RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 3

"I think it's wonderful you've found your lot in life, Saito. That sort of purpose is something few people look for, and even fewer find. The Lady must favor you." In reality her passion reminded him of his own devotion to engineering. He refrained from actually saying so, uncertain whether she would take a comparison to him as an offensive remark.

By the time they reached the end of the passageway, Leutre found his gaze on lingering Masako. The dark haired Neko seemed much more reserved than her violet haired counterpart. In fact, he didn't know anything about her other than her name. It was time to change that.

He leaned forward and brought his face closer to hers, giving her a curious look. "Masako, my dear. A moment if you will. Tell me, what is it that stirs your passions? What is that dark little thing that melts your heart?"

"Nyton, do you have either some experience or interest in bridge duty?" Kotori asked in front of the door leading to the monitor room, seemingly piqued by his mention of monitoring the ship - though Yukari already knew she had ulterior motives. "With Kurohoshi-Juni being of the same rank as you are as well as sharing some experience in the field, I thought I could perhaps afford to offer you a post as a bridge crewmember; tactical officer, actually."

Yukari rolled her eyes as she stepped inside the monitor room. Kotori was not entirely subtle ... but it was endearing rather than annoying. Commanders had little use for subtly, she thought.

As she drank in the details of the monitor room, she immediately disliked it -- from a pilot's perspective, at least. Too many monitors and panels for her taste, though she was sure some could be removed for aesthetic purposes. She wondered which was the pilot's seat.

Nyton almost stopped walking when Kotori offered the position. He recovered and continued to move into the monitor room. "I can't say I have had much experience on the bridge outside of a few moments." He immediately began to think through the ramifications that involved this new post. He had just started to get used to being a wing leader but to be moved again and into a more tactical field it felt almost unfathomable. Nyton hadn't expected anything like this for at least another few years.

With his bearings restored he calmly moved over to one of the screens. "I suppose if you have that much confidence in me I would be honored to be considered for such." Nyton replied. "I know you're busy Mara, but begin running a full ship diagnostic. After that is complete keep the monitoring screens open so we can continue to watch for any changes to proper ship functions." he said.

Continuing to follow the two, Masako kept listening in on the conversation for a while longer as her mind seemed to wander. She thought back to the map of the Miharu the sprite had shown them and began to ponder whether or not she should read up on the ship itself. Up until now, she had only read up on the new power armors that had been developed. But with the Miharu being a prototype ship and the young warrant officer having the ability to serve as a technical sentry as well, there maybe a time when she was needed to repair a system onboard.

Her thoughts on business were soon interrupted as she noticed the young Leutre's face pretty close to her own. "Eh?" Masako gave the Hei a startled look.

"Masako, my dear. A moment if you will. Tell me, what is it that stirs your passions? What is that dark little thing that melts your heart?"

Click to expand...

The young neko couldn't help but look at Leutre with an eyebrow slightly raised in confusion. What in the world did he mean by 'dark little thing'? Frowning, the warrant officer looked up at the cieling and pondered her answer. "While I don't know what you mean by dark little thing," the young neko commented. "I've been a power armor pilot since my creation...you could say I pretty much specialized in pilot even though I have the capacity to act as a Technical Sentry," she replied calmly and honestly. "My dream for a while has been to command my own team, or wing if you will, of power armors. It's pretty much a dream drawn up by childish reasoning though, since combat wasn't quite how I pictured it would be. But now, I guess the reason why I want to be a wing commander would have to be...well...to keep my comrades alive I suppose," she finished as memories of the Mikomi flooded back slightly, much to her dismay.

"Anyway, since Nyton-Juni is going to be Wing Commander, I guess that means I'm probably just going to be a regular pilot or a secondary commander. I'm content with that...I've only been alive for two years, so I don't think I have enough experience to be a wing commander yet," she said sheepishly.

Overcoming the slight vertigo that she felt upon reaching the 'vertical' main passageway, Tomi stepped off the edge of the hall, calmly floating one deck down and landing on the floor of the main deck. And there it was, not two meters away- the door to the medical lab. Opening it, she quickly stepped inside, drinking in the details of the room. Her room.

The brief survey that she allowed herself was promising. The containment cells and vast array of scanners at least suggested that somebody had thought it appropriate that the ship be outfitted for running into unknown lifeforms. Besides, it was all fresh equipment, probably not touched by a single other living soul before herself. It seemed fitting that her first assignment as a scientist be in such a pristine setting.

She quickly snapped out of her reverie, remembering that she had a job to do. She beckoned the other two in, apparently already under the illusion that she owned the place. "Well then- let's see what you have in those heads of yours, shall we?"

Sigurd followed up behind Tomi, his large bulk - similarly to Leutre - being deceptively agile despite the lack of anti-gravity control.

"I stand ready to assist you, Doctor." The custodian said. "I have basic familliarity with recent Ketsurui Fleet Yard hardware - including medical facilities - and can provide advice if you should need any."

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"I'd still need you on the armor roster: after all, you are the most experimented pilot I have. However, while you have some experience at it, Kurohoshi-Juni might not and having more responsability might ease her into the role you might vacate eventually as you move on." Kotori told Nyton as she eased herself down and established her link with the ship using the seat's SPINE interface. "The same way, by being in charge of a ship's tactical system, you would have a broader perspective of what happens on the battlefield and would have a way to contributing to our efforts without being stuck in the armor bay on a leash waiting to be useful. I am sure you already know that there are situations in which it is unwise to use power armors."

