ON: Scorpio Base, Kotori's quarters
Rapping actually didn't do much considering KFY internal comparmentalisation made most barriers soundproof, but the KAMI considerately emitted a chime inside the room.
The door hissed open shortly afterwards, with Masako's new commanding officer standing on the other side. Kotori was dressed in a white panneled Star Army uniform and a golden Taii rank pin rested over her left breast. Of above average height for a nekovalkyrja, the golden-eyed Kotori towered a bit over the new arrival.
"Ah!" Kotori reared her head back slightly at the sight of Masako, surprise registering in her golden eyes. "I remember you! You were sitting right besides me on the Mikomi. Welcome." The Taii nodded her greeting.
Masako couldn't help but also blink in surprise as her commanding officer seemed to recall her right of the bat. The young warrant officer also reckonized Kotori, though she was certainly amazed at how quickly the golden-eyed officer had gone up in rank. "H...hai," Masako stammered slightly as she shook of her surprise. "Kurohoshi Masako-Santô Juni, reporting," she replied politely formal as she bowed to her new CO.
Kotori nodded again and moved to the side to grant the Juni passage. "Please, come in and be seated." The room inside, aside from the workdesk, had some sofas and a couch to lounge on along with a short square table with a basket of fruits resting in its center.
"Arigatou," Masako replied as she stepped into the room with only a hint of hesitation. It was certainly a nice room, a lounge of sorts was the only thing the young warrant officer could guess what the room's use was. Chosing one of the sofas by the square table, the young neko moved over towards it and gently sat down.
Kotori sat at the couch opposing Masako. She giggled. "I'm actually glad you agreed to come. I was wondering if I would be the only nekovalkyrja on the Miharu. Aside from my executive officer, all we have are men."
"Really?" Masako replied in surprise before smiling at Kotori. "Believe me, ma'am, I'm no stranger to being the only female in a crew." The young neko said. "Onboard the Confidence, I was the only neko and the only woman of a crew of four people," she explained as her body relaxed more around the officer. "And I couldn't really pass up this chance either... helping to test a prototype cruiser is a nice change of pace from scout ships. Unfortunately though, that's all the information I've received so far," the young Kurohoshi admitted as she scratched the tip of her ear absent-mindedly.
"I'm afraid I can't supply much more information than you already know, namely because I don't know a lot about it myself either. the Miharu is the experimental prototype and it's still being built. All I know is that completion was delayed due to some problems regarding the ship's power grid and its shield generator system." The Taii shrugged. "They classify it as a light cruiser, so, I assume it must be bigger. It apparently also has a detachable 'auxiliary ship' that is meant for planetary landings - a dropship of sorts, you could say."
"A dropship?" Masako's ears perked up slightly as she leaned back into the sofa. "That would definitely help when it came to inserting powered armor and infantry onto a planetary battlefield. It would probably free up the Light Cruiser for Combat Air Patrol along the upper atmosphere while the dropship acted as a mobile command... unit..." Masako's trailed off before flushing in embarassment at what she thought was going off on a tangent. Coughing slightly into her hand in an effort to cover it, Masako smiled sheepishly at Kotori. "Anyway... it's probably not my place to make assumptions on its uses." she stated.
"That's okay. You happen to be echoing the thoughts we've had so far." Kotori smiled indulgently. "Was there anything you'd like to cover with me? I do not mind talking with you, but I know the rest of the crew are about to practice with a new land power armor model. I don't want to hold you off for too long when you could show the men how a real power armor pilot fights." She finished her sentence with a devious grin.
Masako couldn't help but giggle at her commander's comment. "I probably will, ma'am," she replied with her own smile. "But I'm going to have to put it off until I can get two things accomplished," she replied politely. "First thing would be for me to get a new rank pin... considering my current pin wouldn't be appropriate. That's easy to do I know, but the next order of business is for me to... well, 'upgrade' to a NH-29 body," Masako explained, though her smile faded slightly at the last bit. "To be honest, I'd miss this body... I mean... it probably sounds silly and all, but discarding the body I was 'born' with makes me feel a bit sad in a way."
