RP: 5th XF [Private] Taiie no Iori: The Journey Begins

Ryuuza bowed before he left "Farewell Miss Yukari, Good day to you Ma'am.â€

Ayano all but skipped down the Iori's hallways, moving along with long, bounding strides that sent her lifting off the deck as if she was enveloped in her own little bubble of reduced gravity, with a wide grin across her happy features that even an aether cannon couldn't remove. The Neko engineer hadn't been on the star fortress but an hour or so and already she had a handful of fun challenges to work with, and for the Taisho no less!

Now humming to herself, Ayano bounced around a corner as she worked her way to the shuttle bay Yukari had indicated in her briefing, but halfway down it's length she landed on both feet and skidded to a halt beside an unmarked door. "Almost forgot my tools...â€

>ON: Taiie no Iori

Yukari let out a small sigh. The engineer, Kurodai, seemed pleasant enough ... but she noted a certain stiffness. The crews in the repair bays, according to their reports, had enough "stiffs." Hopefully, she thought, Kurodai would smile more. Yukari's concerns had to be placed elsewhere, however. The biggest portion of her plate had been devoted to the inspection of the Yukika -- something she had not forgotten despite the introductions. Already she felt better; the Iori's half-constructed walls could do without her voice touching them. Taking a slow walk back to her room, she noted the Taisho had not yet contacted her. No doubt the Akuro's Taisa, Shimizu, had taken care of her.

"KAMI," Yukari said aloud. "Could you contact Shoi Corro Adlich? I must speak with him."

The computer hesitated for a moment before responding. "He is unreachable currently, Suzuka-Taii. I can contact his executive officer, Seitô Murasaki Aoiko."

Yukari adjusted her hair. "That will be fine."

>XOVER: Exchange between Aoiko and Yukari, via PANTHEON

KAMI presented the image of a Nekovalkyrja woman, the slightest tinge of violet in her hair contrasting sharply with her dress whites. She was a pleasure to look at -- and she had a nice smile, if only for a moment. "Murasaki-Seitô?"

Aoiko stood up a little straighter, clasping her hands behind her back. "Hai, Seito-san," she said, bowing slightly. "May I ask to whom I have the pleasure of addressing?"

Yukari looked down at her rank pin and sighed. The Taisho has not awarded me a Taii pin ... "Though my rank pin does not believe me, I am Taii Suzuka Yukari, flag aide to Taisho Motoyoshi Katsuko."

Aoiko's cheeks reddened some; she looked surprised. She bowed deeply, far more than Yukar felt was necessary, "Please forgive me, Taii," Aoiko said. "I was not aware." The cadet paused for a moment before coming back up. "How may I help you, Taii?"

"By relaxing." Yukari's smile brightened. Recalling her brief moment with Taisa Sydney, she understood the cadet's poise. "You need not bow so low, Murasaki-Seitô. I was the same as you not 30 hours ago." Yukari went around a corner, headed for her room. "And there are Taiis across the fleet who are more prestigous than me. Besides, I am calling to know who's ship I will be inspecting soon."

The Neko visibly relaxed some. "Flag aide is a rather prestigous position, mind you!" she said. "And, after that bit of administrative shuffle, we should be ready to recieve you very shortly. May I ask when you are planning to arrive?"

"The Taisho has not yet told me, but it should be within the next day or two." The picture turned another corner. "I was interested in meeting the Shoi ... I assume he was lost in the 'shuffle?'" Yukari had hoped to catch a glance of the supposedly dashing Shoi.

Aoiko nodded. "He appears to have been rather suddenly assigned away from the Yukika. I am commanding in his absence, and was, in fact, just moving into the captain's quarters." She turned slightly, and gestured to the objects behind her.

Yukari looked over the image, letting it adjust to her to see the things behind her. They were neatly placed -- at least more than her own. "You, at least, should have time to unpack ... my footlockers are still full." She flashed an embarrassed smile. "You are enjoying your new post?"

Aoiko glanced up at the ceiling for a moment. "It is... Interesting. I..." She paused, glancing around, and spoke with a slightly lower voice. "I actually have no command experience, so I do desperately hope nothing out of the ordinary occurs. I would actually quite like to be back in a supportive role."

