RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 2

NJ-X1-00 ... Yamatai ship registry numbers. That will do.

Yukari ducked into the building Tom had been in and floated gently. She went up a crumbling set of stairs to the second floor. She tried to ignore the office rubble that surrounded her as she flew over it. A copy machine was still spewing paper as she went to the back of that floor, putting nearly the whole building between her and the other enemies on the street. She looked at the window, tapped it, then (rather lamely) punched it once, twice, a third time. The glass was some sort of safety glass and wasn't budging easily, but it had cracked quite a bit.

I must make sure the line of communication is clear. She hoisted her rifle, slid the butt forward and slammed it into the window. That did it -- the window, still in one piece, came free from its frame and fell one story down to the street below. Carefully, she turned her head and transmitted again.

"YSS Hoshi, Suzuka Yukari-Chui. Power armor squadron in danger from NDI Ocelot-class mecha and Super Phalanx-class spacy armor. Can you assist us?"

Tom continued running until he was completely around the building.

Ok...

He checked his missile payload. Only 12 left.

Time to go for the gusto! The Kairyuu needed to be stopped so that the team could take out the Super Phalanx.

His sensors revealed that the Kairyuu had disengaged him and was going after James, who had run into a building.

Ok, time to R-

CRUNCH! a piece of falling debris slammed into his left shoulder, causing the Yamataian to grimace.

"Nnngah!"

The Hoshi's C-IES made connection with Yukari's AIES and supplemented the team with a wider view of the actual battle field, as well as the capability to view things at a greater range.

Maybe ignorance had been bliss though: Gemini One was withdrawing from the combat zone, but Gemini Two, Three and Four were fearsome Diamonback battle hovertanks. Cancer, Leo, Virgo and Libra groups were identified as similar NDI squads to the one they were currently fighting.

They were totally outnumbered! At least the cloud had a silver lining: the closest group, Gemini Diamonbacks, were about twenty-one kilometers away east - this thankfully allowed them some breathing room, though all of the other squads formed a rough noose that slowly worked to encircle them.

After identifying the effective range of the diamondback missile batteries, the Hoshi's C-IES offered to make contact with them in the parking lot of a supermarket sixteen kilometers west-south-west. As some of the NDI assets in 'Funky City' (which really looked more like someone had detonated a nuke in it and wiped out all life rather than the actual real world city) were capable of dealing harm to the dropship, it would have to go in stealthed and would not be able to provide any assistance against their immediate threats.

The Hoshi would arrive to the rendez-vous point in sixteen minutes and depart five minutes later, regardless of if they would have had reached it or not.

<center>* * *</center>

Nyton's full volley of mini-missiles tracked the Super Phalanx. The later swiftly abandonned the intention of finishing Morita off and raced away, turning its tac drones and carbines to destroying the homing warheads before they caught up with it.

Sensing Tom was in a pickle, the Kairyuu abandonned the prospect of running after James and turned its light plasma cannon Tom's way, firing the weapon despite the cover Tom now had. With the blast radius the plasma annihilation disk had on contact, and Tom perhaps not being able to notice the attack due to his cover-turned-traitor, the odds of the Raltian's survival seemed rather remote.

Morita and James, sadly, were hardly neglected. The Ocelot turned toward the ruined building they were located (Morita lying on the roof while James was on the first floor) and opened up with its NXT-04 plasma rifle. The weapon, far larger and stronger than their power armor analog, sheared through the middle of the building and gorged it with a roiling, hungry energy that quickly expanded in an explosion to destroy everything in its path!

As the building below was sundered by the Ocelot's attack, the Phalanx was overtaken by the few mini-missiles it had failed to shoot down and had its body mangled beyond recognition. What was left of the Phalanx soared a bit further, spurred by its own momentum as well as the missile impacts which had caused the death of its pilot, to finally drop back to the street with all the grace a falling anvil could muster. Taurus Five had been eliminated.

James was flung through the air, the anti-gravity system struggling to pull enough power to keep him afloat. It was fortunate that he had pursued the Phalanx, but he was seriously debating that fortune as he waited for the inevitable impact.

His shield was in position on instinct, blocking some of the smaller pieces of debris that were sent flying. The armor plowed through a ruined wall and crumpled in a heap on the floor, concealed by dust and smoke.

Leutre reached into his bag as he exited the shuttle, taking out a crumpled note. "Assigned to the... Miharoo? Meharu? Mihareew?" Leutre brought the paper up to his face as he inspected the text. Gazing over the orders for a moment, he let out a quiet sigh and quickly shoved them into his bag.

"Bleh, it doesn't matter. One of the benefits of being employed as gearhead is that all the important hierarchs are stationed up on that bridge of theirs. I, on the other hand, will be safe from their scrutinizing eyes among the bowels of the ship. I could call her 'Mildew' and run around in the nude, and so long as I keep the ship running they will be none the wiser."

