RP [Orochi Squadron] Mission 1: Tentacled Tidings

[OsakaMoose]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

The FTL jump from the YSS Orochi was both the most terrifying and the most exhilarating experience Sigrid had ever lived through. Even though the Star Army had already prepared her for such launches through countless simulations, all of them felt trivial and held-back compared to this one. This time, there was a clear urgency, and Sigrid felt it through the entire voyage. The bending of space and time and the complete weightlessness, as if her body had become one with the universe, made her lose all sensation. For a brief moment, Sigrid felt no longer constrained within her physical dimension, but had almost ascended to a greater plane of existence.

Then, immediately, the woman regained her senses, drifting almost idly back to reality, her bulky Mindy's sensors indicating incoming hostiles. Looking ahead, past the red dots on her monitor, Sigrid saw fighters from the Oscar Squadron in formation and accelerating straight towards the dark NMX fleet at the far end of her sight. Making sure one last time that her systems were still fully operational, she activated her thrusters and joined up with the rest of her squad behind the fighters.

Suddenly, the cold stillness of space was shattered by flashes and rays of multicolored energy shooting out from the enemy ships and directed at the Yamatai forces. Sigrid expected the Mishu to fight, but she never would have thought that they would have displayed such a tremendous amount of firepower for a raiding party. They were prepared for an all-out war. Any wrong move on her part and she'd wind up violently obliterated.

Everyone, just as we practiced! Pair up, loose formation in range of our fighters! Don't forget your anti-missile countermeasures, and keep moving!"

"Yes, Heisho!" Sigrid instinctively replied. Increasing her speed, the Neko moved closer in range of the friendly fighters in front of her, keeping a close eye on the NMX fire.

The yell of the first fallen comrade, victim of an aether beam, briefly broke her focus. Sigrid did not personally know the soldier, but the death of a peer still felt like that of a sister. "Your sacrifice for all of us will not be forgotten," she uttered, "and your death will not be in vain." After those words, she slowly shifted her attention back to the battle. In another context, the death of a Neko would have affected her more profoundly, but the adrenaline, combined with a fiery, patriotic fervor to fight for her people and nation, made Sigrid leave any sadness and anxiety behind.

With her blade and countermeasures ready, Sigrid only left her Gauss Cannon inactive, preferring to save ammunition for post-boarding. As soon as she reached cruising speed, she approached one of her squad mates, Eisei, and shyly asked, "So... you cover my back and ... I cover yours?" Sigrid was never strong in social skills, but her previous interaction with her comrade, primarily facilitated by a desperate need for support, made Eisei the person she felt most comfortable with to fight by her side.

 

[Eistheid]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

Mayu's vision was a field of diamond shaped markers and numbers, some red for the Star Army that she flew along side, others a sickly yellow-orange that signified approaching NMX battlepods. Mayu joined in the chorus of, affirmatives her own, "Hai, Heisho!" Joining the brief chatter as Mayu paired up with a MINDY pilot that she didn't recognize from the brief socialization before the mission. Sparing minimal attention to coordinate her AIES with her companion, Mayu instead focused on the problem of working around the screen of fighters before her. No longer could she rake her aether beam rifle across the enemy formation when she neared for maximum disruption, and the first chirps indicating that enemies were within the 480,000 KM sweet spot were on the far side of friendly fighters.

Eventually Mayu gave in and sent out a global ping attempting to synchronize her AIES with all those in her squad and the fighters in Oscar squadron that provided them with screening cover from the immediate threat of the battlepod swarm. Still in a 'clean' spot between the trajectories of the NMX ships' batteries and presently outside the attention of the nearest battlepods Mayu swept her attention around inspecting the ticking down numbers in the clear spaces beyond her allies. Slowly she counted before lining up her first shot, a brief searing lance of white as the aether beam lit up the void corrected to chase the evading battlepod while her attention kept her informed of the situation of the other hostile units not wanting to be taken by surprise in the event that either the main ships or battlepods neared her position.

She knew that it was the calm before the storm, at least for her. After all the chaos of the weapons fire streaking past her position was hardly indicative of a peaceful EVA jaunt. No, she had merely so far been the lucky MINDY that no one had taken note of yet. She was certain that would change any moment.

 

[Edto Xar'Sivaree]

The three Vekimen kneeled, chained down to the floor. They had been muzzled, but that didn't stop them from talking. They could still make many of the sounds their language was made up of. One male and two females, an uncommon but not unheard of combination of officers were on the ship that was doing short range recon. They were able to lead the Mishhu away from the station by a great margin before they ran out of power. It gave the station enough time to alter their course and remain undetected by the Mishhu.

They had spent weeks on this ship, in these cells, undergoing everything that their Warden felt like doing to them. Today would probably be no different. They heard the creature coming before they heard the door unlock. All three of them went silent as the Nightmare walked in.

The male was by far the healthiest. The two females managed to ut him between the door and themselves, while he looked more than hapy to oblige as the sheild. He made a hissing sound at her, obviously defiant in nature. If he could open his mouth, he would have mared his teeth, but they had learned after the first time one got bitten.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Space, NMX Fleet Approach

"H-hai, Fukuzawa-Hei!" Eisei's shrill voice responded to Sigrid reflexively, the stress clear in her agitated breathing. The way her head bolted to the direction of her comrade's voice inadvertently made it clear she was on the very verge of panicking, through the mindy's face plate was a blank slab of metal. "B-but not too close!"

