RP: YSS Resurgence Resurgence of Yamatai - Mission 4: The Hand That Feeds

Wardroom

Sanda shook her head very slowly, as if Del had answered the question incorrectly. The Ranger caught Cassie explaining of how they were to board the ship and decided that this was a conversation for later. "We can discuss this more later. Right now we have a mission. Show me that you take this job seriously and and we'll talk more about it." With that, Sanda turned her full attention over to Cassie and Yayoi.

She agreed with their ideas. Both had their pros and cons. Teleportation would be quicker, but there wasn't a guarantee that the Ship could disable the enemies shields without doing major damage to the ship they were trying to board. Using the shuttle could get them in regardless of shields, but a shuttle would take longer, and they would be a target while the shuttle tried to get close enough to board. "Why not both?" Sanda suggested. She motioned that they should sit and eat their breakfast while they talked.

After the four women were seated Sanda continued. "We can be aboard the shuttle in our PA with individual teleport modules equipped. That way if the Resurgence is able to disable a ship we can quickly board, or if not Zanven can get us close and we board that way." Sanda began to eat her omelet and food as she listen to the others discuss their plans.

Zanven finished his workout routine and showered, the place had mostly been emptied out as the crew moved to get their first meal of the day over with. He was in the shower and the water ran down his face, his chest and he just closed his eyes and relaxed for a moment and stretched. The steam of the showers covered him mostly, but he was just as hungry as the others so he finished cleaning off before fixing his hair and dressing in his uniform before taking his gym clothes to the wash. He threw them in and put his name on the data pad so that way he would be notified when it was done. He cleaned up his stations and soon his gym clothes were clean and he was able to fold up everything and pack it into a workout bag before returning it to his bunk. Inside of his cabin, the top bunk had a few of the ships put together partially and notes were taken of all the systems so he could get better acquainted. With a sigh and light toss of the bag onto his bunk he was off towards the Wardroom.

Wardroom

Walking in, he got in line to get his grub like the others, when it was his turn he of course ordered what everyone else did, except he grabbed some of the green tea to jump start his brain. He received some flight telemetry and info about the ships they were escorting. He needed to look at all the angles and formulate plans, so when he found a spot to sit he took a few looks and ran a flight simulation while eating. The steam from the hot green tea looked alluring as his eyes were glued to the screen. About halfway through breakfast, he finally closed out of everything on the data pad and just took it all in in silence.

MEDICAL LAB

Thad finally snapped from all the pressure coming from his fellow comrades. He reach up and tugged at his uniform and stepped forward. He towered over top of Poppy looking down. “What in the ever loving hell has gotten into the crew. Did everyone forget we are on an active mission?” The confused look he had before had been replaced by a serious grim look. “Do you honestly think I do not know what I did, that I enjoyed saying what I had to say?” He let out a sigh and took a step back. “You have to be out of your mind, I am not the enemy! I can not allow my mind to wonder off thinking about love and the cottage on the hill.” He paused and looked her over from head to toe. “Do you think the enemy will stop and wonder if we have picked our colors or who will be the flower girl?” His arms reached out with the palms facing up, a look of what do you think came across his face. “Hardly, they will keep pulling the trigger till your body stops twitching.”

Another deep sigh was released. “Letting our emotions get the better of us is how people end up coming back in a body bag!” He was moving his hand and pointing at the ground and stomping his foot. “If they don’t make it back, they are not coming back. We did not have the pleasure of having a respawn button from where I am from.”

He took a step closer to her. “So you best check yourself before giving me those dagger eyes. You act like you know me, but know nothing. I have seen things that not even your nightmares could come close too. What I did was for the good of the mission because, I, want to come home to Mia. I’d rather have her cry for a day than cry for a life time because I didn’t come home!”

He stepped away from Poppy once more and paced back and forth a few times. He then looked back at her. “I would without a second thought jump in front of a bullet for everyone here. I hope they would do the same for me. Else enjoy coming back to Mia and sharing how that moment of hesitation just cost her.” A few moments passed, the air calming around Thad. “It is a hard life to be with a solder. There is no glory in what we do, only kill or be killed.”

