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

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Re: [restart point] Mission 2

By this time Yoroko had calmed down, she sat there and listened to Kotori explain Mellison's role in the SMX. "Kotori-Taisa, I apologize for changing the subject when you said we are going after the Black Spiral, what did you mean? Haven't they joined us again?" Yoroko asked.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Kotori answered Asher first. "Well, it could be that we simply never identified the devices as such if it was technology unknown to us... or they were covered - like the SMX flagships are - with stealth plating. We do the same with our ships, after all."

The Taisa then turned to Yoroko. "Black Spiral were our opponents when I gave my first mission briefing. The situation changed since Black Spiral returned to us, but Eve still has people loyal to her whom will continue on with their plans regardless of any setbacks. The 'Daughters of Eve' are the ones we now intend to oppose."
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Serizawa looked down into his lap and scratched his forehead with the tip of one of his index fingers. Absorbing the information about Melisson and the development of Mishhuvurthyar society and technology, he tried digest everything as best as he could. The information helped him put together even more theories but theories were just that, theories. Without hard data, his attempts to solve the mysteries that surrounded Mishhu psionics would go nowhere.

As the briefing carried on, Serizawa was seriously considering changing the focus of his studies from aether dynamics to psionics. All that was being discussed during the briefing was a strong argument for that case not to mention that there were plenty of others with far more experience already studying aether in and out. There wasn't much room left for him in that field of study.

As the briefing turned back toward Black Spiral again, Serizawa began to smile a little to himself. All he needed was some time, energy and test subjects to begin his work.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Nyton's earlier shock had receded to study as he listened to the origins of the Mishhu and the data from Black Spiral regarding Melisson. These were truly facinating new pieces of data that he was absorbing. A morbid thought came to his mind as to just how valuable the memory chip in his brain would be on the black market considering the nature of classified information he was now in possession of. Not that he would be able to enjoy any of the wealth such a piece would fetch.

Those damned fool scientists at PNUgen. They just kept trying to make a better weapon and all they did was make something that would try to wipe us out. It would seem we never learn our lesson. Mankind now faces a new threat of extinction and again it is one that we crafted with our own hands. Still, the same could be said of the Mishhu. In their endeavors to free themselves from their masters they will only end up under an even tighter chain of control. They should have studied human history a little more closely. Freedom fighters often ended up making their own tyrants. Nyton thought as he pursued one venue of analysis.

The whole mention of Melisson's studied biology made sense however. A slight chill ran past Nyton's leg as he remembered the insects in the tunnel that the delegation from the Sakura had travelled in on the way to meet Melisson. Perhaps she was watching us even then on the way to meet her. Very unnerving. Again just what are her motives? She doesn't seem to go for wanton destruction. Melisson is controlling the Mishhu to push her goal of destroying us. Damn it all, I don't have enough information and quite frankly I don't think it is going to do us any good to pursue this anyway. This is just like the first briefing where we were all just shooting blindly into the dark with ideas. I was particularly guilty of that myself. he thought as he tried to think everything through.

Nyton could not help but agree with Kotori that not knowing what their psionic defenses were was a bad thing. They did not know themselves nor did they know their enemy. Tactically speaking this was a sure way of being defeated. He also noticed that she was playing with her hair again.

It was then that an idea hit him. If Eve and Melisson were working together there must have been some means that Eve had at keeping the field level. Otherwise what would have stopped Melisson from taking control of Eve? It is possible Eve could be strong enough psionically to resist. Perhaps Amaya had a hand in that. After all Amaya was another experiment in psionics. Who knows how powerful she could be now. I suppose I should wait until Kotori announces our mission objectives before I start going off on some crazy theories again. But it bears investigating what Eve had to keep something that powerful from overwhelming her. Perhaps the way to defeat Melisson is to deal with Eve first. Nyton thought as the inspiration flowed through his mind. With that his eyes steeled with wary determination. He may be on to something or he may be off. Now he could not wait to hear the rest of the briefing. Once again the focus needed to be Eve.

Nyton had studied everyone's faces and reactions. Most had been visibly startled by the revelation. Some held it in check. Nyton puzzled over how Kotori was handling this information. Their discussion after the first briefing had been interesting, along with her motivation to continue fighting. Had things changed since then? Or was she still on the same track as before? He would have to look for the chance of talking to her later and discussing the strategy of pursuing Eve. For now it was time for his own question.