Her navigation comp reached out and connected with that of her new partner's, seeking to share targeting data that the capital ships would be out of range for. Standard practice.

"L-Let's... Let's just get there." A resolute remark to accompany a cold sweat, stomach now swimming with the strain of inertia. Even if she had worn the power armor a hundred times before, the SPINE interface felt like it was digging into her back. "If I can see them, if I can hit them with my sword, point blank... t-then we can deal with them..."

The sickness-inducing part of space travel wasn't just the speeds involved, it was the lack of depth perception. There was nothing relative to compare against unless you were right on top of the target, and that meant deadly columns of light could just instantly pop into existence anywhere they pleased, in comparison to which it felt like they were completely stationary. There was literally nothing they could do about it, but trust the numbers on their sensors. Trust the couple of millimeters of Yama-Dura plating between their faces and the randomly exploding nothingness surrounding them.

Sensor pings. They were being targeted. Eisei's movement suddenly became extremely jittery as she turned her inertial dampeners off, then popped open the caps on her lower leg countermeasure pods. A second later, the distant little streaks of white became raging torrents of orange missile flares, seeming to shake and judder on their axis as they rapidly alternated between the target rich environment that was the nekovalkyrja's swarming bodies.

The short santo hei fired off her chaff, but at these speeds it hardly exited the launch tube before exploding into the approaching missile. Limbs bundled up, it was pretty much just the arm shield projector, combined rapid movement away from the blast zone, that prevented the detonation from ripping her fragile little form apart.

"D-don't slow down... W-we c-can ride this out... Please s-stay on me..." She sounded shaken, but mentally together. Telemetry of the attacker's projected position was pinged across to Sigrid's targeting computer via their system link. Shaking hands managed to sweep the target with her scope, but were nowhere close to getting a bead on it.

 

[Grey Library]

Space, Near NMX Fleet, in front of Infantry Formation

<Chikusho! Bogeys are hardened! I say again, bogeys are hardened!> one of the leading Oscar pilots cried out, irritation clearly in his tone. <Sensors counting most of them with shields and lots of missiles, and that flak screen's not doing us any favours either!>

<Well, damn. There goes the hope that this was gonna be easy.> Muttering a silent curse under her breath, Kishi gritted her teeth and punched the side of the pilot pod in a fit of pique. Annoyance slightly vented, she then looked up and began reeling off a rapid-fire series of orders. <Right, change of plans. Blue through Yellow Elements, you're on CAP duty! Try to bog them up for as long as you can, you'll have to pop them with cannons or concentrated missile barrages! Red Element, we'll be tanking fire for the troopers, focus power to shields and turrets! I'll be relaying targeting data from Blue through Yellow Elements to you guys and the crunchies in a jiffy, ripple fire minimissiles on my mark!>

<HAI, HEISHO!>

The dense spearhead of Hayabusa fighters scattered as the assorted Elements split off from the Mindy swarm, the three-ship Vics of Blue, Green and Yellow Elements darting ahead of the pack to sink their fangs into the encroaching Battlepod horde. The three remaining starfighters of Red Element, Kishi at the lead, began sliding into a loose triangluar formation parallel to the wall of enemy fighters, engines flaring hot as they burned steadily towards the NMX fleet. In unison, their turrets swivelled as one to unshadow gleaming metallic barrels shining in the light of Jun's local star, while minimissiles peeked out of their pods like the heads of a hundred deadly vipers.

Within the heart of the craft, a dizzying dance of red and green reticules played on the reflective surface of Kishi's helmet visor. The motherly Flight Lead found herself grinning despite herself as a heady feeling of adrenaline flooded her systems, her Nekovalkryja ancestry singing a chemical song of blood and glory to her biological weapon of a body. Still, she pondered with a mild shiver, this was nothing like the small skirmishes she'd taken part in. This was the big leagues, a great opportunity for Oscar Flight to forge its name into a legend in the making.

Or, an insidiuos part of her mind whispered, an impending disaster where they would all crash and burn.

"N-no, focus! We've prepared for this, I'm sure of it!" she hissed to herself as she gripped the controls, visualing her hands flicking open a nonexistent firing stud as she commanded the SPINE interface to prime all weapons. "I've trained us as best as I can, we'll pull through this just fine!"

Oh...? She could feel her skin crawl as the voice sneered. Are you sure it's enough...?

Almost on cue, one of the red reticules began blinking rapidly as a Mishhu Battlepod entered within firing range, shortly followed by multiple smaller blips appearing as the smallish fighter disgorged its missile payload in an alpha strike at the clustered Mindys. Quick actions from the infantry saw a number of the missiles break off and slam into clusters of flares with actinic flashes, leaving behind a still sizeable wave of missiles incoming. Highlighting the surviving missiles with a thought, Kishi willed her Hayabusa's frontal turrets to lock onto them and charge up their capacitors, their muzzles glowing with a harsh light as they readied their deadly pulse charges. "I will not falter, I will not falter..." she muttered almost prayerfully as she focused on the little dancing blips, tracking their movements and adjusing the lead on her aim. With a thought, she willed the cannons to fire.

And thus her vessel answered, lighting up the void with aetheric fire.

 

[OsakaMoose]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

Sigrid nervously blinked as she watched Eisei body almost engulfed in a violent flash of orange and white. Even though a safe distance of several feet separated the two, the dark-haired Neko's body still felt the force of the explosion, triggering her Mindy's directional thrusters to prevent her from getting hopelessly flung into deep space. For a second, it almost looked like the missile had struck her squad mate head-on, and Sigrid's eyes desperately tried to see if she made it, despite her monitor indicating intact vitals.

