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RP [Orochi Squadron] Mission 1: Tentacled Tidings

XSS Krampus, Prisoner Containment Area
Alexis decided to take charge of the rioters. "Hey everyone start teaming up and hit attacker together! Pick up whatever you can use as a weapon we can overwhelm them we're almost there!"
As Alexis shouted she made her way to the Vekimen and cut them loose. "Hey are you three alright? Can you help us fight?"
 
XSS Krampus Bridge

A quick assessment of the situation had Shiho dropping her stance a little lower. A quick step forward raising up her wrist blade; the full extension of it carving a bright red burning crescent of super heated metal on the deck, before bringing it down on the console manned by the lone squid operator left on deck. Their commanding officer was going on about something, sneering about being ever so clever; hiding the whole while behind a shield.

Shiho herself? Too busy to stop and respond to it. Following the forward blow to (with hope) neatly bisect what may have been the last functioning system on deck; Shiho leveled her rifle to rake an aether beam across the deck. As Sigrid fell in through her breach; she might have caught the slightest whisper of Shiho speaking to herself in a low, husky whisper. It was unlikely that she knew she'd left her comms open...

"Yes. Look at me, fools. Watch as I contribute nothing to this battle and gloat over how great I am... Fear my cunning trap where I am cornered in a bubble on a crippled ship..." Shiho gave a short laugh, before finally noticing Sigrid come in behind her and snapping back to something like a professional soldierly tone. "They're coming in from the back, behind the commander's shield; you cover the left, I'll cover the right. We keep them behind the shield until backup comes."

And then the Nightmare turned up... Shiho spying her from just the corner of her eye. The sight of it made her wince... The various tendrils weren't what did it, though. There were a few dozen, maybe a hundred things on this ship which scared her: The sight of a few edged weapons weren't anywhere near the kind of dread Shiho reserved for the kind of weapons which could annihilate her on a level she couldn't comprehend. For some reason it was the ribbing on its frontal carapace that did it.

This thing was just... hard to look at.

"If they push forward, retreat back out the breach. I'll hold them off." Shiho said back to Sigrun, popping out of her cover behind the command console to rake another beam across the deck. She didn't vocalise the rest of her thought though:

If they kill me, at least my backup won't remember this.
 
XSS Krampus Officer Cabins

The sight of the slimy walls disgusted her and pissed her off at the same time. I hate slimy things! She thought angrily. Sure, she expected it, but the reality was even worse than she imagined. The door with no handle seemed to throw itself open. Can these things even survive in a vacuum? The instant that the disgusting creature popped into her sight, she prepared to fire a burst of aether. Someone beat her to it, but she fired a three-second burst at what looked like its head anyway, just as its slimy tentacles flew towards her. She dodged to the right, hoping to avoid being skewered or grabbed by the nasty tentacles.

Not waiting to see if it was dead, Freyja tried in vain to find some sort of cover. There was none. She took aim and fired off another three-second burst in an attempt to kill the creature before it could take another shot at her. She engaged the sword mode on her ABSR and prepared to chop off any tentacles coming at her. "Seo-hei or whoever just fired that Aether Beam, thank you! Please get in here, I could use some assistance!" She yelled hurriedly. Come on, don't die on the first engagement with a live Mishhu! You made it this far.
 
Space, Near XSS Krampus

While Mayu didn't feel that she could spare the time to watch Eguchi-hei's noble pronouncement to the Nekovalkyrja within the Pillager they were now raiding, she did appreciate the potential shift in morale that was offered by the pronouncement. Maintaining her over-watch and taking the occasional shot at a passing battlepod Mayu took the moment of relative peace to wonder where their CO had gotten to and what the next order of business in the boarding and acquisition of the enemy vessel was to be.

Before she could spend too much time contemplating the relative disorganization of their unit and the boarding of the vessel, Mayu noted the sprung trap on the bridge, and with Eguchi-hei's timely intervention on Freyja's behalf Mayu felt that she had the time and opportunity to provide help where it was sorely needed. Instructing her AIES to calculate using the positional information provided by Fukuzawa-hei and Ishii-Hei's AIES suites Mayu readied herself before activating her teleportation module, eating one of the stored charges in her capacitors. For a brief moment she winked out of existence, then an instant later she flickered into reality behind the Nightmare on the bridge shields powered to full and her Aether Saber blossoming to life looking to cut a hole in the enemy's leadership, and perhaps if she was lucky sowing some confusion in the accompanying Reapers before she would have to bail out.