"Kotori-sama, do we have any idea as to just what the size of Eve's forces are? Any estimation as to how many?" Nyton asked.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Yukari was trained as an intelligence officer ... but Nyton, she knew, was Kotori's analyst. That was good with her; the loops and complications of Mishhuvurthyar, Black Spiral and the Dark Ones' history were something a person should take pleasure in unknoting.

With the briefing imagery and details left to Miharu, Yukari had one larger focus -- the defenses of the ship and how they protected the crew.

Not knowing how something worked was not just unsatisfactory. It was criminal. For a brief moment anger flashed through her, aimed squarely at Kotori's golden eyes. Why had she not asked? Why had she not questioned? She was a Taisa; surely that gave her the ability to exert some pressure as to knowing what the contents of her own ship were.

But this was SAINT. The organization that had plotted, and nearly completed, the death of a Taisho. Rank meant little. Still, Kotori's carefree attitude seemed misplaced.

Defense was critical for the Miharu. A goal of removing the head of an organization required one's back to be well covered, and as the crew had but one vessel (technically two), it had to rely on itself. Psionic defense, Yukari knew nothing of it.

Kotori knew of offense, with her NH-22M body. But Kotori was specific enough -- they would not have to worry about the psionic powers of Melisson. Those powers sounded similar, in a way, to the powers of the mad KAMI unit Ichiro that she had been influenced by onboard Taiie no Iori. That had ended effectively ended with an injury, not some protective technology. And there was no other piece of information that came to mind as to what could resist a psionic attack.

Psionic ... attack. Which was, unlike the standard Mishhuvurthyar "psionic shriek," involved active harm. Melisson's was not that; it was influencing a person's mind.

Depending on the power of the psion, that could involve brute force, wrenching the mind of an individual to think the same as the psion, or so Yukari thought.. That was not Melisson's way. She would be more subtle. Kotori's dealings with her had proved that -- Melisson was not above using absolute power, but it was not what she preferred.

She would nudge. Gently guide. An occasional push. Perhaps not use the power forcefully at all.

To be effective in that, it meant knowing what the subject was thinking. It meant reading minds.

" ... "

People are "equipment" to SAINT. Yukari looked to Miyoko. And we have "equipment" with that power.

Her attention returned to the briefing. She would have to talk to Miyoko after all was laid out for them.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Kotori chuckled. "All these questions lead for this briefing to be much more oriented toward the Mishhuvurthyar and Melisson. I will answer you, Shoi - but do you mind if I do it while I brief you all on our next mission?"
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Nyton gave a slight grin and nodded. "Not at all, Kotori-sama. Whenever you are ready to move on or if everyone's questions have been answered." he replied simply. He did note that this briefing had shifted away from their focus of Eve in a rather interesting manner. All in due time.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

"Well then, let us address it. I am sure there will still be plenty of questions in store afterwards." Kotori said and then thumbed to the holographic display, which showed the great southern nebula.

"Before the Battle of Taiie," Kotori began, "We had observed that Black Spiral's activities frequently seemed to come up in the vicinity of Lor or within this nebula. We had no clue of the existence of Amaya's Gate, but it does not change that the area saw a lot of unexplained focus."

"While Miharu was stranded in spacedock to be repaired and refitted after the first set of battles were experienced at Taiie and Tsuyosa, SAINT sent some of their ships to keep an eye on the region. Aside from the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet assisting the Lorath to evacuate to the Yugumo star cluster and a brief skirmish against a squadron of Mishhuvurthyar warships, nothing really stood out as being what we were looking for... until just a couple of days ago."

"A SAINT Yui-5 scout, the YSS Sekkou, witnessed a raid done by elements featuring a mix of old-and-new KFY-built vessels, along with a couple of models from Geshrinari shipyards and another handful of SMX warships to tag along. They attacked Star Army Reverse forces whom had been posted in the system cleaning up the equipment which remained from the evacuation and used a modified Horizon-class colony ship to secure a Novacorp-built wormhole gate. The operation was swift, well executed and after they seized the wormhole gate assembly they made a quick flight away and into the nebula."

