kind of blade, and she used the saber that had delivered the glancing blow to block a fast flurry of attacks.

Sanda tried to stall for time. Her suit would rearm itself and she'd be able to use her right arm again but it would take a moment. She drew her plasma revolver left handed and fired. Her attacker retreated and returned fire with its own sidearm. Sanda ducked down behind a computer console and kicked the tech cowering there out of the way. A green light appeared on her HUD, indicating her arm was working again. "About time." She muttered. Her rifle was out of reach so she switched her revolver to the other hand. She stood again and shot at the closes target she could see. Unfortunately, it was one of the techs. The Kuvexian was using them for cover as it moved closer to her position.


Sanda fired twice then again had to jump out of the way as the power blade slashed at her. She had had about enough of this. Hostering her revolver, Sanda activated her own plasma blade that was attached to her right forarm. She parried the next attack then countered with one of her own. The attack caught her oponite off guard and scored a hit agaist the Kuvexian helmet. The Kuvexian backed up, seemlingly shaken at the blow it had recieved. Sanda activated her suits speakers, "What's wrong? Scared?" She taunted. Her oponite lunged at her again. Sanda lost her footing and fell back against the wall. Sencing the kill, the Kuvexian lunged at her, thrusting its blade at the Daisy's midsection. Sanda was ready for this. How many times had she practiced this in boot camp. If she ever saw her old insturcter she'd kiss her right on the mouth. As the blade came in Sanda shifted her body and allowed the blade to pass inches from her left hip. With her left arm she grabbed her oponites weapon and pinned it against her body. Moving with lighting speed, Sanda drew her Straight Silver blade and jammed it into the Kuvexian head, right through the weak spot her plasma blade had made. For a moment, the two were helmet to helmet then Sanda said viciously, "For Yamatai."

Kozakura for her part had dropped behind a row of consoles after needing to eject her old battery in favor of a new one. Slotting it in only took a few seconds so before long she was moving again. Though as she looked around her target was nowhere in sight. Circling around to the other side of some rows of consoles and monitors she found it, the Kuvie power armor was badly damaged, she wasn't sure if they were dead or not. Kozakura hesitated for a moment, raised her weapon, and then unloaded a burst into the helmet of the power armor.

Kwabba-an was still prone with one blade embedded in the knee of her enemy while she defended strike after strike from above. Because of this, she failed to notice her enemy carefully taking aim with their pistol until it was almost too late. Thinking quickly and with both of her upper arms occupied, she raised her bass guitar up in front of her helmet just in time to absorb the plasma fire. Fortunately, her bass was made of solid Zesuaium and the body absorbed the blast with only some carbon residue on its surface. Unfortunately for her listeners, her strings were not made of such a strong substance and snapped.

The insectoid woman's heart began to race. Her fingers no longer had anything on which to pluck out a melody, and she began to lose track of where the symphony in her ears was going. The enemy landed a strike with its blade, cutting the cable that connected her ABSR to her suit, and its aether generator. Her sabre fell back on its battery supply, but the woman who wielded it was starting to panic. What should have been the finishing blow began its arc downwards upon her, but Kwabba-an realized she still had one instrument in her arsenal.

"Oh the year was YE 43, 🎵
How I wish I was in Kyoto now,"
Kwabba-an sang.

With newfound calm, the musician continued to sing out, this time managing to parry the blow that would have ended her. With her opponent off-guard, she flared her TAP engine and struck upwards, catching the kuvexian with a thrust up through its neck into its helmet. The body collapsed upon her, and she lay still underneath it, singing quietly into her open channel.

Sanda quickly recovered her plasma rifle and looked around the room. Against all odds, it looked like they had taken the secutity center. "Nice work... Sisters." It didn't feel nearly as strange now to say that. "Let's see if we can't deactivated the defences from here and inform the fleet that we've taken security center."

"Sounds good, it's all Yamataian tech so hopefully it won't be too hard," Kozakura replied while watching the techs scurry about and cower behind some cover.

It didn't take long for the three to secure the room. Already several other Mindy suits had joined them and helped lock down the room. Sanda had made sighed as she entered in the comms for the YSS Presurgence. "YSS Presurgence, This is Santo Hei Sanda Hoshi of the Star Army Rangers. It gives me great pleasure to report that my companions, Santo Hei Tatsugami Kozakura and Santo Hei Kwabba-an Ternifac-xuralkhi have taken and secured the security center of the Sakura Fleet Depot. Though there are still many enemy troops fighting, the base defences have been shut down. For the glory of Yamatai."
 
YSS Presurgence

Tomomi sat in her seat more rigidly when her sensor sweep picked up the civilian "freighter". "Wha.. What are they doing there?" She said, mostly to herself. With all of the chaos going on, she didn't think it was quite important enough without additional information. Especially as the 7th Fleet didn't seem all that bothered by the vessel either. Then she watched it land on the airless world.

"Ma'am, we have a civilian ship landing on Scrapyard I." she said in utter disbelief as a portion of her mind remained tracking the Kuvexian masses that still remained.
"Do you have any way of finding out who they are?" Majime asked, not really having enough information. "I'm not sure we should make this our problem," she admitted to her new first officer.

- - -

Suddenly, between the two machine planets there was a massive flash of light and a blue glow as a hole in space and time formed, swirling around like water circling a drain. As it expanded there was a dark portal in the middle, large enough for a fleet of starships to enter it.

On the Bridge of the YSS Battle of Yamatai, Taisho Yui watched this with vague unease and caution. This was the opportunity but it wouldn't come easily. Nevertheless, she--as usual--had some surprises up her sleeve. She got on comms to the combined forces and ordered, "All forces, excluding the mop-up force staying behind, return the fleet, reform, and cross the portal. I'm leading the way. See you on the other side. With that, Yui's mighty dreadnaught and its sisters and their thousands of 1st Fleet ships began funneling through the portal to the outskirts of the Gimmergold system, where a very surprised Kuvexian Fleet began scrambling to become ready for combat. There was no mercy or courtesy afforded to them by Yui. As soon as firing solutions were ready Yui was using area-effect weapons on their fleets.

A single scout ship went back through the portal ot the Kikyo Sector and reported to those who hadn't entered it yet, "It works. Come on in, the water's nice."
 
"They've opened a wormhole!" The captain's voice shot across his comm just as he finished repairs to his mecha, "Ya think they're gonna hit the Kuvvie's on their own turf?"