A few holowindows materialzed in front of the Taii and the golden-eyed nekovalkyrja perused them a moment before saying: "Yukari, double check the status of the matter collection system and the combined field in regard to the reaction with the nebula. Run a simulation to insure that new onion-peel layered field will really help cope with the limited mobility ships have in a nebula without burning us to crisp." What Kotori had read indicated the Miharu's CFS particle displacement allowed 17% more intra-nebula mobility than its predecessors, but she planned on being careful about it: there was a reason the ship was called experimental.

Experimental could mean 'new and revolutionary' just as much as it could mean 'might blow up in your face'.

ON: YSS Miharu

Tom Freeman, Yamataian extraordinare, motioned to James. "Let's ROCK those spatulas!"

James grinned and bowed to Mara. "And rock them we shall."

Mara led James and Tom to the kitchen, leading both men through the scullery entrance. "Here you are!" The sprite smiled back at the both of them as she sauntered in. "The stored foodstuffs are this way," she pointed to their right, "and the actual kitchen is to your left."

James straightened and scratched his head, casting glances to the side rooms. "Kitchens. Usually all that entails is sharp things or hot things that can hurt."

Tom stood near the door, surveying his domain. "It seems that the designers took good notice to keeping their caretakers happy. Plenty of space to move around and work the magic." He looked at Mara. "So, the 'default' supplies are on the ship already?"

Mara chuckled. "you're well supplied for a few of the more usual western meals. Fruits, vegetables, oatmal. You have plenty of sticky rice and fish to satisfy the taste of some nekovalkyrja for a while. There's more, but I won't tell you how to do your job."

"Bah, everyone should have some input on the food they're about to eat," Tom said casually with a flick of his hand. "Hey James, check out the Scullery and Kitchen area, make sure we have proper cleaning equipment and cooking utensils and that the actual appliances are working. I'm gonna take a quick inventory of the stockroom."

James nodded and quickly scooted inside the kitchen. Clinks and clangs followed his progress inside, coupled with the occasional bang of something heavy moving.

Tom strolled into the storage area, checking the refrigerators and freezer for correct temperature. After that, he reached opened the first refrigerator door, a gush of cold air rushing to his face. With a smile, he walked in and took count of the items within.

James rustled through several more cabinets as he inspected the kitchen. Pausing, he cast a glance behind him before peeking his head out. "Hey, Freeman, we're a bit low on cleaning supplies at the moment."

The refridgerator Tom was standing in wasn't the biggest he had ever seen, but it was certainly the tallest: it actually had a set of stairs to head up to a sort of balcony holding more foodstuffs.

"Hey Mara, can you take note of that?" Tom shouted from the refrigerator as he started to climb the stairs to the balcony. "Whew... looks like we've got some variety here!"

Ducking back in, James pulled open another group of cabinets and probed around. Knives, spatulas, cutting boards...the most basic of basics for running an operation. "Plenty of equipment to prepare the meals, though. Now I could've sworn there was a set of appliances somewhere..."

Mara recorded the information in her own memory, though she wondered why Tom wouldn't do the same himself. With a small shrug, she walked up to James and looked at what he was doing. "Dige-san... if I am not mistaken, you would be a geshrin, right?"

James nodded as he combed through the cabinets, mentally tallying the contents. "Been one since I was born."

"Are you planning on getting your yamataian body soon?" The sprite asked. "I know you could probably get one out of the medlab's hemosynthetic tanks."

James paused and looked behind him at the sprite. "Well, I have considered it in the past, Mara-san. But as long as I can complete my duties in this body I really see no reason to change."

Mara blinked incredulously at James. "Haven't you read the species restriction order?"

Content with his inventory in the refridgerator, Tom checked the freezer storage too. "Yeah, you gotta change or it's over for you."

James shut the cabinet he was looking in and turned to face Mara, his ears catching Tom's comment. "This is news to me."

Mara turned back to Tom with a disapproving glare. "That was a harsh way of putting it." She turned back to James. "For efficiency reasons, the Star Army is trying to get yamataians and nekovalkyrjas to be the only ones to operate on nekovalkyrja starships. One of those reasons is more stamina and extra versatility considering memory storage, telepathic capabilities and better interfacing with the more recent power armors."

"Well, ma'am, I'm not going to argue against our leader's orders," Tom said after returning from the freezer. "But I can't help it if it rubs me the wrong way just a little bit. I can see both sides of the picture, I think, but, ultimately, I agree with our leader's decision."

James scratched the back of his head and blew a sigh through pursed lips. "I see how that would make sense. I suppose I'll be switching, then." He smiled to no one in particular. "I just got here, after all. No reason to quit now."

"I'm just for it because I think having a yamataian body would help my crew survive." Mara replied to the caretaker with a small shrug. She offered a smile to James. "Yeah, besides, I don't think you'll dislike getting a body more suited for zero-G environments. It'll probably help you a lot in the end."

Crouching down to check some of the lower cabinets, James nodded. "From what I've heard, it shouldn't be too much of a difference. Just a bit faster thought processes, some extra room upstairs, so to speak...Ah! Here's some of the appliances!"

"As long as we're in the military, what saves the most lives is right," Tom said quietly, a moment of sadness coming over him. "Personal opinion doesn't matter in a life or death situation..."

