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  • 📅 February and March 2024 are YE 46.2 in the RP.

RP: YSS Resurgence Resurgence of Yamatai - Mission 6: Machine Moon

Wes

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RP Date
YE 44.5.11
RP Location
YSS Resurgence
YSS Resurgence
YE 44.5.11

It was dinner time on the Resurgence, and after a long day of ship maintenance the crew was gathered in the ship's wardroom to eat chef Rossa's famous stromboli and calzones, Greek salads, and seafood pasta. It was also Cassie's birthday night and there was a huge cheesecake for dessert with a chibi picture of Cassie in frosting on the top. The ship had finally left Pisces after the conference with a new mission.

"Our objective is to start hunting for one of these machine planets we can successfully take over," Aoba explained as everyone started sitting down to eat. "There's a number of possibilities, including the super dangerous one we found two months ago, and we need to narrow it down. In addition, we may be able to glean more machine world locations from the Kuvexians, who know that area of space better than we do. Finding one of these moon-sized computers is critical to the Empire. I'm open to ideas from everyone. That's all. Think on it and enjoy your dinner!"

Yayoi was quiet as she sat down, she noted that it was Cassie's birthday due to the cake and the cute chibi picture of her. However, as Aoba began speaking her attention went to him, and she listened, her mind processing and thinking as she enjoyed her dinner as ordered. She glanced to Sanda as she was greatly affected during the incident on the station. She supposed her first question would be whether they'd find weaknesses on the robotic enemy, something they could use with power armor.

Sanda had had a rough go of things since that horrible night at the pub. She had become very withdrawn and spend hardly any time on the ship except when she was on duty. But she had gotten through it. Mostly with help from Caffran. She hated leaving him, but she knew she had to get back to work. She did feel a lot better now though. Like the crisis had passed and she had her feelings and emotions locked down again.

Shortly after the station Delmira had a talk with Poppy about her near mental break down, killing pack roaches however made things a lot better. She sat with the usual suspects and smiled as she playfully teased Cassie. "You are getting old i think i see a gray hair." She stopped as soon as Aoba spoke and turned her attention to him.

"I'm gray all over!" Cassie scratched her head. "Wait, that was the joke, wasn't it...also I'm only twenty-five."

Euikoshi, the ship's science specialist proposed, "I think first we should try to find records of encounters with these machine worlds and make a list and rate them by how useful they might be," she said. "There's got to be other ships that have encountered them and noted them in their logs. Another idea I had is trying to contact the Essai, who seem to be able to control such worlds."

"We should make countermeasures against the machine parasite things that we fought before as well, that is if the are the same machines that is." Delmira suggested before grinning at Cassie. "Man I feel young. I'm only 4," she said to the other woman. "But yes I was joking Cassie."

Thad was enjoying a drink, enjoying the peaceful night. Granted the last time a night was peaceful, a bug outbreak happen and a bar ended up on fire. Though, not uncommon given the type of places he use to go. Sadly however, he did not end up with company that night. "Can't we just send a divide by zero hack to the planet?"

Koyama preferred not to mix business with pleasure. But she listened nonetheless. Her fingers were interlaced, supporting her chin while listening to the conversation. She had not been there for that particular incident. And simply wondered what such a thing could offer the Empire. Their computational technology was superb by sectorial standards. Hyper-fold enhanced systems hardly needed to be the size of worlds to accomplish the same tasks. The XO let it go, eyes closed to slits her expression somewhat relaxed after the debacle on the station.

This was a special day for someone and she would not ruin it for them by speaking out of turn. Or what was on her mind in that regard. Instead, she had placed a card beside the cake. The thick cream-colored envelope contained passes for a group-size of the Anthro's choosing to wherever she wished to go within the Sector on her leave. All expenses paid. It was the least she could do.

The newest member of the ship's officer corps, one (Ketsurui-no-) Motoyoshi Tachiko, lurked near her Actual-Ketsurui cousin. She was particularly quiet for someone who was essentially the ship's communications chief, with more of the demeanor of an engineer than someone whose job was primarily speaking. Of course, she knew these people, they weren't strangers, at least some of them. She'd just been to Giretsu school with several of them only a few months ago, and had even served with Frank on the YSS Mazu prior to coming here. It just wasn't about adjusting to a new place. The Chūi simply listened to the conversation at hand– her task, she knew, would come when there was actionable intelligence and it was time to assemble an away team. Then planning, strategy, communications. That was Mission Ops.

Smiling somewhat bashfully at Koyama she leaned in to whisper to her, "I feel like I should have got a present or something at the ship's store first, but I didn't know."

Mochi rubbed his head a little as he entered the room, blonde hair tousling. He still seemed out of it from his recent 'experience' with the Pack Roaches. Glancing around to the others, the Elysian raised a hand wearily in greeting with a strained smile. He was looking a bit worse for wear.

Yayoi glanced over, and took note of Mochi's presence. She recalled he was injured during the attack. Tachiko's presence was soon noticed, and she smiled at her business partner.

Koyama's velvet-like ear, one of them anyway twitched at Tachiko's whisper and closeness. Her eyes were still mostly closed. "Take partial credit for my gift." murmured Tachiko's cousin.

"If they go anywhere Yugumo owns I'll foot the bill," Tachiko whispered back to Koyama with a nod. "Thanks so much, Koyama-Taii."

"Excuse me ladies." Delmira said and got up and walked over to Mochi. "Are you ok papa bird? I dont think i have ever seen you that messed up."

Sanda overheard Del's comment and grimaced. She had once made the mistake of improperly addressing the Taii. She tucked into her food and tried to not make eye contact.

Pidole took one of the big strombolis and slid it on her plate, returning to the table to sit next to Euiokoshi, who had started staring at a tablet pouring over old Star Army records from the Kuvexian War. Her beetle companion, loyally flying behind her, carried a cannoli that it had acquired from the serving line.

Mochi, while having historically been adverse to being called a bird, in the same sense a human would loathe being called a monkey, just gave a tired grin to Delmira. "Yeah-- Still feeling the effects, but I'm just glad I remembered that extra training I've got over the years.."

Yayoi moved closer to Sanda and whispered to her ear. "if you need to we can have a go later on if you'd like?" She asked remembering how caring Sanda was for her own issues in a previous moment.

Sanda smiled. Though she didn't always do a good job of expressing her feelings she smiled at Yayoi. She also remembered not to long ago helping out her fellow Ranger when she was going through a tough time. At that moment, Sanda really did think of Yayoi as her sister. "Thanks. I'm good. I need to get back in the fight."

Yayoi nodded and smiled back to Sanda in understanding. She'd left the offer stand for whenever she needed it.

"Come one lets get you sitting and eating food. I know it made me feel better." Delmira said and would help Mochi over to a table. She made sure to get him a slice of cake.

Koyama offered the barest of nods, "Mmm," her slitted gaze went to the Elysian, nodding to him as well. "We both have a vested interest in the betterment of the cluster." she shifted her head a little but it wasn't enough to get a clear look at Tachiko, "And Koyama is fine. This is a social setting, if you would allow me to call you Tachiko?"

Tachiko watched the glances and body language and pondered Koyama's intonation during the interaction between her and Iemochi, far enough from politics she was unaware of anything between them other than being shipmates. "Hai, of course Koyama," Tachiko relaxed some once the formality was dropped between officers and relatives, for now.

"I'm going to get some of that Elysian pastry they're serving. I've only ever had the ones from Kikyō Pie, myself. Do you want me to bring you something back over here?"

Koyama turned her head a little more, her cheek now resting against her interlocked fingertips. "Surprise me?" she said in response to the offer.

Mochi was all too happy to accept Delmira's offer, nodding in appreciation. He'd sit down with her, grateful to not have to think to hard right now. The Elysian returned Koyama's nod with a open gesture of the hand, just to let her know he was there if she needed.

Thad lifted a beer towards Mochi. "Grab your glass and enjoy my friend. Good to see you in a little more...together." He continued by taking a drink of his glass.

"In YE 40, YSS Eucharis encountered a damaged machine planet that was besieged by opportunistic salvagers, Rixxikor squatters, and the hostile remains of vast robot armies. At its core was a vast computer containing a sleeping artificial intelligence. The Eucharis woke the AI up and the machine planet started vaporizing the Kuvexian starships around it," Euikoshi told those around her. Pidole rubbed her chin. "I wonder where it went after that."

Mochi flapped his sunburst wings gently at Thad's comment, indicating he was now whole again. "I'll definitely do that- Thanks, Thad." The Elysian dropped the honorifics, not having the energy to observe that tradition at the moment, instead opting to grab a glass and raise it to Thad in a toast of sorts. "Delmira, would you like one too?"