"Perhaps." He answered, having just finished repairs. It would make sense-given the size of the fleet gathered here. "Captain, I have to ask-may I call upon your services one more time?" There was a pregnant pause, followed by a heavy sigh. "You really mean to follow them through?" Reinhart sounded exhasperated, "I can understand wanting a fight, especially with these bastards but we've already got a small fortune in salvage-which you just used to pay us with-but fightin' the Kuvies on their own turf sounds suicidal-I mean we made it this far-I say we cut our losses and get while the getting's good!" He could understand the man's reasoning-they had already their payment, and weren't eager for anymore risk. The sentinel decided to press on however

"Captain...think of what will happen should they fail-the Kuvexians from what I have gathered will likely further destabilize the sector-and while your ship is fairly well equipped," Steiner continued, hearing the mutterings of the crew through his comms, "Could you handle a completely destabilized, war torn sector on your own?" The captain groaned. "I get that, but still-the forces here should be more than enough-what's one itty-biddy little freighter like mine gonna do that all these navy ships can't?" Yet another valid point, though a rather moot one, as the sleek, brutal looking ship seemed to have more in common with the warships seen here than a common freighter. He tried for one last avenue of attack-if this didn't work for then it was time to cut his losses and go.

"Captain Reinhart-if nothing else, think of what this will do for both the reputation of yourself and your crew-think of what that will do for your pocketbook?" He responded, attempting to appeal to the man's greed, "The captain of an independent freighter having helped the coalition here not only liberate a system, but also end the war? Your profits would be through the roof, not to mention any salvage we happened to acquire while we are setting about our task." Another pause-followed by an exasperated groan-he had him. "Grr...alright-you win you crazy bastard, for glory and booty." Reinhart's rather reluctant response indicated that he had best not push too far, or he might find himself shoved out an air lock. "All hands to combat stations-we've going in! Send out a general broadcast so we don't get blasted to scrap and mark the system for return just incase."

"This Captain James Reinhart of the Stonewall-watch your fire-we're coming through!"

The Stonewall streamed through the wormhole at maximum burn, emerging on the other as Stenier emerged from the cargo bay just as the first flashes hit the hostile fleet. "You still wanna do this?" Reinhart inquired as they began to close the distance between them and the two fleets. "I am certain-you will not meet your demise here Captain, not so long I stand with you." The response brought a chuckle. "Alright then, shields to maximum power, all ahead full!"

And with that, they dove headlong into hell...
 

海千山千​


YSS Tokyo
First Expeditionary Fleet
Tokyo Expeditionary Battlegroup and Taihō Expeditionary Strike Group

"Well that was a shorter wait than expected, lets get back to work," Katsuko gave Himawari's shoulder a light squeeze before she turned and headed back up to the command platform. It looked like Eri didn't get to leave her seat after all. Katsuko looked over, her steel eyes caught the bridge light which gave an almost unnatural illumination. She lowered herself into the command chair, SPINE re-engaged and information flooded her digital mind as her presets clouded around her. "Line us up, and take us in," she ordered. Their adjoining strike group had finished their mop-up, and their hangars were crowded with quickly landed craft that would be made ready for immediate redeployment on the other side.

The YSS Tokyo proudly lead its swarming formation of ships in, with the YSS Tsu Maru and YSS Shima Maru on their port and starboard flanks with their own assigned details from the four Orchid Scout Groups. The First Expeditionary Fleet was determined to pull their weight, the Taihō Expeditionary Strike Group trailed further behind as they let the very strange civilian freighter go ahead of them.

"Eri, once we're on the other side, dispatch a quarter of our escort group to specifically cling close to the Essai Machine Worlds," she passed orders to her first officer and lover with the knowledge that she too knew what was at stake.

"We may be small in numbers, but we are mighty."

If the other ships in the armada thought that the Tokyo's original entrance into the fray at Scrapyard was impressive, only the bow of the ship had emerged from the portal when the first barrages left the mighty ship's turrets towards the KIN ships. Once the ship and its accompanying vessels were completely free of the portal, Katsuko followed Yui's lead and had the ship unleash the fury of its main cannon into the fleet of KIN ships that were caught off guard before them. For so many on the Tokyo, cadets that had been pulled from their placements and education to learn in the field just to man the ship it was the beginning. For Katsuko, it was about making that beginning count for it was an end of an era for her.

Volumetric screens flashed and moved, the main projection enlarged across the front of the bridge which showed a battlefield unlike any other that Yamatai had ever been involved in. The ship vibrated as blasts met its exterior, CFS shifted and compensated and it was not long before the Tokyo and company were face-first, on a tide of unyielding potency in the flames of Glimmergold. Fighters and Bombers flooded from their hangars, Power Armors swarmed around the ship like bees to a hive. Lightning-quick calculations of digital minds ruled with the precision backed by KAMI as weapons and soldiers were poured into the engagement.
 
YSS "Presurgence"
"I'm not sure we should make this our problem," she admitted to her new first officer.
"Not at all, ma'am," Kagura said quickly in return, using her Nekovalkyrja wireless communication to speak with Majime as effortlessly from her place in the power armor bay as she would had she been standing beside the captain. Plus, the fresh young Taii had been monitoring bridge functions and cross-talk via her own trusty datapad in between coordinating launches and landings, and so missed few details even while she put in the extra work to help out the deck crew. She was definitely being a tad overzealous in her new duties as the first officer, but Kagura expected nothing less of herself during her first day on the job. How else could a soldier presume to find their stride if not by fiery trial?

"Just looks like a salvage operation getting a leg-up on their competition," the Neko Taii continued, trying to keep her words as succinct as possible. "Shouldn't be an issue unless they start picking apart our wounded," she added and then paused for only a moment. Everything seemed set in the power armor bay, especially because operations had gone so well for the Star Army here in Scrapyard. "First sortie's coming back without a hitch, ma'am. I should be reporting to my post up there before transit."

YSS Musashi
Flagship of the Third Fleet


With little to do in the face of the Interstellar Kingdom's light resistance in Scrapyard and at Sakura Fleet Depot, Hokusai-taisho had kept her ships on standby and ready just in case the Kuvexians had something as audaciously sneaky up their sleeves to counter this feint as Yui did with the Essai wormholes. The diminutive admiral was still a wily, fierce soldier, but had grown accustomed to performing reserve duties in the years since she'd taken command of the Third. And though the First Fleet dwarfed all others with its glut of Sharie-class battleships and Super Eikan-class destroyers, the Third Fleet was still one of the more sizeable units present and certainly one of the most experienced, so retaining her fleet's assumed role made the most strategic sense to Hokusai.

