RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 4

[Fred]

Taiie System, Taiie IV
YSS Miharu NJ-X1-00, Akina no Iori Star Fortress (drydock)

"Taii Ketsurui."

Kotori's eyes opened. She was lying supine in her bed, inside the suite she had picked for herself in the Miharu, her first command. Weak ambient light poured in from the window that showed the inside of the Star Fortress her ship rested in.

"Taii Ketsurui, please wake up."

The voice was that of the Miharu's. She had been wondering why she was awake. Stifling a yawn, she pushed herself up in a sitting position. Something had to be up: she had only slept for two-hundred and fifty-six minutes. "What is it?" She asked, forcing the question past the pasty taste in her mouth.

"The Takumi expeditionary group has folded after a significant increase in communication chatter through 5th XF channels." The vessel's sentient computer reported.

Kotori rubbed a fist over her closed left eye. "Any idea why?" She didn't think the expeditionary groups were going to launch immediately, seeing the offensive campaign the Mishhuvurthyar were waging.

"The destination was the nearby Kilnar star system," the MEGAMI replied. "Combat drill, perhaps?"

The suggestion sobered up Kotori. "Not while they are still in that Koganagi Initiative. Drills would be closer to Yamatai." She turned to slide her feet down on the carpeted floor and stood up. "How many ships does the Fifth still have in-system?"

A volumetric window opened up to list the ships:

1 Chiharu-class flagship
3 Yuumi-class battleships
1 Kyoto-class troop carrier
18 Irim-class heavy gunships
28 Arashi-class attack escorts
6 Odori-class freighters
1 Noujou-class agricultural ship

Fifty-eight ships, and some of them can't really be counted on to be warships. Kotori's eyes narrowed and she gave her yukata's sash a tightening tug on each end of the bow-knot before she left her room barefoot.

Outside, the halls were still and silent aside from the muted electric hum of the ship's systems. The lighting was dimmed, indicating the ship still considered itself in the night shift. Since they were in a spacedock, even the sprites had probably settled in for the night.

Kotori sucked in a breath at the sight of the vacant wardroom and, her pace swift, she made her way down. "What's the ship status?" She asked Miharu.

"Complete and operational."

Kotori nodded wordlessly and continued on, heading for the areas which had previously been barred to her because of the final touches the nodal system had to give parts of the ship. For the first time, she entered the bridge.

"Lights on." At her command, the room illuminated itself. Kotori gave the unfamiliar bridge a short lookaround before she settled herself in what was obviously the commander's chair. She made interface with the ship thanks to the SPINE uplink built in her seat's backing and several holowindows opened to her and the semi-circular console in front of her reconfigurated itself to give her limited control over the three unoccupied stations below.

She squinted over the displays and expanded the sensor section. Putting the powerful sensor suite to test she began scanning around the vicinity of the star system.

Something was up. She was sure of it. No matter what sort of hidden agenda the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet had, the Miharu was a vessel operating at the behest of SAINT. It was time to get past the cloak-and-dagger stuff and get some answers. Using the RDD, she probed around to follow the hyperspace trails the two recently absent warship groups had left behind. There had to be a clue of somesort which could indicate what was really going on.

What's this? Outside the system, roughly 1.5 light years away from Taiie's star, she picked up odd hyperspace signature. No, not quite a hyperspace trail, more like...

"Miharu, what's this?" she asked, tapping her fingertip over the area she had noticed the anomaly.

"Running Type 7 TQP-RDD scan... please stand by."

"Sorry, I have better things to do." Kotori scowled. She took a deep breath, hoped her hunch was right and then said: "Miharu sound an alert and put me over shipwide intercom after the second tone."

<center>* * *</center>

A unmistakable alarm tone rang through the ship, echoing through its long vacant halls and into the rooms of its occupants. The second tone blared a second after and then Kotori's voice resounded in its place. "Tactical alert. All hands please report to your stations."