Yayoi got up and moved towards Koyama and Tachiko. Though her intention was to talk to Tachiko, the fact that Koyama was there gave her an opportunity to speak to her as well. "hello Tachiko, I'm pleased to see you here as well. I'd love to chat since the last we spoke at the new bar" she told her then turned to Koyama. "as i recall, we hadnt had a chance to drink the three of us due to the incident."

Sanda finished her meal and dropped off her plate. On her way back to the table she stopped by Mochi and said, "I'm glad to see you back on your feet Sir. You put up quite an impressive fight out there... for a Science Officer."

Delmira shrugged. "Why not." She said and grabbed a drink as well. Her tail swayed a bit behind her resuming its habit of betraying her attempts to at being stoic.

'The High-Guardian sends his condolences for your injuries. And offered at special dispensation to grant you symbiotic prosthetics." Koyama's telepathic 'voice' directed itself to Mochi, "But it would seem we managed to put you together again.'

Mochi gave Sanda a knowing wink, "I've not always just been a Science Officer." He spoke knowingly, taking a sip from his glass. Leaning over, the Elysian tapped his glass against Del's with a smirk, "Cheers." Sending a message back to Koyama, Mochi sounded surprised, "Symbiotics? That might be an offer I can't refuse! I can always get these removed again, heh-"

"Oh, Yayoi-Hei!" Tachiko smiled broadly, looking genuinely happy to speak to Yayoi despite her general shy reticence. "How is the bar going? I hope the bugs are all gone! I was just about to go get some of this food for Koyama-itokosan," she used the honorific when speaking about her cousin, since her cousin was a princess, rather than the humble way Yamataians refer to their own family members, "Come with me to the serving line and tell me about it?"

"The bar is going well, I'm told all the bugs have been eliminated sand now everything is clean. Once the mission is concluded we could go back if you'd like. I might make a percentage discount for the crew that does especially after what happened. Sure, we can chat if you'd like, how is Yue-sama doing, do you know?

Sanda smiled at Mochi and took a seat beside Yayoi, across the table from Koyama and Tachiko. She looked over at Koyama and said, "I'm glad to finally have you back too."

Delmira smiled and looked at Mochi. "If you need anything just ask but there's a certain neko i need to grovel to for her night not going as planned." She said and looked in the direction of Kinie.

"Haaaaapy birthday to you!" Poppy started to sing to Cassie, hoping the others would join in. "happy birthday to you!" This, of course, caused Cassie to become visibly embarrassed and cringe.

"We never did, no," Koyama said in response to Yayoi with a lazy smile. The stressful hell of the IRC. And a bar on fire while fighting bugs from some deep corner of the horror-filled beyond having melted away. Back to the safety of being on the starship. Her home outside of Kyoto or on Jiyuu. "Social setting, Tachiko, no need for rank or honorifics." saying before Sanda sat down.

"Good to be back. Your training may have been strenuous. But try international politics. Sometime, Sanda. You'd die of liver failure before the day is out."

"Diablos no." Sanda said. "I prefer being able to shoot the annoying bastardo
then having to pretend we're getting along."

Koyama smirked a little, "Shoot? Not stab with your Silver?" she queried.

Sanda returned the smirk. "Well, if you want to get technical? Yes stabbing is always my preferred method."

Tachiko made a small sound and looked bashful as she was admonished one more time by Koyama. She nodded in assent. First Standard Fleet seemed a lot less formal than First Expeditionary Fleet.

"Yue-s~ ah, Yue is doing great. I think she is going back into the recording studio soon to do some solo work that isn't with Midnight Infinity!" Now that others were approaching her, Tachiko seemed perfectly friendly and not at all shy. She took Koyama's tray through the serving line along with her own, getting samples of everything to bring back. She looked back at the poor birthday cat and her awkward cringe, and felt embarrassed on her behalf.

The best part had finally been reached. Singing for the birthday girl which meant yelling and broken bottles on the floor. Thad started to hum along to the happy birthday song

Mochi reached over and rubbed Delmira's shoulder a little, "I gotcha. I'm fine here - thanks for bringing me over. You'd best go say something to her." The Elysian smiled warmly, then returned to his drink and swirled it a little, to see the liquid turn and flow.

'I will let him know you are considering the offer. Although I'd give it some thought before deciding to harm yourself for symbiotics. I suspect your wife might have a few stern words with you?' Koyama's mental tone a bit teasing. 'For one so small and pregnant she is... exceedingly fast. And fearsome.'

The ship's caretaker, Julia went around the wardroom handing out cold mugs of beer to anyone who wanted one.

"This man here needs two of those." Delmira said to Julia and waved her over to Mochi.

"I need another as well." Thad shouted out towards Julia. "It is party time, and Mochi isn't drunk enough yet to break out the table dancing."

"That's great to hear, Yayoi-h~ Yayoi." Even speaking Trade, the formal Neko tried to slip in honorifics. Tachiko sat back down with Koyama and company, smiling at Sanda who was across from her. She pushed the food over to Koyama. "I got some of everything."

She raised her hand when Julia came around with beer, indicating the number four with her fingers.

"Time to cut the cake," Rossa grinned. "Birthday girl gets the first piece!" she grinned, heading over to the cheesecake she'd made for the occassion, grabbing her lighter for the candles. Suddenly she swung around. "Who the hell got into the birthday cake?" she yelled.

"Seriously?" Kinie frowned.

Pidole stared at the cake in shock.

Delmira slid Mochi's slice away from him.

For once it wasn't Thad who did something wrong. This was a wonderful feeling that someone else was getting ripped a new one over the cake. "Wasn't me, I was over here the entire time breaking bottles on the floor." Though there wasn't any broken bottles.

Mochi looked up at Delmira with big puppy eyes full of betrayal as the cake was taken away, "But-.. Cake-.." He muttered, reaching halfheartedly for the slice across the table. At Thad's remark, Mochi simply shot him a look and shook his head with an amused smirk.

Koyama looked over to Tachiko, touching the other woman's arm in thanks accompanied by a smile. "Just keep it sharp. I may have to call on you one day if I have to go to another conference." her attention then shifted to Tachiko from Sanda.

"How is 'zumi? We have not talked for sometime and... I miss her." the last coming out a bit strangled once she looked down to the food. Having grown up in a traditional Yamataian setting, the various foods of the sector were all a foreign beast to her still. "Where... should I start?"

"Oh, it's like a Pizza, but inside out. They're kind of both the same thing but one is rolled and one is folded. I think one has sauce in it and this one you have to dip?" Tachiko was also much more accustomed to traditional Yamataian fare, especially since she began residing in the much more culturally conservative MCS, and was not the best explainer. "And Kazumi-nee is great," she couldn't help that honorific for her younger-but-higher-ranked sister, "I got promoted ahead of her because of my enlisted time with the Accelerated Officer program though."

Nalini watched the proceedings quietly, proud of the work that had gone into it all

"Cut Mochi some slack. It might not be his birthday but being born again after a hard fight has earned some cake." Thad shouted out in protest.

"It was cut when I got him a piece." Delmira said. "I'm sorry I thought it was already good to go." Delmira sighed and facedesked when she sat down.

Thad looked over towards Del. "Your doing her a favor by removing a few candles, just gunna remove the bad years."

Cassie looked at the incomplete cake in frustration as Rossa brought it over with candles lit. In her mind she suddenly saw her old friends from Sixth Fleet celebrating her birthday from 3 years ago. They were all dead now, thanks to the Kuvexians. She snapped back to reality, trying not to cry. These people were her new family now, and it made her terrified to think about losing them too. She wiped her eyes and blew out the candles. The wardroom filled with cheers.

While nobody was looking, Mochi reached over to his confiscated slice of cake and quickly slid it back towards him, masking its presence between his hands. Like a criminal, he grabbed a fork and snuck a few mouthfuls up, taking full advantage of his current 'wounded veteran' status. Once the celebrations began, however, Mochi made sure to clap and whoop.

Thad pulled out a paddle. "So, do we still give birthday spankings. I heard from crew this might be a thing." Thad asked while slapping the paddle into his hand.

"I'm so into that," Poppy purred.

Zanven was a little late...a few things he needed to tie up...metaphorically speaking. Now he walked in and saw That with a paddle and wondered if this might get out of hand again, so he stepped aside and was going to find a quiet booth to at least begin doing some research concerning the mission that they were given by the captain.

As she cheered and clapped, the empathetic former-medic Tachiko noted Cassie's emotion, recognizing the distinctive kind of pathos of loss. She was one of the few survivors of Taiie, herself, and lost many of her closest, and awoke from stasis to find many more had died since. She leaned in to whisper to Koyama once more, "Is she all right, do you think?"

"Thad put that away that could be considered sexual assault. Where the hell did you even hide that?" Delmira said face still planted on the table

Finishing his contraband slice, Mochi shakily got to his feet and wandered over towards Cassie and her adoring friends. Placing a hand on her shoulder, the Elysian gave Cassie an apologetic smile. "Hey, I wanted to say sorry for disappearing into the Pack Roaches on PISCES. In retrospect I know you were trying to keep me safe, but at the time with the adrenaline I didn't realize until it was too late. I'm only used to CPS' looking out for me. I hope you can forgive me, Cassie."

