Wardroom
"I will serve the Empress to the best of my ability," Hoshi said, looking in Aiko's general direction, but was not looking at her. Again, her eyes rested on William. "I have not failed in doing so at this time and I do not plan to fail in the future. All of you are responsible for upholding the needs of the Empire in every way you can. I expect that out of each and every one of you." Her eyes had slid to look at Aiko while she spoke, but they soon flickered to Eden. "Shosa Teien will lead the away team on this mission and I will direct your former question to her."
Eden spoke as if she had been expecting to do so at any moment, saying distinct, clear, and precise words while her golden eyes strained to avoid contact with anyone else's.
"We will be taking an away team to the planet and will be expecting hostilities immediately. I hope that answers your question, Hatoyama-hei. We will employ power armor for the infantry members, one of our
tankettes will be manned by our new engineer Royce Jintel-hei and the other, by Anastasia Barlow-hei. Starship operators will stay on the ship, but everyone else save for Ketsurui-kohosei, Royama-heisho and Murakami-juni will be going down to the ground."
Taiyou Hoshi then turned on her shiny black dress pumps that made the extraordinarily short Neko just a bit taller than where Eden's chin began. She looked at Yoshida, the enthusiastic Neko with little blue upside down triangles on her cheeks.
"Kokoro-hei." Hoshi said, "We have a lot going on in the Kaiyō II that the Star Army has never employed before. We want to be sure it is suited for warfare as well as being crew compatible. You will notice
interior spaces such as the observation deck,
dojo, VR room,
onsen, and more that will benefit you all during the time we spend in transit. It has a monitoring room that serves as an auxiliary bridge should the primary one be compromised. That and the double aether generators, an expanded wardroom that we currently inhabit, and plenty of room for crew accommodations. What we need to know is how all of this works in cohesion with one another.
"Shosa Teien worked," Hoshi spoke as she looked to Eden, "hard to imagine up some of these aspects of the ship. I would appreciate taking your concerns and or praise on the ship design to her directly."
Hoshi then answered Yoshida's first question, "Yes. As far as any of you know, this crew that stands in the wardroom today are the only souls that know about your excursion. Some of you," Hoshi said, following what seemed like everyone's gaze to look at Eden. "Gave your memories and your lives to get back to where you are now. Understand that silence is no small price to pay to be sure the threat you experienced does not become one anyone has to relive."
Deep blue eyes back on the crew, now, Hoshi said, "Shosa Teien knows about your time on this planet better than I do. She will lead the away team to the surface while the ship and myself provide orbital support. You may direct away team specific questions to her either now or in the time between now and greeting the hostile threat on the planet."
With that, Hoshi sat down at the head of the wardroom's table and folded one pink hand over the other.