"Sou, sou ... I was expecting the same. Fate has made officers out of us -- a strange coincidence, neh?" Yukari smiled.

Aoiko nodded, slowly. "If I may ask," she said, a bit hesitantly, "are you in the advanced training programme as well?"

Yukari shook her head quickly. The advanced program was not for her -- but she understood how a member of SAINT could belong. "I trained for a year at the Kyoto officer's academy to be an intelligence officer. The only advanced training I have is my piloting." She smiled. "It is nice to know you are on 'the fast track!' Your reports speak well of you."

Aoiko's eyebrows flitted upward again. The girl was certainly interesting to watch, Yukari thought. "Ah, you are trained for Intelligence? I would love to attend the Academy, myself. I have a bit of a passion for cryptology that lacks an outlet at the moment, so I am hoping to receive an Intelligence post after my tour here."

Yukari finally arrived at her room. She had a much more important subject to broach. "I am afraid cryptology was not my specialty -- I was trained in research." She turned the lights down in her room and flashed a grin. "Ah, my room again." She turned back to the door, the image following her. "So, Murasaki-Seitô -- the Shoi. What is he like?" She had to know.

"The Shoi?" The cadet tilted her head slightly. "I have not had much opportunity to speak with him personally, unfortunately. He is very professional, quite competant, and nicely polite. I was looking forward to serving under him."

"Mouuu," Yukari pouted. "He does not stir you when you see him? He seems ... very potent."

The cadet paused, her eyes going away from the image. Yukari had her! "How exactly do you mean, potent?" she said, her voice dropping just slightly.

"You know ... potent." Yukari's smile broke into a innocuous yet lusty grin.

Aoiko's hand strayed up to caress her cheek as she glanced down slightly. "Mmm... I don't know about that," she said softly, going a little red again.

"Oooooooh! Sou desu ka!" Yukari shook her finger. "Bad Seitô!" She realized then she liked the cadet; she could not press further. "I cannot know more, it would be too much."

Aoiko quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, her head still inclined downward. After a few moments, she looked back up. "Mind you!" she said, raising a finger. "There is a very nice young man who, while perhaps not potent, is very nice, who I shall be staying with for the time being. You are more than welcome to the Shoi in my eyes."

"Ohhhh? Hmmm ... no, the Shoi is much better 'eye sweets.'" Yukari thought about her words. "'Eye sweets' ... that is not right." She shook her head. Nepleslians and their talk, she thought. My professors warned me too often. "I am glad to hear you have someone, Seitô ... it must be nice."

Aoiko nodded slightly. "It is, rather. I believe the Shoi should be around the Iori... Perhaps you could look for him?"

"Perhaps." Yukari paused, rolling over the thought. This Iori is not too big ... "For now, though, I should attend to my other duties." She bowed, the screen following her. "It has been a pleasure, Murasaki-Seitô."

Aoiko straightened back up, and bowed a little bit lower. "It has been, Suzuka-Taii. I look forward to the inspection, and I hope it will please you. Sayonara."

"I have no doubts, Seitô. Sayonara." The image winked out.

Yukari breathed, then sat on the guest futon. The work of setting up the inspection would come. For now, it was time to address the troops.

She smiled anyway. Aoiko was most certainly nice.

>ON: Taiie no Iori

Yukari adjusted her hair into the tight, professional bun she usually put it in. She had prepared for this moment barely at all, but she felt no fear. After all, it was only her fellow soldiers she was speaking to. A quiet command brought up a PA channel to the appropriate departments. Another adjusted the light in her room, though she was only using audio. "Attention, engineer groups four, six and seven -- this is Taii Suzuka Yukari, flag aide to the Taisho. Please make your way to secondary repair bay 5. We will be meeting to form a progress report to the Taisho, as well as plan for the future. Please be prompt."

For the most part the exterior appearance of the shuttle was the same as when Ayano had arrived, the most notable change being that the external cowling for the shuttle's CDD drives had been removed and masses of cables now sprouted from them, most draping down toward the floor where they then ran off and disappeared into a single large cart on each side of the Kitty. The rest of the cables, mostly thin leads, lead upwards onto the shuttle's roof where a lone Nekovalkyrja sat cross-legged, surrounded by a circle of various diagnostic devices. Tapping away at those pieces of equipment Ayano payed little attention to the announcement.