 

[Nyton]

There had been an ocean. There were dark grey halls. The shouting of men was going on when the first alarm went off. This had spurred Nyton to run to the deck and head for the nearest aircraft available. He had to get into the air because the enemy had been located and it was their job to knock them out. By the time the second alarm had sounded Nyton had neared the odd shaped two winged, propellor driven aircraft. Something in the back of his mind told him that such a contraption shouldn't fly. Then again what was he doing in the middle of the ocean on a floating flat top surface? But at the same time this was completely logical here. However he soon began to grow lightheaded and realized that there was something else.

"Tactical alert. All hands please report to your stations."

Nyton's eyes snapped open and he found himself splayed in his nest bed. He had not gone to bed until late last night and as such had removed most of his uniform but still slept in the same pair of pants he had worn yesterday. A quick realization of the situation and the adrenaline his body was still pumping from his dream sent a surge of awakening through him. A brief struggle to get out of the unfamiliar styled bed and Nyton had scrambled to get the other half of his uniform on. Not pausing to shave or get himself more ready he grabbed his everyday belongings and ran out the door.

"Miharu, quick guide to the bridge please. I'm still not that fully awake." he said quickly.

 

[I'm Only Dancing]

Mizuho's night had been sleepless and uncomfortable. She had lain, curled beneath the sheets, head braced lightly in the nook of her arms, for many hours - staring through teary eyes at the wall across her. Rikichi. Rikichi, Rikichi... she had not wanted to remember Rikichi. Of all the dead she had left, he hurt perhaps the worst.

He had been stern, often taciturn, unflinchingly competent, hard-nosed and cynical. She had been flighty, rarely commanding of her own vessel, and really only present on the bridge when combat demanded. She had loved him, in secret, though he... he had seen her as a commander, and as a soldier. Never as a woman. And even less as a lover.

And now he was dead, by Mizuho's own hand. And somehow... somehow Nyton had caught wind of him. Had he been digging into her history? The alarm jolted her alert quite suddenly, and she rose, slid her legs off the cot, stood a moment at the doorway.

"...I'll have to ask Kotori... to keep her crew from pressing."

She took to the hallway then, pacing herself slowly, so as to avoid losing herself in Miharu's labyrinth. No help was asked of the computer, and none, it turned out, was needed, as a somewhat toussled Mizuho, still in the white mandarin dress (now somewhat stained with the marinade of the tuna), found her way in submissive manner.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari tossed in her sleep again. She was thinking -- dreaming, reliving, what have you -- the encounter with Chigusa. It had been brief, but relatively unproductive.

Something told Yukari the girl just wasn't getting it. That was fine. She would understand, eventually. Youth. She was sure she was never that young, relatively speaking.

"Tactical alert. All hands please report to your stations."

One eye slowly creeped open, then the other. Yukari's hair had thankfully been tossed in a ponytail before going to bed. After all, the conversation with Chigusa had wiped out any possibility of thinking about Tom.

" ... Tactical alert?!" Yukari threw herself up from the bed. "Shimatta!" Scrambling out of the pit that was her bed, she faced her closet and let out a brief groan. Her skirt uniform would take too long to put on; she snapped up a grey-paneled stretchsuit uniform and struggled with it for a minute or so. I hate this thing. Why are we going to tactical alert? Where are my boots? There ... this is not a general quarters alert, so what is the issue? Yukari set her guns on her belt, cocked and decocked her GSP, went to her door, went back to get her gloves, then flew out the door.

"Miharu-san, which bridge?"

"The actual bridge, on the Hoshi."

"Thank you, Miharu!" Yukari flew down the hall, her legs not fully coordinated after having her sleep interrupted. Banking right and then forward again, she gently fell down the main passageway and to the main deck. She let her eyes record the details of the Hoshi she had not seen yet, and touched down in front of the door to the bridge.

The door slid open before her.

 

[Fred]

Miharu quickly showed Nyton a display of the ship's main deck. "From the main passageway, head to the stern of the main deck, through the connection passage. Turn either right or left once you come to a Y-intersection. The next door on the inner side of the ship to either side would be the bridge."

<center>* * *</center>

When Mizuho entered the bridge, she found Kotori - long black hair slightly mussed from sleep and wearing a yukata - sitting on the central command seat of the ship's bridge.