Yayoi watched as the first piece of the cake was given to Cassie, though she was uncertain whom had gotten into cake, though she glanced at Thad, and Poppy.

Koyama's brow wrinkled in concentration as she looked at the thing that was pizza but not pizza. But somehow was. "Still a Kohosei then," sounding a little disappointed while warily poking at the 'pastry' with a fork. Unsure of how to approach. "She keeps bragging about your skills in the kitchen you know."

"Very proud of her big sister." finally, the XO decided to just divide a small piece with the cutlery. "But warned me of something. You wear a collar? Why exactly?" Koyama asked in an off-hand tone looking at the bit critically before experimentally biting it. Giving it a bit of a chew. Clearly Kazumi hadn't provided full details.

Tachiko's face flushed a bright pink. "Ah~ I mean, she should be a Shōi, at least. And uh... well, some of us wear them, out of uniform of course, because... ah, they're sensory links, like telepathy but passive. You know... keeps us sisters closer together, haha..." She laughed nervously then hid her face behind the amber shield of her beer and pretended to drink for longer than she actually was.

Sanda watched Koyama take a bit of her food with a bemused look on her face. She pulled out her flask and took a sip. She glanced at it. She had hit the rum pretty heavily after the fight at the pub.

Yayoi glanced to Koyama and Tachiko, now that she thought of it, she saw Yue wearing a similar collar to Tachiko."ahh i see" she said.

Cassie accepted her fat-ass slice of cheesecake and took a swig of beer. "Thanks, everyone, for making it special. I really don't have any place I'd rather be than here on the Resurgence with you all." She gave Iemochi a pat on the back. "Sorry I didn't keep up with you better. I'm just glad you lived. Besides that was two months ago."

Thad winked towards Poppy, glad to see at least someone was going to be a good sport. He slowly put it back under his coat as to not cause too much of a fuse. He then looked towards Mochi. "Out front trying to be a hero more like it. Ya did good though, saved a good many people."

Zanven did order Thad a rather fruity drink just to add to the hilarity of the scene he was catching the ass-end of. He was intrigued that the paddle seemed to fit rather well into his coat, but after a few minutes he just gave a soft smile before getting to work on research using the data from the last mission and whatever was not rendered as classified from the VP that they were able to safely remove from that fucking nightmare of a ship.

Poppy gave Thad her best, "pssh," and made a funny face. "I don't know," she laughed.

Thad took the drink from Zanven and slammed it back. In his best female sound voice he replied back. "Thank you sweetie."

Zanven chuckled but did not look up as he was reading, he ordered himself a drink as he was scrolling past a few reported rumors.

Koyama tried something else next. Just a single bite. Out of politeness' sake. Her eyes went round as saucers as Tachiko explained with a flush to her cheeks. "Hooou.... full sensory input/output?" the Taii leaned a little closer to Tachiko, interest there. But of a purely scientific nature. "And Yue too?" she nodded as if this somehow made sense.

"How does it work exactly, long-distance I mean?" the Princess questioned, placing a finger along the back of one of Tachiko's hands and giving it a feather-light stroke. "It isn't on now is it? Would she feel that?" her interest was piqued. "I am also wondering if Sanda's flask somehow self-replicates rum. Because it never seems to empty." remarking at the brief scent of the liquor.

"Well, I don't have mine on, so she wouldn't feel it? It's not authorized." She blushes a little more deeply as Koyama strokes her hand. "It's connected through SYNC, so it's the same FTL networking everything uses." Retraining to Mission Ops had leveled up Tachiko's communications technology skills significantly, and she had to resist the urge to jargonify her explanation.

Mochi gave Cassie a parting smile, waddling back towards Del and the table. Sitting down opposite her, the Elysian gave a deep sigh and leaned back in the chair. Comfy, Mochi regarded Del with an amused expression. "So, you're in trouble with the missus." He sipped his beer, "I'm somewhat of an expert on that myself-" He chuckled deeply, winking at Del.

Kinie gave Delmira's hand a warm squeeze as she sipped her beer.

Sanda smiled. "I refill it every night. Weather its just a top off or a compleate refill. That's why the Rum is never gone."

Delmira looked at Kinie then at Mochi. "Well i did steal you cake." She sat up and sipped her own beer before looking. "I will go apologize to her after."

Sakuko found Zanven and greeted him with a devious smile and a beer in her hand. "Hello my fellow pilot," she smiled. "I'm glad you could make it! I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight," she asked him. "I could give you another massage if you like. I was thinking about the time we've spent together so far and I want you to know that I like you."

Zanven smiled as he heard the familiar voice enter his ears. He sat the tablet down and as his drink arrived he looked up at Sakuko and gave a wink and gestures to sit with him before he scooted over. "Yeah sorry about being late...had a little bit of an issue with some of the Nodachi's updates..". He said with a chuckle as he nodded. "It's great to see you too by the way, was beginning to think that maybe the last time we hung out I said something wrong when I asked for a hand with the ship and we ended up sleeping in the cockpit." He would say as she stated she could give him another massage, and that she was wanting to hang out again and that made him forget about his small worry for a time. He was about to answer when Thad broke in and said to let him know if he needed that paddle...which would have made him blush if he was a little more drunk. The pilot laughed it off and then gave Thad a thumbs up before finally getting back to his original task, an answer. "Yeach, you know what, I would love to hang out some more. This time not working on the ship though, as for the massage I believe last I checked it was my turn to give you one right?" He asked as he looked at her and drank his beer.

"Yes," Sakuko smiled. "This time I accept."

Thad overheard some of the conversation between Zan and Sakuko. This warmed his heart they seemed to be getting along well. Thad stood and gave a shout out to Zan. "Hey, let me know if you need to borrow this." As he waved the paddle over his head.

Koyama 'hmmm'd' at the explanations. "You could just setup a simple QEC private netw-" one of her eyebrows slowly raised as she looked to the older Neko. First up, then down, then up again. "Ahh...." as if coming to some realization. Either in regard to Sanda or her cousin.

Mochi nodded like an ancient sage, as if he had some immense wisdom to share to Del. Leaning forwards, he gestured for Del to come closer. Looking left and right in case anyone was listening in, he whispered. "The secret.. is.." Mochi breathed quietly, before finishing, "To apologise and get them gifts." With a chuckle, he leaned back, "Crazy huh! Nobody knows that but you and me-- at least it seems that way at times!"

Cassie went around the room hugging everyone. Then she found her gift from Koyama and opened it. "Oh...wow!" she blinked. "This is really nice of you!"

Koyama patted Cassie on the back with a murmured: "Happy Birthday."

"I didn't bring a gift," Pidole whispered to Euikoshi, feeling a little awkward.

"Oh, you're giving her something tonight alright," Euikoshi told Pidole with THAT LOOK. "You remember that time on the train?"

Pidole stared at Euikoshi, then to Cassie, and then back. "Okay."

Delmira turned to Kinie. "Gift giving huh?" She turned and looked at Cassie. "Fuck." She turned back to Kinie and Mochi "I didn't know we where supposed to bring gifts."

"I could give Cassie a goth makeover," Kinie said. "I don't really have much else to offer."

Koyama nodded, "I can see how such a thing could be used," her response was just as vague while eyeing Tachiko. "And you do realize the Lorath have a form of replicator technology, Sanda? As in, the possibility exists for a never ending flask of rum?"

Sanda snorted figuring Koyama was teasing her. "It can replicate good rum? And in a conveniently small and portable form? Sounds better than that motorcycle I never got."

Koyama sniffed in response to the snort, "They can replicate armor plate. How simple would rum be in comparison?" then she waved dismissively. "Your motorcycle was built already. I had planned on giving it to you for your graduation. Perform the whole corny Nepleslia schtick of leaning on it and waiting."

Rolling her eyes the Taii sighed, "But I should probably have it transferred back to the ship at the next opportunity. I just have not installed Anti-Thad measures."

Tachiko took another nervous sip of beer and just nodded at Koyama. The hug from the feline Cassie was nice, though. Even if Tachiko was a little confused, given how small her contribution was, it was still nice. Soft, warm kitty.

Sanda snorted. "My anti-Thad measure is you tell him not to touch it. He'll listen to his princess."

Koyama's eyes returned to their slits, smiling at Sanda in such a way as if to say: "I will cut you.' at mentioning Thad listening to her. That man did the exact damned opposite.

Tachiko just looked back and forth between Sanda and Koyama, confused. The man's reputation hadn't quite gelled in her mind. She just had anecdotes from the Resurgence crew during Giretsu but hadn't put it all together who it was.