Thankfully, a familiar voice let her breathe a sigh of relief.

"D-don't slow down... W-we c-can ride this out... Please s-stay on me..."

"Hai... I won't let you go... No matter what," she responded.

The Mindy's monitor quickly notified Sigrid of incoming data from Eisei - immediately appeared information on the attacker's projected position. Unfortunately, the distance made it almost impossible for her to engage the target with her rifle. By the time it would take them to reach adequate firing range, they would have to dodge waves of missiles with only a limited number of chaffs.

"Let's... Let's stay behind the Hayabusas..." Sigrid said, panting from stress, "Their shields... turrets... They can kill the missiles... Well... Most of them."

Increasing her thrust, the Neko moved up behind the fighter team, still keeping enough distance for evasive maneuvers and countermeasures deployment. Hopefully, Oscar Squadron would be able to take the incoming fire - anything it misses, she would have to deal with herself.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

"Hai... Let's speed up..." The small voice responded, transmission crackling under intense radio interference. "The longer we are out here, th-"

More streaks of terrifyingly fast missiles cut off the Mindy's transmission just as Eisei began to increase her velocity, following her movements with an uncanny, baleful intelligence. The same sequence of events were repeated again, except sped up even further this time, almost causing her to crash directly into the oncoming projectile as her power was sapped to nothing by travelling at full pelt. Again, she launched the pathetically ill-suited countermeasures, and again, they barely did anything but detonate the enemy warheads prematurely.

Power levels were dropping, and the enemy fire was only getting more intense the closer they got to the source. Eisei didn't know if her wrist shield projector could take another hit, a fact made obvious to others by her intense breathing down the com channel. Heartbeat burning it's way out of her chest, this was the very definition of a life or death struggle.

How could she even take cover behind the fighters, if increasing her speed made it too hard to dodge? How could she keep up with them, if the impacts kept on chipping her power output down to nothing?...

♫Thunder Force IV - Metal Squad♫

Eisei growled intensely, free hand physically balling into a talon as she opened up the covers of the missile pods on her Mindy's shoulders. The volley of ten arrows she unleashed careened directly into the next blazing comet upon her, creating a momentary tempest of furious explosions streaking off her flank in a long arcing line.

"Let's go, Fukuzawa... Behind the fighters..." The armoured figure was finally allowed to pick up speed again, almost seeming to gain a renewed feeling of vigor along with it. Her rifle wasn't even raised anymore, instead concentrating on detecting the enemy missiles far away enough so that her own mini-missiles could knock them out of the sky. "I'll cover the both of us... Just go as fast as possible!... We'll all knock on through, together!"

The G-forces were backbreaking, but just there, just out of reach, the silver-purple formation of Oscar Flight loomed ahead...

And beyond that, the barely visible glimmering filaments of the Mishhuvurthyar fleet's engines.

 

[paladinrpg]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

♫ I-Chu - Meridian Dance/Nuclear Fusion Remix

Though outnumbering the Battlepods 4:1, the brave infantry of Orochi Squadron in their Mindy armors were at a severe disadvantage up against both the defensive fire from the collections of Pillagers guns and the massive amount of missiles disgorged from the bellies of the predatory Battlepods as they attempted a coordinated alpha strike at this most vulnerable time. Starfighter squadrons from the other Irim's did their best to destroy the incoming projectiles, but even they couldn't possibly hit everything being thrown at the massive infantry charge. Some tell-tale flashes of countermeasure chaff dispersal and flashes of aetheric light in the distance showed that the Nekovalkyrja soldiers trying some last ditch teleportation efforts early to avoid a direct hit... not all were successful, though, as there was just as many critical reactor failures that lit up the red background in blossoms of orange as the occupants of dozens of PA's were blown into the vacuum of space in mere seconds, caught between the missiles and the Pillager's gunfire.

Nito Heisho Kishi saw several of her fellow pilots break off formation as directed and engage the enemy directly, trying to harass the fighters with their own missiles and heavy cannons. They were marginally successful - several of the Battlepods were forced into dogfighting and couldn't release all of their missiles at the armor wings that were their primary targets. Unfortunately this tactic had a price, as 2 Hyabusa's from Blue Element took heavy damage to their shields when ganged up on by the smaller but numerically superior foes, as well as 1 Hyabusa from Yellow Element that lit up violently as it downed two of the brain-slave piloted craft -- but in the process had strayed too far into the steady stream of defense fire from the Tivurthinth, forcing its pilot to eject from the fireball into the void. She wasn't the only pilot forced into the chaos, though, with little but a flight suit to protect themselves... their odds of survival seemed slim.

Meanwhile, Mayu's focused blast clipped the engines on one of the nastier Battlepods as it was dogfighting with a friendly Hyabusa, sending it into a tailspin before shattering into millions of fragments as its powerplant overloaded and the missile payload it never got to fire was ignited all at once... this earned her a counter-attack of a few homing shots that sought to avenge their comrade.

Oscar's leader felt the explosions as her V6D's multiple aether turrets picked away at the incoming swarm of homing missiles bearing down on Orochi's power armors, as Red element was doing their best to coordinate fire with her. Even the shell-shocked Miyoshi found the courage to fight through her nerves and pull the triggers to add to the energy pulses dancing through the starlight, though her lag time also meant she took a few hits of counter-attack fire that penetrated the shield on her right wing, sending a portion of it shearing off into space. It was all the blonde haired greenie could do to try to maintain control and not careen away end over end, her panic audible over the comms.

