RP [Open] YSS Ghost: Scout's Honor

[Ametheliana]

RP Date

12日 2月 YE 46

RP Location

Beyond Kikyo Sector

YSS Ghost
Upper Deck
Infantry Bunks

It wasn't morning as the YSS Ghost was in space. With no sun to affix themselves to and live by the light of, the new Nozomi lived and slept by the Yamataian sun's presence in Kyoto where the Ketsurui samurai had already been up for an hour training and where businesses were only just taking down their shutters. Her in the infantry cabin, eight of the nine beds were unoccupied and the showers hissed with steam and the the quick talk of early morning gossip and gab. Even hints of the breakfast being cooked in the galley a deck below could be picked up if one put their nose to the vents.

And so, it was morning.

Curling her toes and stretching her arm, Shinrin Yoku gripped her thumb between the rest of her fingers and palm until she heard a satisfying crack, then let her hand fall on the body atop hers. Her thoughts went to the day ahead filled with drills and duty that she would be overseeing as the infantry team's resident commander and Shoi. But, first, there were more pressing matters. Such as the enlisted atop her.

"You still like my bunk better than yours, huh?" Shinrin asked in a warm whisper.

The body atop hers buried its head against her chest and murmured something that was muffled and muted by the blanket. The movement pushed Shinrin's red and white hair so that it splayed across her cheek and the Shoi smiled down, feeling like the little exchange was waking her up better than a shower would. She usually took hers at night, which meant she could get some extra work in before breakfast. But with the way the had been taking up slipping into her bunk every morning, she had been losing out on some important work.

"You still have to get ready for the day," Shinrin said."Go take a shower and I'll save you some of my salmon from meal time."

"Mmmph,"came the quick reply and the girl was off of Shinrin and out of the cabin, clothes flying off as the Hei made a break for the showers. Shinrin had known just what to say to get her off, but the feeling was a little bittersweet. She already missed the warmth and companionship that even a platonic friend's cuddling brought about. The Shoi stretched her legs, then pulled her blanket off and made her bed and got into her bodysuit as quickly as she got into the bridge a deck below.

"Reports for the day," Shinrin said, listing off the expectations of her infantry team as she awaited what the captain had to tell her about their mission, but nothing beyond long range scouting was on their list of expectations. For what it was worth, Shinrin had endured her fair share of adventures and excitement in the Star Army. Having a mellow tour of duty under Captain Chui Giniro was a welcome reprieve for Shinrin.

Pulling out of the bridge, she stopped in to the wardroom. Those that had been waking up in the showers were now pounding down on the simple fish and rice of breakfast. Looking up from their meals, the colorful heads of her infantry team greeted her with smiles and a chorus of ohaiyo while she took her seat.

"What do we have on the docket?" Asked one of the infantry Nekovalkyrja.

"Space walk and simulated combat," Shinrin said with a chipper enthusiasm that was met with groans. "We're on a scouting vessel, girls. Stop expecting to stomp out every squid that exists. Our hand we've been dealt is looking for the enemy, no matter how weary your eyes get doing so. Now let's go limber up the rest of you—just in case we do get into a brawl."

It hadn't been more than twenty minutes out in the CFS bubble around the Nozomi when her squadmate spoke up about her aether unit running hot.

"We should pull back in for her to repair it," Shinrin said.

"Look, shooting stars!" said a heisho. "Can't be, though, right?"

Shinrin looked towards where the heisho was pointing, then turned to her team."Captain, we have contact with the enemy."

Shinrin informed her team. "Shooting stars only leave a trail because they're hitting Yamatai's atmosphere and burning up. There's no atmosphere out here in space. Those are Mishhuvurthyar ships."

"Let's go!" With a long, drown out emphasis on her last word, one of the infantry crew said excitedly, but the captain's voice cut her off.

"Report back inside." Chui Giniro said in her snappy, posh accent.

"You heard Gin-gin! Get in the ship, girls!" Shinrin said.

She looked to the to the enemy ships, trying to remember everything she saw. Pinkish trails of smaller ships had shot towards a system, the second nearest the YSS Ghost. Because the infantry team was inside of the CFS bubble, Shinrin knew that the ship was only able to use RDD sensors. She wished she could get in closer to investigate, but she had her orders. She watched one, then two of her people filter back into the ship.

 

[HarperMadi]

"I'm coming!" Taii Aliset Koun had been sent here to attempt to requalify on power armor operations and EVA. One of these fields she excelled at, the other... Not so much.