Anything to give her sisters the time they needed to rally and take full control of the bridge.
 
XSS Krampus Bridge

"They're coming in from the back, behind the commander's shield; you cover the left, I'll cover the right. We keep them behind the shield until backup comes."

"Got it" Sigrid answered robotically, hunched down behind a wrecked console. Presented with a swarm of NMX troops before her and her comrade, lasers blasting inches from her head, there was little else that could catch her attention outside the fear of imminent death at the hands of the enemy. What have we gotten ourselves into? Taking over the bridge initially sounded like an excellent plan to paralyze the NMX forces and save the day, but suddenly it came to her realization that only two Nekos taking over a critical location at the front of the ship is practically suicide. Now, with the Nightmare added to the battle, it might as well be guaranteed. On the bright side, it would probably help her other sisters with drawing attention away from the cargo bay.

Maybe that's the plan all along, Sigrid thought, to distract the enemy while the rest rescues the prisoners? If that's the case, she had to get ready to die today. For the Empire.

"If they push forward, retreat back out the breach. I'll hold them off."

"Not doing that, Shiho" Sigrid replied in a low, resigned tone. "If they push forward, we'll need to stay put and keep them coming. As long as they're focused on the bridge, maybe the others will be able to secure the cargo bay."

She then added, after a brief pause, "I'm not leaving you behind. If we're going down, we'll have to go down fighting."

With those words, Sigrid switched her aether rifle back to burst fire mode and aimed at the closest left-most NMX troops. Her gauss cannon, though, had another target: the Nightmare. Time to see Tungsten rounds in action.

The barrels of her rifle and shoulder-mounted cannon opened-fire and began the retaliation.
 
The male Vekimen screamed out as he was thrown to the floor, the two females screaming out, in turn, trying to get to him. The male felt the bonds snap, though, and as soon as the creature was gone rolled over. He had to get them out, and being free would be the first thing that would help with that situation. Slowly, he crawled around the two and used the acids that were eating into him to try and break through the cuffs. It was the only explanation. They had tried beating the locks time and time again and nothing happened. Now it worked, and the three were finally free to move their limbs

When they saw Alexis run through the door, the two females hopped in front of the male who was still currently trying to recover fully from the acid bath he just received. Both females were making a rapidly click, hissing sound to each othere, seeming nervous of your presence.
 
Alexis was nerved by the Vekimens actions and decided to leave some rags and water for them at the door before backing up slowly with her hands held out in a non-violent gesture. "Can you understand me?"
 
(Ok, let's do this.)

♫ The Black Mages - Clash On the Big Bridge


XSS Krampus, Bridge

The conflict on the command bridge of the NMX vessel flared to life like a bloody show before the safely ensconced Belsnickel in the center of the compartment, as shells and plasma let fly between the two brave Mindy-clad attackers and a formation of 3 Reapers on either side of the Mishhuvurthyar captain's protective shield. Perchta the Nightmare licked her lips in anticipation, seemingly unafraid of the decompression that was rapidly taking hold of the compartment for now.

Shiho's raking fire kept the trio on the right flank at bay, halting their attempt to advance cold and causing light damage to one of them that was a little slower than her sisters. Their Impaler shots all couldn't quite get a clean hit on the sneaky Neko, so they then resorted to a fierce salvo of missiles that streaked out in close quarters and blew up the console she was using as cover, leaving it a sparking and smoking mess. Though she was skillful enough to avoid the worst of the blast that could've ripped a hole right through her helmet, the resulting shock wave forced her onto the floor and into the open where she was vulnerable.

Sigrid had a little bit more luck, as one of her aether rifle rounds impacted right on the helmet of one of the trio guarding the left flank, sending them to the deck in momentary shock. It would take a little bit more than that to kill the NMX Neko, though, but at least she only had to face two of them for now! Unfortunately, these two had pretty good aim, and tagged the rookie in the shoulder hard in the counter attack. As she was knocked back by the force, her AIES reported that her 50mm Gauss Cannon unit was now offline... but not before her tungsten round streaked towards the Nightmare.

