RP: YSS Miharu [restart point] Mission 2, Day 1

Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Asher's bottom met his seat with aggravated force. He leaned back and tried to relax, but he seemed to remain tense in his relaxed position. All the while, he cursed silently under his breath. When he saw Yoroko sit down near-by, however, he seemed to loosen up.

He scooted over to her, taking the seat right next to her. The Hei jabbed her lightly on the arm.

"So, how'd ya do, newbie?" Asher sent to her, a bit of agitation still sensible in his message.

Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Nyton quickly sat down and crossed his arms. Silently he looked about without moving his head or eyes. A neutral expression was on his face as he waited for the debrief to begin. Already he was studying everyone else's agitated or curious expressions.

So far no one who had entered with him had any sense of knowing what had happened. On a curious note was the bruise on Nimura's face. Of those in the sim she was the only one who bore any notion of being 'out of place.'

Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Sanjuro immediately slid into the nearest seat as Kotori gave the order, assuming his usual straight-as-a-board posture. Despite being in utter (and totally oblivious to anyone else but himself) joy over not getting murdered top to bottom in the simulation, Sanjuro began to note more and more of his peers giving strange looks to each other, and remaining fairly quiet. It didn't take a doctorate to notice that something was amiss. The medical officer sat quietly and waited for Kotori to continue.

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After bowing to Kotori, Tom took his seat at the table. Yukari's words had concerned him and he wanted to see what the issue at hand was.

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Yukari took her seat next to Tom after a quick bow to Kotori. The bruise on Nimura's cheek -- Yukari remembered bruises like that from another lifetime, and they did not come from falling down or being hit with something inanimate.

What had the sprite done?

Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Kotori looked over the assembled. "I suppose many of you are wondering just what the deal is with a simulation cut short like this. Let me assure you that the way things were going, you were losing: I had eight Black Mindy whom were going around mostly unopposed, some having even gone in the starboard portion of the subdeck to disable the hardware there. Even as you fought against the eight other armors, the rest was insuring that the Miharu would not be able to survive its battle against the Meng Po. It was working."

As Kotori spoke, Nimura's black-purplish bruise began to lighten as her hemosynthetic healing took charge of the injury. Nimura herself remained expressionless and simply looked to the Taisa.

"The Meng Po was a scoutship," Kotori said. "If Miharu could have had the chance to turn the brunt of her weaponry the scoutship's way for one good volley, we'd have made mincemeat out of it. The Meng Po's power armor complement and even their NIWS were indeed used aggressively, but it's not because they are bad guys that they don't want to win and that they wouldn't take measures to do their damned best to kill you - in fact, they couldn't afford to give us any chance because the moment we managed to gain control of the situation was the moment we'd likely turn the tide around."

Kotori shook her head. "The Meng Po was also but a small sample of a situation we might face: it could have had been a Sakura-class light gunship instead, with 36 Black Mindy. In fact, it could have had been multiple vessels, all striking by surprise. It did not have to be fair: the less it was fair for us, the less of their people died."

"I view it as important that you see firsthand how ruthless our enemies will be, that you see how thorough they will be in trying to kill us if they have the chance. This time around, we were only about to lose Kurohoshi-Juni and half the Miharu's power storage capacity before the whole situation was saved from going further downhill thanks to one of you cheating: Nimura left the simulation, disabled the bridge's forcefield system and then came to the bridge to threaten me with a gun with orders for me to surrender the Meng Po, or die."

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Ashitaka-Heisho winced slightly as their performance was weighed, measured and found wanting by the Ketsurui-Taisa. Sanjuro knew he wasn't exactly the highest-marked individual in the simulation...in fact, if the simulation had gone on for a few more minutes, he was sure he would've been quite dead. Still, he didn't understand why Kotori wouldn't let them stew and receive their full loss until the Taisa pointed out Nimura's unexpected maneuver.

Sanjuro shot a stolid glance at Nimura as Kotori revealed the true outcome of the simulation. He was confused slightly, as well as concerned; he had been taught that even arguing with a superior officer could lead to heavy punishments...and pointing a gun? What was the sprite attempting to achieve, other than a court martial? If this were a real battle, Nimura couldn't simply step out of her armor, enter the enemy bridge and accomplish the same goal...

Sanjuro nearly made a motion to speak, but instead stopped and remained quiet. It wasn't his place to reprimand or console the sprite.