Mara frowned worriedly and placed one of her hands above James head. "Don't bump your head now."

Tom walked out of the storage room. "All done! Anything else out of the ordinary?"

James twisted awkwardly in an attempt to watch his head and stand up at the same time. He almost succeeded, and only Mara's hand saved him from a headache. "Oof. Sorry, Mara-san." Straightening, he turned to Tom and flashed a thumbs-up. "Nothing other than the cleaning supplies, Chef."

"There is a buffet under the serving area for anything you can serve cold. You'll have to think about making a few snacks for the people wanting to eat out of meal hours." Mara informed the ship's new cook.

"Good stuff," Tom said, grabbing a few veggies and making a quick salad for people to chew on. "So, tell me a bit about yourself, James."

James leaned against the table and looked up before responding. "I was born five years before the Elysian Plague. I did several odd jobs as I grew up, but I never found that niche I wanted to fill. so I just sort of drifted through life."

"Where'd you live? What'd you do before coming to the military?" Tom put the chopped veggies into a metal bowl and moved it to the cooling panel.

"I lived in Tania with my family. As for what I did...Like I said, odd jobs. Deliveries, shopkeeping, bartending...Couldn't really hold one job for more than a couple months.' James shrugged. "I look back at myself then and it's like looking at a completely different person."

Mara's curiosity was piqued. "Are you... happy with who you've become now?" The sprite asked the geshrin.

"Tell me about it," Tom chuckled. "The military does that to you, but make sure that it doesn't mess you up."

James nodded quickly. "Definately. Joining the military gave me a sense of purpose and focus. I used to be rather...weak-willed, I suppose you could call it. But there was no room for that in the training, and it was either reforge myself or break down. Fortunately I didn't break down."

Mara nodded. She was aware the previously assigned cook had apparently broke down and hadn't made the cut to come aboard. On the other hand, James himself had scored very high on his last power armor simulated exercise.

"I'm glad that you've found a purpose in the military," Tom said, having finished the second bowl of salad. "What do you want to do after your service? Do you have any dreams?"

James chuckled. "Only thing I have in mind right now is to find a nice quiet place to settle down, maybe find someone to spend the rest of my days with. It wouldn't hurt if I managed to have something to my name." Stretching, James moved over and eyed the first salad appreciatively. "What about you? Any plans?"

"I just want to have a good time in this world, have a family, just live life, you know?" Tom extended his hand to the salad. "Please. Help yourself."

Mara leveled herself up to sit atop the serving counter, idly balancing her legs as she looked at the two men conversing in the kitchen. She had tried to join in, but it looked more and more like guy talk that she had trouble understanding. Then again, maybe that was normal: she was only a few days old.

James shook his head and held up a hand. "Just admiring. I'm still full from breakfast." He looked over to Mara, the ghost of a question forming in his mind. "Say, Mara-san, do you have any dreams or goals?"

"Well, I was idly wondering about how to call the sprite that would serve as the proxy of the Hoshi's CIES computer." The sandy-haired neko answered. "Aside from that, I'm hoping that I'll do well and find a way to - as a ship - set myself out from hundred and thousands of other warships and become famous!" She grinned.

"That is the first time I've heard such a spritely ship sprite state such a scrumptious aspiration." Tom wagged his finger at the wordplay with a grin. He grabbed a bite of salad. "I'm ready to go. How about you?"

James smiled. "Ketsurui-Taii seems like a well-versed leader, from what I have seen of her so far. I think we're all in good hands." He nodded to Tom. "I'm set. Shall we?"

"Well versed?" Mara blinked. She had figured Kotori was an unproved commanding officer given an unproven vessel. Mara wanted to like Kotori, but one of the things Kotori didn't seem to be was an experienced commander.

James nodded. "She almost single-handedly saved the crew inside the simulator from her entrance and knowledge of tactics, and led us to the extraction point with only one loss that was probably due more to chance than bad judgement. But again, I can only speak from what I've seen so far."

"Let's go, then." Tom left and headed to the designated meeting point.

Mara acrobatically vaulted over the kitchen counter, using a shortcut instead of walking back out from the scullery. "Have either the two of you ever been in love?" She asked lightly as they rounded the corner.

"Yup," Tom said with a whistle. "Love is a great thing."

"Do you have anyone you want to settle back to Yamatai with once your eight years of service are done?" Mara asked, following Tom.

"Love? Not me. I've had people I've liked before, but nothing ever really came of it." James eyed Tom with a bit of envy.

"It's eight years, wow," Tom sighed. "I have some ideas, but nothing concrete yet."

"Well, eight years before you can retire and still keep getting some income." Mara precised as the reached the main passageway. "Nekovakyrja are supposed to serve for eight years themselves before having settled what many consider as a debt for them being created."

James followed along silently, listening to Tom and Mara talk.

"Eight years may be a little too much for me, I think, retirement pay or not," Tom said. "Too much can happen in that time."

"Eight years does seem rather long," James chipped in as they got to the main passageway. "Hopefully nothing too drastic happens, though."

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Tomi glanced between Masako and Leutre. "So? Who wants to be first?"

"Um, me, I guess." Leutre came forward. "This...err, ST backup thing... it won't hurt too much, will it?"

Miyoko raised an eyebrow. "You've not had one yet? Well..." she shrugged, "mine haven't been too bad, but they're said to get pretty rough sometimes. 'Take countermeasures against pain' rough. You may want to find something hard to bite down on..."