Ryuuza sighed and quickly slipped on his uniform and grabbed his bag of tools just in case. He headed toward his destination. He had to check his datapad a few times to make sure he didn't go the wrong way and finally made it to the secondary repair bay number 5. As he entered he put down his tools and walked around, staying silent and cut off from everyone until the meeting would start. He boredly checked his uniform to see if it was in order and then sighed. He stared at the ground a long time and never picked it up.

Yukari closed the channel and smiled. She hoped everyone had rested well; she had a new appreciation for a lack of sleep. Before leaving her room for the bay, she snatched a nutrient bar from the kitchen. The lift rides/walk to the bay did not take long; as she entered, she smiled at all the engineers. Many did not return her smile eagerly. She could see the wear they had all taken from the long hours, especially the Geshrin. She greeted some by name, KAMI provided a steady stream of biographical data. Once or twice, she missed a name; she attributed it to not enough sleep. She waved to Ryuuza, then returned her eyes to the front of the bay -- and her mouth fell open. " ... " Patiently but briskly, Yukari went to the front and looked up the shuttle. She found Ayano and her devices. "Hatsubutai-Hei."

"Hey, Taii! How are you?â€

Standing at the top of the Kitty's ramp Ayano looked in on the plain grey interior with her hands on her hips. She had finished her work on the shuttle's systems, everything was now in good working order and performing as well as they would without a complete overhaul. The pulse cannons had been removed and replaced with a single turret-mounted aether beam, and KAMI had upgraded the flight systems to accept this new set-up. All that remained left to do to the exterior was to splash a coat of paint across it. The same, however, could not be said for the interior.

It was not as bad as when Taii Suzuka had inspected it though, since then Ayano had replaced all of the panelling and flooring, but beyond that and the cockpit down the far end of the shuttle from the Neko it was completely empty. Ayano didn't care to guess how much time had passed already, and how much time remained before the Taii would need it; the shuttle would either be ready or it would not, and if it were not it would not be because she had slacked off. The spirited engineer worked quickly but without rushing, and absolutely refused to cut corners that would infringe upon safety, hence why she had worked on the systems first and left the painting till last.

Not that Ayano expected to not finish on time, rather she believed that everything would be completed a sufficient period of time before Yukari had need for it. Stepping inside the shuttle, the Neko walked over to the panelling on her left and began to mark out whee things would go.

"Ok, first on the list is space for the Taisho's power armour,â€

The sound of Yukari's butt falling onto her guest futon was almost as good as music. At least to Yukari's ears. "Uso ... I could not have walked for so long."

>TIME: Nine hours ago

After her conversation with Murasaki-Seitô, Yukari began the rest of the day's work. Taking the lift down to the main repair bay, where the Akuro was undergoing its upgrade to the 1d model, she spoke with several of the main engineers and technicians, along with some of the enlisted. They all had good things to say about the flagship and the upgrade's progress, and were generally happy with the tools they had.

One enlisted technician, a Yamataian named Nishimura Uriko, asked about an equipment order posted by one of the lead techs for the conversion kits to make Kylies repair vessels. The engineers were loathe to use them, preferring to use the bay's mechanical arms. Nishimura-Hei said the arms couldn't reach some of the small nooks on the massive vessel, and since the ship couldn't fit into the bay completely, the Kylies and Mindys could work on the parts sticking out. Yukari's eyes brightened; she brought up the order in her head, glad at least one enlisted was willing to ask an unpopular question.

"Sou, Nishimura-Hei ..." The soldier was right; the order had been stopped by one of the engineers until after the initial repairs were complete. She had asked the engineer in question about it; after hearing some strange excuse about the converted units being too slow, Yukari told her she would not stop such an order again without her approval. Speed was necessary, and anything reasonable that could expedite the process was worth implementing. She gave the order a "OK stamp" then rerouted it back to the depot through KAMI. "There. You will have enough to get into the hard-to-reach places, but you will have to wait a day or so."