Re: [restart point] Mission 2

As Yoroko listened to the debriefing she replied to Asher's message. "Not as well as I would have like, what's wrong?" she asked, noting the agitation in Asher's thoughts. As Yoroko continued to sit through the debriefing she took a double take when she heard what Nimura had done. What!?! Yoroko thought to herself, looking at Nimura out of the corner of her eye, I guess that explains the bruise...

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Miyoko stole a glance at the accused sprite, though she was certain that not everybody would be so subtle. She'd never been too good at playing the conspiracy-spotting game, but it didn't take a master intelligence officer to see that something was amiss. Well, either that, or Nimura's completely flipped. Maybe Ichigo was getting her ass kicked or something. Neither one of those were very comforting explanations for a sprite drawing a gun on her commanding officer, though, and Miyoko wasn't exactly relieved. Only the fact that Kotori and Nimura didn't seem to be trying to kill each other at the moment kept her from lapsing into abject panic.

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"Juss' a lil' pissed our fun was cut a lil' short." Asher answered Yoroko in the same aggravated tone. The Hei stood for a moment, raising his hand slightly, a nodding his head lowly to the Taisa.

"If I may have the oppurtunity, Taisa. I'd like to say, that some if not most of us, already acknowledge most the points you have addressed." Asher spoke as he forced a sincere tone over his frustration which idled in the background of his words.

"Now, if I may..." The Hei stopped a moment, seemingly collecting his next sentence, "Say... we were losing, but If some of us had been given time to actually kill something, I believe we could've turned the tide. With this, I ask, have the motives behind this disruption been discoverd." He stood for a moment, then quickly added, "Other than the cheap sense to cheat the simulation."

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"Oh, the motive was rather clear," Kotori answered Asher. "Winning at any cost."

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Nyton listened to the run down of the situation and made little reaction. It was as he expected. They were at a severe disadvantage and steadily losing. Nothing surprising with that bit of news.

Then came Nimura's maneuver and Nyton could not help but burst out into laughter. Regardless of the stares he undoubtedly received or even the disapproving glance Kotori would give him he could not help it. It was just so brilliant. After finally getting a hold of himself Nyton further extolled this brilliance.

"Pardon my indiscretion, Taisa, but that was an ingenious move. So unexpected and outside of the box. True while this was supposed to be a Power Armor sim I don't believe it had ever been stated that leaving the sim to attack the sim runner was an illegal move." Nyton said. As an afterthought he then added. "Well, except the part where she pointed a weapon at a superior officer but in essence we were on the 'opposing' team. How else would she convince an opponent to surrender? The same drive to win that Nimura showed is exactly what we all must have." Nyton then gave Nimura a slight nod of approval before he gave Kotori his full attention.

"Kotori-sama, I would say this sim was at least a partial success. We trained together and saw an example of just what kind of enemy we face." Nyton said before he folded his hands together.

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Yukari said nothing. She wanted to listen to the others.

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Tom cleared his throat before speaking.

"I partially agree with Claymere-Shoi's assessment of Nimura, however, I feel that this teaches us a rather important lesson regarding the current security level of our ship. Given the extremely advanced nature of our enemy's technology, it could have been an enemy in Nimura's place, having slipped through our security protocols. I know this may seem rather ridiculous, but given the nature of our mission, not outside the realm of possibility.

What I mean is that we had all our critical staff, aside from the Taisa, preoccupied with the simulation. This is a perfect situation for a potential saboteur to operate. Although I do not approve of threatening lethal force on a superior officer, I also feel that Nimura's actions shed some light on the ruthlessness we may need to expect of our enemies."

After another bow to the Taisa, he sat down again.

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Kai merely gaped. That thought would have never crossed his mind to leave the sim like that. In one way he was amazed at the sprite's ingenuity, in another, he was angry at her for cutting their simulation short. He full-heartedly agreed with what Asher had said, that, given time, they could have won.

Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Winning at any cost.

Of all the things that Serizawa would take away from the simulation, that lesson would be the most memorable. It seemed that the more the scientist served in the military, the more apparent that the universe thrived on a single, unifying law. The most ruthless force would be the one that survived. It was a truth that he could see even in scientific studies. Scientists less bound by ethics and morality would naturally make more progress, regardless of intelligence.

