After two weeks of travel, they'd arrived in the obscure star system the Empress had paid Soon Bardoon ten million KS for. It was a chaotic star system around an orange-yellow star, crowded with billions of pieces of debris from massive wars thousands of years before the Resurgence's arrival, and the scattered remains of what had once been planets in its orbit were blown to pieces that lifelessly circled around as if they had faith or hope to be restored some day. In the midst of all this was a huge metallic object, a sleeping giant, a bringer of death, and a glimmer of hope for Yamatai. This was their machine moon.
YSS Resurgence - Bridge
"Take us in," Captain Aoba ordered. Gabriela eased the ship into the mess of a star system, scanning for signs of other ships, dangerous collision hazards, or anything out of the ordinary. As the ship approached the machine moon, a zoomed-in view of it filled the main view screen, showing a mostly-dark sphere of crisscrossing metallic lines, with jagged and torn edges. In the center a large purple ball of energy stared out at the cosmos, surrounded by a scattering of much smaller lights here and there. There was still some power. By the look of the artificial planetoid, it was made by the Kuvexians' old enemy... "Essai?" Aoba asked out loud. "Interesting. Let's start forming an away team," he ordered.
"Opening comms on known Essai channels, Captain," Tachiko was already on that task. "No response yet. I am bringing up team rosters now on the operations console. Ready and sending."
Tachiko's focus shifted as she went wireless: "All hands, away team is forming. Volunteers to the shuttle bay with full EVA equipment and assigned weapons."
"DIE," the planetoid responded on the Essai channel, its voice scratchy and dark. A stream of blindingly bright purple aether shot out from the machine moon and narrowly missed the Resurgence. The planet appeared to be having trouble aiming but was lashing out in the general direction of the newcomer ship.
"Evasive maneuvers," Aoba ordered, "try to blend in with the debris fields. It seems the moon doesn't like visitors. Hmm. I see a great opportunity in its attacks on us because now we can retaliate in self-defense," he said, looking at the screen shrewdly.
"Switching comms to EWAR signature reduction mode and raising red alert." Tachiko ran her fingers in a swipe down a volumetric pad, turning the consoles in the bridge to a subtle Hinomaru-maroon-bracketed theme. "Three point three four two seconds between a receiver tuned to Essai channels in its vicinity and aggressive response."
"We need some intelligence on this entity and why it randomly attacks everything in the system," Aoba noted. "It is possible it is berserk or perhaps it has orders to defend this spot for some reason," he speculated.
"Captain, I do not see any annotations in the Quallox Vaibal database attached to the navigation data we imported." Tachiko was browsing through all the information attached to the system. "It's likely the ship that gained this data is part of the debris field, and if they were from another Kuvexian corporation, no one would have bothered to note their destruction. We're going looking for something they deliberately avoid..."
After a few moments of evasion, Tachiko asked, "Captain, permission to launch EWAR probes? Maybe if they are over screaming in a different direction from where we're going while trying to be quiet, we can slip by." She added, after a short pause, "If it is having this much trouble hitting the Resurgence, then a probe will keep it occupied for a while. Especially if it looks a lot bigger on scan than it is."
SHIPWIDE
From over the comms Tachiko announced, "All hands, we are taking evasive maneuvers. Please brace yourselves and ensure your inertial dampeners are engaged if you have them." The hallway lights dimmed and took on a red ambience as the ship went to red alert.
Deck 4 - Near Medbay
Vec had just left the Medbay for the armory, a slimmed down trauma focused med bag slung across his back when the ship lurched and an alert from Ops went out. With a sigh, he turned and sprinted back to the bay. Fuck, he hated space combat. Well, he hated riding around getting shot at when he couldn't shoot back or at least duck. "Hope you're not about to get a crash course in trauma medicine, Thia," he said, waving for the counselor to follow.
Thia followed Vec from the Medbay, carrying a standard Type 31B Medical Kit. She didn't have more than basic medical training, but she figured she could at least carry gear and do what she could. "I lived in Funky City for 40 years, I've been treating gunshots and stabs since I could use a tourniquet," Thia replied with a smirk. "But I know there's always more to learn."
"Good atit--" Vec's reply was cut off by a yelp as the starboard bulkhead rushed to meet him. He tucked, managing to catch the wall on a muscular shoulder instead of with his severely less well muscled face.