The technician bowed deeply and thanked Yukari. She shook her head and smiled.

After finishing at the bay, Yukari made her way to the primary mess hall. It was an area of the Iori that was, understandably, in the most complete state. Hundreds of Nekos sat together and ate whatever was being served -- fish onigiri with melon milk seemed a popular choice for breakfast. Finding a table of rather forlorn-looking Nekos, Yukari ordered some onigiri and milk and asked if she could sit with them. They saluted first, then nodded and said they would be happy to have her company.

Yukari didn't believe that. They were being polite because they had to. She remembered when she had to put up with eating with the captain of a freighter she served on -- he was always with his nose in the air, despite the small crew. But she tried some, wanting to connect to them somehow. Yukari asked basic questions and got basic answers. After it became clear they weren't going to enjoy her presence much, she neatly finished her meal and bid them good day. They stiffly did the same. She thought about visiting the cooks, but that could wait for another day.

Her next unscheduled appointment an hour away, Yukari smiled to herself and drew up her mental map of the Iori. Though it was still in a bit of chaos, the personnel department supposedly had finished putting most of the standard issue equipment up either for exchange or sale at their office. Yukari swung by and smiled at the rather perky Neko.

"Can I help you, Seitô?" The Neko's Japanese was as perky as she was.

"Yes," Yukari responded slowly. She needed a rank pin. She'd signed with the virtual rank pin enough. "I need a dress uniform. Skirt version."

"Haaai hai!" The Neko dashed off into an assortment of racks, then came back with the entire uniform on a hangar in one hand, and the boots in another. "How is this, Seitô?"

"Thank you," Yukari said, taking the uniform. She still wanted a rank pin. "Do you have rank pins?"

"Hai, Seitô!" The Neko's toothy smile dug into Yukari's eyes.

"I need a Taii pin. Could you retrieve one for me?"

"Ah -- Seitô, I can only give you pins below your rank. And I need the name of the person to be promoted."

"Suzuka Yukari," Yukari said. "Please check."

She did from behind the counter. "KAMI's records indicate Suzuka Yukari is a Seitô."

" ... what?" Yukari glared at the Neko. "Please ask KAMI for conversations between Suzuka Yukari and Taisho Motoyoshi Katsuko, dated yesterday."

" ... KAMI doesn't have any such conversations -- oh, wait, here they are." The Neko read them from behind the counter. "It says here you have an acting rank of ... Shoi."

"Shosa," Yukari said quickly. "Shosa."

"Shoi," the Neko repeated, perky as ever.

Yukari rubbed her head. She brought up her orders on an image next to herself and pointed to the digital pin. "Taii."

The Neko blinked, but saw the digital pin and the signature of the Taisho. "Well ... I should probably let the Taisho give it to you."

"The Taisho is unavailable, and I need the rank pin now."

The Neko shrugged. "It is standard protocol for the promoting officer to --"

Yukari put a finger on her own forehead and frowned. "I am sorry for bothering you." She bowed shallowly and curtly, then left with the dress uniform, sweeping the boots from the counter.

The other meetings, including to the makeshift command center, only did so much to alleviate her sour mood. Shoi Mitsubi Kanno, who ran the center during third shift, was a good officer and appreciated the work of her crewmates, which was more than enough, but she carried an air of professionality Yukari felt she lacked. She suddenly felt awkward for carrying the dress uniform and boots in her arms.

"It is good to see the Iori is in good hands," Yukari said.

"Have no fear, Suzuka-Taii," Mitsubi said. "Take the time you need to acclimate. We are fine."

Words ringing in her head, Yukari nodded sheepishly. She soon left (politely) for her room. Once she stepped in and put her new uniform on the rack, she fell onto the guest futon with a sigh. Her blank walls provided ample relief for her eyes, which had memorized enough faces in one day. "Not all days will flow this way, Yuka," she said to the walls.

The walls did not respond. Yukari smiled. "Sou." And yet, she knew she was done. There was one last thing that had to be done.

"Hatsubutai-Hei." Yukari pushed herself up from the futon and slowly, leisurely, walked to the shuttle bay where the Taisho's shuttle awaited.