The sadistic hybrid Neko reacted with supernatural agility, extending her palm just in time meet the attack with a pulse of scalar energy that was enough to slow the projectile down and for her to dodge it, as it impacted the wall behind her with its remaining force. "Is that the best you Star Army girls can do?" laughed the Superior Overseer, as she readied for a counter attack...

Only that attack never came, as the form of Mayu's Mindy materialized into being right behind Percha, brandishing her ignited blade like an avenging angel against the twisted demon's unprotected backside. Even her enhanced reflexes couldn't completely dodge the searing aether beam saber as it cut right through a multitude of tentacles and created a deep, bloody gash through her thin back carapace. A psychic roar of pain rippled through the bridge as the red-haired terror was sent reeling, spurting hemosynthetic fluid from her wounds, as well as the severed appendages now flopping around on the floor in front of her momentarily surprised troops. "GRAHHH... HOW DARE YOU!"

The Nightmare, though injured and weakened, was not destroyed... Perchta still had the strength in a few remaining musclar tentacles that were already shaped into wicked blades to jab two of them directly into Mayu's torso armor plating and then use that leverage to hurl her bodily across the deck into the undamaged console that the scared NMX Neko bridge crewwoman was desperately trying to hold onto, crushing her unarmored form dead beneath the weight of the Mindy.

Things were not looking good for the trio as they all were reeling from their assaults, with Reapers closing in fast to try to make the kill this time. But before they could do so, a set of Gauss guns appeared from the hole in the cieling and shot the two nearest enemy armors taking aim at Sigrid and Shiho. This was followed by the blur of a Mindy with a familiar red stripe of the Heisho flipping down into the hole, as an Aether Beam Saber Rifle neatly cut off the firing arm of another NMX trooper before it could harm Mayu. Kurosora Kim gave a smile under her helmet as she finally caught up to her ambitious squadmates, and with a nod, two other infantry from Second Squad appeared from behind her, suddenly evening the odds...

One was Koguchi-hei, the male Minkan of the group, brandishing a blade and a flamethrower that looked eager to torch something. The other friendly appeared on readouts as 'Junko Hasegawa', another fresh-faced recruit that had managed to make it this far and eager to protect her fellow sisters. "Sorry squids, but this Yuletide party is now officially being crashed!" spoke their brave leader, and brought her weapons to bear protectively. "Koguchi-hei, Hasegawa-hei... take the right and left groups; leave the creepy hostess to me!"

XSS Krampus, Officer Cabins

Eguchi's aether beam from above surprised the Mishhu, sending it reeling in pain, even as several of its tentacles found purchase on Freyja. The 3-second bursts eventually cracked its already wounded head carapace open, though as it went into its gargling death throes it refused to entirely let go of Freyja's leg, slowing her down in the cramped quarters for a few critical moments... enough time for a second one of the alien terrors to arrive to avenge its fallen officer comrade, appendages hitting the lone Neko's Mindy in the gut with the force of a sledgehammer and hurtling her backwards into the slimy wall with a thud. It seemed the Valkyrie of Justice was needed to smite the evildoer before it was too late!

XSS Krampus, Prisoner Containment Area

Alexis' efforts seemed to be working, as the prisoners soon overwhelmed the remaining NMX guards through sheer numbers and at least some degree of coordination. One group of emboldened citizens of Jun found a crate of leftover vehicle parts, and turned them into dozens of deadly objects. Though it was only a small victory, seeing as they were still trapped in terribly cramped accommodations and several of their number were wounded... but one idea did suddenly stand out. One of the unconscious Neko in the chaos had managed to hit the button that had de-activated the lock on the elevator that arose to deck 3. The former SAOY soldier knew that this was where the enlisted barracks were, and likely medical facilities and the armory... and from the sounds of it a little closer to the fighting that was intensifying.

(more coming!)
 
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"Acknowledged." Junko affirmed before using a TAP burst to dash left. She reached out and joined the AIES of the fireteam. A mental ping to the Neko she was assisting (Sigrid?), the non-physical equivalent to a pat on the shoulder. She was close enough to offer help back to her feet, should her sister require.