Mochi half-whispered over to Delmira, "If nothing else, I have a spare MAW that you could give her if you need something quickly. Other than that, all I've got is pocket watches and a magic hand.."

Delmira returned Cassie's hug "Sorry about the cake I will get you something later." Then she whipped her head around so fast to Mochi. "That i may keep for myself."

"Oink, oink," Cassie chuckled, softly elbowing Delmira in the ribs. "I forgive you. It wasn't the cake thing that got to me."

Aoba nodded approvingly seeing his crew enjoying themselves. He was content to let them relax and get to work on the mission tomorrow after a night of fun. The steely-eyed captain quietly slipped out of the room after Cassie hugged him, and went back to the bridge to study.

Koyama turned her focus back to Tachiko, "We do this a lot. You get used to Sanda and me after a while." taking the look she'd been giving the pair the wrong way.

"Ah, I see." Taking the last bite of calzone she felt she could stomach and washing it down with a beer, she nodded, then her eyes followed Aoba out of the room. "Maybe I should follow him to talk, I don't think I've really even been properly briefed yet. I'm not even sure of my bunk assignment. Everything just says 'pending' when I look."

"Anti-Thad measures, please. Just leave a line of beer cans away from whatever. It works every time." Thad could not help but chuckle at the idea of them needing counter measures. "And you best be quick about it, I am one flex away from shear heartattack." He did a power man flex and put on his pretty boy smile.

"Alright, come with me Cassie, it's time for your real present!" Euikoshi giggled, gently tugging Cassie by the hand towards the wardroom door, with Pidole and Poppy following along.

"It's the prototype, but it should serve you as well as it served me." Mochi offered to Del as Cassie was pulled away, "I don't use it as much as I used to. It's probably time to pass it on to someone who would appreciate it." Mochi grinned, like a father giving a heirloom to his daughter.

"Well, you could. Or I could assign you a cabin." Koyama offered. "Part of my job beyond juggling the insanity aboard this ship is crew assignments."

"Ah, yes. That would be good, yes." Tachiko replied to Koyama but her eyes, and thoughts, were on Pidole, Cassie, and Euikoshi.

Koyama waved Tachiko on, "Or go ask the Captain. Ladies' choice."

END

OOC: JP by Wes, Demibear, Ajax, Charaa, Cowboy, Soresu, Soban, Spaceeye, Shadowwalker, and Ethereal, Yuuki, Zanven
 
Delmira smiled at Mochi. "I would totally use it, i expect that despite being the operator of our sole Ryoko i will be doing more power armor action regardless."

In the span of her short career she went from sniper to heavy weapons specialist to mecha pilot. In fact after the bar incident and having a near mental break down and talking to Poppy Delmira went for additional training on her new found mecha when her MOS was approved to be on temporary hold over until the proper MOS was created.

She sighed as Cassie was whisked by Euikoshi, even after months of being dumped into space she wanted to talk to the other woman at this point she thought she should just book an appointment with Cassie.

Delmira returned to the conversation at hand and curled her tail around Kinie's something she hasn't done for while and sipped her beer. "I wonder if you can help me Mochi i want to propose a SOFT team or something similar but we got a big infantry squad."
 
Frank had a hefty package under his arm plus a set of keys in the other hand as he went searching for Sanda. Upon finding her he would set down the package for her as well as toss her the keys. "Hey, I wanted to thank you for helping me become a fit for duty soldier, so I got you some gifts. A keg of Gunship Lager and a custom Wyrm-series Gravbike with lightning decals that match your tats. you deserve it and thank you." Frank stated before starting to walk away. "Your new ride is in the hanger by the way"
 
Wardroom

Sanda got herself a piece of cake and a cup of coffee to go with it. She added just a wee bit of rum to the coffee for sweetness. Rossa made an excellent cheesecake and she wanted something to cancel out the sweetness of the cake. Sanda noticed Frank enter the Wardroom with big package under his arm. Sanda leaned over and elbowed Yayoi. In a low voice she said, "Aww look, Frank got Cassie a big birthday present. How sweet." She chuckled and started to take a drink of her coffee when Frank set the package down in front of her. As he began talking, Sanda spat out her drink and began coughing.

It took Sanda a moment to stop coughing. She had been in mid sip when he had suddenly dumped this on her out of the blue. That was Frank. Nice guy, but the worst timing. Once she had recovered from her cough, she then had to take a moment to process what he had said. She eyed the keg uneasily and thought to herself, Gunship Lager? ¡Soy una chica de ron! Todos saben eso. Odio la cerveza. She glanced at Yayoi and Koyama for help but found no help there. She looked back at Frank and started to say that she didn't deserve and couldn't accept such lavish gifts when Frank, again true to form, began walking away.

Sanda just sat there staring at the giant keg of Lager and the set of keys in her hand. There was no denying that Frank had improved greatly as a solder since he first came to the Res. She had had to give him a good chewing out early on but other than that she didn't think she had done anything special, at least not enough to warrant all this. Sanda sighed and glanced at Yayoi and Koyama. "You want to go to the hanger and check out this new bike I got?"
 
Koyama observed Frank handing out his gifts. Then walking away with the casual ease of someone pleased with himself. Perhaps he was judging by his words. People should be rewarded for helping their peers improve for the betterment of the whole. The beer was an odd choice. One seemingly echoing with what Sanda was thinking.

Stretching as she got to her feet accompanied by a nod, "Let's see this bike then."
 
Tachiko's eyes met Koyama's as Frank spoke about giving the gift of a custom gravbike. A little bit of a flush rose to her cheeks and she turned away and faked the need to clear her throat. When Koyama rose, Tachiko rose as well. She softly excused herself, "Koyama-nee, thanks again. Oh. I just got the room assignment! Thanks again-again." She watched Frank leave with a complicated expression on her face, then bowed to Koyama, Sanda, and Yayoi. "I need to take care of something. Have fun without me!"

First things first, to her new room. She had to take care of the surprise party issue without relying on Koyama's present. Once she had taken care of that, she returned to her room once more, and looked at herself in the mirror. Hair, uniform, everything, all checked out, squared away. She was a bodysuit sort of Neko, and she looked at the left shoulder stack that had been newly attached to it. Medical qualifications patch at the top, School of Advanced Infantry Combat Giretsu Sakrua Pin at the bottom, and her new fleet's rank insignia between. She nodded at her appearance, made sure her duty belt was centered buckle-navel, and her NSP was securely holstered– Tachiko was not a "sidearm-optional-in-uniform" Neko, whatever regulations were in place.

One final check of everything, and Tachiko was satisfied. She nodded to her reflection in approval, then left her room for the lift to the bridge.

 
Mochi made a mental note to get Cassie an actual present, given the offered rifle was going to be kept by Delmira. Perhaps a genetically modified gerbil whose excrement smelled of perfume. Or, as it now seemed to be a popular gift, a hover bike. The Elysian remembered one of his ex-SOFT comrades, who currently ran a company that made custom bikes built for high intensity racing tournaments.

While Mochi was wondering about her, Delmira mentioned that she wanted his advice on SOFT. The scientist's eyebrows raised at the requested, to be replaced with a slightly concerned expression. "You haven't been talking to SAINT about me, have you Del?" Mochi probed cryptically, tilting his head to one side a little. "Why not ask Koyama? Have you heard something?"
 
Delmira was sipping her drink when she looked at Mochi. "Heard what now? And no i haven't talked to SAINT, those guys are dumber than a transport full of infantry half the time." She uncoiled her tail from Kinnie and shifted a bit. "I wanted to ask you since i remember you have been on the Kaiyo longer than me and i dont know i figured you would know more being a politician and all. Plus your edumatcated than me."
 
Mochi snickered at the SAINT quip. In reality, the past SAINT personnel he'd served with had been quite professional, if very secretive and aloof. It was, however, quite amusing to hear such a blunt remark from Delmira on the subject. On the topic of asking him, Mochi would quickly close his eyes, shooting a message for their MEGAMI to receive and send on.

While waiting for the reply, the Elysian's wings ruffled as he chuckled. "I may have a fancy degree, but it's not in how the Star Army works. I'm sure there's some things you know there that I don't." Mochi glanced along the table towards Koyama, lowering his tone. "I can get in trouble for talking about my civilian position, but I see why that would make you wanna ask me."

Leaning back casually, Mochi offered a sheepish grin. "I was on the Kaiyo for a little before you, but I'm just a green-panel, even if I have led my fair share of away teams, I'm not really allowed to anymore. I have a feeling I can't be of much help on this one, yaknow." In reality, he'd been quickly told not to talk about SOFT to anyone once the team had been disbanded and had heard nothing to the contrary since. He didn't expect that to change.

The Elysian's pocket buzzed, his emerald eyes lowering as he pulled out his PDA from a side pocket. Glancing over it, a wry smile touched Mochi's features. With a sly wink, he laid it on the table and slid it towards Delmira so she could read the messages. He was certainly watching very carefully for her reaction, it was sure to be interesting one way or another. "Or, you know, maybe the Commander of the Star Army says otherwise."
 