"Let the others go through first," she ordered, rubbing her chin with her right hand as she peered down at the glowing holo-table that replicated the entire battlespace in vivid teal volumetrics. Even as the cadence of her direction continued uninterrupted, the Third's ships began to move toward the portal and through its radiating blue swirl. "We will stay in rearguard. There's plenty of glory to be had from all vectors."
 
NDC Fleet
The Omega Wing’s comms were filled with curses when the three of the Pilot’s ships were rendered immobile. They counted themselves lucky that they were still alive, and they used their sensors to glare at the retreating ships. As the NDC sent ships to retrieve the damaged immobile fighters, Omega leader thought of their strategy thus far and found that with the deaths of a few of the Kuvexians she thought that she would be satisfied with what they had accomplished.

Omega Wing’s comms had static as the three AI girls were transferred to their other bodies. Followed by Honor, and everyone else. Omega Leader would be the last one to return to the ship with the others. “Omega Wing returned to the ship.” She reported and remained silent.
 
Near Kuvexian Space
YSS Kaiyō II

Bridge

"We have a bit to cover in sublight speeds," Hoshi had murmured to her pilot, Gravity, "Think you can lead the pack? You know where to position us." Her confidence in the pilot was well placed and apparent in her words. Behind them were a huge contingent of the space faring portion of the third fleet's task force that had been sent to the frontlines to join up with the Fuji-class three quarters of a year ago. The grouping hadn't wanted to draw attention to the surprise attack and had been hanging about loosely in space nearby. Only now had they had gotten confirmation that the fleets had made it through the mysterious portals.

To her crew, Hoshi spoke over communications. "We'll be within the Glimmergold system in two minutes. We'll have less time than normal to do what we do best. Even though we never have really protected planet glassers... only destroyed them, I think what we do best is face new challenges well. Remember, this is our shot at ending the war for good, so the planet glassers' protection are our primary goal here."

She continued, "Make sure your Mindys are at peak performance and don't waste your teleportation cool downs in combat; save them for last minute bouncing back to the ship. I want everyone back on this ship within eight minutes of being off of it. I hope that is understood. Refer to Teien-chusa for any further questions."

Power Armor Bay

"You heard the captain," Eden said with her Mindy helmet off and under an arm. "Your safety and the safety of those Essai round... machines," the concept seemed new to the XO as she wondered what exactly they were to protect. No pictures or great descriptors had come through with the mission profile. "The safety of both you and the planet glassers are of the utmost importance. Protecting them is imperative, as is getting back on this ship," Eden pointed one of her Mindy clad fingers to the ground of the PA bay, "in one piece before we depart back for base. Am I being clear? Eight minutes." She looked around the bay, at everyone assembled in the armors, ready for a fight to end all the other fights they had had. She couldn't help herself, she spoke as she stepped around the bay, Mindy boots clanking on the bay floor as if she were Chlorate.

"There are many Yamataians and Nepleslians and independents slipping into the Glimmergold system right now. They have felt the loss of this war and they may have fought against the Kuvexian enemy once or twice- maybe more if you count Ketsurui Hanako's ship. But we have felt the burden of this war in a way not many of them can attest to. Every battle, every boarding, every reconnaissance mission, for Yui's sake- every one of the many species we have encountered that the Kuvexians have enslaved, we have come out stronger and more resilient from. We have emerged from them all more ready for this moment." Her jaw stiffened as her amber gold eyes shot towards the open power armor bay door, its glimmering one way force field in place. "We can't save every species, we can't save every planet out here under their rule -Yui knows we have tried- but we can save the Kikyō Sector today." She turned back towards her crew to bellow, "Who's ready to save our sector and end this war?!"
 
Kirameku Enki
Scrapyard System, before the portal opened


"Incoming," declared Heagan as he sighted the approaching enemy forces. A mental command sent his frame's data to the rest of the lance.

Enki twisted her lips in displeasure. The amount of forces they were sending didn't make sense, but...

She turned the map on her displsy and saw that the path that the Kuvexian forces were sent to open.

Ah, she thought.

"We can't let them break the line," said the neko calmly. "Take down it's escorts. I'll try to slow the gunship down to give the big guns a chance to take it out."

She switched her comm line over to flight control as the lance moved to intercept. "Requesting fire support for marked target. Enki out."

Enki brought in her wing drones and punched the Banshee to full speed as soon as it finished the change into Fighter mode. The Sparrowhawks near her did the same, creating a loose formation as they raced towards their opponents. Speed and sharp reflexes would have to keep them safe; the frames wouldn't hold up to a direct hit from the gunship.

Their maps showed them the radius of the NDC fleet's effective firing zone. For Enki's plan to work, they had to draw the enemy close enough for the big guns without leaving the protection of the fleet- and definitely without going out of recovery range.

The Banshee spiraled out of the way of an aether blast. It was tens of meters away, but at stellar distances that was a close shave. Enki grit her teeth, waiting for a firing solution. Her frame's weapon was untested in actual combat, but that's why she was here. The seconds spent waiting seemed to last forever, and then..

An electric blue rectangle stretched away from the frame and struck the gunship's shields. Energy streams from her drones joined it a moment later when the range allowed.

"Keep it evasive," she said to the rest of the lance, "priority is on getting back alive. Not much value in our combat data if we're not around to share it."

"Roger that," commed Heagan. The trio bobbed and weaved, taking what shots they could and waiting for the call to come back home.

Indira Vaikar
Kaiyo II


The weight of the operation wasn't lost on the Iroma scientist. While she wanted nothing more than to get a closer look at those machine worlds instead of protecting them, she'd take what she could get. An opportunity might present itself one day, if the Essai survived.

"Ready," she declared in her standard monotone, but her eyes were full of resolve. They'd shed blood and seen what things could be like under Kuvexian rule. There was no room for that in her plans for the future.
 
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Music for first half.