With the battle joined, though, she swiftly turned her focus to the Reapers before her.

Using the layout of the bridge consoles, Junko began using TAP bursts to move aggressively. The Mindy was made to be fast as well as strong. While she had little practical experience (As in, none) what little she knew suggested the Reapers weren't quite as agile.

Her shoulder cannons, 50mm Gauss, opened fire on the nearest Reaper and concentrated fire. They were designed to punch into armor. So let them punch enemy armor. The plan was to focus on one, burn it down with additional fire from Sigrid and move on. Keep moving and using cover to stay safe. Spreading fire among all the Reapers would only make it slower - Even a knockoff Daisy was still a considerable threat.

In theory, she just had to not get careless and get too close to the enemy fireteam, where they could dogpile her.
 
XSS Krampus, Officer Cabins

♫ AC3 - Declare


Through the persistent holographic effect was still causing Eisei's Mindy to glow in the purest of white gleams, her heart was burning anything but brightly. She had vaulted down into the small chamber in order to protect Freyja from further attack, but her rifle was still recharging, and refused to sputter back into life. Another shambling abomination was already here, towering over the two of them, bringing back all of the most crippling, dismal memories her mind could bare to take. As much as her hands had practiced and practiced with the blade, it was also laced with a sort of harrowing muscle memory that meant her skin could not forget the whip.

Digits changed position. Wasn't enough room to swing her sabre-rifle by the butt end, so reflexes demanded that Eisei quickly reversed her palms and held it backwards just behind the scope, with her left palm flat against the rear. Thrusting stance.

It ended today. If she died, she died. But Eisei wasn't going to be a plaything any longer. She couldn't let the others see her cower, either, otherwise the truth would crush any hope of a future her pitiful life had left. A straight forward leap, jabbing forward with a thundering scream of rage. Completely open to a counter, but...

Also a falsehood, a volumetric projection of the entire Mindy used as a feint.

Using the extra split second to give her weapon just enough time to actually activate the blade mode again, the real attack came in the form of a vicious overhead downward stab, scorching through the air towards the hateful thing's grotesque bony skull.
 
XSS Krampus Officer Cabins

The first nightmarish creature went down and Freyja felt a satisfaction she had never felt before. She had killed something she considered evil and it felt good. She tried to move but her leg was tangled. That's when she discovered the culprit. A disgusting tentacle wrapped around her leg. She attempted to pull her leg free with a tug from an armored hand but only succeeded in ripping the limb off of the creature.

Because of this, the second Mishu took her by surprise. She hit the soft wall and bounced off, landing on her butt and dropping her rifle. The Santo-Hei didn't hesitate to aim her shoulder cannon at the advancing enemy. Thankfully she didn't fire immediately because she would have hit Eisei, who suddenly appeared in front of her and swung her rifle's saber at the creature's head. She grabbed her rifle and reactivated the blade as she reoriented herself.

Freyja moved to stand beside her savior, charging forward to deliver a diagonal slash aimed at the creature's midsection without checking to see if it was already dead. She was determined this thing was going to die, along with any other Mishu in the way of her mission. "Arigatou. I'm glad I'm not alone anymore. Let's stick together and teach these slimy miscreants they screwed with the wrong Nekovalkyrja!" She said directly into Eisei's mind before switching her saber back to burst mode.
 
XSS Krampus, Prisoner Containment Area
Alexis gave up on trying to communicate with the three Vekimen and instead returned to her fellow rebel inmates. After noticing the activated deck 3 elevator Alexis thinking back on her scarce knowledge of this type of ship thought that it might lead to someplace positive and so turned to her group. "Ok. So this elevator seems to be our only exit from here. Now I want us to take it but the problem is not all of us can use it at once so we will head up in two groups . The first will be those who can still fight while the second group will consist of the wounded, those with medical knowledge, and a handful of fighters. So grab some of these weapons lying around and group up. We head out in five minutes." With that Alexis went around seeing to the wounded and doing what she could while talking with everyone in an attempt to keep morale up.
 
Meanwhile....