Even with the SPINE featured in the version 2 Senti body, Aliset found herself constantly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of input, and her sense of feeling had trouble adapting to the just too close surface of the armor, leading her to maneuver clumsily and forget about features as she tried to manage it all at once. This woman could play a starship's systems like a guitar, had scraped out perfect scores on power armor theory, but her practical exams had never gone well. Whether accursed luck or her first experience fitting her own suit on the YSS Tokyo, knocking herself unconscious with an armored hand trying to scratch her nose. She was, at least AMES and Star Army Flight Suit qualified. But those were but two of the space suits used by the Star Army.

And yet, she still nearly threw her lunch across the deck when the suit had fitted to her shape, finding the hemosynth layer to be offensive to every one of her senses when it came online, had at least once lost her orientation and cracked a faceplate on a protruding piece of starship hull, or even tripped on her own two feet in a distinctly ungraceful manner. She had simply kept training and kept trying, leading to the battered condition of her Mindy's paint work. Not that her career as a Star Army Navigator and command candidate required her to leave the relative safety of a bridge often. But damned if she would be the kind of Captain who couldn't or wouldn't personally rescue a crewmate when she earned that title. So she kept trying, eventually convincing the Koun's Training Officer to send her to a different trainer and different methods. And now the training had been cut short by something far more dangerous than a bumbling rookie in power armor.

This led her to run across the Ghost's hull on magnetic locks, her movements slow and deliberate as she didn't dare attempt to use the Mindy's thrusters to get there faster and risk wasting even more time. But even here, she was having trouble with the suit designed for a different species, not for a Senti's range of motion. "I'm having a motor control issue, I think. The suit's giving resistance, the shoulders and hips are being slow and stiff."

 

[Nameless]

Kazuno Kamiyo, Itto Heisho. Half of her attention was on a screen that only she could see. As the daily routine went, she had spent time catching up on important soap operas she had yet to finish. She was listening as they were told what today's activities were and while half of it would be uneventful, simulated combat would get her heart pumping. It was more or less an open secret what she does when she starts to stare off into space, but its not like she completely misses anything people say. Being at half attention was still paying attention.

Space walks were practically second nature to the Type 33. She enjoyed the feeling of being completely weightless, and was letting herself float off somewhat freely when the space walk was cancelled since one of the suits were malfunctioning. While that wasn't a good sign, that did mean she could go back to watching her show while that was getting fixed. Still, she would have liked to stay outside for a bit and just feel complete weightlessness for a bit longer. She had raised her hand and waved to catch the Shoi's attention so she could ask if she can float for a bit, but a dire situation had to come up. At the mention of Mishu, she immediately turned to see those shooting stars being mentioned.

If those really were Mishu, then there was no time to waste, there were bugs to crush.

She had hung back a little, making the most out of zero gravity, so she was on hand to assist the struggling Senti. Kamiyo floated, upside down past Aliset but within grabbing range, hand outstretched. "Take my hand! I'll get you to the hatch."

Hopefully it was not another armor they'd have to get repaired. Two Mindys being out of commission was just downright unfortunate, but at least they found out before they got into a fight.

 

[Rizzo]

Dirjon floated happily along as he left targets along his path for the PA team's training day. It'd been a hilarious day of watching Aliset flail about in zero-g but having her shoot had been a bit anxiety inducing, but having died three times in his short life fear was becoming something of a constant for him. Between getting sucked into space and freezing to death in leaking super-coolant dying to a rookies' stray shots seemed all too easy.

'Dammit, not again,' he thought to himself as he accelerated his wing thrusters back towards the YSS Ghost's PA bay. His thoughts returned to planet Himiko where he'd faced off with a Kuvexian mercenary that'd caused him to lay down his life to save the crew of a ship that would simply flatten the city below anyway. A pointless sacrifice that'd harms countless more than it'd saved. 'C'mon Dirjon, gotta keep cool. Don't let the girls see you freaking out!'

"Return- ahem," his voiced cracked before his baritone voice tried again, "returning to the bay."

 

[Ametheliana]

"Going to have to spend a minute helping the paper weight," Shinrin said as she looked over her shoulder. She floated hastily to where the higher ranked officer was struggling and sidled up to the opposite side of the Heisho. Shinrin put her right, then left hand on Alistet's hip and shoulder respectively.