Thia was suddenly glad that she wasn't wearing high heels when the ship rocked violently, sending her rolling across the floor until she ran up against the wall. "Ugh," she groaned. She spent a moment checking for damage, and when she found nothing obviously injured she stood cautiously. "You okay? We should get some armor on before that happens again."
Pulling himself to his feet, Vec yelled towards the ceiling, expecting the MEGAMI to connect him to the bridge, "Ops, what was that? Are we reporting any casualties?"
Shuttle Bay
"What the fuck was that?" Delmira exclaimed and looked out the hangar bay doors as the bright purple beam flashed past. "Fuck this! Full combat load on my Ryoko dual railguns, howitzer and as many aether torpedoes as we can cram on it. I don't think mini missiles are going to cut it on this. Get the aether beam cannons and particle rifles on standby in case I need to a fast change." Delmira said and moved to help the hanger techs load her mecha hardpoints with her weapons.
Yayoi had made it to the shuttle bay and got suited up when the brown and stinky hit the fan. "shit" she muttered as she grabbed hold of something to steady herself.
Sanda had been suited up and ready before the ship exited hyperspace. As the ship began bucking to avoid incoming fire, Sanda merely grabbed a hold of handhold and braced herself. She raised an unconcerned eyebrow at Yayoi.
Yayoi glanced over to Sanda, and sent her feelings of amusement. "hi" was all she said as she grabbed her helmet and put it on.
A violent shockwave went through the ship, knocking everyone on the floor and sending people sliding around towards the ship's starboard side as something hit the gunship. In the armor bay, Mindy armors swing in their rack, Poppy fell on her ass hard, and Norita went sliding around with a crate of mini-missiles, and some went rolling around the armor bay. The medic crawled back up her open Mindy and slid inside, then helped pick up the loose missiles before heading into the shuttle bay to find the others getting ready for the away team.
"Shit." Delmira said was sent tumbling to the ground. She looked at her mech then the hanger crew working on loading up the munitions on it. She was looking to make sure no one got crushed by a torpedo or the howitzer.
Sanda dangled from her handhold. Her cybernetic arm had locked itself around the bar, but the force had given her body a good shake. "¡Miércoles! ¿Qué fue eso?"
Thad walked into the shuttle bay like nothing had happened. "Glad I wore my mag boots huh. Things getting kind of rough out there." Thad said as he slung a weapon over his shoulder. He had slipped into his full mindy outfit and ready to get to work.
Yayoi groaned loudly in pain as she tried to keep hold and in the result she felt the pain come in her arms.
Thad walked over and reached out to help Yayoi get back on their feet. "Come on, before Del decided to turn that mech on and blow us all out of the ship with the take off."
Delmira crawled into the pod of her mech. "Delmira to bridge what our orders here? We are gathered in the hangar bay and sliding around." Delmira said comming the bridge from her mech.
Yayoi accepted Thad's aid and got back on her feet. She had flashes before the night of the truth or dare, she remembered seeing him but she hadn't thought of it much. "Thanks" She said and agreed. "She does love that mech.."
Thia arrived in the Shuttle Bay, carrying a Type 31B Med Kit and dressed in a Type 41 Hard Suit. She quickly took stock and joined the others, waiting for orders. As she waited, her mind inevitably turned to thoughts of flirting with tall, muscular aliens who'd never been encountered before. Thia sighed happily.
"Lulie, orders to form an away team stand. If you are volunteering, stay in the staging area by the shuttle and await orders for departure," Tachiko replied to Delmira.
"Roger." Delmira said and stuck her head out of her mech. "Orders are if you going on the away team stay here and wait for orders." She thought for a moment. "Wait a second did we just get the hurry up and wait treatment?"
Skidding into the shuttle bay on booted feet, Vec took stock of the situation. Nobody was bleeding, thankfully. There did seem to be a marked lack of agreement as to what gear the team was supposed to bring though. "Yup, that's Army life, kid," he said, catching the end of Lulie's question.
"The comm was still open, Lulie-hei. I heard that. If you want to go out there before we maneuver away from its fire I suppose we could make you advance party, ne?" Tachiko's teasing tone was unusual, but she was a little more open with Delmira than others, given they had a YTP Entertainment-based relationship outside of the Star Army.