♫ The Prodigal Returns

YSS Orochi, Science Lab/Medical Bay

Pavel's mighty Kodian strength was on full display, as the swarm of Parasites that shot forward like living bullets were summarily impaled stabbing mouthparts first into the desk that was hurtled at them, then the whole thing crashing into the writhing mass of miniature Mishhu that desperately tried to route around it, those unlucky ones now splatters of hemosyntetic fluid that spoiled the once pristine, sanitary conditions of the flagship's lab. The lumbering medic's recklessness did however get the job done, as he crashed through the doorway into the hallway and rolled to the floor in a heap.

Nurse Shigeho-hei's torn up peach skin from her brush with the Parasite now rested on the living white bear rug that was oddly comforting to the Neko after her harrowing experience, as the upside down view was of a pair of yellow-panel caretakers running towards him brandishing Nekovalkyrja Submachine Guns a little shakily, considering they didn't expect the enormous scientist to pull something like that off. "Hold on Lazarev-hei, we got you!" yelled one of them with green hair in a ponytail, as she stepped into the breech first along with her fellow Neko that had brown hair up in a cute beret, who seemed all to eager to pull the trigger. "Die, you disgusting wormy things!"

Braced by the pair, the old fashioned yet extremely effective firearms made short work of the parasites infesting the room with a hail of fully automatic pulses that were impossible to hide from. Rat-atat-tat-tat-ta. The inexperience of the girls showed, however, as a lot of the "spray and pray" they employed also caused lots of scientific equipment to also be turned into swiss cheese, much to Pavel's probable lament. Along with the giant torpedo still sticking into the wall, the whole place was a lost cause... but at least everyone was okay, and there was no immediate loss of pressure or more NMX showing up. The trigger happy brunette laughed nervously with a "Gomen... I guess I got carried away," as her green haired fellow soldier struggled to get the Kodian to his feet and check on Shigeho-hei...

YSS Orochi, Bridge

"I do believe that is the last of our foes." The Ketsurui Samurai Yuuki's blade work was both beautiful and deadly, as in the space of a minute dozens of unfortunate NMX Parasite-types now lay on the upper deck of the command bridge in what almost seemed to be a pattern in the shape of a plum flower blossom.

This Zen arrangement was haphazardly scattered with the several corpses from Hachimitsu-taisa's NSP shots among others, as she kicked one of the beasts off her chair with a satisfied nod, and holstered her pistol, looking to her crew for an update after this rude interruption. "Status report!"

The fiery haired Miyoga chimed in, as her NSP was still smoking on the console next to her. "Parasites have been repelled successfully. We've sustained minimal damages structurally, science lab is out of commission along with most of our sensors. Casualty reports coming in... we've got one in science, and two in engineering..."

Meanwhile, Fuji-shoi had managed to wipe off the ichor from her station at sensors barely trying to contain her disgust. "Most ships are still reporting battle-ready status, although the Ogi and Tsukushi are still dealing with infestations on their command bridges..." Then the warning lights that had been covered up grabbed the curly-haired sprite's attention. "Eh? Ambient energy levels coming from the Tivurthinth patrol craft increasing at an alarming rate..."

The weapons station Shoi finished the sentence. "Taisa... this is consistent with the activation of an EMP weapon! At that close range the infantry and fighters that are still outside the Pillagers will all be rendered sitting ducks..."

Hashimoto-juni wiped her blades clean with a small towel and sheathed them carefully in their scabbards, before glancing at the commander. "Perhaps this was part of their plan all along."

"Those NMX bakyarou... obviously an elaborate trap to ensure their escape!" grimaced Mikoto, as she snapped her Zesuaium tessen closed harshly and broadcasted on all channels. "This is Hachimitsu-Taisa to all fleet mission operations: All fighter squadrons are to retreat immediately, and infantry to get their backsides into those hulls at once!" The silver-haired commander then looked to her weapons officer. "Prepare the anti-armor missile launchers to cover our units escape from the remaining battlepods... and get me some Positron Accelerator Cannons on that patrol vessel!"

Space, Near XSS Krampus

The commands came over the comms to the remnants of Oscar Squadron under the command of Raku Kishi Heisho suddenly calling for the retreat, even as they were making good progress taking out the remaining guns on the Pillager assigned to them. Oscar 10 was perhaps momentarily confused by the conflicting directives and hesitated long enough to get caught in crossfire with a Battlepod, sending his Hyabusa hurtling right into the Krampus's hull with an explosion that tore through the NMX ship's armor near the wing section and also killed a Mindy trying to breach as well. The rest of them started to make movements to disengage, though awaited Kishi-heisho's confirmation before fully breaking off the assault...