"Yukisato-san, you can take a seat back there." The Taii pointed back to the long cushioned bench on the rear bulkhead of the chamber. The bench rested just below a large wall monitor showing a detailed schematic of the Miharu itself.

Once Yukari made her entry, Kotori quickly pointed below her seat. "Chui, you will take place at the navigation/communication station down in front of me."

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

"Tactical alert. All hands please report to your stations."

Miyoko sat up, startled. Klaxons sounding throughout the ship... tactical... wha? Her mind sleepily mulled over the meaning of it all for a few seconds, before the realization hit her. Hell. Something is wrong.

Jolted to activity by an adrenaline rush, she rolled out of bed and quickly pulled on her uniform and belt, sitting her pistol in its holster. Then, dressing complete, she opened her door, called up a ship map from the MEGAMI, and took off for the bridge at a light sprint. Travelling down the unfamiliar series of corridors, she blearily mused, I'm so glad I managed to get into bed at a decent hour last night...

The door was still open from Yukari's entrance when she arrived, and she quickly ducked inside before it could close. She bent down in a bow to Kotori, brushing a few unkempt strands of hair out of her face as she did so- the state of her hair made it obvious that she hadn't exactly stuck around to take brush it before reporting for duty. "I haven't had a chance to get accustomed to the operations console, but I'll do my best if you still want me to run it now."

 

[Nyton]

Nyton wordlessly began to run towards the bridge. By the time he arrived he was already behind Miyoko. His face was unshaven, his hair was still mussed from sleep, but his eyes were aware and he tried to ignore his unkempt appearance. "Reporting for duty, Taii. Which station is mine?"

 

[Fred]

Kotori waved away Miyoko's amendment about being unfamiliar with her console. "We're all jumpstarting today, and not by choice. We'll just have to make do." The Taii took a breath and then continued: "Saito-Hei over Suzuka-Chui's right at the science-logistic station. Juni, you take the tactical console over the exec's left."

Kotori was about to appraise them of what she had found out thus far, but Mara peeked in the bridge. "Taii, the main capacitors aren't charging up as fast as they ought to be!"

The Miharu's commander twisted around to glare at the sprite. "Don't tell that to me! For inform our techs - that's theirs to handle."

Mara nodded quickly and retreated from the bridge.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari took her seat after a quick bow. The seat was a little on the cushy side, but she would adjust. The controls in front of her were digital; she briefly missed the feel of a flight stick in her hands, but she could fly this way well enough. She could feel the SPINE interface tingling her senses as she sat back into the chair some.

Her fingers danced across the controls as she brought herself up to speed. The communicator on her belt dug in her side a little, but she'd adjust to that too. The monitors nearest to her flared to life. Eh? Miharu gave her the information she needed to make sense of the alert -- the 5th Expeditionary had just mobilized and dispatched two warship groups. There was also a mark more than a light year away from Taiie that the Miharu had picked up on.

Yukari frowned, Miharu being kind enough to form a small earpiece around her ear. The chatter around the 5th was ... dead. Silence abounded on most of the channels, which could have meant anything, except for some shouting from the surface.

"Miharu, monitor civilian radio channel 462.125." The communication came alive, and Yukari became privy to a conversation between a very angry sounding woman and a much calmer one.

" -- the only military advisor currently on the surface. Taiie's SDF is in a state of panic, and you expect them to sit tight without being informed?"

"I cannot release any information, Advisor. Fleet orders."

"I'm not a damn kitten wet behind the ears. I was a Shôshô of the 5th, I commanded the very vessel you're on now! Put Yomitomo on, now."

"I cannot, Advisor."

"You little bi -- " Yukari cut her audio of the transmission, though the Miharu continued to monitor it silently. She filed the little bit of information she had away and focused on preparing the ship to leave port.

 

[Strangelove]

Leutre groaned as he fought down the urge to go back to sleep. He knew that a few extra minutes of rest wouldn't be worth the thrashing he would receive later. Finally forcing himself to sit up, he grouchily swung his feet over the side of the bed. 'For the Lady's sake, I could of sworn there was supposed to be a power armor simulation today. Did she change it to a ship wide drill instead?' He mentally sighed. 'That figures. But I wish she'd at least wait until after breakfast.'