>SET: A secondary shuttle bay

" ... Uso."

Yukari blinked at the glimmering white paint and the gold stripes on the Kitty-class shuttle she had left with Hatsubutai.. It was ... very prestigious. No where near code, she was sure of that. And flashy. Yukari was not good with flashy. On top of it all ... the cute cat logo was very non-Taisho. And very cute -- Yukari immediately liked it. The name, "Koneko-chan," was a lovely little play on words she couldn't help but like. It was a time when the "air of professionality" would hinder her.

"Uso," she repeated. Yukari had never seen anything so nice, let alone flown something. Sojourner-class transports were ugly bubbles compared to the small, lithe looking shuttle in front of her. "I cannot fly this. I would soil it. It is truly fit for a Taisho ..."

She quietly went to the ramp. The blue carpet was illustrious and far too nice. Yukari looked down at her boots in shame, bits of dust and dirt on them from her visit to one of the small cargo bays that was unloading samples sent from the planet. Yukari took a small breath and floated up from the ground, slowly moving into the shuttle.

"Ah --" Yukari's breath was taken away. The attention to detail was stunning. The wooden panels, the painted walls, the luscious blue color of the curtains, the perfect lighting. She had no words. The Nozomi was elegant in its own way, but the shuttle was very much a beautiful thing. Even the couches were --

"Hatsubutai ..." The Neko was fast asleep on a couch, pillows on the floor. Yukari blinked, then smiled. "You must have worked the entire time," she whispered.

It was at that moment Yukari's stomach decided to gurgle. She sighed; floating took energy. "KAMI, a blanket, please." KAMI produced a blue-colored blanket in Yukari's outstretched arms. She draped it over the sleeping Nekovalkyrja. Better. Taking one last glance at the handiwork of the young Neko, Yukari nodded and floated back toward her room. Sleep would come easy that night; of that she was sure.

"Mmmfhehh?"

Yukari had snorted on a lock of hair. She blinked up at the ceiling. She was in the living room ... how? That's right, she was so tired she had not made it to the sleeping room. She'd slept ... how long?

"Uso." Her internal clock could not lie to her. "Uso. Uso." She dashed to her feet. Falling asleep in her uniform? Her hair crumpled beneath her head, ruining any chance for a quick-but-neat bun? "Uso."

The dress uniform was on her in less than a minute. Her hemosynthesis had handled her skin and odor, but Yukari could not bring herself to do it to her hair. The hemosynthesis wasn't as easily controlled as she wanted, as control of her body rested more in gravity. Every time she had used it to fix her hair, it straightened it. It took an hour to slowly piece it back together how she liked it, and now she had no time.

"Uso." Her stomach growled at her loudly. She looked back to the fake wall, which led to the kitchen. "Uso." Green eyes full of frustration, she turned her head back to the door. In an instant, her feet left the floor. The door slid open and she was flat against the ceiling. Soldiers blinked as the Yamataian woman, unbound hair fluttering behind her, flew to the lift.

It was a short trip. Once again against the ceiling, Yukari flew like she hadn't flown in a very, very long time. The only thing in her mind was the shuttle bay. The Taisho was going to demote her for her appearance and tardiness anyway. The best she could do was be there and clean up on the shuttle itself. There was no time for anything else.

Her stomach growled loudly as she landed. How many days had she been starving herself without meaning to? So many questions. No answers. She smoothed her uniform, adjusted the Seitô pin with a scowl, smoothed her uniform again, then stepped into the bay.

Three things hit her at once. The first was the fact it was empty except for the shuttle. The second was she had never sent her report detailing the day's events and the other pieces of necessary information to the Taisho. The third was her internal clock was accurate -- she'd slept nine hours -- but the external clock, which KAMI provided, was off.

Her hair was in a quick ponytail in moments. She stuck her head in the shuttle wondering what she would see. At the same moment, she sent a message to Chui Tasha Nishimura, head of Taisho security, and Nitô Heisho Ushiba Matsu. She asked them to come down to the bay.

Ryuuza woke up and then realized what had happend. He had not been sure what happend because he had taken a nap during the meeting and Shouted in anger "Shimatta!" He then frantically searched out his Datapad and read the following instructions.