Masako seemed to have Kotori's complete attention. "I understand." The Taii said. "It was pretty much the same way for me when I changed as well. I can spend some time explaining how a NH-29 is different from a NH-17 if you'd like."
"Please do," Masako replied with a smile. "It'd be nice to know exactly what I'm going to be getting into before hand," the young Juni replied.
"My previous body was a NH-22M." Kotori said. The NH-22M had been a short lived model series that had mostly only been for samurai and it had been a stepping stone from the combined design of NH-17S/NH-17T nekos to what finally became known as the NH-27. "It was crippled by a near miss from a phosphorus grenade beyond the possibility of regeneration and so my soul was transfered before my bodily functions would decay to the point of death." Kotori closed her eyes a moment. "My body was rare and very special - I was loath to change it, but I ended up not having much choice in the matter." Kotori reoppened her eyes, smiling bittersweetly. "The NH-29 body I now wear is not the body I was born with, but it did happen to save my life, so I can't begrudge it that."
The Santô Juni listened carefully to Kotori's words, she was extremely interested in first hand accounts of swapping bodies... since she had never done anything like it before. "It seems like you've seen your fair share of combat Ketsurui-Taii," Masako replied sympathetically.
"I participated to the PNUgen raid and my Mindy was damaged to the point of being non-operable. I thought fancy stealth plating would get me by, but I only ended up having to fight my way out butt naked." Kotori giggled, though her lighthearted account hardly reflected the hardships she'd had to endure then, especially the minutes she had lain on the cold floor waiting to die. "But I don't suppose that's what is on your mind right now, so I will move on."
The Taii began smoothing one hand over one long, shiny black lock of hair that swept down from over her shoulder. "The NH-29 is a refined nekovalkyrja body. It's not as physically strong as the NH-17, but it has a lot more endurance. Since we often use power armor for combat anyways, the newer bodies lean on the neko and power armor acting in concert. The NH-29 loses some its strength; it loses most of its hemosynthetic ports except the bellybutton one, so it can't generate battle tentacles anymore; the SLICS holes are removed and the self-regeneration capabilities aren't as extensive..."
"However," Kotori continued, "the NH-29 gains a lot in energy efficiency and stamina: we need less rest, less food and can function in combat conditions longer than NH-17 nekos - in fact, I can assure you of that from firsthand experience. The NH-29's telepathy has a longer range and its operational system is streamlined so that primary and secondary memory aren't separate entities anymore - this actually helps a bit in interfacing more seamlessly with a power armor AIES. Speaking of interfacing, the shoulderholes are replaced by nervous ends around our spines which interact with the backing of a Mindy. Its more direct than through the shoulders and no longer require direct connection, so for ship interfaces, just sitting on a SPINE equipped chair is enough to make a linkup."
Masako blinked as she took in all of the information Kotori had given her. Scratching her ear absent-mindedly, the Santô Juni bit her lower lip in thought before sighing. "Wow... it seems I'm going to have to get used to quite a lot of changes," the young neko replied before smiling at her commanding officer. "Domo Arigatou Ketsurui-Taii.... I'm glad you could impart your experience with the NH-29 body to me." Masako said with a nod in thanks. "I... I think I feel a bit more confident making the switch as well."
"If it makes it any easier, once you've transfered, it doesn't feel all that different, really." Kotori assured. "You just won't be able to work the exact same way as you did before, but otherwise, you'll still be yourself. Getting used to the disminished strength is still a problem I run into from time to time, but I remind myself each time I grow frustrated with it that my actual body's strength is in the upper scale of what Nepleslian and Yamataian bodies can manage. If anything, I think I gained a little more respect for them since I changed." Masako's commander grinned. "Power armors are all run with SPINE interface now, so, having a new NH-29 body would be good for you. You could stick to the one you have now, but you'd end up limiting yourself to same suits as Yamataians."
"Well... that settles it then." Masako replied calmly with a smile. "To stick with a Mindy I'm going to have to transfer to an NH-29 no matter what," the young neko stated. "Again, Arigatou Ketsurui-Taii," she said with a nod. "If I maybe excused, I'll head towards the medical bays to do a soul transfer now." she asked politely as both her ears twitched slightly.
Kotori waved back. "Be brave! It really isn't all that bad once it's done and over with."
END