Leutre drowsily pulled on his uniform and practically stumbled into the hall. Slipping on one of his boots he said, "Uhh, MEGUMI, if we're having a ship wide drill instead of a power armor sim, does this mean I'm supposed to report to the sub deck? Or do I still need to head over to the simulator?" He hopped slightly on one foot as he struggled with his other boot.

 

[Abwehran Commander]

Awakened by the call to stations, Masako was slow on the uptake as she pulled her head out of the heaven she had created out of four rather large down pillows and satin sheets. But the messages slowly sunk into her head as she rolled off her bed and quickly pulled her yukata over her simple boxers and black tank top. Bare feet padding against the floor, she pulled her gunbelt of the post of her bed and dashed out of her room while putting it on.

"Miharu-san, please inform Dige-Hei to meet me at the Power Armor Bays. Then inform Amagasaki-Hei to ready a Mindy II and a Daisy with the Space Combat Module on it," the warrant officer asked as she kept her pace towards the nearest armor bay.

"And please explain to me what's happening to require us at Tactical Alert," she asked as an after thought.

 

[Fred]

"I'm MEGAMI, not MEGUMI," The Miharu shot back to Leutre, "and this isn't a drill. Get to the subdeck as soon as possible. Mara has things for you to do."

<center>* * *</center>

"Kurohoshi-Juni, I recommend you head down to help direct efforts in the subdeck instead. There doesn't seem to be any immediate need for power armor. I will however, notify Dige-Hei and Sigurd and have them get the power armors ready." The computer paused a moment. "As for the reason... I think Ketsurui-Taii had a hunch. I'll give you details once I know them myself."

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Miyoko took a seat at the ship operations console as ordered, briefly tapping through several sub-screens to get an idea of exactly what the station could handle. There were plenty of options that she didn't have the vaguest clues about, but the basics were clear enough to anybody accustomed to working with computers.

After another minute or two of acclimatizing herself to the system, she pulled up holowindows displaying the sensor data, life support interace, and power distribution interface. Upon briefly confirming that the latter two windows reported no system malfunctions, she turned back to the sensor data. "Is there anything in particular I should be looking for?"

 

[Strangelove]

"Yeah, right, Megama, got it. Now did you just say this isn't a drill...? Oh hells, I'd better get a move on then!" Leutre, having finally pulled his other boot on, began to make his way through the ship as a quick jog. He reached the main passage after a few moments, and flung himself downwards without hesitation.

As he finally reached the sub deck at the end of the passage, he took a quick glance around main engineering. He strained to hear over the machinery for a moment and then sighed in relief. 'I don't hear anything sizzling, exploding, or cracking. I guess I made it in time.'

Clearing his throat he called out, "Oh Mara my dear, where are you? I don't smell anything burning... Everything alright down here?"

 

[Fred]

"I noticed a building point of inter-dimensional fatigue about 1.4 light years away from Taiie's star." Kotori nodded down to Miyoko. "What do you make of it?"

<center>* * *</center>

"Veressis-Hei!' Mara dashed out of the door on the Nepleslian's left. "The port-side capacitor's been charging up, but the rate is extremely slow and totally bogus seeing how much power the Miharu should have at her disposal right now."

Leutre hadn't had the chance to really look at the equipment, but he was fairly familiar with the technology the ship used, at least. The Miharu had higher energy demands than it's generators could support, so, it relied on a large store of rechargeable batteries - the capacitor banks - to furnish the stored power for taxing situations such as combat so the ship could work at peak capacity.

If one of the capacitors was not taking charge, it effectively gutted a third of the ship's offensive power. This wasn't especially good.

 

[Nyton]

Nyton bowed quickly and took his space next to Yukari. As he familiarized himself with the functions of his station he overheard Kotori's query to Miyoko as well as the concerns regarding the ship's power output. Since no mention of any hostiles had been made yet he knew they weren't in combat. For the timebeing. Hell of a way to wake up. Guess our plans for today are more than shot. he mused.