He did not give Poppy time to reply before turning to put space between himself and the crew. Maybe a trip to the hanger would do him some good.

MEDICAL LAB

"Please," Poppy rolled her eyes while he paced. "Don't give me that bullshit about the mission and emotions. Because of you, Mia is crying her eyes out. You could have easily said yes, and then put everything else aside until after the mission. But you didn't, and she knows that means you're not into it. You pissed away your chance already, there is no lifetime or future for you as couple. And because you're not married to her you have no say about what she decides to do with the baby and it's confidential between her and me. Just stay away from her from this point until she can get her transfer orders," she told him, following him briefly into the passageway until she was finished.

WARDROOM

"What's to stop an enemy ship from just toasting the shuttle?" Cassie asked. "We better use a stealth one for better chances. Say...I also had this wild other idea...what if we let them steal a cargo container and we were inside it and we ride it back to their base of operations and stop the pirates at the source?" Cassie proposed.

Heading Towards the Hanger

Thad gave no mind to what Poppy had to say. Would it had even mattered if he said yes, he doubted it. If the love was this fragile then it wasn't love to start with. So if she wanted to leave, then he'd say nothing against it. He had feelings for her but would set them aside if letting them go would mean she could be happy. Though could he say he loved her? Either way the outcome would have been the same, shattered dreams.

Inside the Hanger Bay

He made his way into the hang and noticed a new ship he had not seen before. He was curious if this was the ship meant to be flown by Zanven. He figured why not check it out and maybe the ship would alert him someone was poking around.

Delmira nodded at Sanda before shifting her full attention back to the conversation at hand. "I would say even in my power armor I am one of the smallest people here so I'm all for hiding in a cargo container. But whos to say they would even take it in the first place? Could we load Zanven's ship with a cargo container and make it look damaged like its ripe for the taking and depending on what they do we can board VIA the cargo container or attempt to board with the shuttle. And if we get inside there shields maybe even teleport aboard?"

Sanda ate her mixed fruit and though about it. "I don't like the idea of giving the pirates the initiative." Sanda said of Cassie's idea. "Like Lulie says, who's to say the pirates would even take it in the first place? Although I like the idea of trying to find the pirates base so we can squash this infestation once and for all." Sanda finished her fruit and set the bowl aside. "Homing beacons." She said suddenly. "We put some homing beacons in some a few cargo pods. They come, start gathering up the pods, we spring the trap and teleport aboard one of their ships and take it out. Between us and the Resurgence, we should make short work of them. But we let at least one escape with one of our cargo pods with the homing beacon on it and it will lead us right to their home base."

Sanda waited to hear what the others though of her idea. She was interested in what the others had to say. But she did have another point she felt needed to be brought up. "Besides the four of us, is there anyone else who will be part of the boarding team?" Sanda paused a moment, unsure if she should voice her growing doubt and unease. "Koyama for instance might be good to bring along. Besides being a fine fighter she's a mechanic and could be of great use if we need to get through a pirates systems. But..."

Ward Room

He could hear Sanda and Delmira nearby as he was finishing up his meal. He finished his tea and took one more bite of the food before grabbing his data pad and went to go to put the tray away. He would stop by their table, their discussion was not the most of private things anyway so he figured he would at least put his two cents in. "The problem with homing beacons is that they can be spoofed or turned against us, it is simple tech. Also what if they do not take the bait at all and just blast the cargo containers? The best thing to do would be to plan an ambush and use some small craft to divert attention in two ways before adding some chaos with the Resurgence and get some personnel aboard to clean up everything else. I have been doing some situational research and the Kuvexian pirates are not your standard soldiers, and their ships are by and large often hodge podged together, or they are captured ships with systems they do not quite understand so it is likely if we do see any come out to scout and or steal...they will be with at least a group that has a decent long range scanner. We could potentially kill off a few ships and disable the "possible" scanning ship so that way they could take the cargo out and load that one with a bomb. Before we detonate we can find their location then disable the pirate fleet at its source..." He realized he was rambling and sighed as he probably sounded like some crazy theorist. So he handed over a data pad and opened a file "This is all I have compiled for the mission from accounts of skirmishes and reports to the captured ships and skuttled fleets that the navy have taken count for. I need to go check on my ship in the hanger, feel free to use the data pad." He said and went to finish setting his try in the dirty pile near the trash before making his way out.