Demira took a sip of beer and looked at the PDA. Her eyes became wide and she choked on her beer only to be saved by the fast hands of Kinie hitting her back. "Thank you love." She said before she turned back to Mochi. "What in the fuck." she said a bit to loud before looking around. "I didn't know you were such a badass, well i mean i knew you were as a science officer and politician but not this."

Her tail swayed behind her excitedly and she slide the PDA back to him. "Well if you wanted to keep this between us i will make sure Kinie doesn't tell." She said and gave the other Neko a wink. The Neko sat back and sipped her beer thinking, she knew one thing she was going to need another beer. "Well i guess you are the best person to ask for sure now."
 
Mochi guffawed as Delmira choked in surprise, wiping a tear of amusement from his jade eyes. "Badass?" Mochi grinned at the description, never having considered himself as such. "Maybe once upon a time. A lot of people had to do whatever was required for the war effort. Oftentimes, not what you signed up for." He nodded, expression falling for a moment as he recalled a memory of a space station exploding and crumbling around him. Heat and fire, feeling his skin blister and burn inside a metal shell. Friends screaming as they disappeared and died. Mochi visibly shuddered, shaking his head before pushing it out of mind.

"Ah--" The Elysian resumed the conversation, nodding to Kinie. "Command says it's fine for anyone on the crew to know as long as they keep it to themselves. Just depends how soon you want the Captain to get wind of the idea of a team." Mochi's fiery wings flexed a little as he thought, stroking his chin. "So, that being said, ask away." After a moment he added, "The most important thing is that you're not trained for the role, you're polished after already qualifying. A SOFT team are made up of people who have already proven themselves capable in combat. You need to think on who that might be. No loose cannons and no unproven crewmates, generally. 5 people maximum, 1 team per ship, "
 
Delmira's own PDF dinged and she pulled it out to check it out. "Well it seems i am suddenly disqualified from this team." She said and put it on the table for both Kinie and Mochi to see she was now a vehicle operator until the mecha operator MOS was implemented. The neko smiled and looked quite happy regardless. "The Ryoko is officially mine now."

"Well thinking about it we may not have enough for a SOFT team, Thad is ruled out due to certain events that transpired. But you said that people are polished after qualifying that means like extra training." Her tail swayed behind her as she spoke.
 
Yayoi blinked as she observed the keg placed down before them. She was stoic, and silent but her mind was loud. holy shit of all shits! Her attention went to Sanda and nodded her head “sure..lets see this thing” she said getting up to follow the others. She nodded her head to Tachiko’s words to acknowledge them.
 
YSS Resurgence
YE 44.5.12 (Friday)

Shuttle Bay

The next morning the ship was getting ready to leave Yamatai's orbit after a few quick deliveries. Down in the shuttle bay, green-haired supply specialist Beryl watched as the last shuttle arrived from the surface.

Sanda stared at the hoverbike Frank had gotten for her. She still wasn't sure how she felt about it. There was no denying that it was nice gesture. For one, it did match her tattoos perfectly. She also couldn't deny that she really liked hoverbikes. However, she really didn't feel comfortable with the idea of Frank bying her such an expensive gift.

Yayoi looked at that hoverbike with masked shock and surprise. She couldnt help but wonder how did Frank get it through onto the ship. "It looks like it matches, so that was nice of him" she said.

Vec stirred awake in his harness, as the shuttle touched down in the hanger. Years of training let him wake to full alertness in mere moments. Giving his thanks to the flight crew he shouldered his belongings and disembarked. Everything he owned fit into a duffel over one shoulder or a guitar case in his hand. He preferred it that way. Catching sight of the first soldier he lowered his gear to the deck and snapped off a smart salute, completely at odds with the ratty civvies he still wore. "Vec Wilson-Shoi reporting as ordered. Permission to board."

Beryl stared at the hoverbike. "You think this is your personal garage?" she grumbled. She was already thinking she was going to have to go through a complete inventory of the ship and figure out what else was brought on board without authorization. Like other Star Army starships, if it didn't fit in a duffel bag or wall locker...She abruptly stopped the train of thought and looked back at the shuttle to see a new face, and gave a bow of respect to the officer. "Permission granted, sir, welcome aboard the YSS Resurgence," Beryl sharply replied.

"No need to 'sir' me, Nitô Heisho," Vec said suppressing a yawn, "'Vec,' 'Wilson,' 'hey asshole,' are all fine. So's my callsign."

Frank would enter the hanger "So you like it?" Frank asked Sanda, he would then look to Beryl. "My bad I wasn't sure were to put it, or if there was a lockup for peoples personal vehicles so I put it here." He admitted.

Sanda gave Yayoi a don't encourage him look before turning to Frank. She looked over at the bike again and said, "It's a beautiful bike. I'm impressed with the detail of the decals. But in all honesty Frank, I don't feel like I can accept. I really don't feel comfortable receiving such a gift."

Koyama looked from Yayoi to Sanda her gaze impassive. It wasn't hers, and therefore she wouldn't make suggestions on it. Besides, Sanda was woman enough to decide on her own. But if she could accept a gift from her, why not the former android turned flesh and blood once more?

"You did always say if you want to that you to buy you some rum, But with your interest in lightning bolts and my connection with racing hover bikes I decided to show you my apriciation that much. You're stuck with it now." he says with a grin knowing we just left a port.

Tachiko, after her introduction to the Captain and familiarization with her bridge console, the communications and mission operations station, she'd gone straight to bed. However, she'd not cared for sleeping in an entire cabin herself, and ended up, much to Koyama's interrupted sleep, in the XO's room, asking her cousin to stay the night. Tachiko's sleep habits, of course, were terrible, with blanket-snatching, death-squeezing, and stretching-out-and-pushing-Koyama-out-of-bed. She awoke, gelled to the ceiling, and managed to extricate herself in time for morning training. It was once more back to her Bridge station for Tachiko, after that.

It's not like she was avoiding the topic and presence of Sterling-Hei and custom Gravbikes for any embarrassing reason, or anything.

"It's protocol, sir," Beryl simply told Vec. "You're the new Chief Medical Officer, right? I'm Nitô Heisho Beryl Leyton, one of the ship's two supply specialists. If you'd like, I can show you to the medical lab. We should probably introduce you to the captain and first officer first, though," she suggested. Her eyes briefly wandered back to Sanda and Frank. "Where do you want it delivered?" she asked Frank.

Vec waited for Leyton-Nitô Heisho to finish with the hoverbike issue before asking more questions. That thing didn't look standard issue. Not that he had any room to judge, the old SASO boys would use whatever got the job done.

Sanda sighed and rubbed her eyes. She really didn't want to accept the bike from Frank. It felt way to much like it was some romantic gift. People didn't buy hoverbikes as a way of saying thank you. You bought a hoverbike to someone you really like, and Sanda didn't like Frank in anything more than a crewmate. Besides, she had a boyfriend.

Frank looked back to Beryl, "I'd ask Sanda as it's hers, keys and all," Frank answered.

Sanda glared at Frank and shook her head. To Beryl she said, "I guess it's mine. If you can ship it to my sister on Jiyuu I'd really appreciate it."

"Sure," Beryl nodded. "Text me the address on your communicator and I'll get the logistics shuttle to bring it there. The pilot owes me a favor." She grinned and returned her attention to Vec. "If you're ready, sir," she told him.

"So, Leyton-Nitô Heisho, does your Captain prefer promptness or courtesies?" Scratching at the growth of beard just too long to be stubble. "In other words, should I grab a shave and shower first?'

"Promptness, every time," Beryl replied.

"Aye, lets roll then."

Yayoi turned her head and took notice someone new arriving on the ship. According to the patch he was a Shoi, and thus outranked her, but she also noticed he was in the medical side of the ship so it didn't bother her.

Koyama leaned over, whispering in Sanda's ear. "If you can take an expensive and rare bottle of rum from me. A bike is the same. And I already have a girlfriend." she remarked, nodding to Beryl and then Vec in turn. Waiting for the Shoi. She wore her white-paneled uniform, the Taii rank pin on the breast.

Sanda whispered back, "Yeah, but I know you're not hitting on me and the rum fits in my footlocker."

Frank just grinned "Besides Sanda I'm not interested in a relationship I'm already dating someone else, plus this is a funny way to get back at you for running up my bar tab with mochi." He adds with a chuckle

"I did before I was involved, I am just very subtle." Koyama countered with an eyeroll, she'd long since given up on the notion. "And Frank, technically I also ran up your tab to. Mazrit Brandy is an import from the Commonwealth of the Iromakuanhe."