Tomi turned to Masako. "Would you be willing to go first, since he seems reluctant?" She flashed a sly grin at Leutre for a moment. "Wouldn't want to traumatize the poor thing this close to take-off."

"I-I'm not traumatized." Leutre protested despondantly and huffed, giving his datapad another lookover.. Maybe peering back to the Miharu's specs would help distract himself out of his unease.

Masako looked towards Leutre and then to Tomi, with a small smile. "I guess I will, Saito-Hei," the young neko replied calmly before looking over at the other enlisted. "Don't worry Veressis-Hei," she said with more of a grin. "When you're turn comes next, I'll be here to hold your hand," she said in a teasing manner before sitting down on one of the beds.

Tomi chuckled slightly as she lowered the sensor array to eye level, quickly adjusting a few settings before she glanced down to the juni. "That's the spirit." She adjusted a few final settings then pushed it aside for a moment to get a clear view at Masako's face. "Do you want something for pain, or are we good to go?"

Masako blinked for a moment before smiling again. "I'm ready when you are, Saito-Hei."

Tomi nodded, lowering the device onto Masako's head and signalling it to begin. "This will only be a few moments, then." Her work for the moment done, she glanced to Leutre. "And I apologize if the jibes upset you. I just find it a bit weird to run into somebody who's not had a backup... but, I suppose there's a first time for everything."

"Well, the Lady didn't grace us with a Soul Transfer machine back home." Leutre offered a small shrug. "So I can't say I was all that familliar with the technology. I'm still learning a lot here." He finished with a goofy grin as he tapped a fingernail against the datapad's surface.

Tomi considered that for a moment. On one hand, it certainly wasn't her business... but then, anything to help calm down a potentially nervous patient couldn't hurt. She quirked an eyebrow. "'Back home.' Where was that, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Home is..." Leutre paused, "Home. Out there. Among the scoundrels and mercenaries and privateers and pirates. Where we carve out a bit of the galaxy for ourselves."

Leutre suddenly felt the look of Sigurd, the android, weight heavily on him. "But you serve the Star Army of Yamatai at this time, do you not? You did not identify yourself as a threat to this organisation, however. Explain."

The machine signalled that it had completed its duty, and Miyoko carefully raised it from Masako's head, gesturing her off the table with a jerk of her head, but saying nothing. That being done, she turned to watch the confrontation quietly.

Letting out a small sigh, Masako hopped off the bed to see the ship's Custodian and Leutre in what seemed to be a confrontation. Blinking slightly, the young neko waited for a moment for Leutre to explain himself before she would decide whether or not to jump in.

"I serve the Star Army, tinman. At least for now." Leutre shrugged. "But unlike you we are not bound into servitude. Where I come from, we are our own people. We are free. It is... Who we are."

The Custodian nodded once. "Understood." The blue-eyed android said and that particular conversation seemed to come to a close. Leutre was apparently off the hook.

Masako smiled as she placed a hand upon Leutre's back. "Come on now, Veressis-Hei. It's your turn now" the young neko motioned for towards the bed.

Tomi nodded. "It's all ready for you. Do you want something for pain?"

Leutre shivered as he glanced between Tomi and the table. "You're not helping!"

Miyoko rolled her eyes. "It was a serious question. There may be pain, and there is certainly no shame in mitigating it."

The young raven-haired neko couldn't help but giggle at the Nepleslian man. "Don't worry Veressis-Hei, you'll be fine." she spoke calmly.

"Right." The other neko patted the table again. "This thing is to prevent deaths, not cause them."

Hearing Masako's reassurance, Leutre took a deep breath and walked over to the table. "It can't be any worse than the time Da had to re-attach my fingers with a field surgery kit. I'll be okay. I think."

Miyoko gently eased him back onto the table and lowered the device onto his head. Sounding a bit far away, she mumbled, "You'll have to tell me more about home sometime... it sounds quite different from anything I've encountered." With that, she tapped a few buttons, beginning the transfer process.

After several more moments, Tomi raised the device from Leutre's head. "Well... that didn't look so bad." She turned to the other two. "And that's all for here, I suppose."

Leutre grit his teeth and rubbed his forehead. "Bloody murder and mayhem. I haven't felt this bad since I dropped a hammer on my head. I'd kill for some spiced wine right about now."

Sigurd turned to head out back into the main passageway: instructions given had been clear that the next gathering spot was the sensor dome.

As she walked toward the exit, Miyoko smirked at the comment. "Then the next time the medical officer offers you something to deal with the pain... take it as an offer rather than a threat."

Masako watched the ST backup of Leutre taking place as her mind began to wander again. But stopped herself before she could get too far. This is your chance to converse and actually talk to crew members...you don't want to act like you did on your previous ships, the young neko berated as she looked towards Tomi and noticed neko ears. At that moment, Leutre's ST back up was completed and Masako could only sigh quietly and follow the two Hei. "So, I heard a bit about where Veressis-Hei was from, what about you Saito-Hei?"

Miyoko reflected quietly for a moment as she stepped into the main passageway and slowly floated upward. For just a moment, she looked almost taken-aback by the question, but she quickly regained her composure and smiled slightly. "I'm from a big tube somewhere, I suppose." Apparently satisfied with the brief answer, she touched down on the upper deck and headed for the sensor dome.