Leaning back into his chair, Serizawa had nothing to add about the end-result of the exercise. He had no objection with what the sprite had done and he assumed if the Taisa had any objections, Nimura would not have escaped with only a bruise. The sprite would've been eliminated and any backups of her would be deleted from MEGAMI.

As he sat there, the red-headed Yamataian started to feel fatigue start to catch up with him. He glanced over at Sora for a moment just to see how she was doing. There was a great deal of work he wanted to take care of and pondered just how much access he would have to medbay while working under two other doctors.

Re: [restart point] Mission 2

"We could devise many ways to make counter-measures, but even so, the truth really is that no battle is ever won defensively." Kotori nodded. "I punished Nimura for raising a weapon against me, but I will go no farther than that: like Suzuka-Shosa in the Funky City simulation, like Suzuka-Shosa did when she disabled the Meng Po's NIWS; Nimura did not settle with the choices I left for you; she refused to submit to appearances and took the initiative to create new choices. Choices which would allow you to win despite the way the battle was ongoing."

"It may be cheating and cheap, as Westwood-Hei expressed," the Taisa admitted, her eyes making contact with Asher's for a moment. "We are soldiers, our business is killing, not fighting on terms preferable to our opponents. The activity of depriving our antagonists of their lives is not a glorious thing; in is a chore and an unpleasant one at that, but one we must perform if we are to keep their hands clean of our blood, or that of those we care for. Our enemies have supported the Mishhuvurthyar into killing millions already - they certainly have forfeited any rights they had for clemency. Our enemy currently are twenty-five ships and even so, we have to win."

"This said, it is why we must ruthlessly strive to be on the offensive, to make sure that it is their people being attacked, their people dying... and not ours. As the attackers, we make the rules of engagement, not them." Kotori continued, "Kill an officer in her sleep, and it is one whom will never give orders. Kill a crewman while he is eating, and that is one crewman whom won't be able to cry out in alarm. Kill an infantry pilot while she is in the decon room changing, and that is one less power armor you need to worry about firing upon you or your friends."

Kotori looked over to Tom a moment and them swept her eyes across those present. "Yes, we might as well call ourselves assassins. Many of you I suspect do not like the thought. Many of you would prefer spending your time doing nobler things, or not fighting at all - but you are here and you are my crew... and that means that I expect the very best out of you. Not the very best as in performing perfectly, but rather in being vigilant enough to never allow for any chance of failing - I've too often seen failure as self-inflicted. The opportunities to win are there, but we must be prepared to be able to seize them."

"This is why we must insure that we have no weak links amongst us - the armor simulation may have been tedious to those whom never wanted to wrap their professions around that, but knowing how to defend yourselves and hold to hold your own means that you might be able, when circumstances put you to the test, to a least survive and hopefully be able to helpfully support those whom are better combattants."

"They say that victory never comes without cost, but I refuse to sacrifice anything I do not have to so that we may attain it," Kotori said between her teeth as she flung back a dark lock of hair which had wandered in front of her shoulder. "If the words of Emperor Uesu hold true and that us yamataians have grown to become our own gods, then I won't settle for being anything less than the goddess of victory. I will make it happen, but I nonetheless depend upon you to deserve victory in the first place. Victory is much preferable to your blood being on my hands."

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"Taisa."

Yukari kept her face squarely pointed at the table; she did not want to appear to be so directly challenging her commanding officer. Her mind remained full of emotion, but she spoke as Sigurd would, an NIWS, speaking as if all were merely fact, unassailable from any angle.

"You are incorrect. Assassins kill for money, at the beck and call of whomever affords their services. We do not. ... We no longer are killing malformed sisters-in-arms, cousins who would rather us die than ignore them any longer. We are no longer fighting a war. We are killing murderers. We are killing those who have murdered our kind, and our makers, since long before I was born."

Her hands clenched in her lap, but the movement was contained there. "To consider ourselves assassins is to cheapen the only thing we have that our opponent does not: morality. If that is an impediment to our success, then we must re-examine our purpose in bringing justice to our enemies."

Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Asher groaned heavily as the different views of the situation were put up. Despite them being relatively true and optomistic of the outcome, he was not satisfied. The fact that they were accepting this frustrated him greatly. Yukari started to make some sense, but that didn't stop the Hei from slamming his fist angrily on the table.