Not far away the lone Tivurthinth overwatch that had been hounding the fighters with its screening fire until now began to erupt in a flash of whitish-blue, as a wave of scalar and electromagnetic energies rippled into being with the vessel at its epicenter. It would be seconds before they would wash over the other ships in the NMX fleet, and fry the electromagnetics of any smaller craft... or Nekovalkyrja for that matter...
 
~Gundam F-91 OST- Emergency!~

<Warning: Anomalous energy levels detected from hostile vessel.>
the computer bleeped.

"Wait, what?" Kishi jerked as the nearby Tivurthinth patrol ship abruptly stopped firing, the curves of its scaly hull abruptly dimming to a near black. Cocking a head in the direction of the rest of her squadron, she began transmitting. [That Patrol-class's up to something, all fighters loop around and begin your attack runs on the Furious Cannon from the starboard underside. The triple-As on that side's been popped by our girls in the Infantry already, stay close to the hull and use the cruiser itself as cover!]

[Hai, heisho!] a chorus of voice came over the comms as the arrowhead shapes of Oscar Squadron flowed into motion, the thick line of fighters dispersing from their attack run to splash against the Pillager cruiser like a waterfall on hard stones, the six jets splitting up into quick orbits around the cone of the NMX ship's frontal hull. Flipping round with quick taps of aetheric thrusters, the engines of the Hayabusa starfighters glowed turquoise as the dartlike smallcraft got back up to speed.

[Oscars, stick to the hull and begin your runs! All fighters attac-!] Kishi ordered as she pushed the "throttle" down, willing her Hayabusa into a fiery leap forwards.

[This is Hachimitsu-Taisa to all fleet mission operations: All fighter squadrons are to retreat immediately, and infantry to get their backsides into those hulls at once!]

[Huh?! Wha-] Kobo stumbled as the two separate transmissions jumbled together over the channel, Hachimitsu-taisa's transmission overriding into the squadron's channel and garbling together with Raku-heisho's orders into an unrecognisable mess of noise. [This is Oscar 10, say again all after infantry! Say again all after infantry, over!] The russet-haired Minkan pilot hissed into the mic, barely hiding the confusion in his voice. Distracted as he was, he made one fatal mistake.

Staying still.

In a blink of an eye, three Battlepods were upon his craft and trapping the Hayabusa in a cone of fire, raking the hardened Durandium alloy fuselage with high-caliber shells. An alarmed screeching from the ship's system was the only warning he got before explosions rocked the craft, filling his cockpit with fire. [Chikush-]

[Takahashi! No!] Oscar 6 yelled as his wingman's Hayabusa spiraled off in flames, impacting upon the Pillager's hull with a dull whoomp and a bright plume of blue flames. "Damn it all, we're getting killed out here!" Kishi seethed as the rest of the surviving Oscars whipped round to face the sudden influx of enemy Battlepods, the attack run all but abandoned as the Star Army pilots fought for their lives. [All pilots, disengage! I say again, all pilots disengage immediately!] Slinging her craft above the top of the Pillager Cruiser's hull, she aligned her Hayabusa with the distant Orochi Squadron and prepared to hit the afterburners.

The Tivurtinth-class Patrol, previously dead in the water, violently erupted in a furious storm of otherworldly energies, the all consuming event horizon spreading out all over the rest of the NMX fleet.

And all over Oscar Squadron.

"MY GOD!" the normally composed Squadron Lead gasped as she took in the lightning storm from hell heading right for them. [Disconnect AEIS! Disconnec-!] Kishi screamed into the mic as she violently wrenched her mind from the mindlink's embrace and all was fire and lightning and pain PAIN PAIN-

 
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Space, near XSS Krampus

"Ngh... my head..." The Nekovalkryja pilot moaned as she clutched her aching head, blearily wiping away at the visor of her helmet in a fultie attempt to clear up her foggy vision. Her helmet's internals were stained with splotches of coughed-up hemosynth after the synapse overload she'd suffered earlier, combining with her still-swirling vision and the dim red lighting of the pilot pod on emergency power to render her damn near blind. "CIES, status report."