Hangar

He finally made it into the bay and saw that Thad was there, inspecting his ship. Zanven placed his hands into his pockets before walking up to the Nodachi and opening his mouth to speak. "So I see you have found the famous Nodachi. You know the Nodachi was a famous blade once wielded to sweep a large area, to tear men from horses, or to even serve as ceremonial decoration. I excelled in the use of heavier starfighters in pilot training, the Nodachi was the one ship that scared me. It was not until I actually was behind the controls did I understand the nuance and power it contained. However, enough of a dumb history and back story lesson. Why are you out here Thad? Wanting payback for the stolen catfish?" He asked casually as he had no problems with his fellow crewmate even with his track record...which was at least the most impressive thing on record he had read.

Hanger

Thad looked up to see that Zanven had entered the scene. "I had a hunch this ship might belong to someone. Happy to see that this would be your beauty." He stood and walked towards his crew member. "No, not payback, just wanted to find a nice place to relax and collect my thoughts." He reached up and rubbed his chin. "You may have seen or heard but things between me and Mia are little..." He paused thinking on how best to put this. "Lets just say a misunderstanding has taken place and her feelings have been hurt." He reached up and placed his hand onto the ship. "See, this I can understand. A powerful ship designed to fill a role and carry the pilot to victory. I wish that relationships was this simple." He removed his hand and looked too him. "Won't happen to have any advise on this would you?" He tipped his head to one side giving a curious look.

Hangar Bay,
Zanven Brad’s Nodachi

He listened to Thad and was at least happy he was not here to harm his ship, and he knew a little about what was going on with the whole Mia and mostly all women vs Thad thing right now, yet when asked for advice…well when a friend asks for help, you are almost by law to oblige.

“Honestly Thad…my relationship status and how I have made it this far in my career has largely been because I haven’t really delved too much into them…I was taught by my father about how a man should be and watching them as I grew up was the biggest influence on me. It led me to be a hit with the ladies at times…other times it just led me to do dumb, insanely dangerous shit.” He sighed and walked up and opened the cockpit of the fighter. “We ain’t taking her out for a ride, but hop in.” He said, and hopefully Thad followed through.

“You see with time and space we learn things, all breathing species have a tendency to say things, do things as well at times that might be inconsiderate or dumb but with relationships…you and your partner DO NOT have to be best friends to make it work. Take me and this ship, I knew about it, and I trust it. But at anything with either a wrong button or getting shot just right…even maintaining her, if done correctly…could lead to my downfall. The same goes for relationships, you tell your partner all the good and bad, if you are meant to be…you will work through it. Before spouting off nonsense or bullshit even if that is how you act with everyone else…don’t do it with your partner, it creates strife…and finally don’t just tell them how you feel…show them.” He said all this and then stretched as he handed Thad a helmet and visor. “Now put this on and be my co pilot in a training exercise. The overlay will accept input commands by watching your hands. A flight always got my mind off of things when I had issues growing up.” He said before slipping his helmetOn his head.