OOC - "In ancient times it was said Valkyries gave their blessings on the eve of war, to those honored few. To gain a seat in heaven and to never worry again. It no wonder in this age the last humans consider them blessed when a Nekovalkyrja sends us off. It's like legends given flesh in a calamity of an era". - Memoir of Wulf Soban

Prelude to the Battle.
YSS Kaiyō II
Deck 2

Sakura was making her way to the dojo. As the ship was busy getting ready for war she was surprised when she received a personal message. It was from Wulf and just asked for her to meet him in the Dojo. To be honest she was surprised by the request from her friend. Normally before battle he was rechecking equipment, going over the battle plan over and over drilling it into his mind. To say it worried but also peaked her interest was an understatement.

Standing in front of the door she couldn't help but feel a weight on her shoulders. Her heart, her soul was nagging at her for this oddity and she still wondered why. Taking a deep breath she pushed the button and with a whoosh the door slide open. With a measured pace she took two steps in before bowing to the spirits of the dojo. Traditions had their place and this was one of the few Sakura practiced.

Slowly walking in she saw the lights were dimmed. The one object she could see illuminated was a figure kneeling in full combat gear. As she walked closer to the figure she almost felt she was like at a ceremony laced with holiness without the pomp of state. She could feel her stomach tighten further as curiosity was replaced with dread. Before her question could be raised a familiar voice spoke "Sakura I'm glad you came".

In her memory she never heard his voice be somber or was it something else? Though she could only replay "Of course you're my friend, what is up?". Watching him stand up he picked a blade she couldn't see before. Stepping over to her and the face he wore seemed almost pained. Despite his tone his voice showed a smile "I have a favor to ask and one I can only ask of you". Concerned for what troubled him she almost jumped in reply "Of course anything you need Wulf I'm here".

He could only shake his head "I wouldn't be so sure I know you won't like this at all". Quickly he added "I do also hate to ask this of you but I couldn't ask Kiyo to do this". That statement seemed to shock her and it was slowly dawning on her what he might ask. Sakura was an older neko, one that knew of some old traditions. She wanted to run away cause she didn't want to bear what he was going to say next.

"So.." he began. Looking her straight in the eyes "There is a tradition and I wish you to bear witness to it". She could feel that knife in her heart, each word an extra stab "Will you bear witness to my oath of the moment".

She wanted to cry for what he was saying. It was said in a few more extreme soldiers of a tradition that was banned. To encourage them to fight harder and faster then what thought possible they would delete their ST. If they failed their mission those that witness there oath would dishonor them or kill them. It encouraged victory or death for those that gave this oath would be nothing but trash to be removed.

Sakura hated it, to her every life was precious. To have her friend ask her of this hurt more then she thought possible. He was sentencing himself to death and to her sign off as sole witness to his foolish request. She could only get a simple "But why? why me ? why this terrible request!?".

She felt his hand on her shoulder and the warmth it had. She wanted to cry at the notion that it might be gone. That he would leave his daughter fatherless, his one day wife Kiyo widowed and friends left behind. She wanted to punch him and scream but she controlled herself.

He spoke again "It's simple in order to make it through this, to protect what I love I must". She shook her head in anger "You can fight and have a chance again with a ST". Her friend could only shake his head "No if I die before the final moment it means I could lose everything". He pulled out a piece of parchment "Just read this and you'll understand"

Tradition had that each oath was written on paper and then was read outloud. Those that witnessed it could give their blessing or even deny it if it seemed without full heart. As she took the parchment and looked it over she understood why. The neko didn't have to like it but she understood why in a few words he wrote.

Finally she nodded "Alright i'll bear witness but on a last condition you have to come back alive or forever be damned". He simply nodded before kneeling before her. As he held up his blade she took a breath. She hated ceremonies and hated this but she would do this for her friend.

"Wulf Soban, you have asked me to witness this oath, this solem vow, do you accept the fate that awaits for failure?".

The ranger spoke in a voice steeled "I do".

The neko continued "Do you pledge to do honor for the Empire and your family name?

Again he spoke "I pledge".

She went on "Do you promise to fight at the forefront into the crucible of war, and conduct yourself to glory, no matter the ferocity or the ability of your enemy".

He nodded before adding "I promise!"

The last part "Lastly not for any empire, or any one commander's glory, do you Wulf of Soban promise to protect your family and to come home to them victory in hand?".

He looked up at his friend with a fire in his eyes and replied "On this Oath, and by this weapon, I swear".

Folding up the parchment she concluded "Then Wulf Soban I witness your oath and may the gods smile upon you".


Present time.
YSS Kaiyo II
Power Armor bay

Wulf was preparing the final checks on his mindy. Tucked close to his heart was the parchment of his oath. Though he knew how furious Kiyo and his friends would be he knew it had to be done. When someone has only one life left he has so much more to lose.

Steeling himself for what will be the toughest fight in his life already to the observant they could tell something was up with the ranger. His mindy normally outfitted for long range firefights and misdirection was equipped with something that almost seemed alien. Instead of a tactical rifle he had carried another Xiphos, and instead of missiles of misdirection it was all equipped with fire and death. Lastly to compliment his teleporter was 2 capacity recharges. Already the crew would see his intent was to close quarters and slip away.

As his mindy locked it place with the final checks in complete he caught a glance at Kiyo. The mother of their child and for him the subject of his love. Before he could think further he could hear a loud cheer from the crew in reply to Eden's speech. Save the Sector though ? No to save those he loved he would kill everything that dared cross his path.
 
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Sakura Fleet Depot

One by one, the squads of Ehlen mercenaries met their end at the hands of the Yamataian masses. But it was a battle that left a smile on their obscured faces as they had set out with the task they agreed upon. They died as warriors instead of the paid mercenaries they simply were before.

Mikael, Hiroki's SOFT, and a number of other Yamataian forces battled with the remaining squad. One tossed a mindy like it was nothing when the Neko tried to get in close to lodge a grenade in a notch in their armor. Another attempted to get in close with Mikael as his HEAP rounds were hitting their marks, but the Centurion was able to keep his distance.

"To death we go, but war is eternal!" One Ehlen screamed out in a death cry in her native tongue. The last majority of the Yamataians would be unable to understand her, though Mikael's AI flagged the language with an obscured dialect from Nepleslia. Something that utterly confused him for a moment.

He didn't have time to think about the ramifications of the discovery as he received the next frago from his commanding officer. He then looked up to the sky to see if he could see the wormhole.

"Sakura Fleet Depot has been captured. Mount back up to the YSS Yukikaze, we are on standby. Count yourselves lucky with your temporary formations, the Giretsu Centuries are remaining behind with most of Task Force 501." Mikael reported to his fire teams.