Sanda had to just put her face in her hands. Sometimes Frank was as bad as Maximus in his logic. First of all, she was going to pay for every drink she took besides the first one. Second, the bloody pub was destroyed so no one was paying for drinks. But Sanda had given up on explaining things to her most of her crew-mates.

Yayoi blinked as she listened and observed the conversation around her.

Frank attempted to pat Sanda on the back "Plus from what I heard you were a bit upset with the whole damn frank and damn this special pub. So I thought you could use a cheering up"

Sanda blocked Frank's attempted to pat her on the back. She really didn't like physical touch, outside of sparing. "Yeah, the whole thing was not one of my fondest memories." She said. Although, she couldn't deny that things had gotten a lot better afterwords but the time spent at that pub was one she would rather not think about.

Frank sighed. "Anyway Sorry about the expensive gifts, joking aside it was more just to cheer you up and say thank you. Besides normal people do that stuff right?" he said genuinely not knowing if they did or not. Before walking out of the hanger. "If you need me I'm going to give Cassie her 14,000 ks flower."

Yayoi turned to look at Frank and blinked her eyes.

Sanda just stared at Frank in disbelief as he left the hanger. Ese hombre no es todo lo que hay.

"By Chiharu, " Koyama muttered under her breath. "I truly am the mother of madness on this ship."

"Just take the bike, thank him. Move on."

Yayoi nodded "Yes you are ma'am." She couldn't help but comment.

Koyama sighed, "Well then. What will you two be doing now?" looking to the pair.

Sanda took one last look at the hoverbike and just sighed. Turning back to Koyama she shrugged. "I don't know. I...Oh Dios. ¡No ella!"

Just then, Mia wandered off the shuttle, carrying her baby and a bottle of whiskey in her arms. "HEY GUYS!" she grinned hugely.

Yayoi had no clue either, she supposed she could go train with her weapons, but she became distracted when she saw Mia make her appearance. Yayoi actually allowed herself to smile as she saw her. "Mia! welcome back!" she called to her. Though she was confused by Sanda's not her comment, she didnt think of it anymore as she focused on Mia.

"Hello!" Mia smiled. "I got permission to come back early so I could be with my Thadster," she laughed, doing a twirl. "It's time to get the party going again!"

Yayoi blinked at her behavior, and she couldn't help but wonder if she was drunk or something, but then she never knew Mia before so she wouldn't be able to tell.

Sanda stepped closer to Koyama and whispered. "Ma'am, request permission for a transfer. Miércoles, even politics sounds safer than this place."

Koyama's lips had begun to twist into the beginning of a smile. Froze and a flat stare replaced it as she looked from a former source of ire to the child in her arms. And a bottle of liquor in the other. Liquidation would have been the better option. Why had she gone along with bringing this... person back? The sake of the child. But that child, that poor child looked like he was in the hands of a madwoman.

Koyama felt an itch in the tips of her fingers. A military ship was no place for a child! Closing her eyes, a deep cleansing breath followed before opening them again. The urge to cut her down momentarily abated.

"Welcome back to the ship," her voice the very tone of diplomacy, "And... you brought the baby. Aboard. The military vessel." wanting to try to emphasize the fact but holding back.

Before murmuring her retort to Sanda, "Denied, you and Yayoi are the only sane ones aboard besides our Science Officer."

"La cordura de uno solo puede durar tanto tiempo..." Sanda muttered back, taking out her flask and taking a drink.

Koyama snatched the flask from Sanda quick as a viper, turned, taking a non-conspicuous sip, and grimaced. She shuddered, the taste of alcohol still nauseating but felt necessary even though for her it would have take bottles to feel tips. And drawing close enough, she made to pat Sanda on the back as if to comfort her, the flash suddenly pressed against it. Maybe she didn't understand what she'd said. Maybe she had and that was her answer. Who could know?

Sanda smirked at the face Koyama made. Despite how crazy this ship was, Sanda was glad that Koyama and Yayoi were on it. I did make the craziness bearable. And Koyama was correct. This ship would explode and all the crew would die if it wasn't for their level heads among all the crazies on the ship.

"Orders Ma'am?" Sanda asked. She still had a job to do and would do it to the best of her ability. She might not officially have an NCO rank, but Sanda had always taken it upon herself to do an NCO job.

"Don't kill her," Koyama murmured Sanda her order.

YSS RESURGENCE - BRIDGE

At her bridge station, Tachiko began familiarizing herself with the differences from her prior station. Though it was very similar, the Mazu was a much, much larger vessel than the Resurgence, with a correspondingly higher tier IES system. The former was made for a higher command echelon, while the Resurgence is a line ship. The focus of the mission ops interface was itself correspondingly different: more finely grained, narrowly focused.

Beryl brought the new CMO into the bridge to meet the command staff. "Good morning, sir," she greeted captain Aoba, handing him a tablet. "All requested supplies are aboard, and I have also made some recommendations. Please see my notes on excessive personal belongings on the ship," she asked him. "This," she gestured to Vec, "is the new chief medical officer, Doctor Vec Wilson."

Captain Aoba rose from his captain's chair and came over to give Vec a firm handshake. He was a serious-looking Yamataian man with a goatee and piercing eyes. "Welcome aboard the Resurgence," he told Wilson. "I'll give you the short version of what I told the crew last night. We're working as a team to find a planet-sized computer for Yamatai to bring home. We know they're out there, because we've ran into them before on multiple occasions. The Empire needs one as soon as possible, but it has to be feasible to capture and operate. This has proven difficult as most are overrun with hostiles or too badly damaged to do anything with. So it's become detective work to find one. I welcome anyone who can participate in this instead of wasting their time."

In a less than smooth motion, Vec grounded his gear and gave his new CO a sharp salute and handshake. Vec's father always said you could tell a lot about a man by the way he shook. The Captain seemed like a straight shooter. "Thanks for the welcome, sir," Vec said giving his CO's hand a firm pump. "I'm pretty good at taking people apart... almost as good at putting them back together. Anything I need to know about the crew or mission before I get started?"

"I'm sure you'll figure things out," Aoba simply said. "Make sure to meet my first officer, Koyama," he told Vec, "and the three Chuis: Kalena, Tachiko, and Gabriela."

Rising crisply when referred to, Tachiko turned on her heel and gave Vec a mid-level bow at the waist. She held it until the Captain had finished speaking, and straightened back up with a polite, practiced-professional smile with her hands behind her back. She was, in short, a "Neko's Neko." The precisely average height and build for their kind, an artifact of being originally made when Nekovalkyrja were significantly more standardized. A black bob cut, big brown eyes, and long, furry ears- tawny on top and black beneath, marked Tachiko's entire batch. She liked to be a bodysuit-and-field-jacket sort of Neko, but on the bridge, she wore her Type 42 working uniform. Couldn't play that she was still an infantry medic ready to jump into power armor at a moment's notice the first day on the job, now could she?

Kalena was a curvy Asian woman with gold eyes and a teal hime cut, manning the weapons station, and Gabriela was a multi-colored anthro with big orange eyes, big round ears and dark brown-red hair, seated at navigation. She had a distinctive pink nose that looked moist. She gave Vec a friendly wave.

"Sirs," Vec said sharply saluting his fellow officers. Stars he hadn't saluted this much since the academy, and everything was too clean. "With all do respect, I hope won't be seeing any of you in my office any time soon."

"Welcome aboard! It's my first day on the job too. I was just transferred from First Expeditionary Fleet. A little under a year after the Captain." If Tachiko were the sort of Neko who had a tail, it would be swishing.

"Oh, good, I was starting to feel like the only new kid in class. I guess the seniors can shove us both in lockers," Vec said with a rye grin. "Honestly though, this is my first ship's officer position. I'm way more used to field hospitals and mortars."

"Well. I was enlisted for fifteen years!" Tachiko tapped the Star Army Medical patch on her left shoulder above her rank, a skill identifier that followed her through occupational changes. Oddly enough, below her rank was an Advanced Infantry Pin– she was one of the only grey-panels in the Star Army to wear one. "Line medic. Seventeenth Armor Wing, Fifth Expeditionary Fleet. First Mishhuvurthyar War. I was even the Chief Medical Officer of the Yukika as a Jōtō-Hei. Crazy times!"

"Note to self, steel Tachiko from the bridge crew, got it. But seriously, impressive record. I enlisted back during the Elysian fuckery with the 171st CSAR Squadron and was told under no uncertain terms not to reenlist at the end of my tour. They twisted my arm until I agreed to go to the Academy instead. Went back to them after the academy and did my practical with them. We got folded into CASO and I did that for a hot minute now I'm here hoping my marksmanship doesn't get rusty or that I get too used to real beds."

"Ah, that was a few years before I popped out of the vat. I just barely missed Xyainbor." Tachiko smiled once more, before the Operations console chirped and drew her attention back.

Taking that as his cue to leave, Vec edged off the bridge. No point in finding an enlisted to show him around. He'd need to learn his own way around eventually, and he'd rather be showered before entering the bay anyway.