Taii Suzuka Yukari said:

Kurodai-Hei --
I am sorry I could not see you after the meeting. My time, it seems, is taken away before it has a chance to be lived. Your assignment has not changed much. You are assigned to senior engineer Yamatomo Shinji's engineering group, which is in charge of the refit of the Akuro. You can find him on Beta Shift, where he will aid you in settling into your duties. Yamatomo is a Jôtô Heisho and a talented engineer; I am sure you will "hit it off." Please let me know if I can help you further later.

Suzuka-Taii

Click to expand...

Ryuuza then quickly got on his uniform and grabbed his gear and headed out. He was just in time too only he had not had time to comb his hair or anything but he was able to brush his teeth and shower atleast. He then searched for the Akuro's Beta shift leader.

"This is what happens when you have a foreigner working for you."

Jôtô Heisho Yamatomo Shinji, one of the senior engineers during Beta Shift, was not what his fellows would call "tolerant."

He did not tolerate mistakes.

He did not tolerate rudeness.

He did not tolerate arrogance.

And he most definitely did not tolerate "foreginers," a polite slur aimed at all who were not Geshrin, Yamataian or Nekovalkyrja.

The technician that was helping him sighed; the man was never positive. "It is his first assignment, Jôtô Heisho." Always the full rank. The technician wished he was on Gamma Shift, which was taking a break right now.

"Meaningless! He should be here even earlier! Why did we even absorb such a backwards race?" His Japanese was, as usual, harsh.

The technician went back to the display, rubbing his head. Yamatomo was difficult, but he was pretty good at what he did. A shame, the technician thought.

Shinji wrung his hands as he looked down the corridor. What was taking that bastard so long? It wasn't as if the clocks were off. Probably sleeping in, the lazy foreigner --

At that moment, Shinji spotted the confused-looking Thraxarian. He wasted no time, his mouth stringing Japanese syllables faster than his brain could think them. "HEY! You were supposed to be here 40 minutes ago! What were you doing, sharpening your knife? Or adjusting your loincloth? Show some respect to your superiors! BOW! Don't talk back! In fact, don't talk at all. You've been assigned to recalibrate the fore antimatter turrets. That's all you need to know; the technicians can have you. DON'T JUST STAND THERE, MOVE!"

He never wanted to talk to the narrowminded min, he just clenched his fist out of anger but kept a melancholy look accross his face. He also accedently caught the inside of of his bottomlip when he barred his teeth and drew blood. He then left the man to bath in his narrow minded beliefs and insecuirities and went to do his job, He knew he could tolerate the man more than the man could tolerate people who wer diffeent than his own race.

He had a few choise words to say to the man as well, Thaxarians were primitive but not stupid and certainly didn't wear loin cloths. Ryuuza was very calm compared to other thaxarians, They hated when other races looked down on them as apes or unworthy sentient life. He bowed and his eyes shifted suddenly for it was about that time and they were a dark hew of red that could easily blend with dark grey. They're color change had shifted abit faster than normal due to the emotional haoc that ran accross his mind but he still kept a calm look.

Shinji just stared. Grotesque. He wondered if the foreigner even understood him. "Don't bleed on the ship; the KAMI is not online to clean it." He brushed past the engineer with a little smirk. The foreigner would never know what hit him; Shinji vowed it to himself.

The engineer continued to walk down the hall, not meeting anyone's eyes. "KAMI?" he said.

The computer responded.

"Is everything ready?"

The computer responded affirmatively.

"Then I'm going on break. Make sure that foreigner does his job."

The computer responded affirmatively.

Ryuuza then walked off and began to work on refitting the anti-matter turrets. When he was no longer in ear shot Ryuuza began to mumble to himself "Kasu kuchini usagiuma enjin...â€

>ON: A secondary shuttle bay

Ayano had cuddled into the blanket that Taii Suzuka had placed over her, her mouth open slightly with a thin line of drool trailing out of the corner of it and ending on the soft white velvet of the couch she was sleeping on, while her silky black hair pooled around her head, some of it running over the edge of the couch's cushions like an inky waterfall. Eventually she stirred; opening her eyes to see the interior of the refurbished shuttle it took the Neko a minute in her just-woken state to figure out where she was, and why she was there. With the intention of rubbing her face Ayano went to move a hand only to find that the blanket, which she had somehow managed to wrap around herself while sleeping, restricted the movement. Wriggling around to free herself a bit, Ayano rolled onto her back and stretched out as best she could, rubbing at her face – and wiping away the line of drool while she was at it – before staring up at the cream coloured ceiling.