Taking one last look at the defeated Ehlen mercenaries, he lifted off and made his way back to the Plumeria 2E/R Gunship.
 
Kiyo had been silent as she prepared for battle, her Aether Katana, Silverlight lay before her, and the blue-skinned Neko carefully cleaned the blade making it shiny and clean. Ever since she created her weapon she adopted some of the traditions of the Samurai, one of which was that it was disrespectful to kill her enemy with a dirty blade. Though she did not feel that the evil, greedy Kuvexians or their allies deserved respect, she thought that it was honorable to her weapon to keep it clean.

She grasped the hilt and lifted the weapon. “Silverlight, today will be the day that the war with evil comes to an end. We have someone precious to fix this universe for. “She said to her as she got up and sheathed her blade before she checked her Mindy making sure it was in working order which it was since she worked on it.

She climbed in, and then grabbed her weapons and listened to Eden’s speech. Like the others, she cheered, since she wanted to protect the sector and make it right for Luna. She glanced over to Wulf, unaware that the fool has done something foolish. She smiled at him and blew him a kiss while her voice entered his mind as she used her telepathy. “ Darling! after this, let's sleep together, alright? and have some fun too. ” She didn’t exactly want to tell him that out loud.

Suddenly both Kiyo and Wulf will get a pop up on their HUDs revealing a youngling with heterochromia eyes. "Papa! Mama! stay safe out there! also no hugs for those who dont come back!" The cute little one said trying to look stern. She smiles"major hugs for when you come back though, and I take good care of Valkyr i promise!" Kiyo smiles"thats good sweetie, what a good girl you are. Valkyr protect Luna and Tsubame too!" She told her before the communication ended
 
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Steiner narrowly avoided one of the energy blades of a Kuvexian armor as he brought a massive, armored fist down on the blackguard-the trooper had overextended with his slash and was rewarded for his efforts with a vicious blow turning them into a greasy, mangled stain against the Stonewall's hull. "Watch what yer doing! We're getting reports of impacts against the hull!" Reinhart scolded, just as the dreadnought came through, loosing its deadly cannon as its sister ships unleashed their furious cargo of armor and small craft. The sentinel let out an oath as he very nearly wound up as a brand new ornament on one of them.

"That slack jawed, tar-eyed..." He growled while looking for something to vent his frustration on, he snapped off a shot and nailing a kuvexain fighter as the Stonewall began violent evasive maneuvers narrowly dodging a trio of torpedoes launched at it. The mass-drivers sending super-heated tungsten streaking into the void, shredding anything unfortunate to get too close. "Damn it! Turn hard to starboard, adjust 30 degrees downward and concentrate all firepower in a 90 degree angle in front of us." A sudden sense of vertigo overcame Steiner as the craft suddenly dove, turning sharply as the craft's guns hammered into a group of pursuing strike craft-armor shredded as the high velocity guns ripped into the armor sending bits of shrapnel hurtling into space. He saw the flashes as the high velocity fragments slammed into the shield-his own EM screen flaring to life in order to protect his armored machine. "Shields reduced by ten percent, maintain maximum combat speeds." Reinhart ordered, his voice calm and collected even as the enemy perused them with murderous intent.

"So, we're here and helping, now what?" The captain's voice was still calm, but held a steely edge. "We hold the line and hope that the navies conclude their business as soon as possible." Steiner replied, turning as seven contacts made to land on his compatriots' vessel as the Captain replied-he didn't hear what was said, not with what was coming their way. 'Power armors.' He growled internally, and looked to be of the same make and model of the ones he'd fought on scrapyard and killed just a moment ago-three were simply torn apart under the Stonewall's guns. Unfortunately the other four managed to get through. "Captain, we have more boarders, I shall be but a moment." The lead armor signaled as they brought their guns to bear. Steiner growled and charged not wanting to risk hitting the ship, just as they opened fire. Using their jetpacks to keep clear of his fist, they spread out into twin fireteams while taking great care to evade being in the firing arc of the Starship's guns. The warden's EM Screen flickered as each burst of cyan energy made contact, the aging shield system barely holding even as he dumped additional power into it. He sent a burst of MG fire as the screen gave out and the cyan bolts began to dig deep pits into his armor plating-alarms blared into his head as the NDS kicked into life, flash-forging additional applique armor while trying to repair the damage.

His volley didn't quite connect-most of the volley missed, with a few slugs from the thirty round burst glancing off one of the armors forcing them to take evasive maneuvers, while tearing through another not quite killing them, but injuring them enough that they were out of the fight, though . The second active pair had split off, one throwing a what looked like a grenade while the other laid down covering fire. Swatting at the munition, he got a nasty surprise in the form of an opaque substance suddenly coating his battlefist. At first he was confused, not understanding at first as he charge, but the realized as he tried to form a fist. 'NLAM munitions.' He hated those-they had a habit of getting into your joints-at least they were anti-personnel scale instead of anti-mech missiles or mortars. Activating the nanofabricator to break down the stuff, the Sentinel opted to simply to stomp the one firing into the hull. To his credit, the kuvie didn't hesitate or panic, wanting until the last moment to activate his thruster and blast back in an attempt to put as much distance between himself and the mecha as his companion began to hammer the Warden from behind. Unfortunately, his maneuver cost him dearly as the it put him directly in the sights of one of the mass drivers. Superheated tungsten rounds meant to tear through star fighters and could even damage larger craft given time peppered the man, leaving him as an unrecognizable mass of metal and flesh.

Turning to the one who had thrown the grenade-he watched as the Kuvie began to blast off. Raising his helstrom, he sent a bolt the individual's way-watching with a grim satisfaction as the beam simply vaporized him. Unfortunately this was short lived as alarms blared as the gyros in his cannon arm suddenly gave out. A cyan blade had punctured the right shoulder, and had begun to drag down just as he shook violently. The blade suddenly dislodged as he assessed the damage-right shoulder actuator's seriously damaged, but could be repaired given a few minuets. Time he didn't have at the moment. 'That is what you get for letting your discipline slip 'Sentinel'.' The voice mocked as he turned, his opponent calmly stood, and held the blade in an en garde stance. 'Like I did not notice, should've figured the blackguard would've recovered.'