There was a violent shaking as the few NMX launched missiles that the flight couldn't take down homed in on the members of the wing. Eisei seemed to draw the most fire for some reason, but her reactions proved a split second faster... that was all that counted in the heat of battle. Sigrid was safe for a moment to catch her breath, but there was still a missile or two indicated as being locked onto her. Not far away from the pair, one of the members of Second Squad tried to hit her teleporter activation switch but it was a fraction of a second too late, as the projectiles sent her way exploded into life behind her back, pitching the fresh recruit in the opposite direction of the friendly fighter escort and her partner, where they were brutally swallowed up by the bright light of the target cruiser's aether fire. Kurosora Kim growled angrily "Shimatta...", opening up with several salvos from her ABSR along with a few others and managed to take down the two offending Battlepods in a streak of fiery justice that was unfortunately too little too late...


Finding cover behind the fighter screen, the advance continued at breakneck speeds as the target Pillager grew in size. The homing missiles nipping at them from all sides never seemed to let up, each one seeking to end the valiant charge for its intended target. But the volume of fire lessened slightly, as the Battlepods were forced to go more on the defensive now... but the Star Army forces couldn't sustain this forever, as their own casualties were mounting quickly. Just a few more moments to survive before they would hit the shield bubble's outer limits!

Though there was the worrying pinpricks of light that popped up on their AIES displays as activity was detected in the NMX fleet's torpedo bays...


YSS Orochi, Bridge

Mikoto monitored the ongoing battle on the displays with rapt attention with her legs crossed, as if feeling all of the victories and defeats of each one of her sisters in war was like a fine wine that had to be drunk in slowly and savored. This was the kind of event that separated the wheat from the chaff in the Star Army, a battle scene playing out from a time long ago when engagements like this with the SMX and NMX in the Samurai Sector were as common as the sun coming up each day on Valentine.

Yuuki interrupted the Taisa's momentary revelery with a calm report. "Casualty reports coming in, Mikoto-sama... the hardened battlepods are proving difficult for our escorts. At this rate we're going to lose a quarter of our infantry before contact with the Pillagers."

The commander of Orochi Squadron sighed in response to her bodyguard, and then glanced up to her operations staff as the shield-killing barrage was now loaded into the tubes and reporting as ready to fire. "Torpedoes... Hassha! Make way for our charge!" boomed the silver-haired battle-maiden, as she glanced to the screen as she saw that Tachibana had redirected the CFS system power to speed instead of shielding as she requested. "Fuji-shoi, stop being lazy... bring the squadron into missile range on the double!" she shot towards the purple haired sprite, who replied. "But Taisa, our shields are barely at 50%... and that's in range of their heavy starship guns." A quick slash at the air with her tessen and a stare from the amber-eyed Mikoto quickly silenced her protests, however. "Our sisters are fearless, we must be as well... Now go!"

Miyoga piped up suddenly as the MEGAMI fed her new information about the battlespace, "Taisa, I'm detecting multiple FTL signatures consistent with torpedo launches from the NMX fleet. 56 inbound to the squadron's coordinates and... wait..." The red-haired Shoi blinked a few times as the dots suddenly started disappearing from the volumetric display. "They... they vanished?"

(more to come)

 

[paladinrpg]

XSS Krampus, Prisoner Containment Area

All it took was a telepathic command from the Nightmare as the cell door unlocked and opened of its own accord. Perchta seemed to be enjoying the little show of defiance the male was putting on as he shielded the females as best he could from her wrath. "Oh... I never get tired of seeing such pathetic chivalry," chided the Overseer as she bent down to grasp the muzzle of the Vekimen before her with surprising strength in her shapely, clawed hands. "I had these crafted especially for you, my dear specimens. They are Yamataium reinforced, so as many times as you try to chew through them with those..." She paused a moment to sneer, as the hybrid recalled the nasty bite from a week past. "...impressive teeth you have, they will just regenerate the damage."

There was a laugh as the tentacles from her back morphed into serrated blades and lashed into the back scales of the defiant male, eager to hear his alien and gutteral screams fill the small room. "I'm in a good mood today... so, I could be persuaded to end your continued torment if you would just divulge the location of your hidden station to us? Such a tiny detail..." A few more slickened tentacles began to wrap around his tail and neck, as she brought her head close to the foul mouthed Vekimen. "Believe me... the Master will gladly rip your mind asunder for the information. At least my methods can let you live... and might even be pleasurable." The tendrils suddenly began to squeeze like metal cables, choking the prisoner from two directions, as Percha glanced to the two females cowering behind him with a slight grin and four more of the implements of fleshy torture riled up behind her head in their direction. "Or perhaps I need to discipline your lady friends a little harder this time in front of you? It's so much more fun with an audience...."

XSS Krampus, Bridge

In the central nest of the brownish-red bridge compartment floated the Mishhuvurthyar in charge of the cruiser, observing the evolving battle before him on several displays. The bony head's eyes narrowed a bit as tentacles writhed towards the weapons station where a yellow-uniformed NH-29 with olive skin and jet black hair was giving a report. "Lord Belsnickel, the SMX munitions you requested have successfully been launched at the pursuing Irim gunships. They've lost sensor locks."