"Thanks Kamiyo. We have to get your diagnostics locked in, but you have to wear the armor, not try to pilot it. Push your body instead of the armor, like this." She applied a bit of pressure to either part of the armor. "You can do it, have the motion come from your hip flexor, not your spine. Well, it'll go to your SPINE, but not your spi—"

She was cut off as she looked up to see a new starship exiting FTL, this time a newer generation Thhrugrachhurl-type Cruiser. This time it was much closer to them and its spiny hull was more immaculately detailed at this range than any picture Shinrin had seen. Pink aether lanced out at them in a quick succession of three bolts. Like lightning being thrown by a God at the YSS Ghost, its cacophony of thunderous noise could be heard within a few long, heavy moments later. The clapping drum of the aether hitting the shields paired up with another sight. Like much-too-close fireworks, the aether splayed out and splattered around the CFS bubble in great gushes of brilliant pink that dazzled as they popped and fizzled against the ship's primary defenses.

"Belay that order," Captain Gin said through comms, rescinding her own request for the team to re-enter the ship.

"Belay that order is right!! Weapon's powered up! Bee line formation flying off stern-side of ship. Best case we kite them from the ship and get them to lose focus! Worst case, we defend it!" Shinrin called, her voice driven to action while her mind raced through the almost formulaic set of battles and outcomes there were.

The Shoi thrusted so that she was in front of Aliset. "Listen to me; you can do this. If you fail now, nobody can pick up the slack but you. Wear your armor, don't let it wear you. Don't you lose focus on me, now." She tapped her helmet's visor against the Taii's modestly, but it still made a thunk like a slap on the back would.

"Bee line formation off the stern-side towards that ship!" Shinrin Yoku reminded everyone as her thrusters truly ignited and she spread away from the ship with the rest of the armor team

 

[HarperMadi]

Aliset had spent the entire spacewalk just fighting the armor, trying to move. Her body and species could feel the rotation of her body through space, use itself as a gyroscope and was attuned by evolution and design for zero gravity operations. She was born for this endless black and loss of weight without loss of mass. She was evolved for inertia. Why, then, was this armor such a challenge was the question running through her mind as she ran. She had barely gotten to the range section to begin basic maneuvers when the order came in to cut the training short, and she reached up to attempt to take Kamiyo's hand, jumping off the hull to deactivate her magnetic boots. "Thank you, ma'am. I can't get this armor to sync with me, feels like I'm constantly fighting it. It won't do what I tell it to... Hell, my body still fights me some days."

At least until the thump of gloved hands at her hips caught her attention, seeing another Mindy begin guiding her movements as she looked down. "Yes, ma'am, stop thinking about moving, right."

As she looked up and watched the cruiser jump in and immediately open fire, her instincts screamed at her to draw a beam cutter, lock to the hull and play point defense as a rifleman on the hull. But she didn't have a Shuristan mining tool, she had a carbine and whatever had been loaded for this qualification training. The Captain's voice cut through the comms, then the Shoi's, and Aliset could do nothing but submit to the fact that every single one of these warriors outranked her in this one sense. She was a bomber pilot, first, turned Navigator, turned candidate. But not a power armor fighter. At least until that thump of visors gave her a small push in... some direction. "Hai, ma'am. If I fall behind, leave me. I was Shuristan. We're scrappy. Worst comes to worst, I shut down the armor and fight in it as a space suit."

But the junior officer was right, as Aliset's fear grew and pushed her to act on instinct, the armor seemed to grow lighter, those same instincts pushing the unnecessary information out of her mind to embrace the naked feeling of hemosynth against her skin, synthetic musculature delaying her only momentarily before sliding across its internal joints and going where it thought it was told. Of course a Duskerian's armor was piloted, with an AI acting as a second mind. But this Yamataian Mindy suit had no mind of its own, no hullsong, no ancestral steel to offer its support and guidance. No, as battered and training worn as this suit was, it was just hardware, Just, at the end of the day, a highly advanced and combat derived powered space suit that was worn like clothes.

With a flex of the muscles of her lower back and shoulder blades, the thrusters of her armor activated, throwing her haphazardly towards the assembling formation, at first. At least until the nodules in her joints read the acceleration and some instinct pushed her hips and legs to rotate her mass and guide the thrusters, feeling them gimbal to respond as the Yamataian designed organs did exactly as they were designed to, reading the instinct and goal of every tiny impulse from her spine and lower brain and relaying it to the armor without interrupting it. "Oh, so that's how that works! Okay, can sorta move, I'll make it work, ma'am!"

So while she let the armor, her body's modifications, and the rear trinspheres synchronize, she could let the rational portion of her mind go through the armor's readouts like her old bomber, find out what had been loaded by the armorers. Just like her old bomber... Except she still couldn't read the haptics, and was still visibly not comfortable or at the level of the others.