YSS RESURGENCE-Elsewhere on the ship.

Mochi whistled in a carefree manner as he strode through the bowels of the Resurgence. In one hand, he held the butt of a rifle, with its barrel resting against his neck in a classic 'present arms' kind of pose. After their chat yesterday, the Elysian had promised Del one of the MAW rifles. While it was still a slightly sore point to Mochi, they were now available generally to the SAOY, if only employed in certain teams that would benefit from long ranged infantry-based combat.

Delmira was in the cargo bay where her Ryoko was at present being stored to make room for other vehicles in the shuttle bay. Even in its compact form it was still big. She was elbow deep in the machines guts as she worked on her mount the manual for the machine was pulled up in the corner of her vision. She was using her tail to hold tools as she swapped between them.

Spotting the crimson Neko up high on her Ryoko, a mischievous grin tugged at the corners of Mochi's mouth. Crouching down a little, the Elysian spread his sunburst wings, jumped and flapped. In a smooth motion, Mochi flew up silently right beside Delmira and came down with a "clang" of boots on metal as he landed on the Ryoko's head. "Boo!"

Delmira shrieked and lucky for Mochi she was unarmed but that didn't stop her from chucking three sets of tools in his general direction as she fell back. Thankfully Nekovalkrya have flight capability so she didn't fall and get seriously hurt. She floated there looking pissed at Mochi even giving a little hiss.

Rounding the corner eventually after giving Cassie her gift at her door. Frank waved "Hey Mochi your looking rather happy today, sorry bout a few months ago."

Mochi's expression turned into one of intense concentration and surprise as three heavy metal tools were hurled in his direction. Doing something best seen in the old 'Matrix' holodisks, the Elysian hopped and bent this way and avoided all of them only by batting the last one away with a closed fist. "Hey now! No need for the barrage!" Mochi laughed, crouching on the mecha's head and blowing a raspberry at Delmira.

Delmira's tail was nice and fluffed out as she floated there and put her hands on her hips. "Your lucky I don't have a gun our your head would be gone."

Mochi waved to Cassie, "Hiya Cassie. Don't worry about it! I'm just glad nobody else got seriously hurt - that was kind of my goal in the first place so chalk up a win." The Elysian winked, "It's all good." Turning to Delmira, Mochi winked, "Maaaaybe- That is, if you could do such a thing to this pretty face."

"Yo!" Cassie waved. She was still in her exercise uniform from the morning's workout hour.

Frank hobbled over, "Hey Cassie I left you a new flower by your room. Oh hey Mochi your wife wasn't unhappy when I told her what happened at the bar right....or did she not tell you she knows yet?"

"Thank you, Frank," Cassie smiled. "You're getting real sentimental," she grinned and then gave him a wink.

Frank smiled, rubbing the back of his head

"Cassie I actually need to talk to you, in private." Delmira said and eyed both Mochi and Frank before turning her attention to Mochi in full. "Uh huh, hey whats that you got there?"

"Oh? What's up?" Cassie asked Delmira, her large feline ears perking up.

"Arbs? Bar?" Mochi seemed quizzical to Frank, before realization dawned on his face. "My PDA is on Do Not Disturb.." He whispered to himself in horror, but loud enough for Del to hear. Her interjection about the rifle was just what he needed to snap back to reality. "Hmm? Oh- Right! It's for you!" Mochi carefully stepped across the shiny metal of the Ryoko and held it out to Delmira with both hands in the traditional way of doing things.

Delmira floated over and purred happily her tail swaying behind her. "Is this the MAW." She said and took it bowing a bit to Mochi. "Thank you Mochi." She moved over to Cassie. "I don't want to talk in front of the guys its personal and uh relates to your past experience. I think."

Cassie pulled Delmira into the empty showers. "Okay, okay, okay, what?"

Delmira waved to Frank and Mochi as she was dragged into the showers. "Well we both got blasted in space different circumstances and all but I haven't been feeling right since then and Poppy is awesome and all but you have been dealing with this longer than me. But I'm not sure when i started feeling off but the whole bar thing kicked it off. I have been getting bouts of depressive episodes, like when after i messed up your cake. I don't know me and Poppy have been talking on the regular about it but I really wanted to talk to you."

Cassie just gave Delmira a huge hug. "You're asking the wrong person, I'm the worst at this." she told Delmira. "I take all my pain and just shove it down inside and distract myself with pleasures that only help in the short term. I avoid therapy and counseling because I don't want to get kicked out of the only home I have--this ship--for being a mental case. I mainly just have a fear of losing everyone. All I can say is you're not alone."

Delmira purred and returned the hug. "I haven't indulged in pleasures mainly because i have gotten self conscious about my looks with my burned back. And your not alone this is the only home i have as well and family."

Koyama sent a message to Mochi. A photo attached. One she had just taken. As if that were all the explanation he'd need. Showed Mia, a bottle of alcohol in hand, her baby, and the fact she was standing not too far away from her.

When Del took the gift and disappeared at Cassie's request before Mochi could give much of an explanation, he sat down on the Ryoko's shoulder and decided it best to wait for Del to return. In the meantime, he checked his PDA for the messages he must have missed. A message from Aoba to come to the Bridge to help with the planet search - oops. One from Koyama with some kind of cryptic SOS message - yikes. And a last one from Arbs - scary. He'd best rendezvous with the other command staff after he wrapped things up with Delmira..

- - -

OOC: JP by Wes, Demibear, Ajax, Charaa, Cowboy, Soresu, Soban, Spaceeye, Shadowwalker, and Ethereal, Yuuki, Locke
 
YSS RESURGENCE -Medbay
Even if Vec hadn’t memorized the ship’s layout on the flight in, finding the officer’s quarters wouldn’t have been too difficult. Some merciful designer had placed the Medbay on Deck 4, only a short jog from the officers cabins. Hopefully his staff had similarly close rooms.

With the Three S’s out of the way Vec looked less like a guitar wielding drifter and more like a proper medical officer when he entered his Medbay. Sure he would have preferred his old Type-37 uniform and a plate carrier, but if anybody was shooting at him here, he’d have bigger things to worry about.

“MEGAMI, pull up crew medical records. Sort first by pressing medical issues, then by physicals: least to most recent.” Vec rattled off commands to the ship’s computer as he took a broad sweep of his new domain. Nothing obviously broken or missing. Good. He set the field coffee pot he’d had since his enlisted days on a Bunsen burner in the corner so he could have a pot of coffee brewing while he inventoried his supplies. In the end, he only had to place a few requisition or fabrication orders.

“Ok MEGAMI, start scheduling appointments based on that list. Ping whoever’s first.”
 
Shuttle Bay

Sanda raised an eyebrow at Koyama, then said quietly, "I won't have too. She has a history of doing it herself." Sanda winched at her own comment. "Too soon?" The Nepleslian born woman was about to cleared her throat and asked, "But seriously, what should I be doing now?" Once again the Res was without an Infantry officer and she hadn't heard anything from the two Heishos. How she longed for that red chevon on her own shoulder. "If we're going to be encountering another machine world, and potentially those virus creatures again we need to be training and coming up with a strategy to how to combat them efficiently."

Sanda was about to say more when she received a ping from the MEGAMI. Apparently her physical was long overdue and needed to be done imminently before she could return to active duty. Sanda snorted. She had been avoiding it because of all the rumors about how Poppy liked to probe people and was a bit of a pervert. Sanda had seen that for herself. Although, the request was from the new chief medical officer. Maybe whoever that was was less of a pervert. Grunting with frustration, Sanda said, "Looks like I'm long overdue for a physical. The message says I have to get it done now. As soon as I'm done though we need to coordinate with the rest of the away team and get a plan together. I don't want to see a repeat of the last mission."

Med Bay

Sanda made her way to the Med Bay and entered. She came to attention as she saw the new medical officer. "Itto Hei Hoshi." She introduced herself. "Seems I'm over due for a physicals." She wanted to add that she really had better things to do and to hurry up but she kept her tongue in check. She didn't know how this officer would respond and she wasn't about to have insubordination added to her record.
 
Zanven returned to his quarters after all the festivities and he stared at the models for a long couple of moments before rearranging the bookshelf near the bunk he stayed in. He had ordered some adhesive to keep them in place when things were shaky and soon it looked like he had a display shelf. Besides a few books, there was now some space for other things. He was still dressed down and off duty for the time, but he knew that the Nodachi's updates to its computer systems should have been done so he checked the progress via an access port in his room. After confirming it was ready he began to run simulations and testing capabilities as well as read up on some of the new normalized features that were rolled out. All in all...a boring night for most, but a typical night for the pilot.
 