"The Sekkou followed after them as much as it could without seeming too obvious to their sensors seeing the particle-wake it created while navigating the nebula. It managed to read many of the vessels Identification-Friend-Foe as being altered, revised versions of what we recovered from the databases of the Black Spiral scoutships we had previously captured: the Karasu and the Meng Po. It was a match: those were the ships who were still loyal to the Daughters of Eve - perhaps all of them acting in concert to insure the success of what could have had been an important operation."

Miharu displayed a list of the ships whom had been identified by the Sekkou, associating name to ship class:


Kotori glanced to Nyton. "Amaya's Gate could be anything from a project name to a spatial phenomenon to a piece of hardware. But I find the theft of a Novacorp wormhole gate to be very coincidental - too coincidental to overlook or to classify this just as privateers at work."

The Taisa then looked to the rest of the assembled. "The vessels used technology previously unique to the mishhuvurthyar whom helped them tunnel more easily through the density of the nebula and then hide their wake with similar field devices. It would have had been impossible to track them had the Sekkou not followed them at that point, though their crew were skirting a fine line between success and failure since trailing them was risky and that they had to do it under radio silence."

"What the Sekkou's commanding officer, Shosa Mizaki Sonomiya, decided on was to leave probes in the wake of her ship periodically with information of their findings recorded on each and their heading - think Hansel and Gretel." Kotori smiled at the analogy. "Another SAINT ship found the first probe at the edge of the nebula and pretty much stumbled on this information... and three days have passed without any news from the Sekkou. The rest are in the nebula, headed... who knows where."

Kotori narrowed her eyes. "That's where we come in. Miharu not only has a stake in this, but we are also by far one of the best ships for the job. We have a dedicated sensor array to do probes within the nebula and our faster-than-light drive systems works much better than any other ship in the fleet when it comes to navigating through the clouds of dust, hydrogen gas and plasma that a nebula is made of. If we do end up in a battle, we're better off than most too if we're forced to fighting within the confines of the Great Southern Nebula."

"So, our mission as it stands is: 1- track the Sekkou's probes through the Great Southern Nebula to find out where the gate-thieves went, 2- track them to whatever rallying point or stronghold they are heading off to, 3- Discover the whereabouts of the Shosa Sonomiya's crew and do what we can to help them get home, 4- Find out why they needed to use so many ships to steal this wormhole gate and what they intend to do with it."
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Nyton now understood the full extent of why they had been training to fight KFY ships earlier. It made sense now but he saw that he would have to go beyond just the KFY models and study the Geshrini models closely. From the look of their layout though it would appear that they had made themselves a completely portable command group which allowed them to be close to whatever they were researching.

Nyton pondered over the purpose of the wormhole but his lack of understanding the mechanics of the devices left him clueless. It would have to fall upon their science crew to solve the mystery behind the reason they would steal a Novacorp wormhole.

"Follow the trail of breadcrumbs, eh? Almost sounds like a treasure hunt. If the Southern Nebula is their focus of attention then that operation they did in conjunction with Melisson to take Lor from the Empire must have been so they could control the region without interference to their investigation. This region seems to have been of interest to them for some time now." Nyton said.

"Well you answered my question of the estimated size of the enemy. I suppose my next question is when do we begin this operation?" he asked.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

So... More or less a very grand 'connect the dots' with the possibility we may or may not end up in a very dicey situation... But still, stealing a wormhole gate? And if the thing is called a 'Gate', it could really need a wormhole gate to create it or... Whatever the thing is.

Yuril pondered over the details once more in her head, this wasn't going to be a real easy thing she realized, but the neko was rather determined to make sure she did her best.

Here's hoping to everything just going nice and smooth...
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

"I was thinking that all the fuss over the region was perhaps all leading to causing the Lorath to evacuate and make it so that equipment like the Novacorp Wormhole Gate would be set down there in the first place," Kotori replied. "They might have had needed one and might very well have had manipulated us to have the incentive to install one there."

Kotori then moved on to answering Nyton's question. "We start, preferably, as soon as we are ready. We already are 3 days behind the Sekkou, so I'd like to avoid any delays... but then again I do not want us to head out until we are good and ready."