"Eh?" Masako could only reply as she landed behind Miyoko before frowning. "Well I'm from a tube too," the young neko responded. "I was an NH-17R up until a day ago," she replied. "I'm sorry if my question was rude," Masako finally said as she sighed quietly.

Leutre grumbled to himself as he followed Tomi. "Damn rotter... Enjoys her job too much... Like to shove her out an airlock. She's from some bloody jungle, that's where she's from."

"I am not shoving any crewmembers out of my airlocks." The Miharu's computer replied back pointedly to Leutre, the voice seemingly coming out from nowhere. Sadly for Leutre, the ship having a young sprite proxy made her more critical of stray comments done toward its occupants.

Masako couldn't help but glance slightly at Leutre with a bit of annoyance. "Veressis-Hei, please behave yourself. It's rude to say those things about anybody." the warrant officer said sternly to the Nepleslian.

Tomi shrugged with a weak chuckle. "It's not so much a rude question as it is one without an answer. In the sense that you mean, I'm not from anywhere. I haven't had a home, per se..."

Leutre frowned as he overheard Tomi. "Home... Is where you make it. That's what my Da always told me. For me home is where the solar winds blow me."

Frowning more, Masako pondered what Miyoko said before sighing. "Well then... that just means people like us have to make a home for ourselves, doesn't it Saito-Hei?" the warrant officer replied with a smile as she placed a hand upon the scientist's shoulder.

"And I haven't really stayed in one place long enough to feel at home yet." At Masako's comment, she nodded slightly. "... perhaps that will change here, though with my track record, the ship will suddenly need to be refitted and I'll get transferred tomorrow."

"By the way..." Tomi leaned in to Leutre, stage-whispering, "These funny looking ears are pretty good at overhearing things behind us."

Putting his hand on Tomi's shoulder, he gave her a serious look. "Listen. Home isn't where you come from, it's where you belong. Even I know that." Giving her a big smile, he added, "And don't worry about breaking things. That's what they put me here for."

Masako giggled at Miyoko's comment and moved up beside the other woman. "I know how that is," the neko replied. "I've been bounced from the Self Defense Fleet to four different ships in only two years. It's a bit overwhelming, isn't it," Masako asked before looking over at Leutre and smiled. "You aren't the only one who can fix things on this ship, Veressis-Hei. But you probably understand what you're fixing more than I."

Miyoko shrugged "And I don't belong anywhere. Yet. I suppose things are a bit different when you pop into being and have a gun shoved into your hands."

"Now come on." Tomi turned to cover the last few meters before the sensor dome. "We can a nice long heart-to-heart about this when we're offduty some time. Right now, we've got a ship to monitor."

"But monitoring is so boring." Leutre whimpered. "Can't we just find a nice corner of the subdeck to curl up in--" He suddenly fell silent when he noticed others in the hall. In a louder tone he said, "I mean, I love my job! Let's monitor away!"

James couldn't help but chuckle. "At least we won't have to worry about knowing where Veressis-Hei is."

Masako gave the Nepleslian enlisted man a suprised and somewhat startled look as he changed what he was about to say fairly quickly. Turning her head, she smiled towards Tom and James. "So how is the kitchen, Freeman-Heisho, Dige-Hei." the warrant officer greeted.

"Things are fine and dandy, ma'am," Tom replied with a slight bow.

James followed suit and bowed as well. "I take it the ST backups went off without a hitch?"

Miyoko nodded in greeting to the other group, then chuckled slightly. "Well, I believe that we all learned a valuable lesson in taking help when it's offered, but everything operated fine, yes."

"Some of you will have to make their own ST backups at a later time." Mara pointed out and then looked at the yamataian science officer. "That would include you as well, Saito-Hei."

"Actually," Tom said quickly, shaking his head. "Is there any way I can have one done soon?"

Miyoko nodded. "Certainly- I'll probably try getting the entire crew backed up soon, unless you've made one elsewhere very recently. Can't be too careful."

"We're headed to Akina no Iori to load up on those supplies. I guess you might have the time then." Mara nodded.

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Yukari nodded at Kotori's orders, having already taken her seat surrounded by monitors and image panels. She barely had time to recognize the SPINE interface interacting with her, for she could see Kotori was in a rush. "Matter collection system active," she said. "Initial CFS readings indicate the experimental multi-layered system will work as originally drafted.

"Miharu has run a simulation in background; it reports no failures," she continued. "I will employ minimum throttle and maneuvers until we have cleared the nebula. This vessel feels ... touchy? Forgive me if I am overcautious."

Kotori nodded. "That's fine." The Taii looked at her displays a moment and than ordered: ""Get in touch with the station's traffic control for clearance to leave dock."

"Yes Taii." Yukari radioed in briefly to traffic control; they gave her permission with a terse "good luck" tacked on. Yukari ignored it. "Permission obtained. Docking clamps and rigging is retracting. Energizing graviton engines; I am not igniting them, but preparing them as a back-up."

Nyton monitored the simulation results and had a copy of the windows that showed the 'normal' results above the real time status screens. He kept the screens simultaneously locked with his cybernetic eye enhancement targeting systems. "Everything is reading normally. Engines are at nominal and ready for launch." Nyton said.

Kotori nodded. "Ease us out, Yukari. Maneuvering thrusters only."

Yukari could not help but smile. "Ryokaishimashita, Taii." Her hands flew over a translucent image panel in front of her, adjusting the thrusters appropriately. The ship, now free of rigging, slowly eased away from the station. Once it was away from the docks, Yukari slowly angled it away from the station. "Maneuver complete."