Delmira eventually would return to Mochi eyes recently dried. "Sorry about that but we needed to talk about something." She hefted the MAW a literal piece of history given what Mochi told her previously. She held the weapon loosely in her hands. "Norita is going to be pissed i have yet another object cluttering up the armory." She gestured vaguely around the cargo bay. "i have a drum set somewhere in here as well. I really should buy an apartment or something someday."
 
Medbay
“At’ease,” Vec said, gesturing with his coffee cup for her to sit on one of the exam tables. He pulled up the young enlisted’s file on his datapad and perused it for a moment.

Affecting a board attitude, as if these physicals were a waste of both of their time, he said, “I know you rangers’d rather be out there doing push ups or shooting bad guys instead of boring physicals. But think of it like a routine gear check. Better to catch the issues back at base than when somebody’s shooting at you or your squad. If you’re up to it, let’s start with a few yes or no questions. We can take a break any time you need. So, ready to get this over with, Ranger?”
 
YSS Resurgence
YE 44.5.12

Medical Lab

Poppy Pink, the Resurgence's pink-haired nurse, shuffled through the bottles and tubes of medications on the shelves, looking at the expiration dates on them, when the new Chief Medical Officer walked in. "Welcome, sir,"

"No need to "sir" me," Vec said offering a beaker of coffee. He hadn't brought a second cup. "Looks like you've kept things in good order."

"I'm Poppy," the Star Army medic introduced herself, offering a hand to Vec. "I've been keeping this crew alive. Ready for your first patient here?" she asked, gesturing to Sanda. "Unless she prefers a female," she caveated.

"We'll see, Poppy, get ready to handle Hoshi's bloodwork."

"Okay."

Sanda stared at the Doctor for a moment, taking the measure of the man before her stoic face cracked into a smile. She shrugged. "You're the doctor." Sanda sat down on the edge of the examine table, back straight.

"Okay, so do you drink regularly?" Vec asked as if most soldiers didn't.

Sanda raised a tattooed eyebrow. "Define regularly. Do I drink? Yes. Do I become intoxicated? Very rarely."

"Fair enough. What about smoking?" he asked making another note.

Sanda laughed out loud on that one. "This is Yamatai! Smoking is illegal. Más es la pena."

"I don't actually care if it's illegal or no, I just need to know your lungs aren't shot," he said with a shrug.

"Then no. I haven't smoked since I was a teenager. And I never smoked very much." Sanda responded.

"Good to hear. This next question might be a bit personal, but do you have unprotected sex?" Vec held her gaze levely, keeping his demeanor professional.

Sanda held the Doctor's gaze for a moment. Had anyone else asked that she would have knifed them. But she knew it was a routine question. She sighed. "No."

"What is protected sex?" Poppy asked with a chuckle.

"Obviously sex in power armor," Vec said flatly. "Ok good. let's move on to the next question. How have you been sleeping? I mean beyond Army fuckery. Any trouble sleeping?"

Sanda chuckled. "I can go to sleep anytime anywhere. That's one of the things they teach you in Ranger school."

He fixed her with another stare, "You and I both know that's not what I mean. Do you sleep through the night? Weird dreams, a light sleeper even on leave?"

The Nepleslian shrugged. "I've always been a light sleeper, but I can go back to sleep just as quick as I wake up. As for dreams... Sometimes." She admited. "But not anything that unduly worries me."

"Well that's... good," Vec said taking notes, "Well keep an eye on it. Getting shot at can have effects down the road, I'm speaking from experience." He let the subject rest and asked, "You have a prosthetic arm and a bionic eye, do you have soreness around the implant areas? Have headaches or see flashes of light?"

Sanda shook her head. "Never had any issues." She raised her right arm and stared thoughtfully at it. "I only get the best."

Poppy fired up the Type 30 Mental Transfer and Backup Unit, "When you're done we'll get a backup copy of your consciousness and some DNA samples and scans, just in case something happens to you," she told Sanda. "In the event you die, do you want us to respawn you?"

Sanda eyed the ST machine warily. She had never been super comfortable with the idea of being brought back to life. Honestly the only reason she ever kept up to date was she couldn't stand the idea of how her family would feel if she was killed. "If I was to be... respawned. What would I be? A Minkan?"

"We can 3D print a body to your preferences. If you want us to use your current DNA we can do that. I would recommend a Minkan replacement body, though. It'll look the same but it's a lot more robust from a medical standpoint," Poppy replied.

Sanda snorted. "I'm a Nep girl through and through. I like my tattoos and my cybernetics. Let's go with the non-Minkan option. Not that I intend on dying. Neps are too ornery to die."

"My advice, kill the other guy first. Trust me, I'm a doctor," Vec said offhandedly.

"Fair enough," Poppy said.

"Well, if you don't have any more questions, let's get you hooked up. We'll handle your blood work while we're at it."

Sanda raised an eyebrow. That was it? Man she should have gotten this done months ago. Pretty painless. "Sounds good." She paused. "Should I remove my weapons before you plug me up?"

"It's fine, it's just your head under the scanner," Poppy told Sanda.

"Great. Let's do it." Sanda said. She was relieved she didn't have to surrender her weapons. It was against her religion.

"Let's get this over with, you shouldn't feel a thing, or wait, it's 'you'll feel excruciating pain,'" the joke slipped out before he had time to think. He hoped it didn't undermined the trust he'd worked so hard to build. It wasn't even that funny.

Sanda laughed and smiled wickedly. "Don't worry Doc. I'll give as much pain as I receive. That's the Ranger way."

A genuine smile crept across Vec's face. "Pull the lever, Assistant!" he said in a mad scientist's voice.

Delmira knocked on the door to the med bay before entering. "Nito Hei Delmira Brunhilde Lulie reporting." She said and looked around. "Oh good your busy i will come back later." She said and tried to sneak out of the room

Poppy grabbed Delmira as she tried sneaking off. "Come in, Delmira," she grinned. "What brings you to the medical lab?" Have you met the new doc?" she asked. "Hopefully he's not a shitty boss," she chuckled.

"Oh no, I'm the worst boss, I hog all the coffee cups and make my troops drink out of beakers. It's still better coffee than galley swill though, so maybe I'm... a benevolent god?"

Sanda's eyes widened momentarily. "Obviously you've never had Rossa's coffee. Our cook makes excellent coffee."

"Man, I haven't even been here for half a day, I'll have to see that for my self," Vec said doubtfully before triggering the ST machine.

Delmira made mrow noise as she was grabbed and stopped. "Uh i got a message to come here." She smiled at Poppy. "I hope you are giving me my physical today."

"Sure," Poppy grinned at Delmira. "Can you get undressed? All those skin grafts I did should be fully healed and I just wanted to check."

"Flirt on your off time, soldier, I had to shock our subjec-- I mean patient myself," Vec said, turning his attention to the newcommer.

Sanda chuckled. She was pretty shocking with her lighting tattoos. "Is that it for me?" She asked.

Delmira grinned and lifted up her uniform shirt to show Poppy her back which was healed up by now. "Good as new."

"Nice!," Poppy grinned. "Did you need a backup as well?" She handed Del a plastic sample tray. "Also I need you to give me a stool sample in this. Go ahead and shit when you're ready," she told Delmira with a wink.

"There's a bathroom down the hall, or you can use one of the containment cells with the opacity turned up," Vec said wondering how serious she was.

To Sanda, "Yeah, Hoshi, you've got a clean bill of health, we can do a more in depth check up next time. But please, try not to let your check up last this long, you wouldn't neglect your gear this long. Don't do it to yourself either."

Sanda nodded. "Thanks Doc. I'll try. As you saw for yourself. I'm doing just fine. I know my limits. But I get your point."

"You don't have to prove anything to me," Vec said with a sigh, "I'm just a flesh mechanic. Things break, I fix them. But I'd rather catch issues early before they break and get a whole squad killed, ya know."

"Yeah I know. Thanks again. I'll see you at mess hall sometime." Sanda said.

"Yeah you can prove that the mess coffee is actually drinkable," Vec said stepping aside.

"I would rather we roll back my current memory to before i got blasted into space given recent mental trauma from the past 2 months." Delmira said and then fixed Poppy with a stare. "Are you serious because I will."

Poppy just laughed, "I was just messing with you," she whispered to Delmira. "I wanted to see the new guy react," she explained. "Are you serious about rolling back your memory? Is that legal?"

As Sanda left the Med Bay, she said to Del. "Hey Del, after your check up come find me, Yayoi and Koyama. We're trying to come up with a plan for this upcoming mission."

Delmira pulled her shirt down, even fully healed she still felt like she had the burn."I don't know you are the doctor here, but yeah i guess we should do a back up." Delmira smiled to Poppy and turned to face Sanda and nodded her head. "copy that."

Vec's ears perked up at mission talk. He needed to check the crew logs. Did they have any field medics on the Res? Unless I'm the only one, Vec thought with a swell of excitement. He'd been worried this new post would keep him cooped up on the boat.
 
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