Without a moment's hesitation he charged, fist now clear of the gunk. The kuvie began a graceful dance, taking a short jab at the machine and digging into one of the legs, but hadn't hit anything vital. Steiner responded with a vicious backswing that the kuvie ducked under, landing a deep slash across the torso. More alarms-the alien was getting perilously close to his engine-the armor he used was thick and tough, but this blade was going through it like so much tissue paper. What was worse was that more fighters were closing in. Calling upon every scrap of training, discipline and experience to keep his mounting fury in check Steiner took a defensive stance, holding his battlefist up defensively. The maneuver seemed simply embolden his opponent, who began to dance forward. His comm unit crackled to life over the open channel. "You and this ship shall make a fine payout when we are done here." The voice was heavily accented, confident and haughty; however his declaration had hit the ex-merc like a truck.

What....WHAT!?

That's all this was war was, a simple payday on the part of the Kuvexian Kingdom-that's why they had invaded?! Headhunting?! An investment on their part, paid for in suffering and bloodshed. His reasons for being here at first were just simply to help put a stop to the Kuvexians efforts to destabilize the sector-but this...his anger and rage now focused by ironclad discipline forged that into a righteous hatred. They were no better than the pirates and warlords that he faced while in the company.

And this...whelp in front of him along with the rest of his kind were about to learn the hard way how the members of the Iron Company got their reputation back in his home universe. His massive fist lashed out just as his opponent made to stab at the hole he had already made, catching the forearm. "And you and yours..." He growled back-his voice holding a hard, hateful edge, crushing the man's forearm and forcing him to relinquish his grip on the saber, "Shall no longer prey upon this sector and its peoples, not so long as individuals like those soldiers and myself still draw breath." A swift motion brought his foe fully into his grasp. Steiner fired the chainguns, shredding his lower half while crushing the life from the man. A cruel and unnessciarily messy end, and would've been frowned upon-but it was to make a point. He hurled the now lifeless body from the ship, watching as it collided with something in the distance, watching as it collided with the wreckage in the distance.

"You alright Steiner?" It was Captain Reinhart-he sounded concerned-the Sentinel noticed the lull in the fighting in their small section of the battlefield-they were a short distance outside of the main engagement zone. "I am fine, now, I believe we have work to do." A pair of the drones he had set about to repair the damaged actuator and armor, removing the slagged sections and rebuilding the damaged gyros, his own fabber assisting. 'Yet another battlefield refit,' He sigher internally as he regained the use of the armor a short while later, 'No point griping about it.'

"Alright, returning to-SHIT!" A series of strong impacts hammered the freighter as over two dozen fighters suddenly swarmed the freighter from all sides-likely seeing them as easy prey, "Multiple bogies detected, gunners engage! Engage!" They were soon to learn otherwise. The Stonewall's weapon roared back to life, flashes from where the rounds exited the barrels at hypersonic speeds, shredding one of the fighters and leaving deadly shrapnel flying in space that did not distinguish between them. Steiner joined in even as hypersonic shards peppered his shell, blasting away with his cannon. "Engaging emergency fire protocols, all units maintain 30 meters minimum safe distance." Steiner rattled off automatically as the I-Beam weapon fired at it's maximum rate-the internal heat of the Warden rose exponentially as it's cooling system struggled to keep it to safe level. "Shield Breech! Shield Breech! Multiple impacts on the on aft starboard side, explosion detected in crew quarters, damage control teams to crew quarters!" Steiner cursed as he heard not the captain but one of the crewmembers. "Reward turrets two and six, concentrate fire until we can get it under control" The turrets rotated around, blasting away as the teams attempted to seal the breach.

"Dispatching drones to assist in repairs." He replied to the news, sending a blast of plasma as his chainguns blazed. More impacts rammed into the ship as brilliant cyan beams impacted the rear of the ship-another volley of blue-white and mass driver munitions ensuring the offending craft paid dearly as his cooling units desperately tried to keep the gun's temperature from affecting the rest of his systems even has he and his drones desperately tried to help the crews keep the damage under control. He could see atmosphere and smoke venting into space for the starboard aft. "Starboard Engine hit-main engineering environmental controls failing, medical and damage control teams to Engine room, evacuate main engineering."

Captain Reinhart growled furiously, enraged by the damage , "Come on you kuvvie bastards! Let's see how you handle a freighter that can actually fight back!!" The vitriol and fury in the man's voice was evident, even as his ship was being shot to pieces around them. Despite the damage the craft were inflicting and it's reduced speed, they were making their way back to friendly forces inching ever closer, the Stonewall and its passenger remaining an unyielding force, reaping a bloody toll amongst the kuvexian craft-debris floated thickly around them. "We are nearly there, push forward!" Reinhalt growled at Steiner's declaration. "We ain't dying here, don't you worry about that-divert power from all non essential systems to shields and weapons-keep our course and speed as steady as you can." As they plunged into the main battle zone, the fighters grew ever thicker, the shields flickering to life even as munitions and beams impacted them. Unfortunately, a number of them impacted the Stonewall before they activated full. "BRIDGE BREACHED! SEAL IT!" Those words sent chills down his ravaged flesh, abandoning his position near the engine he was disparately sending nanites into he sprinted across the hull at top speed to the aid of the crew, he saw bodies fly out as the bridge just before it was sealed.

"Captain Reinhart, do you copy, Captain Rinehart, Do you read?!" No answer. The mass drivers were firing furiously, he could see them glowing from the sheer friction from rounds. Coughing sounded over the radio as Reinhart's voice came through. "I'm alright, but that was a lot closer than I wanted-we've got electrical fires all over the place and a malfunctioning gravity panel in a coolant pump, along with connectivity losses in aft of the ship-damage teams are tying to get it under control...but...." He coughed again, the friendly fleets were just in the distance, if they could just reach them, "I don't think we're gonna make it." As the ship's guns continued their frantic, deadly dance, the Kuvexians seemed to sense the ship's condition and began to close in for the kill. 'You led these people here to die...much like you left us to die, you never came back, not once to see if anyone survived.' The voice was back, mocking him-and the words were not un-true, and struck hard. 'I've...no...I didn't.' The old collapsed to his knees, the Warden's massive frame shuddering. "Steiner, are you alright? Steiner come in!" No...he failed....just as he had failed the company. 'Yes you did, you ran instead of fighting to get to us, made off with knowledge that was not yours to take and profited off of it-violated your oaths as a member of the company-you aimlessly wandered through the stars, and in spite of what you believed you never once truly rose up to defend the innocent, never truly held our ideals.' The voice was right, despite what he believed, he had fai-'So is this how it ends boy?'