Kotori smiled to her exec. "Okay, see how she maneuvers at sublight now."

"Yes Taii." Yukari smiled as the SPINE connection automatically transmitted her desire for flight sticks to the image panel in front of her; two rose up from it, and she "clutched" on to them. Slowly, Yukari increased the speed to 0.01 c, then to 0.05 c, then to 0.1 c. She used the CFS only. The ship easily seemed to glide through the nebula; she banked starboard lazily, impressed by the subtle response. She tried a much harder bank, and it responded in kind. She smiled.

The Taii then turned to Nyton. "Keep a log of how the ship maneuvers and check for any lag or irregularities. We'll have the Miharu's MEGAMI try to compensate for them to allow for better handling."

"Roger that Taii." Nyton replied and he began to record the readouts with his memory backup.

The Miharu kept answering to Yukari's command fairly responsively - she could fancy it being almost eager to please her. Of course, CFS always provided easy handling. On a status display, the Chui could see that the vessel's large gravimetric arrays out back with numerous thruster jets which would no doubt grant the rakish vessel high maneuvrability at sublight velocities even without turning to the combined field.

Yukari flashed a small grin at the small display above her hands. "Taii, may I turn to the gravimetric arrays?"

"Sure." Kotori chuckled and shared a look with Nyton. To her, it seemed like Yukari was slowly coming to tame the Miharu's navigational control. She knew Yuka had this odd quirk of getting close to the sentient computer of the ships she served on.

Yukari seems to be getting more confident. Nyton thought to himself as he watched her guide the ship.

Yukari smiled, letting the engines turn on with a simple thought. "Now, to see how you sail on the sea ... " The throttle was eased up to 0.3 c, and the ship streamed forward through the nebula. Everything rolled in her vision for a moment, then returned to normal. Yukari banked to the left, then juked hard upward and downward before falling into a lazy spiral. She was amazed by how sharp the ship's response was -- it was definitely sharper than the Sakura, despite its lesser top speed. She straightened its line of flight before throwing it into a set of semi-complex maneuvers, twisting and diving and generally playing with it.

I hope no one is looking out of the windows. Kotori thought as she smiled a bit and then returned her attention to how the ship was handling its power reserves. When she had been told about the delays in finishing the ship, the dockworkers had told her the ship's power supply was experiencing trouble.

Aside from the addition of the capacitor system, which she knew had originally been reserved for extra sensors, Kotori didn't see anything off for the moment.

After a few minutes more of this treatment, Yukari leveled the Miharu again and increased its throttle slowly but constantly, adding 0.1 c every two minutes. It was a gentle increase, she thought. "Engines responding favorably," she said to no one in particular. Then, to Kotori: "No fluctuation in power to the gravimetric engines. Acceleration is constant. Maneuvering thrusters on the port side appear minorly out of synch with starboard; Mara is correcting in background."

"Nice maneuvers there Yukari Chui. Getting a good feel for it." Nyton said. "Handles pretty good for an unfinished ship eh?"

"So far so good." Kotori agreed. "Yuka, we'll make a FTL stress test inside the nebula. Plot a course out and increase speed. I know the Sakura couldn't go much beyond ten-thousand times the speed of light inside the Great Southern Nebula. Let's see how the Miharu handles herself now."

Yukari nodded, but didn't look at Nyton. "She handles beatifully," she said a bit breathily. She then took Kotori's orders in hand. "Understood, Taii." The course was plotted almost instantly thanks to the SPINE, and Yukari angled the ship along the plot. "Gravimetric engines disengaged. CFS propulsion reinstituted. Increasing speed to 10,000 c." The ship responded -- but in a slightly jerky fashion. It wasn't immediately leaving the nebula, seemingly stalling. "Nani?" Yukari said, obvious irritation in her voice.

Kotori frowned. "MEGAMI, what's wrong here exactly?"

"Coordinating the functions of all four Combined Field System generators." The vessel's computer replied clamly. "Taking account of the nebula's particle dispersion pattern requires more calibration - this is the cause of the lag time."

"Four generators?" Yukari blinked. That is a good thing and a bad thing to have, I suppose.

Nyton watched the screens and maximized the generator screens. "Mara, can you run some simulations to narrow down the calibration ranges? Or will that just slow you down even moreso?"

The Miharu's engine elements had been blinking yellows and light greens while the vessel adjusted its systems and then finally all shined a healthier green color. From outside, the ship's Combined Field bubble shimmered brightly before the craft leapt forward and blurred away as it jumped to 1c.

"Claymere-Juni, nebula friction is causing irregularities in the combined field. I advice slow, gradual acceleration to allow me the time to compensate."

"Understood Mara." Nyton said and he looked over to Yukari. "Keep the acceleration at a slow gradual pace so Mara can compensate for the nebula friction." he said.

Yukari overheard and nodded. She toned the acceleration down to 2 c per second. "Acceleration adjusted, Claymere-Juni. Please let me know when I may increase it again."

The Miharu reached 6000c before the vessel's MEGAMI reported to Nyton the problems had been ironed out. However, there still was the matter of seeing how fast the ship could safely handle itself inside the nebula.

"Looks like she's got a good calibration safety mean set so the lag time for calibration shouldn't be a problem anymore." Nyton passed on to Yukari. "If you want to push the speed and see how fast you can maneuver safely in the nebula you're clear to do so. We're monitoring everything in the meantime."