Placing the paper back in his bag, he smiled to himself. "Ah, the precious innocence of a prototype ship. I'll enjoy ravaging her systems piece by piece! No meter of her will be left untouched by my cutting torch and plasma welder!" Leutre let out a giggle of delight at the thought. "I'll have those decks stained with reactor coolant, scorched with plasma burns, and irradiated with neutrons in no time. It'll be just like home!" Leutre began to make his way out of the docking bay. "Ah, home. I wonder how Dad is doing..."

Nyton brought his shield up to protect him from the effects of the blast as he moved away as fast as he could behind another building for some cover. Any surviving tac drones, if any, would be used to scan his surroundings and inform him even as he scrambled to find safety. "Morita and James were just caught in the blast. Dammit! AIES, any sign of life from their units?" he asked quickly before he studied the situation being revealed to them from the link up with the Hoshi. Nyton shook his head at the situation being presented and immediately began to forward his analysis even as he received the status of Freeman, James, and Morita. According to the AIES Yukari was also located nearby the same building Freeman had been in. "We are too outnumbered to continue this fight and their reinforcements are surrounding us. Kurohoshi, link up with me. We need to find anyone who's still alive, recover them, and make a line towards the rendezvous point the ship gave us." Nyton said. A small waypoint sign was made on the map titled 'rendezvous point' which was the supermarket parking lot. Nyton continued to remain as concealed as he could from the Ocelot and Kairyuu so that they would not target him before they could initiate a plan of action.

"Shimattaaa ..." Yukari whined as she saw all of the new targets. "The Juni is truly cruel ..."

Yukari's backpack antenna thankfully still worked; it extended and projected not just the recent information she'd gained from the Hoshi, but a message from her as well.

"Claymere-Juni is correct," she said, her signal overpowering other trace bits of communication chatter. "We have 16 minutes to reach the waypoint. Claymere-Juni, I will retrieve Kamiyama-Hei the moment the two armors are distracted."

"Suzuka-Chui." Masako's contacted as she deactivated her active camouflage under cover just a meter or two from the Yamataian. "I'll assist you in retrieving Morita-Hei," the young neko said before giving the XO a thumbs up. "Kurohoshi Masako-Santô Juni, reporting," she introduced as she kept her eyes on her surroundings, making sure no one was able to snuck up on them.

"Kurohoshi-Juni," Yukari responded, flashing a small V of her own. She looked up at the small comm window to the center-right of her helmet screen; the Neko's seemingly pupilless eyes were slightly off-putting, but there would be time for that later. "Your camouflage is still operational. Perhaps you should retrieve Kamiyama-Hei; I can provide cover fire as necessary."

"Yokai," Masako replied as she sudden activated her active camouflage again, melding into the background like a cameleon. As quickly and stealthfully as she could, the young neko used her anti-gravity to fly towards Morita's position. Floating over his armor, the young neko landed beside him and knelt down. "Kamiyama-Hei, are you able to move?" she spoke to him as she looked around the area for hostiles nearby.

In the meantime, Yukari went out the hole and up, skimming across the building and scoured over the main road gingerly for other targets. "Dige-Hei, Freeman-Hei, report please."

Nyton heard Yukari and Kurohoshi's voices over the comm and was relieved to know he wasn't the only one left. However, the task at hand was still dire. He sent his last remaining tac drone over to Freeman's last reported direction to see if there was anything left of the man. "James last known location was inside the same building Morita had been in. He should be somewhere nearby. Try to keep your signature down, that Ocelot might still be targeting their position." he warned.

Tom's AIES shrieked in warning at him, breaking through Tom's momentary lapse of pain.

"PLASMA attack! Energy cloak raised!"

Tom could almost feel the armor yanking him as the Yamataian leapt as hard as he could away from the blast, raising his forearm shield to his front.

The move happened to save his virtual life.

Without his anti-grav functions, Tom's Daisy was yet again tossed aside by the impact of the weapon, flying several meters down the street. The AIES alerted Tom to the fact that his energy shield projector had been temporarily overloaded and would require adequate recharge time.

The now-mangled forearm shield had served its purpose well, but the AIES still reminded Tom of the fact that the entire frontside of his armor had suffered damage, the display showing yellow all over.

There were also some pretty plumes of smoke rising from the scorched armor.

Tom was in considerable pain, which, thankfully the VR simulation dulled to a tolerable level. Tom stood up.

"Freeman reporting, ma'am. HELP ME HERE!"

The signal barely got through all the interference caused by his damaged communications.

But he still had an ace in the hole: his remaining missiles. Tom armed all of them, readying them for a counterattack against the Kairyuu.

Groggily, James drifted in and out of conciousness. He felt like he was trapped in a vice. His armor readout was glowing red, the anti-gravity drive was off-line, and he couldn't feel his left arm.

With a grunt, he unburied his upper body from the chunks of debris that covered him and looked around. His LASR had been blown out of his hands and probably lay buried and useless.