 

[Abwehran Commander]

Masako nearly tripped as she halted and twisted her body to head towards the subdeck. "I'm on it, Megami-san," the young neko replied as she rounded a corner and went down the zero-g passage to the subdeck. Dashing out of the passage, she entered engineering to see Leutre standing right in front of her and Mara in Engineering proper, explaining the problem.

"Thank you, Mara," she replied suddenly as she stepped up beside Leutre. "If you can handle that Veressis-Hei, I'll monitor the ships systems and be ready for any more emergencies," she stated as she headed towards a nearby console to bring up a monitoring display. She frowned slightly, not at anything dealing with the ships functions...though the capacitor problem was serious. No, it was because she was setting a bad example coming to engineering in just a yukata over boxers and a tank top while the young technician was in his uniform. Easy to say, the young warrant officer was a bit embarassed.

 

[Strangelove]

"Erm, right." Leutre raised an eyebrow at Masako's apparel. But now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. "Mas, I want you to take a look at the starboard capacitor as soon as possible. If the problem turns out to be a design flaw rather than damaged equipment there's a good chance they made the same mistake twice, so be prepared to jump on it if that's the case."

Making his way into the port capacitor chamber, he glanced around until his gaze landed on a monitoring console. "Mara!" He glanced over his shoulder and called out. "If you're free give me a hand. A bad capacitor usually means a damaged connection, so start looking for any loose or damaged cables. I'll do a quick once over of the capacitor itself, just in case it's damaged goods."

Leutre began to mutter to himself as he quickly worked at the console. "Abyss take you, Nyton, you fucking gobshite. If it weren't for your domineering I would have had time to double check the construction work like I had planned. I fucking knew this would happen!" He slammed a fist down on the console. "Taking completely untested prototypes on special assignments, what were they thinking? No wonder they're losing this bloody awful war."

 

[Fred]

Mara skipped out of the room with a "Hai!" but quickly came back in time to see Leutre take out his frustrations on the console. She remained incredulously silent for a moment before raising her voice over the din of the machinery. "Anou sa, Kurohoshi-Hei, Veressis-san... shouldn't we put on environmental suits before getting to work? Since we're playing with electricity and might have a hull breach due to combat damage; it might be better to play it safe."

Mara was no great mechanic, but safety precautions and common sense were useful everywhere.

 

[Rabbit Eclair]

Miyoko frowned, adjusting the sensors to a finer resolution and focusing them on the distant disturbance. The fatigue itself was easy enough to find, but what did it mean? Quickly accessing the IES, she ran several queries through the database. "There's an object out there, too- about 7.5 cubic kilometers. The inter-dimensional fatigue looks like a hyperspace fold, but since it's nearly coterminous with the object," she opened up another window, enumerating the very few other possibilities and reading them over briefly, "it seems more likely that it's more likely a directed fold cannon- one an order of magnitude larger than anything common on record. And judging from its position relative to the mass," she pulled up another window, plotting a picture of immediate space, with a line extending from the center of mass of the object through the disturbance, "if it is a weapon, it's pointed at Taiie IV." She briefly faltered, palling slightly as the weight of the revelation sunk into her mind. If it is a weapon, it's just about pointed right at us...

It was several seconds before she composed herself enough to continue, doing her best to sound calm. "The object itself is probably a ship of some sort, judging from the odd mass measurements... but it doesn't fit the profile of any ship types in the registry. It's larger than any of them..."

She trailed off, kneading her temples- this much thinking within ten minutes of waking up should be formally classified as cruel and unusual treatment- then continued tentatively. "Given that the fold is dozens of times more powerful than any recorded fold weapon, there's a good chance that it's being generated by the same class of vessel responsible for one of the largest suspected applications of directed fold technology- the planetoid that was dropped on Lor. And as the vessel is also larger than any on record, it can also be conjectured that this is the new SMX giant battleship you mentioned in the briefing. Or it might be both."

She took a deep breath, relaxing for a second before she continued refining her sensor sweeps. "Forgive me, but succinctness isn't my strong point."