Bridge
"It's ceased firing," Kinie reported. "It looks like it's having some sort of trouble with its main weapon because it keeps trying to activate and deactivate it. Also part of it has turned to lava," Kinie told the captain. "I'm reading widespread power failures throughout the structure," she said.
Aoba nodded. "This could be our chance to get in there and reboot the corrupted system," he said. "More than anything right now we just need information on what we're dealing with. Try to raise Star Army command on long-range communications and see if anyone there can talk to the Essai for us about this thing," he told Kalena. "In the meantime let's send a sound party over in a shuttle."
"Opening communications on command channels. Captain, I have SACOM, when you are ready." Tachiko replied.
Shuttle Bay
"It looks like I'm the lead cornflower," Cassie said, looking around. "Okay, I want poppy and any available infantry in the shuttle, called Euikoshi for science support and Beryl for shuttle operation. Zanven's fighter will provide close air support. We're going to go in at speed and make a landing somewhere that looks like it could have access to the internals and then we're going to look for a reboot switch. The YSS Eucharis previously encountered a very similar moon, so we have some idea of how it works and where to look. Unfortunately it also means it's a maze-like environment. I fully expect hostile robots on the surface so load up with full Mindy and combat gear and take enough supplies to last 1 week without support. Any questions?"
Sanda didn't say anything as Cassie took charge. She hoped this time would be different and that Cassie would step up to the challenge. It was frustrating that things still didn't seem worked out in the two weeks of travel time to get here. But Cassie was in charge and Sanda would follow her lead. "You got it Heisho." Sanda said.
Sanda quickly moved to the PA bay to grab extra supplies. As a Ranger, she knew what was most needed for maximum survival. She also packed a bodysuit and breathing unit in case her PA became compromised so she could ditch her suit if need be.
Thia set her med kit aside and clapped, the gloves of her hard suit muffling most of the sound. "You can do it, Cutie Pie!" She said encouragingly. "Oh, Mindies?" Thia nodded and began taking off her hard suit.
Yayoi did not say anything even as Thia called Cassie cutie pie, which she had to quietly admit, Cassie was cute. She proceeded forward to Power armor bay to grab extra things she might need. She recalled the durability of the creatures so she focused on power. Like Sanda she also packed a body suit and breathing unit.
"Want me in orbit providing cover fire or fly with Zanven for CAS?" Delmira said once again popping her head out of her mech.
"Whatever that thing is best for," Cassie simply replied, having no idea about the mecha or why it was on a gunship.
Thad spoke up. "Sounds good to me, let's go find the reboot switch and get back to the fun."
Falling in with the away team, Vec stepped up to his armor rack. He quickly began donning his gear, a Mindy with a SAR conversion kit, a similar load out to what he'd occasionally worn back in his days with the 171st. He wouldn't be calling the shots here though. What a difference a few months and a promotion could make. Chief Medical Officer on a star ship was starting to feel a lot more restrictive than Combat Search and Rescue Officer.
Once she had her hard suit off, Thia rushed in her bodysuit uniform to put the armor back where it belonged before continuing to the power armor bay and getting into her Mindy. Her power armor was entirely stock and she carried no weapons beyond what was built into the armor, but she still carried her Type 31B Medkit with her when she returned to the shuttle bay.
"Cassie-hei, make sure you check contact regularly. I need to know right away if there is comm interference down there. Stay put and re-establish if you notice signal loss," Tachiko checked in with the team lead.
"Okay," Cassie replied to Tachiko. "If we can't reach you we'll ignite a flare you can see from the ship. If you see it, assume we need extraction."
"Roger that." Delmira said and ducked back into her mech she checked her equipment and made she sure was ready. If she needed to bail she had her taiho PDW as well as the supplies in her capsule. She put her helmet on and sealed it up before curling up. Her cockpit capsule closed and Delmiras mind had the sense of leaving her body, which always felt odd, but now she could see and move through her mech. She waited for the shuttle to go first. "Switch hand weapons railgun, beam cannon and particle rifle to start with." She synced her mech up with the Res so Tachiko could monitor Delmira without the neko needing to check in every five minutes and causing another heart attack for the ships operator.