Silence reigned as her vision refocused, her enhanced vision taking in the darkened cockpit poorly lit by the strobing glows of a handful of functioning emergency lights. "Just my luck. Power's out."

Reaching over to root around in the cokpit's seat compartment, Kishi fished out a hefty polymer case emblazoned with the words "Type 31C" on its blue-gray surface. Flicking open the rectangular box's clasps and withdrawing a gun-shaped injector, she deftly loaded in two labeled vials and pressed the injector's needle into a tiny circular port at the base of her Aerospace Flight Suit's neck. A quick "bam-bam" rang out and the senior pilot jerked in her seat, teeth cllenched and eyes closed as a mix of fresh hemosynth and potent stimulants flooded into her veins. "Ahh, that's much better." she sighed, wincing a little as her mind resharpened, the hemo-transfusion burning slightly as the fluid got to work.

Now came the hard part. Kishi reached over to fumble with the seat's clasps.

~A few minutes later~

A dull pneumatic whump resounded as the canopy jettisoned off the disabled Hayabusa V6D, the curved covering spinning lazily off into the distance. A small figure clambered out as the starfighter spun in place near the hull of the equally-dark Pillager Cruiser, the figure grabbing hold onto a runf mounted on the arrowhead-shaped starship as it raised its other hand to its head. <Oscar Squadron, this is Oscar Actual, all pilots sound off. Say again, all pilots sound off.> a terse telepathic message washed out from the figure, rippling off into the void. <Oscar Squadron, all pilots sound off.>

The hand lowered. "No response..." Kishi whispered. Her entire squadron was gone. All the training she and her pilots put in, rising to one of the most skilled fighter groups in the Orochi Squadron, all that came down to nothing in the rigors of war. The lone squadron leader shakily raised her gloved hands to clench her faceplate, shoulders shuddering as the Nekovalkryja began to hyperventilate. A strangled sob tore its way out of her throat-

A dull flaash snapped Kishi out of her reverie, her head snapping up to gaze at the sudden light's source. In the far distance, a handful of shadowy blobs flitted around on flickers of exhaust, combing the curved hull of the Pillager. Her heart leapt into her throat as one of the blobs abruptly erupted in gunfire, the now-revealed Mishhu Battlepod shredding a helpless Hayabusa drifting near the capital ship. Engineered warrior's instincts warned her that it wasn't safe to hang out in the open any longer with active drones in the area, staying near her ship would be just asking for the Squids to find and finish her off.

But where else could she go?

"Ah! There!" Kishi gasped as she realised where she was, her Hayabusa had miraculously stopped close to one of the impact areas of Orochi Squadrons heavy Positron Cannon shots fired earlier. A dull red scar had been carved diagonally across the Pillager's left flank, the jagged wound bleeding metallic dust into the void and exposing the ship's shadowy corridors to the surroundings. Without thinking, the stranded pilot immediately kicked off the hull of her crippled fighter and launched towards the breach, quick jets of propellant blasting from her suit's thrusters as she knifed across the distance in a blue-gray flash.

Behind her, a quintet of Battlepods approached the abandoned starfighter, their targeting computers too focused on the Yamataian craft to register its pilot vanishing into the hull of their mothership. As she passed into the cruiser's hull, Kishi whipped round and slammed feet-first into one of the Mishhu vessel's interior walls, the fleshy squelch of magboots biting into the organic surface ringing out loudly in the silence of the depressurized passage.

XSS Krampus, Deck 3 Walkway

Her helmet lights flicking on with a snap-hiss and bathing the narrow tunnel with a magnesium glare, the pilot drew her sidearm.

She was in.
 
Smashed to the floor by a missile strike, out of cover and with her head ringing like a gong; Shiho let out a sharp gasp over the comms... But at the same time, she was nekovalkyrja. Hard to stun for very long. But still, out of cover and on her back: A problem. The large Neko shifted her grip on her rifle, and input a few mental commands to her armor. Shiho had been trained for this, arguably it was thanks to that training that she didn't get shredded by a missile strike... And that's what would get her out of this, maybe.