"Sazuka-Shosa's got a point, but thass' not the only thing! What we need ta' see here, is that someone cheated 'reality'! You can't just jump tha' fuck out' ya body and hold a gun ta' gods head and say, 'Stop now.' No, what I see this is, is a cheap fuckin' fluke!" The Hei growled angrily.

"It may have been a 'good idea', but you can't do that in a fuckin' real-live situation! Thass' like settin' tha' world on easy mode, and tra-la-la dancin' around tha' mission! I agree, we had deep-shit on us, but that don't allow us ta' walk around tha' reality of it. We didn't win a mission or a scenario, we only won a sim."

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Kotori would have replied to Yukari, but Asher immediately jumped into the fray. The pounding fist made Hinoto, whom was sitting at the same table, yelp in alarm.

"The reality, Westwood-Hei, is that Nimura acted to insure that her side would win and my side would lose. She went to an extreme, did everything to strip my chances of working up a counter and beat me," Kotori asserted. "The argument is not about the credibility of the move as to real-life situations, but rather the spirit of it."

"You wish to know what being ruthless is? I'll give you a scenario you people had the power to do:" Kotori scowled. "Armors are assigned, technician takes advantage of the rapid-reloading function of the Mindy IIs and has them all sport the captured Black Mindy double-charge teleporter and the missile packs of the Death Blossom configuration - the rest are Daisies, really."

"Miharu enjoys being an unknown ship design to Black Spiral, so, it is difficult for them to just teleport in the ship and attack weak areas - they are only aware of volumes or the lack of it with their RDD scanners. This means that their first intrusions are slower as they probe for ideal target areas. You use the Daisies to spread out around the ship to search and engage the enemy units - and once you make contact, you harass them defensively and try to keep them busy and engaged against you while trying to incur as little losses as possible."

"Meanwhile, all Mindy IIs teleport inside the Meng Po, whom is depleted of power armors at that point, and attack vital systems just like they were trying to. We have an advantage: we know the layout of a Nozomi scoutship and the majority of the other vessels the Daughters of Eve use, even. With the missile payloads of each Mindy II, the scoutship should incur crippling damage at key areas which would make it unable to continue confronting the Miharu."

"At that point, the Black Spiral forces involved are tied between continuing their assault, or returning to defend their ship. Black Spiral vessels had as important objective to avoid capture at all cost, so, defending the mothership is much more a priority than capturing our own. The Wing Leader of the enemy team - under the pressure of suddenly being in command, would have little choice but to try and defend the mothership, some - perhaps many if not all - of the Black Mindy use thier second charge to teleport back to fight the Miharu's Mindy IIs, whom are more than capable of holding their own against the Black Mindy as long as they use aetheric weapons."

"Our Mindy armors teleport out to focus on a lingering threat, such as the NIWS, and pool their effort to destroy it. Meanwhile, the Miharu turns her weapons on the Meng Po and destroys it. All enemy power armors inside have expended their ability to teleport and thus cannot escape. They are destroyed along with their ship."

"By that point, the battle is more or less already won. With the NIWS disposed of either from being destroyed along with the scoutship or by being killed by the concerned effort of our powered infantry, all armors then proceed to eliminate all remaining enemies so to minimize the damage done to the Miharu. A win should follow quickly after that."

The Taisa narrowed her eyes. "That is taking the choice out of the enemy's hands - the example Nimura set for you. You were all people whom were more or less waiting to be victims of big bad Taisa Kotori's power armor simulation and not people whom were trying to snatch victory out of my grasp... just how many of you had already given up before the simulation even started?" Kotori snorted. "We cannot move forward if we merely survive fights; we will prevail only if our victories are resounding ones. Victories implying little sacrifices on our side are the only ones worth having, the only ones which can insure the success of our mission."

"Anything less will not stop our enemy because our opponents are driven by that sort of determination as well," Kotori shook her head. "I do not agree with Suzuka-Shosa: we hold no moral superiority over our opponents anymore - this is not just a black-and-white clash between good and evil. This is a battle between two sides whom both do not have the luxury of the word 'justice' any longer. We have different perspectives and motives, and it would be foolish to believe that Eve's followers are misguided, stupid and foolish because they obviously believe in what they are doing... however nefarious their scheme might seem to us. Death is the ultimate way to control other people when all other means to change them have failed and that is what our opponents are subjecting us to, so, we owe it to ourselves to defend what we believe we must stand for, what we care for and what we wish to call home - and to do so in the best manner possible which would serve out own interests."