Hangar Bay

Thad had faced many dangers but this was on another level. Though the words coming from Zanven made sense and helped him to get his own mind wrapped around what was going on. "I like your feather, mine was not the best of a role model. Unless you consider drinking till you can no longer know right from wrong a redeeming quality." He looked away from Zanven and towards the now open cockpit. "Oh, I can relate to this on so many levels. I knew when I first met Mia back at the recruiting station she was going into the wrong line of work." He reached up and ran his hands through his thick hair. Though his hair was unusually messy compared to how it normally was. A deep sigh left his lips. "I knew I should have back off, not been the escape. But despite my better judgement, I went along with it. I thought maybe this would help distract her long enough to forget the fact she stuck on warship about to go into battle once again." Thad reached for the spare helmet and started to put it on. "I feel slightly guilty that I am about to have some fun knowing her world is ablaze. Even worse is that she took my lack of excitement and not a clear yes to mean no. So now her perfect little world she dreamed of is crashing before her."

He slipped the helmet on fully and pulled himself up and into the seat. How was he to undo this mess and put things back right. He could not blame Mia for the dream she had envisioned. Even he would like to have this come true one day. Sadly as long as there are bad people in this universe, someone has to be the one to keep away the bad. Though what to do, a warship was not the best place to raise a child but it wasn't out of the question. He'd do what was right for Mia, whatever she decided to pick. As was pointed out by Poppy, he had no say in the matter, this was her body and could do with it as she pleased.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a grenade. He looked at it for a moment before he reached down and pulled the pin. "Welp, it is not much but it is the best ring I can find at the moment." He said with a chuckle. He reached into his coat once more and pulled out Lulu and a roll of tape. He handed the pin to Lulu and then wrapped the grenade with tape. He'd find a replacement pin afterwards. He noticed he had pulled the grenade he had put a message on, "From Thad, with Love". He chuckled at how cute this message was. He once more reached into his jacket and pulled out a small tablet he used to write notes on. He typed one simple message on the pad. "Mia, please accept this as a sign of my commitment." He held up the pad and Lulu wrapped around it, holding the pin in its mouth. "Go Lulu, find Mia and give her this gift." He reached up and flipped down the visor of the helmet. A theme song came to mind as he got ready for the simulation.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

Mia immediately called captain Aoba.

"Mia, what's wrong?" the captain asked, immediately noticing her expression and tears on her face.

"Sorry sir, just relationship issues...I'm pregnant,"she told the captain.

"Ah. Mia..." Aoba started but was immediately interrupted.

"Sir, but the reason I'm calling is Thad sent me this and I am worried a grenade is about to explode in the ship! He may be suicidal," Mia sniffled. She forwarded the image Thad had sent her.

BRIDGE

"I'll look into it," Aoba nodded and got on the ship intercom. "Attention crew, action stations, Set condition 1 throughout the ship, this is not a drill. Secure all hatches and blast doors immediately. We have reason to believe unauthorized explosives have been smuggled onto the ship and may be armed. Infantry, suit up and prepare to sweep the hangar bay for explosives and arrest Thaddeaus Maximus-Nitohei."

Next he called Thad directly via wireless. "This is the captain, start talking," he ordered Thad. Seperately he called Zanvan and told him, "Take Thaddeaus Maximus-Nitohei into custody if possible."

Sanda was up and moving towards the door before the Captain even finished speaking. Her brain was still trying to process what she had just heard but her body was well trained and drilled so it didn't need to understand to act. In less than 30 seconds she was in the Armory suiting up in her Daisy suit. As she suited up it finally clicked what was going on. Maximus was probably doing something stupid and it had finally had caught up to him. Well, she'd be all too happy to arrest him. He'd probably try to do something else stupid and it would give her the prefect excuse to rough him up some. Maybe he'd do something really dumb and she could justify just shooting the bugger.

Power armor dawned Sanda grabbed her rifle and an armored box to dispose of any explosives into. Logs indicated that Maximus was in the Hanger. Sanda moved into the hanger and set the box down then raised her rifle behind her shield and slowly moved forward. Her scanners picked up two bodies aboard Zanven's fighter. Her suit tagged them as friendlies, Zanven and Maximus. The Ranger sent out a message to the Captain and to anyone else in the area, "This is Hoshi, I'm in the hanger approaching the ship Maximus is on. Moving to secure the target." She activated her speakers. "Maximus, by order of Shosa Aoba you are under arrest. Exit the ship with hands up and lay face down on the deck." Silently she added. "Por favor, dame una excusa para volarte la cabeza."