Yukari saw that the speed had reached about 6,000 c, but the ship could theoretically go faster. Miharu tells me she can reach 11,700 c safely ... let us see if she can reach that instantly. Yukari "shoved" the throttle with her mind, and the ship hesitated for just a brief moment before going up and up and up ... and reaching 11,643 c. At that point, Yukari stopped the acceleration and let the ship cruise there.

The Miharu cut a clean path through the nebula, leaving a wake behind it as its combined field flickered from the strain of forcing it. there was, however, no shaking or noticable sign of stress to the vessel itself.

Yukari smiled, pleased with the vessel. She patted the arm rest of her chair. "Lovely," she sent to Miharu.

"Good cruising speed there. Everything is still looking good and we've got safe readouts all around. The combined field is showing some strain but not showing signs of giving out." Nyton reported as he watched the combined field screen.

"ETA out of the nebula is two minutes, forty three seconds and counting at our present speed and heading." The Miharu's MEGAMI replied with a slight hint of satisfaction. And maybe some smugness too.

Yukari smiled again. The Sakura's MEGAMI had felt strange to her, even without SPINE. She could not say exactly why, but she felt it. Miharu seemed much more pleasant -- a bit more confident, perhaps, but she felt more like a vessel. A real soul.

The Miharu finally broke out of the swirly mists of the Ketsurui nebula and leapt shining brightly into the starry blackness of space.

Kotori had been quiet, listening contently as the two other seemed to be managing things well. Yukari was doing what she was the best at, while Nyton was playing it safe, reporting what he saw and getting used to his control station. That was good.

"Alright. Yukari, change course and heading to the Taiie star system. Bring the Miharu to its maximum cruising speed and hold it for a bit. While we cruise, I want you to prime the vessel's fold system for a jump to get us there." Kotori didn't want some screw up to happen while the folded, so, she wanted to give Yukari the time to do it properly.

Nyton began to bring up the screens to monitor the systems related to the fold system as well as the hull and fields. "I've got the fold systems monitored now." he reported.

"Yes Taii," Yukari said. "And thank you, Claymere-Juni." Yukari brought the nose around after the course had been laid, eyes flittering through some displays in front of her. Taiie. She shook her head a little, not wanting to dwell on it at the moment. "Bringing throttle up to 192,500 c ... acceleration at 10,000 c per second ... " She only had to wait a few second for the ship to race to its maximum cruising speed. The fold system was easy to bring online. "Fold system operable. Priming ... " Yukari waited another few seconds. "System primed. Simulating jump ... course approved." She looked to Kotori. "Would you like the honors, Taii?"

Kotori blinked. The honors for what? Oh! She recalled having watched cartoons with the main characters making authoritative poses and commanding in a dramatic fashion to make a hyperspace jump. The neko pushed herself off her chair, faced the tiny holowindow showing a diagram of the ship with the nearby nebula filling one quarter and the dotted curved line indicating the trajectory to Taiie. "Engage hyperspace fold!" She spoke out gruffly, imitating that same cartoon character and hoping against hope that the two other officers wouldn't burst into laughter at her expense.

Nyton looked away from his screens over to Kotori as she completed her dramatic order but turned away quickly to avoid laughing. He refocused on the screens but smiled regardless.

" ... " Yukari contained her laughter, but she still smiled widely. "Ayii ayii, Taii!" Yukari made her own little gesture, a throttle lever having conjured itself from holograms. She shoved it forward, and the ship jumped.

END

SCENE: Taiie star system

With a radiant burst of light, the Miharu emerged from hyperspace. It had taken the vessel nearly 3 minutes to reach Taiie with the aid of the fold drive.

The experimental escort ship, guided by Yukari's hand, resorted to its gravimetric engines to make its way further insystem. Their destination, the Akina no Iori Star fortress, orbited Taiie IV, and was about 1.5 AU distant from Taiie's yellow dwarf sun. In high orbit of the fourth planet was also the Star Fortress which had been the previous command center of the 5th Expeditionary Fleet, Taiie no Iori, now but a derelict turned into a memorial.

The Miharu navigated through regular patrols of the 5th XF's vessels before maneuvering to Akina no Iori and docking on one of the piers within the large Star Fortress. With the Koganagi Initiative underway and the 5th XF finally striking back at the encroaching Mishhuvurthyar, the 5th XF seemed to be in a high state of readiness, showing very little aside from the memorial to show for its earlier hardships.

Kotori terminated her SPINE interface with the ship, standing up and apparently about to leave the monitor room. "I have matters to attend to on the planet, so I am leaving you in charge of the Miharu, Yukari. Please prepare a Fox Shuttle for departure while I appraise who I am to meet of my arrival."

"Yes Taii." Yukari averted her eyes from Taiie no Iori; she wanted to focus on the present, not her past.

She brought up a crew roster in front of her; she was not sure if Kotori was going to meet with the crew. "Miharu-san, please activate two sprites to prepare a shuttle for the Taii."

The ship acknowledged the request, and two black-haired Nekos left the medbay to prepare a shuttle.

Meanwhile, Yukari laid in her chair and simply breathed for a moment. "We still do not know our mission," she said out loud, not looking at Nyton.

Not too long afterwards, a blue-and-silvery-gray Fox shuttle departed from the Miharu's port bay and winged out of the Iori and down to the planet.