"Hungry,â€

Chui Tasha Nishimura, Motoyoshi-Taisho's head of security, was unsure.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

Yukari had never been more sure of anything in her short life. She was mostly sure of that. "I realize the Taisho would be disturbed, but this was listed as a high priority for her."

" ... " The Chui bowed from behind her desk. "A moment, Taii." The woman turned her head to look at someone off screen and nodded.

"Thank you, Chui." Yukari appreciated the business-like manner. It helped calm her.

Only a moment passed before Nishimura's expression changed. "What?" she said in Japanese. "You're sure?" Another second or two stretched away before Nishimura looked back at the woman. "She has locked herself in," she said, a brief flash of incomprehension crossing her face.

"What?" Yukari mimiced unintentionally. "Without explanation?"

"None has been left with me," Nishimura said, looking down at her desk as she spoke.

" ... " Yukari was tempted to write the entire day off as a freak occurance. It is as if a storm of chaos has decended on the Iori because it could. Things are chaotic enough. "I cannot wait any longer. Inform the Taisho of my departure as soon as she is available."

"A-are you sure, Taii?"

"The Taisho apparently has chosen to have the day away from work. I would not wish to interrupt a well deserved vacation."

The Chui had never heard of such -- rashness. "But, the Taisho's instructions -- "

" -- Will be left unfulfilled if someone does not inspect the Yukika." Yukari managed an uneasy smile. "I will be fine, Nishimura-Chui."

Nishimura could see she would get nowhere. "Yes Taii," she said with a bow.

"Good day to you then." Yukari bowed her head slightly and cut the transmission. The shuttle had "warmed up" for a few minutes, which was enough for her. "Controller, this is Taii Suzuka Yukari, requesting clearance to exit Iori space and make way toward YSS Yukika." She took the control yoke into her hands and smiled a little. She realized it had been too long since she had done any flying.

A static pause came across the comm. "Suzuka Taii, the shuttle you are in does not read as standa -- " Another pause, followed by quiet whispering Yukari could not make out. "Shuttle Koneko-chan, you are cleared to leave Iori space." The controller's amused tone was entirely unmasked. "Have a safe flight."

The shuttle lifted up from the deck and eased toward the force field. "Thank you, Controller." Yukari wondered if Ayano had modified the manuevering thrusters on the shuttle; it seemed to respond daintily even with the yoke. The shuttle cleared the bay and left Yukari staring at nearly empty space. The YSS Koukai hung out to the upper right of her view, a Mindy lazily floating toward its open bay.

Yukari took a deep breath and smiled ... it had been too long since she'd had the chance to breathe. So much going on, her head all jumbled inside. "Oh -- I nearly forgot." She thought a quick message in her head and sent it through KAMI back to Ayano. That done, she took another deep breath, smiled even wider, and bumped the throttle up as she seamlessly slipped toward the Yukika.

(I guess I most post again)

Ryuuza was making good time, He was nearly finished and decided to take a small break to sweat, given that that Kuso muncher wasn't around. He took a few glances and then sighed with relief to wite some sweat off his forehead with a wad of tissue paper he kept around when he worked. Obviously it was replaced often. Ryuuza then began to check everything, making sure everything was on securly, He may not have been completly fluent with Japanese but he knew that he atleast knew what he was doing.

He went around it checking, He found a few slightly loose odds and ends and fixed them "Alright I think Im done..." He checked his watch "And with time to spare for some well deserved reading..." He said looking around now where do I dfind that..." He then said softly "Arrogant" in thaxarian which was one of the few words he remembered "Man...I must show him...Uh I mean notify him of my completion of the first assignment.

He then walkedout of the bay and use his Datapad to guide him towards his temporary commanding officer's quarters.