Hangar Bay

Thad had just gotten seated and strapped into the ship when the captain interrupted. He lifted his hands off the controls of the ship. "Uhh, about to do a simulation with Zanvan Sir. He said this was his ship or am I about to learn this ship is hotter than Mia in a swim suit." A moment passed and the captain had not even given a reply when he was called out as being under arrest. "Oh bloody hell, Zanvan, I hope you just knocked over someone's coffee and that this isn't a stolen ship that was just found out about."

He reached up and tapped the helmet on the side. The HUD displayed over his eyes and he could see one crew was inside the hanger. The identify friend or foe showed it to be Sanda. "Oh great," he said under his breath. He patched into the ships internal comms so he could speak with her directly. "We meet again Sanda, I always knew that the end game boss would be one of my friends. So, what am I under arrest for?"

Hanger Bay

Sanda kept her Rifle trained on the ship. "I don't know and I don't care. Captains orders are to arrest you so that's what I'm going to do. Now shut up and do what your told! I will not hesitate to blow that stupid smirk off your stupid face. Get out of the ship, keep your hands up and lay face down on the deck!" Sanda's scanners picked up Del moving into the Hanger. Impressive time. Glad she's not as useless as I had thought. She sent a quick message to Del. "Keep him in your sights. If his hands go down, or if it looks like he's going to try to fly out. Take him out."

“What the fuck!!!” Delmira exclaimed and ran to the armory leaving a trail of clothing behind her. Her mind was swimming from recent events and she didn’t need whatever the fuck Thad was going through to well ruin it. She was suiting up in her Mindy but took none of her new standard loadout instead she grabbed a sniper rifle instinctively. Delmira entered the hanger a short while and used her thrusters to fly up to a catwalk where she took position and aimed at Thad.


“I got a shot in case he takes Zan hostage.”

She received Sanda’s message and sent a quick reply in the form of a green status light on the rangers HUD.

Science Lab
"Yes, Taisa Byintama. It's excellent to hear that everything is ready for the first cohort. The people of Virginia are eager host such bright minds-" Taii Iemochi just finished as the Captain's voice ran out throughout the ship. "Oh dear- You'll have to excuse me-" The Elysian quickly terminated his call and threw the Spider Pad's headset down roughly onto his workbench, sending it clattering off the desk's cluttered surface and onto the floor.

It sounded like something crazy was happening. Seinosuke pushed past a large whiteboard filled with drawings and designs of DNA, the roller wheels squeaking as it rumbled off to a corner of the room. "Arbs, get back to our quarters as fast as you can." The father of two shot off telepathically to his wife, sending reassuring feelings to his partner. She already knew what to do, being a veteran, but hearing his thoughts was no doubt comforting at a time like this.

Explosives were no joke, but also something that you couldn't disarm or handle very well from inside a suit of power armor. Hopefully Norita was already ready, but himself and Euikoshi needed to be available to assist if needed. In light of that, Mochi swung open his secure locker and began suiting up, glad he prepared for being caught off-guard like this. The Lab was a long way from the Armory on Fuji-class ships, something that had burned him multiple times in the past.

Glancing around, the science officer took stock of what they had to be used in defusing bombs. It struck him there was no standard bomb suit or defusal kit for the Star Army that he could spot - something that he might have to bring up with his sister in SARA.

With a 'tsk', Seinosuke grabbed a standard toolbox and his trusty science scanner, before sprinting down the hallways towards the hangar. If nothing else, between himself and Euikoshi, they'd be able to quickly canvas for bomb-making chemicals.

BRIDGE

"I order you to surrender peacefully and cooperate with this investigation," the captain ordered Thad over the wireless. The bridge lights were dimmed and red as the ship was now in combat status. "Mia sent me the image. Are you in possession of a live hand grenade? Is there a loose grenade on my ship?" Aoba asked.