 

[Rizzo]

Dirjon’s blood ran cold. The Mishhuvurthyar were the boogie-men he’d never thought he’d actually have to face, let alone face it head-on! He immediately began scanning the cruiser for a weakness, finding none that a mere Mindy could exploit. Taking a deep breath he reminded himself of his fatal immigration from Nepleslian space to Yamatai. He remembered how Yamatai had saved his very life, how they’d sheltered his family. His fear turned to indignation at the enemy’s incursion into the capital of his sworn allegiance.

His Mindy reached maximum thrust as it pulled to the head of the formation, his tall stature exaggerating the small size of his fellow squad mates to that of dolls. An ellipsoid shield donned each wrist, a pair of SOOW missiles occupying the underside of each. He carried a coherent aether rifle under his right arm as his left hand changed its settings from training mode to full power. The scalar machine gun on his left shoulder sprang to life swiveling once with a frantic motion as it calibrated and snapped to attention. The missile launcher on his right shoulder angled forward ever so slightly as it’s system came online.

With all systems GO Dirjon raised the pointed bottoms of his shields towards the enemy cruiser, triangular lock-on markers switching from yellow to red. ”Ulvson here. Firing long-range missiles!”

The four SOOW missiles rocketed away on plumes of fire as they nosed towards their intercept point with the cruiser and suddenly vanished near the speed of light as their primary propulsion method took effect.

Spoiler

Current Pool: 6
Turn Supply: 3
Dirjon fires all four SOOW missiles at the enemy cruiser. 1 dice rolled plus 1 Homing Weapon for each missile.
Defense Dice Rolled: 0
Remaining Pool: 5

 

[Nameless]

Kamiyo grabbed hold of Aliset as she disengaged the mag locks and began dragging her back to the airlock. Shinrin came in to assist, slapping on a little pep talk and advice for controlling the power armor, and throwing a thanks Kamiyo's way. To which she would nod. Nearing the airlock, their impromptu rescue was waylaid by a sudden appearance of a massive vessel practically nose-to-ass to the Ghost.

"Aitsu! They just jumped right on top of us!" And it wasn't a mistake or happenstance. They came in with weapons spooled up and firing the second they finished the jump. In response, the captain ordered them to cancel returning to the ship, and Shinrin gave the order to head straight for the cruiser. She hung back to see if Shinrin's pep talk had any effect on Aliset, as she was ready to strap herself on her back, that way Kamiyo could pilot and Aliset could assist in shooting. But seeing as she started to get the hang of it, Kamiyo gave her a thumbs up, enthusiastically saying, "Now you're getting it!"

She fell into formation along with the others, but made a mental note to keep track of where the Taii was. Her shoulder-mounted gauss cannons sprung to life over her shoulders. "Shoi, how are we punishing these Mishu? We boarding or just do some damage from outside?"

 

[Ametheliana]

"Make it work!" Shinrin repeated Aliset's own words, but with a more concerned and direct tone. Her brain was already whirring up the mechanisms for STing a Senti. Pullingthat portion of her mind in the newly minted medical bay, she fired off another order. "Taii, hang back and provide support fire from your position! The less sloppy flying you do while under fire, the better, obaasan!"

She liked Kamiyo's excitement, but had to put the situation into perspective. "We're not going to let them punish us, best case scenario. We buy time damaging the outside and make sure the captain can warn the Star Army of their presence in this system. Hopefully live on top of it!" Shinrin Yoku had been in tougher spots, but she had thought she'd die in those, just like she did now. She wouldn't tell the itto heisho that, though. Not yet anyway. Dancing on the knife'd edge of mortality was nothing new to a purple panel, but was something to be experienced rather than warned of. Kamiyo may have already understood that death was knocking at all of their doors today, but was just masking that knowledge well. Whatever the case, Shinrin wasn't willing to sugarcoat the situation. It was dire.

Shinrin added to the team's combined fire power as it assembled onto the ship. Dirjon's missiles jettisoned ahead of it all. They grazed the shields, knocking into one of the corvette's turrets after doing so and splashing out in a stream of glittering shrapnel. Gauss canons' explosive force pummeled at the shields even further, but it was a big ship and only a lot would take down.

"Dirjon, that's the right idea!" Shinrin called out. Getting closer to the ship meant more of the Mindy's weaponry could be used and Shinrin pointed out the opening the missiles had made on the team's AIES.

"All weapons fire!"