"Excellent work; continue our withdrawal into FTL range," echoed the ribbed mass of the commander as he gave a chortle. "The Yamataians say that this is the season of giving, do they not? Our little saviors will certainly enjoy these very special gifts from the Master... huhuhu."

 

[Edto Xar'Sivaree]

The male held his glare, growling deeply. He had figured out a while ago that the caged muzzle would just repair itself every time they did any damage to it, but that didn't mean they didn't have idea's. This race was incredibly cocky, and the Vekimens teeth weren't the only weapon they had. He would have to wait until the perfect moment to react. If anything, he was going to make this one regret she was born.

He tried his damn hardest not to show any pain when she attacked him. His only saving grace was that she cut into his back scales, the nerves there being dulled by his time mining. He did let out a snarl before he was forced to look at the overseer. She was so close... None of them had the answers to her questions, and she was going to keep tormenting them til they died. May as well get some payback in now.

He swirled his tongue around his mouth, collecting as much saliva as he could before spraying it in her face as a mist. It would be unpleasant at first, the foul smell being the worst of it but over time the Vekimens bacteria would start to eat away at the flesh of the Overseers. Their bite isn't the worst of what they could do.

 

[Eistheid]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

The oily veneer of dismay settled across her mind as Mayu noted that she had acquired the unpleasant honor of being the target of a burst of missiles. A fraction of a second later, reflexes designed for use at near light speed combat kicked into motion, her ASBR coming up to take advantage of the relatively flat trajectory that she had maintained and in turn the forced path of the enemy missile weapons. Focusing on her targets, letting her AIES pick up the slack that her mind could not, Mayu lit up the intervening space with another lance of radiant energy, the searing trail of aether dancing between the target points of the missiles as she kept her course steady.

All before her countermeasures pods snapped open.

While she used her ASBR as a make shift laser anti-missile system Mayu knew that either she would manage to shoot them all down, or her dedicated countermeasures would be needed in the next instant. While she waited for her AIES to process the results of the defensive fire, Mayu multi-tasked addressing her surroundings as she once more swept space with her sensors and fed the data to her allies. Not willing to let the immediate threat of the approaching missile swarm lock her into tunnel vision at the cost of situational awareness. Not only did she have to remain in one piece, but she also had to ensure that she would be able to at the very least get within teleporter range of the hostile ship that was her target.

This battle had already been bloody enough, the SAoY could not risk it being fruitless as well.

 

[ArsenicJohn]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

Freyja Yuuki could only watch in horror as all around her, her squad was cut to ribbons by a volley of missiles from the NMX battlepods. The force of the explosions spun her around for a few seconds, disorienting her for a moment. She regained her senses as data came in from her AIES. Almost her entire squad had fallen in an instant. She screamed out loud. "Disgusting worthless squids!" She turned towards the NMX forces and was prepared to attack them in a rage, but her AIES informed her a battlepod had just locked onto her and unleashed a barrage of turret fire. She was a sitting duck all by herself in the middle of space.

Taking evasive action, she changed direction but she knew it was only a matter of time with her all by herself. She decided the best course of action would be to teleport somewhere safer. Frantically she searched for a relatively safe place to teleport. Her AIES detected a grouping of friendly Hayabusa Starfighters within range with and Mindys scrambling to get behind them. She engaged her teleporter and blinked out of existence, space warping around her and depositing her behind Oscar Flight. Freyja accelerated to maintain her position behind their formation.

She held her ASBR tight, scanning for incoming missiles. Her AIES pinged a nearby Mindy which happened to belong to Seo Mayu, although to her it was just another sister under fire. She identified one of the battlepods that had fired on Mayu and unleashed a volley of 5 missiles from her shoulder-mounted pod. The young Nekovalkyja directed a message at her nearby allies. "Lost my squad. Mind if I join you ladies?" Her calm exterior was completely in contrast to the anger and fear in her mind.

Come on.. You've trained for this! This is what you've dreamed of, she thought to herself. The reality was far different than she had imagined. Her sisters dying all around her in far greater numbers than she expected, missiles and explosions everywhere. What she had pictured was a bit more one-sided. Ketsurui Yui at the head of an army tearing through the enemy like a hot knife through butter. This was different. But she would hold it together. For my sisters and for Yamatai. Also because the enemy is slimy disgusting squids, and I hate slimy icky things!

 

[OsakaMoose]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

"Hai!" Sigrid responded, confidently. Once more, Eisei's words continued to chip away any sense of doubt or fear in the dark-haired Neko's heart, despite the chaos and massacre unfolding around the pair. Something in her squad-mate's voice resonated with courage and seeped through her timid veil. Eisei visibly knew what she was fighting for, and Sigrid couldn't help but admire her bravery in the face of death. She clearly had the soul of a warrior, and the slender cat-eared soldier could not help but lightly smile at the thought of fighting alongside her.

Oh no... Sigrid thought, her facial muscles suddenly tensing up as two lone dots lit up on her screen, standing out among the carnage of flashes and explosions taking place not far ahead. Two homing missiles, approaching fast... locked on to her. Methodically planning the next course of action, she knew that using the Hyabusas for cover was quickly becoming dangerous, as what used to be several tight formations of armor started transforming into a frenzy of dispersed fireballs deeply entrenched in a bloody dogfight with NMX Battlepods. Now, she would have to rely on her squadmate and herself to make it through the last stretch.

"Two missiles incoming..." she told Eisei, transmitting the data to her Mindy, "they're locked onto me... I think if we stick closer together we'll have... a better chance of pushing through."