Beryl arrived and suited up in her AMES suit and began powering up her favorite shuttle, the older Ke-T7 "Raccoon" shuttle NG-S1-575-2, which was the stealth version. Poppy was the first onboard, carrying a large rucksack and an equally large medical kit in a similar bag.
"Everybody make sure you're carrying an IFAK," Vec said as he began checking suit seals and ammo counts. "And remember, use the casualties IFAK before yours."
Equipped with everything she could possibly need, Sanda moved to the shuttle. She stood outside it doors. She would be the last one to board so that she would be the first one off. When Vec mentioned casualties, Sanda turned and stared hard at him. No va a haber bajas porque vamos a hacer esto bien. Sanda thought to herself.
Yayoi didn't speak, but she did add a IFAK to her list of equipment she wanted to bring before stepping into place beside Sanda before entering the shuttle.
"Delmira to Tachiko any information on this planet? Atmospheric composition or anything like that?" Delmira said comming the neko on the bridge.
Thia simply gave Vec a thumbs-up in reply to his reminder, though when Sanda stopped and glared at Vec, Thia stopped and watched the exchange with curiosity.
Vec finished his gear check and began function checks on his weapons, first the Scalar SMG, then the gatling rifle. He was a strong believer in preventative medicine, and his gear loadout showed it.
"No air on the surface," Euikoshi replied to Delmira on the team net as she started strapping into her seat in the shuttlecraft's passenger/cargo area. The shuttle had the seats set up on both sides and the center seats were stowed leaving a large area in the middle where there was room for power armors, gear, and one LSTV which was already aboard.
"Expect a jagged hunk of metal, probably with angry robots," Cassie shrugged.
"What they said, Lulie-hei. Sounds good, Cassie-Hei, we will be monitoring. Everyone acknowledge signal I'm sending to your armors so I know it's all working." Tachiko sent a query to each armor, mech, fighter, shuttle, and whatever else was going on the mission, that occupied significant portions of the operator's field of view until replied to.
Yayoi nodded "Blade, ready to rumble, Signal acknowledged" she replied briskly as her confidence in this particular mission.
"Thunder, ready to strike." Sanda signaled in. As she waited she double checked her weapons and gear.
When nothing happened between Sanda and Vec, Thia continued into the shuttle and followed everyone else's lead. She tapped her foot impatiently, excited to see the inside of wherever they were.
Vec sent a signal over his communicator to Kōchō, his VCMAD. The large drone approached in rolling mode, a larger Designated Field Medic Kit and other survival gear webbed to its back. He gave the drone a scratch behind one of it's sensor housings.
A machine world? Yep, that was a good enough excuse for the ship's science officer to get suited and booted for the first real time in a while. Mochi made his way into the PA bay a little later than the others - the route from the science bay to here was never too quick - and headed over to his Mindy. It'd been a decent amount of time since the last excuse to use it had come up, so Mochi was quite eager to try her out again. Taking the buttpack from where it was hoisted over his shoulder and attaching it to his Mindy, Mochi climbed inside and ran diagnostics. Hopefully he had enough science and sensory equipment to figure out why this machine moon was so aggressive and operating in the way it was.
Pidole and two of the lower-ranking technicians came running through the shuttle bay in spacesuits loaded down with damage control and firefighting equipment, not stopping to talk to anyone on the away team. The shuttle bay had started to develop a bit of a gray haze inside, which was presumably related. When the red-shirts opened the door to the wardroom a fireball came out of it, spilling black smoke into the shuttle bay. The entire wardroom compartment was engulfed in flames.
Yayoi blinked when she saw black smoke spilling into the shuttle bay. "what the" she muttered to herself as she turned back to the doors of the shuttle.
Chiasa was the last aboard the shuttle, suited up in her Mindy, equipped with a partial SAR conversion, three medical kits, and her aether rifle for firepower. Nodding towards Thia, Chiasa moved to get situated, doing so just as the doors slammed shut!
Taii Benna, a navigator-in-training, arrived with Mia in firefighting gear, and they began to assist by setting up a foam hose and began working on controlling the blaze.
"Focus," Cassie told the away team. When everyone was aboard she gave Beryl the signal and the shuttle was off, heading down towards the mysterious machine moon.