The Taisa looked to Yukari. "While we might have the time to do some of what we need to do to prepare while following the Sekkou's trail, we still need several things done, such as making sure all the new personnel has settled in, going over the ST Backups for everyone, planning out medical examinations to update our records, reorganize our personnel in reflection of our new crewmembers, complete what adjustments we need done to the Miharu in reflection to the testing done today and perhaps - if time allows - even a power armor simulation involving all of our personnel to insure familiarity with the equipment we have and hopefully confirm that everyone we have can hold his own in combat, if not excel."
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

"Hansel and Gretel... but... they found a witch in those woods after birds ate the crumbs they used to mark their path," Sora remarked softly. "Has it been considered that the enemy knows about the probes and are using them as a trap?" She had a thoughtful expression on her face, yes, she did remember this fairy tale, it had been one of the ones she had been considering for the next play she promised her grandmother.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Kotori looked over to Sora. "I believe the likelyhood of that is low. Eve was already daring enough to use most of her combat-capable ships in this raid. If I was in her shoes, I would be a lot more concerned with getting my ships as far away from Yui's fleet as possible; I'd have too few of them to risk them against the 1st XF's strategic strike pool's squadrons. If Eve still had assets from Black Spiral, she might be able to afford double-checking her trail... but I'm really not positive she could afford to after having lost two-thirds of her ships."

"That, and if anyone can count on SAINT do to something right, it'd be cloak-and-dagger stuff," Kotori added. "The Sekkou is using stealth probes of a similar design to those whom comprised the former communication nodal network we had previously uncovered when we analyzed the Meng Po's computer database, and then we only found those probes because we knew where to look. This is a similar situation, except Eve's people do not know what to look for and we do."
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Sora nodded thoughtfully and recalled something she read somewhere about Eve, "Kotori-Taisa.... is it true that Eve was eating children during a live television broadcast way back when? Or was that an exaggeration of how nasty of a character she really is?" She shivered at the memory of all of those children they found locked up with Empress Yuumi. She had no idea what they were really there for.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

The new personnel will be settled shortly, Yukari thought, ticking down the list. ST backups will be ordered immediately after the briefing is done, which I will supervise. It will lend me time to speak to Miyoko. Personnel reorganization shall come before tonight's meal. An armor simulation will take a significant amount of time, but one round of targets might be simple. All would have to participate.

She looked to Tom, who had remained silent during the briefing. No doubt he was impatient to start doing. The final adjustments to the Miharu were thankfully complete, at least as far as he was concerned. What was important now was double- and triple-checking the PSC device and ensuring it was no different than a normal one. Mara and Hinoto would assist in that respect; they could perform the scans needed to show if there was anything out of the ordinary, and if there was, Tom could examine it.

Yukari might end up doing the cooking tonight. That was fine with her. She could make halibut fishcakes and chicken dumplings. Her mouth watered; she smiled idly into space, dreaming of a river flowing by her home with Tom, and her standing in the middle of it, snatching fish out of the very water in triumph.

The executive officer shook her head a little and refocused herself on the briefing. She made a note to remember to make room somewhere for the probes they might ultimately scrounge up. Somehow, Eve eating children did not really faze her.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Sora's bright green eyes went wide in horror and slowly started to tear up. "Than that's why she had all of those..." She bit her lower lip as her voice trailed off. She thought of all of the faces of those terrified children sitting in those prison cells that they had found at the stronghold waiting for their turn for death to come. She looked down at her hands in her lap and tried to recollect her composure. Every family has a black sheep but why does ours have to be Eve? My great-aunt.. but this is why we are trying to find her. We need to make sure we kill her for good this time.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

A wormhole gate? Serizawa pondered. What would they need a wormhole for when most of their current FTL systems are far more convenient than wormhole travel? I suppose the question I should be asking is where does that wormhole end.

Serizawa was snapped out of his thoughts when Sora had asked about Eve's distinct cannibalistic tendencies. When he saw tears start to well in her eyes, he set his hand on her shoulder.

"There's no need to be distraught," he reassured her. "It is always better to fight a monster. You won't be haunted by guilt afterwards."
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

Yukari noted the reaction of the Kohosei. It was notable motivation.
 
Re: [restart point] Mission 2

The young Ketsurui's hands tightened for a moment before she looked up at Serizawa with a pained expression. She nodded sadly and sniffed a little. I wish we could've saved more people than just Yuumi, that we hadn't let Hanako stay behind, that those kids didn't die like that. Sora thought regretfully to herself. "I know. But it's harder when the monster is family."
 
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