Yukari's transmission cut through the static, proving that at least the radio still worked. James was thankful for at least that much.

"Dige, reporting, Yukari-Chui. I'm trapped in some rubble and in pretty bad shape."

Nyton heard the two men report in. "Freeman, Dige, we're pulling out of here. Freeman I want you to move towards my position. I'll cover you and we can regroup." he said and he began to track the Kairyuu even as it retreated. "Dige, Kurohoshi is moving towards your position now to recover Morita. See if you can flag her down, otherwise Freeman and I will join you and dig you out."

OoC: I can't do anything with Leutre unless I know what he's actually trying to do. Please write another post for him declaring some action or intent on his part. Just stepping in the area isn't really enough.

<center>* * *</center>

Morita had been lucky. He hadn't been buried in the rubble but rather thrown away from the exploding buidling. However, he had crashed against a swed lampost and the impact had apparently knocked the pilot 'unconscious' for an undetermined time.

<center>* * *</center>

Luckily for Tom, even though he didn't have a decent line of sight with the Kairyuu, his link with Yukari's AIES allowed him to fire his homing mini-missiles in a rather accurate indirect fire assault. The warheads detonated against the energy barrier, knocking it down enough so that the explosion licked at the Kairyuu's paintjob.

The NDI power armors' barrier was down. If they were going to finish it off, it was now or never.

<center>* * *</center>

The Ocelot raised on foot forward to have it crunch over the rubble of the building, it's head turning around as it tried to pick up the location of it's enemies throug hit's optics, since the KFY thermoptic camouflage was a bit too slick for its sensors when none of them were active. It picked up the mini-missile launch from Tom, but the dust and debris prevented it from acquiring a lock...

Until the dust cleared enough to reveal Nyton's position. The NDI mecha quickly brough tit's head-mounted pulse cannon to life, burning through the haze as energy pulses flashed by the Nepleslian's Daisy. Although the first attacks missed, the head turned, tracking Nyton and firing the pulse cannons incessantly until the trailing shots would catch up with the Daisy.

"I hear you loud and clear Dige-Hei," Masako spoke as she lifted the unconcious Morita over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It wasn't the most comfortable way to carry a person, but it was the only way she could carry him and still have a hand free for her rifle. "I'm on my way to the first floor to help you out," she replied as she entered the building from a rooftop entrance, slowly making her way via anti-gravity.

"Are you still able to walk at all? If not, I hope you will be able to use a weapon. Carrying both Kamiyama-Hei and you will definitely be a disadvantage while traveling through hostile territory."

The report of the Kairyuu's shield dropping and the Ocelot's incoming attack caused Nyton to raise an eyebrow before he sprang into action. Since he already had the Kairyuu tracked and was aiming at it with his LASR, he fired the three remaining grenades of his SLAG's clip in rapid succession. Without waiting to see if his shots connected, Nyton jumped back and away from the incoming fire. The fire from the Ocelot's canons had traveled to within a foot before he moved. While he let his drone watch the Kairyuu for any counterattacks, Nyton activated his optic camouflauge and twisted in midair to bring his LASR to target the Ocelot. Nyton fired two shots while still in the air, landed a few inches above the ground with his anti-grav, fired another shot, then began to circle the Ocelot at high speed while he maintained a steady barrage of fire and weaved about the terrain.

Heeding Nyton's orders, Tom started to retreat from the battlefield, knowing full well that he was mostly useless right now.

"KSSSSHHHH Yukari ma'am, KDSDSDFDSD good to SHSDHE hear from you AgASDKFJ. Nyton Si SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH, following orders."

"Let's see..." Leutre looked over his orders once again. "Report to the reception center for processing upon arrival. Report to the commander of the Miharu for launch time table. Report to the medical center for pre-launch examination and physical therapy. Report to the quartermaster for medication requisition. Report to the Miharu construction supervisor for..." He couldn't help but let out a tired sigh as his eyes scanned over the list, which continued further down the page. "Perhaps I should have applied for Nepleslian citizenship instead... but, no sense in wasting time with regret. Audentes fortuna iuvat; fortune favours the bold." With newfound resolve he nodded to himself and squared his shoulders for the grueling tasks ahead. "Right, well, on to reception first."

Passing through the air locks of the docking bay he found himself in a large reception area. Several desks sat against the far wall with the rest of the room filled with rows upon rows of seats. At the moment it was relatively quiet, save for several Yamataians and Nekovalkyrja conversing among themselves. Realizing there was no queue at the desks Leutre promptly made his way over to the nearest one.

"Ahem." Leutre cleared his throat, and the Neko looked up from her work console and smiled. "I've just come in from... erm, my designation is..." He hesitated as he looked over his papers once more, uncertain of proper procedure. "Well, here. You can probably make better sense of these than I." Without ceremony he dropped all of his papers onto the desk and gave her an apologetic smile.