Approaching her comrade from above and keeping her speed steady, Sigrid readied her countermeasures. Even if Eisei would try to kill the incoming projectiles with missiles of her own, Sigrid was ready to drive off any that she might make it through.

"You sure you're up for this, Eisei?" she asked, "I can... I mean... I'm ready to take them myself. I promise."

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

♫Burning Force - Bay Yard♫

"...The battlepods will only be interested in protecting the big boys, right?" Eisei responded to Sigrid through gritted teeth, struggling to mentally balance both of their telemetry inputs at once. Still accelerating at a fearsome pace, still surrounded by the chaos of constant scrolling light waves and radio interference... The simple act of blinking felt like a gamble each and every time. "Once we get closer to the pillagers, they'll be forced to come into range of your big gun, yeah?"

Enemy faces she could deal with, it was mysterious ethereal enemy data that was the problem. Out here in the big black, at distances and speeds like this, once you could see a threat it was already too late. The death shriek of a sister close by seemed to be one almost as much of surprise as despair, curbing off Eisei's grim thoughts uncomfortably.

Numbers were counting down. For a pace, the diminutive nekovalkyrja dared not breathe. Twenty of her own micro-missiles lashed out into the void, ten from each pod...

Tiny sparks of light, which rapidly became fearsome miniature stars for a slit second, as the formation smashed through the detonation clouds still mid-progress. A kick in the chest in terms of force, but nothing fatal. Both the enemy projectiles had been destroyed at once, only just.

A sensor ping, six o'clock below them. Unrecognized ob- No, a friendly had teleported in, from another squad.

"Welcome sis, just ke-"

Another sensor ping, straight ahead. And another. They scrolled in and out, curbing the edge of the Mindy 2's effective sensor range. Enemy laser fire was becoming less like a stray line here and there, and more like an inverted cone pointed towards them.

Eisei raised her rifle again shakily, and just prayed her companion realized that they were defending her just as much she was defending them. The pink haired waif's aim was not going to magically improve no matter how much danger they were in. Only had ten shoulder missiles left.

"Fukuzawa... I get hit, just... just teleport, please."

So close. Just a little longer now. Just had to hold on.

 

[paladinrpg]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

The battle continued to rage around the battered squad of infantry as they raced with determination towards their goal, the Pillager identified as the XSS Krampus coming closer and closer into view. Other scattered groups of Mindys from all of the Orochi Squadron vessels were doing the same as they fell into tighter, defensively packed bunches behind the Hyabusa starfighters that were the tips of the spear of the Empire. This change in defensive tactics by Yamatai's protectors as their numbers thinned out soon made additional missile barrages by the enemy less and less effective. Even though they were an easier target as a whole, it also allowed them to defend one another much more efficiently with their countermeasures. One PA might be easy prey out here in the chaos, but together they were stronger.

The NMX brain-slave piloted Battlepods still continued firing their two dozen missile payloads in the race to shock and scatter the approaching SAoY forces before they got too close. The deadly homing projectiles claimed many more Nekovalkyrja lives to the red nebula behind them that seemed all to eager to quietly receive the hemosynthetic sacrifice into its maw. Mayu managed to shoot down many of the ones hunting her, however her countermeasure pods were forced to reflexively spring into action to save her from two explosions that came awefully close for comfort, spared from a fate like that of her sisters.

It was then that her AIES sensors caught sight of the Battlepod that launched them going down in flames from the quintet of missile strikes directed upon it by the newcomer Freyja, as the voice of the second squads leader came over the Santo Hei's comms channel as she sliced the turret off another one that strayed dangerously close on a suicide charge at Oscar Lead, sending it sparking into oblivion. "Kurosora-heisho here, Yuuki-hei...lucky for you some spots have just opened up. Fall in and keep it hot!"

Eisei and Sigrid's covering fire for one another was working well, as this time none of the deadly missiles were able to hit their mark, blown to bits long before they came within range. However, some of the battlepods that had exhausted their missile stocks now had turned to doing strafing runs with their less accurate dual aether turrets. Sigrid's countermeasures could do little against the energy beam that now passed inches away from her Mindy's conformal barrier -- close enough to feel the heat and light washing over the thin Yamataium shell that separated her from the void. Thankfully it missed her, however made it through the already weakened shields to the engines of one of the still dogfighting Blue element fighters, causing the Hyabusa to finally go down in a massive reactor overload.

All the combatants seemed to hold their breath, the surge of hyperspace energy appearing on their sensors as a literal wave of dozens of gleaming shield-killing torpedoes fired from the supporting Irim Heavy Gunships appeared out of purple FTL slits just ahead of them. It was almost like a gift from Chiharu, to see them start to lock on and streak swiftly towards the Pillagers bubbles up ahead... the knowledge that the impacts would be so de-stabilizing that one single good hit from Oscar's mounted torpedoes would create all the openings the squads would need to finally make the NMX feel vengeance for the slaughter.

(more coming)

 

[paladinrpg]

♫ Alert Sign (raio0) - Accel World OST

YSS Orochi, Bridge

The venerable gunship's upgraded sensor cluster was frantically scanning nearby space for where the lost torpedo contacts registered before had gone, even as it guided their own barrage in for the sucker punch to save their beleaguered infantry assault. "Miyoga, things like that don't simply disappear!" quipped the captain as she pointed her war fan at the sensors station. "You should be able to detect them if they went into FTL. Unless..." The Neko paused, as she realized just what could have happened as the warning klaxons began blaring and the MEGAMI's voice filled the compartment:

"Warning, warning: multiple projectiles exiting from hyperspace within our ship's shield radius and locking on. Profiles match that of SMX-type Quintessent Hyperspace Torpedoes. Warhead composition: unknown."