The voice was suddenly replaced by a smaller one, old and wizend, but gentle. 'Alexei?' He thought he could see his old master dressed the dark blues and greys of the company, his hands clasped over the head of a heavy warhammer, the man's aged face judging him 'Self-pity isn't like you Steiner. What happened to that stubborn young man who I took under my wing?'

"Steiner, snap out of it! Whatever's wrong, snap out of it!" Reinhart was calling his name. 'But...I...' His master slammed the hammer onto the deck, the boom somehow sounding in the airless void of space. 'No excuses Steiner-the Company didn't accept them, and nether will I-you did what you could during the Schsim, and now, as always, you must carry on if not for your own sake then for the sake of others-get the men you brought with out alive, help these Kikyo natives push these aliens back-even if they never know what transpired-this is your duty-to rise and meet such ambitious individuals should they threaten. Do you remember the Sentinel's Oath?'

"Yes..." He murmured. "Finally, we've beaten then off but their regrouping for another try." He wasn't listening to Reinhart, focused on his old master, or perhaps the delusions of an old man thinking he some greater purpose or something, it was hard to say. 'Then repeat them.'

A dozen power armors of unknown design landed on the deck as Steiner got to his feet. "I am the Aegis, a shield and bastion for the weak and the innocent against those who would do them harm..." The armors charged, yelling something he didn't understand, he raked them over with his chaingun, swatting them aside like a farmer scything wheat. "What the-?" He ignored the captain, "A steadfast vigil that must be maintained, an unyielding torch against the dark of our universe." As the fighters closed the distance, Alexei nodded at him, "Even as my shield cracks and armor sunders, I will not flee, I shall not yield." A bolt of plasma lanced out, hammering against the lead craft and turning it into so much slag, "I am a Sentinel of the Iron Company, and so long as I draw breath, the weak shall not want for protection, nor shall the innocent bear the stain of war, I shall keep the peace, and rise against those who would break it, this I swear until my dying days." Reinvigorated Steiner, despite the damage to the ship and himself, with the hell of war around him, stood tall, even as the shots hammered against him.

"I endure Captain worry not-I gave you my word that you would not fall, not so long as I stand with you. Forward!" He heard a mutter of 'What the hell?' on the other end. "R-Right...ALL AHEAD FULL!" The Stonewall, despite the damage sustained in the fighting, still held its own and managed to limp its way into the lines of the Star Army fleets. A single turret had been brought off line after a stray shot had started a fire and damage it's fire control systems. "Our ammo situation ain't great, we've got around less than fifty percent of our reserves, but we if we stick with the fleet, we might have a chance, so long as they don't blow us out of orbit." The Sentinel's chuckle came across the radio. "I shall see about getting a few drones on top of the damage control situation." He turned, looking for Alexei, but the man was nowhere to be found...a hallucination brought on by the stresses of combat?


He realized for a moment that he'd likely just made an ass of himself with , and likely to anyone who had heard what he had just said would probably think he was on something.

Chuckling, he realized he didn't care, and turned his attention back to the fighting at hand.
 
YSS Kaiyō II

Thirteen thousand Rikugun soldiers from Legion 777 had formed up in the void between the Third Fleet expeditionary group's ships that now followed Captain Hoshi's Fuji-class gunship into battle. A full 10,000 of their shield-carrying "ground Mindy" armors had taken up wing packs again when they'd departed from their base on the Kuvexian frontier, and all 3,000 of the infantry division's Keiko suits flew scattered among their ranks as the spaceborne army approached today's destiny in Glimmergold. Most had freshly painted the cornflower blue bits of their armors in a deep Ketsurui red. These legionnaires were joined by their escorting task force's shipboard Uchuugun Mindy wings as well, and altogether made for an inspiring view reminiscent of the days when the Grand Star Army leveled vast, untold hordes of power armor against its foes.

Another Thought Armor stood atop the Kaiyō II just in front of the ship's hinomaru. Taii Ketsurui Aiko lay curled within this Kirie's pilot pod, her senses directly meshed with the machine's body as if it were her own. The armor's stance was wide, and both of its hands rested atop a massive five-and-one-half foot long tetsubo warclub that the legion's armorers had fashioned for Aiko; the huge, white zesu weapon was modeled after the bludgeon she'd used as a captive gladiator in a Kuvexian arena, but was styled more with Yamataian samurai sensibilities in mind. It would serve as a brutal punishment for any Kuvexians who crossed the Ketsurui Clan princess today, and be a reminder to flee before they got the opportunity to taste its powered spikes.

Aiko listened along to Eden's words as all of her crewmates did, and felt the speech likewise motivate her toward victory. Ahead of the Kaiyō II and those Star Army forces with it, she could see the colossal Essai constructs and the fleets from the Kikyō Sector join in battle against their Kuvexian foes and felt her chest swell with a warrior's anticipation for the coming engagement. Two of the legion's Keiko armors accompanied Aiko near the Kaiyo's hinomaru — one carrying a flag from the legion's homeworld Nataria and the other an old banner of the Star Empire — as well as her samurai yojimbo Rei and the legion's brigadier Uzume-shôshô in their Sarah M7s.

A lone NMSC Cyclops armor loomed even larger than Aiko's Kirie beside her, worn by the Nepleslian soldier who'd been at her side since only days after her birth. She was glad that William had made it to this juncture with her, and her drive to continue on in hopes of finishing this war was only boosted by his presence.

"Aiko-hime?" Uzume asked on an open channel to the Rikugun-Uchuugun task force around them, not even bothering to encrypt the transmission so that the Kuvexians could hear, too. The veteran samurai-general gave no indication that it wasn't a private conversation, and no legionnaire dared to interrupt Ketsurui-taii's answer. "Are you prepared for the fight?"

"It is as Teien-chusa said: we will 'save the Kikyō Sector today,'" Aiko replied, her husky voice still filled with a calm sense of pride from Eden's speech. She remained oblivious to the fact that the soldiers behind her could hear. "Even if Yamatai and her allies are outnumbered today, the enemy stands little chance against us. These Kuvexians are dark-hearted scoundrels who love victory only for the sake of profit. They care nothing for those people who make up their Kingdom."