The others were keeping them pressed back, but Shiho was still in front of them from being flung forward. A metallic crunch echoed along the deck and conducted into her armor, in a vacuum you hear better with your hands as all sound is drawn through your suit. It meant that an otherwise noisy battle was only heard when you hit something. Someone had been flung back away from the fray. Backup keeping them behind the shield still? Probably.

This would hurt.

She'd been trained for this. They teach you that when you can control your own gravitic pull, then you always have the high ground. You just need to reorient. You aren't sprawled on the floor, you're on a wall above them. Fall down. One hand on your rifle, bring it to life, fire your suit's engines. From her place on the ground, Shiho suddenly shot forward towards the enemy. 'Falling' diagonally towards the wall and skidding along towards the rear of the bridge. Her suit on the metal walls generating a trail of sparks as she fired her Aether Beam rifle into a three second burst and sliced the full length of the hull cutting beam 'down' across the accumulated enemy huddled behind their commander's shield.

Recklessness.
 
XSS Krampus, Deck 3, Elevator
As Alexis and her group of rebels reached the third deck they immediately left the lift and began to head down the deck. After a bit of a walk Alexis saw someone out of one of the sealed off areas connecting windows and so called out to her after rapping on the glass. "Hello!? Are you friend or foe? We were prisoners on this ship but we rebelled a little before the Yamtian forces arrived is there anything we can do to help?"
 
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XSS Krampus, Bridge

Gauss Cannon Offline

Sigrid let out a sigh of frustration as she saw the message appear on the upper corner of her monitor. Slowly getting back up from the floor, the Neko saw that her already blackened suit now had a hot, glowing dent where the enemy's fire struck her shoulder. Her gauss cannon, formerly standing tall and powerful, now limped pitifully towards the ground. With a thought, she moved it back behind her shoulder. Won't be of any use at the moment.

Contrarily to her mounted weapon, Sigrid was still up for a fight. Despite the hit she took, the synthetic adrenaline pumping through her veins would offer some temporary relief from the immense pain that will surely emerge within the hour, thus there was no time to waste in finishing the mission.

Turning to her side, she saw comrade Shiho rush the enemy in a daring stunt, launching the counter-attack. Joining squadmate Junko, Sigrid laid concentrated fire on the closest Reaper, her thrusters on standby, either to dash to the nearest pieces of cover if enemy fire becomes too threatening in her current position, or engage in melee combat with any NMX Nekos that get within striking range of her blade.
 
XSS Krampus, Bridge

There had been a little bit of surprise that the Nightmare hadn't simply evaporated when exposed to the full fury of an Aether Saber, after all not even the venerable strength of Zesuaium could withstand aether's ravenous embrace. So naturally she had been taken off guard when the blades of the Nightmare's tentacles impacted the belly of her Mindy and tossed her across the room. Laying on the floor Mayu found that she a lovely opportunity to play possum while her allies drew the attention of the momentarily scattered enemies on the bridge. Additionally Mayu felt that she should at the very least give some time for the Neko with whom she had been forced to cuddle, and who was presently seeping hemosynth around Mayu's own armoured form only to boil and evaporate in the vacuum.

With her inactivity on the floor, Mayu watched the numbers climb as her AIES tracked the progress of her recharging capacitor rapidly topping herself up and readying her for another round of flexible manoeuvring assuming that her allies ended up pinned down again. After all few expected a disabled foe to spring into action, or in her case teleport, after appearing disabled for as long as Mayu had. Perhaps if she were lucky it would afford her a second surprise attack even after her first had failed to yield ideal results.
 
SThe three Vekimen, being naturally more used too cramped locations had been travelling between bulkheads, following the refugees on their journey through the ship and staying out of the fight. They were useless. Their Venom did nothing, their Bacteria was a mild annoyance, they weren't as fast or manoeuvrable which is what was always on their side. Speed, agility, manoeuvrability. This made them nervous and unwilling to fight. Best thing to do now is to use the one thing they thought they had an advantage with. Crawling through tight spaces.

The male could still smell te refugees below them, tasting their combination of fight and flight pheromones on the air. They would poke their heads down into the hall when they got the chance, just to ensure everything was going alright before continuing along their way. Anyone observant enough if the refugee group would probably notice them once or twice as they followed.
 
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