"Shimatta...! We walked right into their trap!" cursed Hachimitsu-Taisa, as she began to lose her battle cool for the first time... the fact that her desire to charge in quickly with a reduced CFS shield strength was a grave miscalculation that gave the enemy exactly the opening they needed to threaten the fleet itself. But how could she have possibly predicted the enemy to use such antiquated munitions from the First Mishhuvurthyar War? Did they raid them from an old surviving depot near Bizankro? But it wasn't important how they got a hold of them -- now she had to stop them. "All ships, bring all weapons pods online, point defense mode! These things are meant to drill through pure Zesuaium.. don't let them attach to the hull intact!"

YSS Orochi

There was a flurry of activity in nearby space as nearly a thousand discs of light began to take shape around the Irim's, but considering the time to warm up the system was significant, it seemed like too little too late for hoping to stop the first volley that slipped into an intimate range nearly unobstructed with their shield-punching bows. The Orochi shivered violently, forcing everyone to grab hold as three impactors piloted by suicide brain-slaves contacted directly with its hull -- one slammed dangerously close to the vulnerable bridge on top, followed by another at the engine cluster, and a third that embedded itself right in the middle of the sensor dome, sending sparking shards of the now-wrecked arrays flying into space. All three fired up their powerful electron drills to bore through the thick armor platings to deliver their payloads to the interiors of the ship... a newer, light alloy vessel would have been like a hot knife through butter, but at least the Irim's had the old-style 3-foot thick majority Zesuaium armor plates, so it took about a minute to bore all the way through...

YSS Orochi, Bridge

The purple haired sprite Fuji spoke up, the sudden chaos waking her out of her lethargy and grabbing the edge of her sensor console to steady herself. "T-Taisa... we've just lost the main sensor array! Impact detected in aft section near the main engines, and also the..." She then looked above her, as a spot on the ceiling was becoming white-hot and slagging away to the floor. "...the bridge."

YSS Orochi, Science Lab/Medical Bay

The Kodian doctor on call in the tiny science lab had his reverie broken abruptly, when he felt a shake rumble through the vessel and a loud CRASH that nearly sent him off his chair. A nurse Neko gasped as one side of the non-armored wall suddenly distended and bulged inward, knocking her backwards and dropping the tray of medical supplies that she was helping Pavel organize. The glowing electron drill of the Quintessent Hyperspace Torpedo met the inner air of the compartment with a sizzle and a ticking sound as a tense second passed...

There was no explosion, thankfully. But what did come out of the opening in the sickly green warhead was perhaps something far worse, that sent the newbie Santo Hei crawling backwards in abject fear, with only enough time to utter a scream as a swarm of NMX Parasites was disgorged right on top of the unlucky crewman, tearing into her teal paneled uniform and synthetic flesh with reckless abandon.

(more coming)

 

[FrostJaeger]

YSS Orochi, Science Lab/Medical Bay

The snow-furred form of one Pavel Lazarev - not really one for partaking in idle conversation - was in the middle of inputting the amount of Laser Scalpels the starship known as the YSS Orochi currently possessed inside its medical stores when a violent tremor (followed immediately by an extremely audible CRASH!) caused the Ittô Hei to inadvertently enter that the Irim-class Heavy Gunship had eight thousand scalpels instead of eighty. Tpru!(Whoa!) Considering as how this military vessel has most likely proceeded to enter into a militaristic situation of some fashion, there exists a high probability that hostile forces would enact offensive actions against it; taking into account the events that have just transpired, it appears as if the aforementioned offensive actions have indeed occurred, thereby announcing the impending termination of our current state of idlene-


A gasp from the cramped compartment's only other occupant (a fresh-out-of-training Santô Hei by the name of Shigeho Yumiko) served to remind the Kodian of the danger they were in as the nearby bulkhead promptly buckled inwards - and knocked poor Yumiko back onto her posterior.


Pavel was halfway out of his overworked chair when he instinctively froze, for as the tray of laser scalpels that the Neko had been holding clattered to the floor, the Medic saw (and heard) the cause for the bulkhead's sudden loss of structural integrity: a glowing, sizzling, and - most frighteningly of all - ticking object.


A missile. Oh, bylat!(Oh, fuck!)


Though it was only the span of a single heartbeat, it seemed like an eternity for the Ittô Hei. Anomalous......one could have ordinarily expected to be suffering an unfortunate case of being dead, provided this particular implement of destruction on a massive scale is not malfunctio-


In slow motion, courtesy of the sheer volume of adrenaline running through the Kodian's body, the glow surrounding the aforementioned object faded, revealing a warhead that, oddly enough, had several openings along its pale-green surface. What would the pur-


In slow motion, courtesy of the sheer volume of adrenaline running through Kodian's body, said warhead promptly discharged a veritable horde of one of the few things actually capable of frightening said Kodian.


Parasite-Type Mishhuvurthyar.


For a moment, the Medic (having since managed to stand up completely and, thanks to training, draw his newly-issued Type 33/B Kodian Nekovalkyrja Service Pistol out of its holster) hesitated - his mind reciting the list of absolutely abominable things a Parasite-Type's venom could do to another sentient individual - only to be yanked back to reality as Shigeho-Hei screamed in panic-laden terror. NET!(NO!)