Like the legion, Aiko had updated her armor's livery to include bold crimson stripes and bands alongside its regular alabaster panels. Her Kirie's red-crested head shifted rightward so she could see the magnificent formation of power armor following Kaiyō into the fray as the banner of Nataria hung gloriously in the bottom of her vision.

"With Yui-taisho already leading us from the front and your Natarian grenadiers at my back, I am wholly prepared for the fight," Aiko affirmed with a confidence roused by the sights around her. "We will take on everything in this system, Uzume-shôshô. And we will win."

Unable to hold themselves back any longer, the eavesdropping legionnaires erupted in a jubilant cacophony of banzais and cheered exaltations for their homelands, friends, comrades, and countrymen. Had Aiko not been so energized by Eden's words to the crew moments before, there might have been some room in her mind for embarrassment. But now, as the soldiers around her shouted for their empire to persevere for ten-thousand more years, Ketsurui Aiko could only imagine the Star Army's triumph over Kuvexia.
 
Sakura Fleet Depot

As the Ehlens died one by one, Hiroki was set upon by gunfire. The culprit was discovered to be a mounted turret positioned on the balcony of one of the nearby warehouses. A burst from his gauss cannon blew the gun and its crew into pieces. There was a sizeable hole left in the warehouse from the blast. Hiroki did not get any Ehlen kills, but he was pleased to see that his SOFT allies had dealt with that problem. He used his PAAR-40 to gun down several more defenders, though one managed to toss a grenade at him.

Rather than get out of the way, Hiroki used his forearm to bat away the grenade, detonating over another construction mech that was departing from the closest warehouse and covering it in the immobilizing goo. Hiroki trained his gauss cannon on the mech as the pilot struggled to free herself and fired, hitting it in the torso and annihilating it. Its explosion caused a fuel tank that was leaking from earlier bullet holes to catch fire, later resulting in a massive explosion that took out the warehouse next to it. A fitting end for a pitiful foe.

He received the order to return to the gunship from Mikael and he activated his thrusters that thankfully were still functional despite the knocking his wings received earlier. Flying was a tad awkward thanks to the dented wing, but Hiroki managed. Hiroki was near the gunship when a new problem emerged. A warning sign flashed on his HUD about a malfunction in his thrusters and he heard them flicker behind him. They switched between on and off as Hiroki got closer to his destination, but they never gave out entirely and he was able to get inside the gunship with Mikael and the rest of SOFT.

This Mindy 4 would definitely need to be looked at if they were not going to be doing anymore fighting today. Hiroki doubted that Task Force M would be finished after the depot, so he decided to take the time to see if he could troubleshoot the problems of his thrusters as they were on standby.
 
The first machine world pushed through the wormhole and emerged on the other side. Immediately the large moon-sized metal ball's battle-scarred surface began to rotate, and channels within its surface began to glow aetheric blue, with pulses of light racing towards a huge circular hole at its pole, which was brought to bear on the Kuvexian planets. The sound of the planet's weapon charging was so loud that it could be somehow heard through space and on radio traffic as a droning buzz like the sound of a trash truck's hydaulics. A beam lanced out from the mechanized death-world and struck its cousin, a planet-sized computer that had served as a Kuvexian banking center for more than a thousand years, with such force that the beam went entirely through the planet and came out the other side. The surface covered in orange glowing cracks and after about ten seconds, the planet entirely split open like it was an overcooked egg exploding in the microwave, sending a spray of millions of flaming chunks out into space.

The Essai wasted no time and the second machine planet followed and repeated this horror on a second Kuvexian world. Curiously, a third machine planet also emerged through another massive portal in space, accompanied by a fleet of over 10,000 warships from outside the Kikyo Sector. These starships had tealish-blue hulls and were of older Yamataian designs that had been upgraded. Near the front of them was a Star Army of Yamatai ship, the YSS Heartbreaker.

"This is Taisho Muru Parasparta of the Star Army of Uesureya, we are here on behalf of Emperor Uesu to assist," a teal Chiharu-class flagship transmitted.

By now the massive Kuvexian Forces in the system were starting to respond and return fire on the allied forces, still outnumbering them, and began focusing their fire on the machine planets' main weapons, frantically trying to disable them.

"Get in very close to the Kuvexian fleets and deploy all armors and fighters," Yui ordered her forces. "Take out their ships before they take out our rides home."
 
NSS Southpaw
Bridge


The Grand Admiral of the 1st Assault Fleet, Barret Valke, stood amongst his crew as he and his ships moved towards the rendezvous point. "Sir, all ships are reporting green across the board." The comms officer reported from his place in the pit.

"Understood. Open the 1MC and broadcast it to all NSN ships in this flotilla" Barret ordered, taking a step forward and away from the analysts that had been surrounding him and providing him with intel. After receiving a nod from the Comms officer, he cleared his throat and began to speak.

"All hands, this is Grand Admiral Valke. We are about to take part in a battle for the history books. We will be taking part in an operation, to end a war that has ravaged this sector for far too long. Entire species have been enslaved and tortured. People have been ripped from their homes and their families." He said making eye contact with everyone around him. "The Kuvexian's have overstayed their welcome here and today we are delivering the eviction notice." Turning back to the comms officer, he made a cutting gesture with his hand. "Set condition 1 throughout the ship. All hands to combat stations!" Barret barked.

"AYE AYE!" Came the cry from bridge crew.

The call was echoed across all 51 Shaika Assault Carriers as the ships began to maneuver into position with the massive international fleet. Pilots donned their flight suits and began to board their strike craft. Marines began to don their power armor. Sailors reported to their battlestations.

The Admiral allowed a small smile to play across his lips. "Let's show everyone how Nepleslian's get things done!"

YSS Kaiyo

The lone NSMC Cyclops towered over Princess Aiko. Inside of the Cyclops, William closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. It was finally time. Time for him to get some payback. Running through suit diagnostics, his mindware combed through all of the suits systems, ensuring that everything was in working order.

As this was going on, he received the transmission from the Grand Admiral. He felt pride as his Admiral spoke and the ID-SOL let out his own "Aye aye!" Thankfully he didn't transmit that... Hearing Eden, he did reply to her. "Understood boss."

He looked back down to Aiko, and listened to her speech as well. A large armored hand thumped her shoulder good naturedly. "Nice speech." He said opening a private link to her. "You are starting to sound like quite the leader." He admitted in the calm before the battle. "I'd follow you into hell." He added as his armor moved to stand beside her, feet locking into place.
 
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