( OoC: Kotori went and did this )

"The mission, much like this ship, is still full of unknowns." Nyton said before he looked up from his screen which scanned the departure of the shuttle from the bay. Structural integrity, bay functions, and other mechanical processes were checked and flagged green by the monitors. "Until we know the full capability of this ship we won't know the full mission capacity that she can perform." he followed up and looked over at Yukari.

Yukari nodded a little. Nyton always did seem to know how to say things well. It seemed very ... tactical.

"I wonder what we are here for, then ... Taiie is out of our way." She tried not to think of the Iori. "Surely the Taii knows what our first mission is. Why has she not told us already?"

Nyton opened up a viewscreen with a real time external shot outside. The 5th XF ships were seen all around them even as they were docked with the station. Nyton had only scanned reports of the peril this fleet had encountered but nothing beyond numerical stats and after action reports. Much like the ones he had read for the Mikomi. He already knew which of his former crewmates were dead but there was a difference to him between a statistic and obituary report and eye witness testimony. Maybe this is morbid thought Nyton, but I would rather know how their final moments occurred through the eyes of someone who was there. Not just some statistics. When I die will I be just another statistic no one cared to even learn about, or will people actually wonder how I went? he thought morosely. Perhaps a little too melancholy a subject. Right now the mission of mystery took presidence.

"At best I can only guess to what our mission might be. As for our business here I believe she said something about meeting someone. Not sure what that or the mission entails but we'll probably know soon enough. Perhaps a new crewmember? It must be important or time constraining if we had to leave dry dock with the ship not completely fitted. Speaking of which..." Nyton then brought up the supply registry and looked for what still had not been completed. "Miharu, did the order Kotori Taii forwarded here arrive and is it ready to be finished loading?"

Tomi sat down at the nearest workstation in the sensor dome, leaning backward over the seat and stretching. "Miharu, could you please call the monitor room and let them know that I've completed the backups?" Pulling up the feed from the external sensors, she frowned. "... though it seems that we've moved already."

"Yes, the supplies have arrived: my I proceed to opening the ventral hatches to allow them to be ferried in, Chui?" Miharu answered.

If supplies were coming in, it could be a good idea to get a part of the crew to help with the offloading, if only to speed up the process and let them know parts of the rest of the ship better. Since the nodal system seemed mostly done with the main deck by now, they would be able to work in it.

"Saito-Hei reports she has completed the backups of Kurohoshi-Juni and Veressis-Hei," the Miharu's MEGAMI also reported.

<center>* * *</center>

The sensor dome's holographic display showed a much larger diagram of the star system, which starship and planet representations being slightly enlarged for visibility to the naked eye (since being to scale would make them infenetisimally small points). It showed most of the 5th XF's assets in this system were the Core group, the Yūgumo colonisation expeditionary group, the Takumi colonisation expeditionary group, the Sheridan assault group and the Taiie defense group. Other forces were out guarding other assets... or already engaged against the Mishhuvurthyar like the Siasei carrier group.

Still that was a lot of ships to guard a single star system. Roughly 70 ships. Due to the Koganagi Initiative being underway, they were also being in a high state of readiness as they awaited for the results of the recent military campaign being carried out, making frequent, tight patrols through the star system with their smaller ships while most of the capital vessels were undocked and ready to react. Civilian transit had, for the time being, been cut off.

"Message transmitted," he ship's computer confirmed to Tomi.

"Say, since we're in spacedock, why not do the rest of the backups now while you have time? The Taii had to head out on planet; so you'd have time." Mara suggested.

"Meeting someone ... " Yukari still could not fathom who they would be meeting out here. The mixing of fleets like this seemed strange to her -- 1st XF and 5th XF had never been cordial with each other, but usually there was more interaction than the current docking and waiting.

She shook her head and nodded. "Yes Miharu-san. We will be there shortly to assist -- ah, who are the two Nekos who helped with the Taii's shuttle?"

"Their names are currently 'Ichigo' and 'Nimura,'" the Miharu replied. "They are twins."

"Oh. Thank you." Yukari smiled and disconnected herself from the SPINE -- she suddenly felt just a little empty inside, like she'd lost a somewhat deep connection to someone. It was a very strange feeling, but she shook it off.

"Claymere-Juni, would you join me? As we are in dock, I do not see the necessity of us staying here. Besides, exercise is good!" Yukari flashed a cute little smile as she backed up to the door.

Nyton stood up and nodded with a smile to Yukari. "You have a point there Yukari Chui. Since the other's are done with the ST backups let's also round up the others if they are not otherwise occupied." he replied. "Miharu, please tell the rest of the crew to meet us and assist with the offloading of supplies."

"Acknowledged." The ship replied to Nyton.

<center>* * *</center>

Just a moment after Mara's suggestion, the Miharu's MEGAMI spoke up in the sensor dome: "Claymere-Juni requests that all crewmembers having completed their Soul Transfer Backups report to the Multifunction bays to help with the offloading of cargo."

Tomi flashed a grin at Leutre and Masako. "See, aren't you glad you got that out of the way before everybody else? Now you get to unload cargo!"

Rising from her seat, she glanced to the sprite. "And I do believe I'll take that suggestion. Miharu, could you inform the Chui that I'll be giving ST backups to the rest of the crew now, unless they need all of us for the cargo transfer? I can take care of her and Claymere-Juni later if need be, or they can drop by the lab before heading to the bays."