Hanger Bay

Thad blinked a few times before giving a reply back. "Investigation, pretty sure you can just check the ship cameras to see when the deed was done." Though he was unsure if this was a thing on the ship but it didn't seem too out of place either. Thad continued to be more and more confused as the situation dragged on. Mia shared an image and talk of a live hand grenade. He was a little confused since all the captain would need to do is check the equipment inventory to know exactly what he had on his person. Standard issue side arm and his lucky grenade.

"Sir, I believe there has been a big misunderstanding. I do not have a live grenade on my person and even if I did, a smoke grenade is fairly harmless." He thought to reach inside his coat to remove said object but thought best not too. He was more than happy to die but getting killed by trigger happy crew was low on his list of ways to die.

"Sir I am touched yourself and crew were that concerned for my safety. Now if you don't mind, please have them lower their weapons. Given the recent events I feel the crew might be compromised and allowing emotions to dictate actions. I wont resist, just don't feel like ending up on the KIA list before the mission even begins."

He let out a few deep breaths and leaned back into the seat. This day seemed to just keep on giving. A reminder of how quickly a green crew can descend into madness. It showed how much harder Thad needed to work in order to temper that sword. He was half tempted to pop out of the ship with his hands down just to see if they could hit the broad side of a ship. Be just his luck they'd miss and blow a hole in the ship and get sucked out into space.

Hangar Bay,
Zanven’s Nodachi

Pre massive misunderstanding

Zanven had been going down the list of preflight checks and then took them up in a simulation that was designed to be a single patrol mission. There was a guided dialogue to help Thad as they traversed around the capital of Yamatai. The scenery was pleasant and it allowed one to get comfortable with the ship. This was a feature that Zanven had looked into before flying out of port when he was assigned. It was pleasant to say the least…a perfect distraction to ease one’s mind.

After the misunderstanding started

Zanven got the call, his S.P.I.N.E. Interface told him what was about to happen. The captain was trying to hail them and Zanven turned the simulation off as he sighed. “Thad…did you do anything to warrant the captain in me taking you in…” he said just after Thad made the joking remark about spilling coffee.
“this is about to be messy so I think we should both prepare.” He said as the hangar bay opened to the heavily armed crew. Zanven put in the code to open the cockpit and immediately the back and forth started before he could get a word in edge wise…frankly it was kind of shitty and he could have handled this himself 1 on 1 with Thad. And even in the worst case scenario it would have ended up with the two of them KIA and nobody else would end up involved until respawn. When things finally came down to it Zanven sighed and spoke up, he had not moved from his seat this entire time.

“If I may…this misunderstanding flamed out of control was due to an issue between lovers, Thad came to the hangar to cool off after it seemed like the whole crew was wanting to bite his head off…sorry to everyone here, but Thad never showed once with me talking to him ANY inclination to do Mia, the crew, or me for that matter… any harm. And had he done so…I would have been enough to contain this with no harm to the following people with the exception of myself possibly. Captain, please asThad had just asked have the crew stand down and return to their stations. I would like to request a meeting of Mia, Thad, myself and you in your office. Or here for all that matters to straighten this out with understanding and to set a timeline to properly release an incident report should this warrant it. I believe that to be fair under these conditions.” He looked determined, fierce, and even a tad bit angry as he looked at the rifles aimed at his ship. He did not pull out his blaster but instead turned to Thad.

“Thad, this looks bad, but for the time being allow me to give a pat down search and to take the macguffin that everyone is here to relieve you of anyway. I will resolve this issue myself and hopefully after the captain let’s us do this incident report we can all move on and fucking gain some trust within the crew. I trust you, do you trust me?” He asked as he held out his hand, this was not a negotiation. He knew what he was doing and he gave Thad the same look when he the two met, and when he stole that piece of catfish.

It was that damn smile of his…