 

[HarperMadi]

Aliset's body was tense with the challenge of syncing her movements with the unfamiliar power armor, but she knew she couldn't let that hinder her now. Shinrin's pep talk had helped, but it was her own determination that kept her going. When the cruiser fired on them, her instincts screamed to respond, but she forced herself to listen to the Shoi's orders.

She watched as Dirjon's missiles hit the enemy shields and caused damage, but the cruiser was large and resilient. Hearing Shinrin's directive to provide support fire, Aliset steadied herself. She needed to be strategic, use her skills effectively, and not become a liability to her team. Bomber pilots were taught, after all, to adapt and maneuver with precision around larger fleet movements. So they often needed to think tactically and strategically to put their payloads on the best target to ensure success of the rest of the battle group. Such as disabling a launch bay or main gun, hamstringing a dreadnought over the easier cruiser target, or going after a flagship to force a scattering formation to close and allow them to be picked of by larger combat vessels.

"I have a plan," Aliset called, her voice steady over the comms. "I'm not as well-armed or experienced with this armor, but I can make a difference. If they try to board us, I can use my knife to take one out and then run, drawing their fire. It'll give you all time and thin their numbers. Don't worry about rescuing me if I get in trouble. I have an ST backup on the Koun, so if I go down, tell Sacre I did something reckless. And if I get captured, hack my teleporter and use me as a bomb. My blood's just flammable enough I might be useful as napalm. Just make sure they don't take me alive."

She paused, looking at the enemy ship through her helmet's visor. "Till then, I'll hang back and provide support fire as ordered. I won't let you down, Shoi." She switched her focus to the carbine in her hands, checking the ammunition and settings. The weapon felt foreign in her grip, but she remembered her training, and how similar the mining cutters of her own former people were. Her body started to move more fluidly as she let go of her overthinking and allowed her instincts to guide her. With a flex of her muscles, the thrusters of her armor activated, and she positioned herself at the rear of the formation, ready to provide cover fire. She aimed her carbine at the exposed turret on the cruiser, a result of Dirjon's missiles. Her fingers danced over the controls, setting the weapon to full power. She took a deep breath, steadied her aim, and fired.

 

[Rizzo]

"Hai!" he replied, his courage bolstered by Shinrin's comradery, his tension palpable as adrenaline pushed him on edge. The ship was huge compared to him, and yet he remembered the crystalline spider queen had fallen by his engineering prowess. If I can penetrate their shields just enough I might be able to hit something explosive.
"Shinrin, I gotta get closer, my missile pod might be able to hit something important. Please, watch your crossfire," he informed her as he activated his teleporter, "hey, this might kill me so listen up, Aliset. Stop thinking. You're trying to control the suit, but you don't. Pretend you're naked and it'll work. I can explain later, but it's software is intelligent. Don't think, just do." His teleporter reported a clear solution with three emergency alternates in case of collision, "I'm going in!"

His armor blinked into nothingness, appearing in a flash next to the enemy ship. His stomach dropped as the size of it now dominated his view. Clamming his arm shields around his coherent aether rifle he set to firing a cyan-colored aether beam into the shields of the ship, boosting hard out of the way of AA fire he KNEW would be wanting to light him up.

Spoiler

Turn Supply: 3
Current Pool: 6
Dirjon fires his coherent aether rifle at the ship. 1 dice roll
Defense Dice Rolled: 2
Remaining Pool: 5

 

[Nameless]

"D'aw, and I was hoping to make a grand entrance on the bridge with the P4003," Kamiyo responded with feigned disappointment as the dual 20mm gauss cannons on her shoulders came online, each equipped with helical magazines. She gave her aether sidearm a twirl as she locked on to external weaponry on the enemy ship. It would have been a perfect breaching maneuver. She pops in right into the bridge, use the consequences of teleporting into a space with an atmosphere to blast some squids, then pop back out before security came in to escort her out.

But until then, she'd have to keep her sidearm idle. Not like it could do much against ship guns compared to her gauss cannons. "Focusing on those externals. If I have some ammo left over, I'll see if I can punch a hole in their windows. Ever seen Delta P? It's quick but not pretty to look at."

With targets identified and locked in, the suit's AI shot volleys at the external guns, hoping the standard ammo had enough bite to disable them. Dirjon probably had the better loadout for that kind of job though, but enough scratches can eventually lead to a bleeding wound. Kamiyo was using the distance the gauss cannons afforded her to stay at a relative safe distance from the guns firing at them, but she kept the teleporter charged for short jumps, and not just because she wanted to do her initial idea of breaching.