Even as the Kodian began shooting frantically at the monstrosities swarming around his junior crewmate (while doing his best not to accidentally hit said crewmate in the process), he despaired inside - as the Ittô Hei knew that his moment of inaction had cost him dearly.


He knew that once again, just like that terrifyingly horrific day a little over two years ago..........he simply wouldn't be fast enough - or good enough - to make up for those indescribably precious few seconds.


He knew that once again, just like that terrifyingly horrific day a little over two years ago..........he'd once again fail to save the life of someone he cared about - and thus would have to watch them die before his very eyes.........


The snow-furred form of one Pavel Lazarev let out a decidedly primal roar of anguish, frustration, and fury - for it wasn't the life of Shigeho Yumiko he was fighting to save.


Not anymore.


It was the life of someone named Svetlana.


Svetlana Lazarev, to be precise.

 

[paladinrpg]

XSS Krampus, Prisoner Containment Area

Perchta grimaced as the foul-stench of saliva was spat in right in her eyes and face by the Vekimen. Her body's immune system was alerted to the presence of very high levels of dangerous bacteria almost immediately, as it started to bubble against her hybrid hemosynthetic flesh. Even if it was little threat to her, the short red-haired Superior Overseer of the Krampus contorted her face into a snarl even as she partially hid it with a clawed, carapace laden hand. "Urgh... disgusting creatures! I've given you too much mercy!" She raised up the remaining free back tentacles now, some of the tips morphing to several nozzle-shaped implements. "So, you want to spit upon me, specimen? Now, I'll show you how it is done..."

A mist of reddish-brown liquid emanated from the array of tentacles, coating the defiant male close by and even to a lesser extent the females cowering behind him. After only a second or two of contact, the digestive acid began to eat into their scales with a very painful sizzle. The growls and screams they would utter would at least partially sooth Perchta's damaged pride, as well as test their resistances a little bit...

She was about to throw on another layer of pain for good measure when there was a shout from behind her from one of the thralls who was keeping watch over the crammed in prisoners. "Overseer, come quickly! There is a Neko prisoner making trouble!"

The Nightmare-type turned her shapely backside to the prisoners and started to leave, while using the muscular tentacles still holding onto the male Vekimen to toss him into the wall of the cramped, ruddy cell, even as his scales continued to sting from the corrosive fluids. She had grown bored of their novelty -- something else more interesting had just popped up. "Oh? Why was I not informed of this earlier..."

Beyond the doorway back in the cargo area that had been re-purposed into a mass prison cell, the ex-SAoY mercenary known as Alexis Morwind was quickly gathering up a group of terrified Yamataian colonists around her who saw the blue haired, red-eyed Nekovalkyrja at least as some form of safety in this dire situation. The gaggle had drawn the attention of a few NMX Neko in gray naval uniforms who were now forcing their way through the throngs of humanity, visibly brandishing stun batons and Type-31 Sidearms in extremely tight quarters.

"Hey, cousin, don't get any ideas of being a hero!" one of them shouted to Alexis and her rabble in Yamataigo, "There's no way those Star Army girls are gonna be able to rescue you. So, keep it quiet for the ride to Yuukan and maybe Lord Belsnickel will even let you work for us... the alternatives ain't pleasant, let me tell you."

 

[Ace]

XSS Krampus
Alexis turned to the guard and spat out.
"I might not be saved but one of these people will so shut it!"
She noticed a rusty pie lying several feet between her and the guard and began walking towards it seemingly giving no regard to it.
"But I guess that an empty shell like you wouldn't understand that now would it."

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Space, Near NMX Fleet

No longer mere gleaming dots in the endless expanse, the enemies had features now. Eisei felt a certain kind of exhilarated electricity run through her tired limbs, now finding a new lease of invigoration from the concept that they were somehow not already dead.

Battlepod missile trails seemed to be becoming more sparse, replaced by the strafing laser fire of the small triangular drones finally darting into closer quarters. No time to check what their own numbers were like at this point. The enemy was getting in close to attain a more reliable aim on the tiny power armours, zooming past at umatchable accelerations. The small pink-haired neko to jolted around randomly, and fired off in their general direction sporadically with her rifle, actions intended to confuse their targeting predictions more than anything. You couldn't outrun light, but a Mindy could still out-turn the small turret servo motors frantically twitching to get a lock on their diminutive forms.

Enemy fire getting closer. Armour exterior hotter.

Eisei swung her rifle around and tried to shoot down one that past practically within twenty meters of her. Miss.

Another one darted past.

And another. A sister screamed down the comlink, then rapidly fell to silence.

Couldn't shot- too fast- couldn't think- Was this one coming aft-?

A world of pure metal and energy reverberations, shapes, no thought, no noise. Muscle memory guided Eisei's hands faster than she could even give them orders. An energy blast cut through her shield like butter, and tore the missile pod away from behind her left ear. A chain of small thudding detonations arcing behind her. White blurs. Blind? Dead?

Unthinking digits grabbed her saber rifle by the butt and barrel, lashing out two-handed purely at the feeling of a vibrant shadow roaring past her vicinity.

Flaming fragments clattered against her upper torso. The twisted dart-shaped object span uncontrollably, blazing from one of it's twin engines, before finally exploding into a fiery demise.

A breath, then a sharp searing pain...

Left gauntlet was red hot. Holding the rifle by the barrel directly after firing it probably not the wisest idea.

Eisei knew she would have to do it again and again before the day was done.