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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

Thia's warm smile never faltered as she listened to Thad talk. She gave him a moment to continue, but when she decided he was done she turned to Chiasa. Reaching out her hand, she gave the tiny neko's cheek a gentle stroke with the backs of her fingers.

"Duty calls, honey, I'll sit in on you again later, okay?"

Her eyes lingered on Chiasa a moment longer, before she looked at Thad again.

"We'll go to my office, then," Thia told him before leading the way towards the zero G passage that would let them ascend. "Tell me about yourself."
 
“I’ll see you later, Thia.” Chiasa answered, a comforting warmth rising in her core as the Nepleslian stroked her cheeks. Unfortunately, just as soon as Thia left, the sensation was gone, drawing a longing sigh from the tiny Nekovalkyrja’s lips as she watched the Counselor walk off with Thad.

It was only then that she received Yayoi’s message, compelling Chiasa to shift her attention towards the Ranger, a smile forming across her features as she did.

I’d love to, Asakura-Heisho, Chiasa flashed back. Wanna meet in the virtual reality room?

Chiasa figured that if Rangers loved to fight, perhaps she could show them that she was still capable in that regard.

 
YE 44.5.13 - Evening

That night, there was little to do but wait for the crew to do but wait out the long journey through hyperspace. They had some some training during the day, the ship was clean and their gear was ready, and day shifts were over. Rossa served some hot wings in the wardroom, and the crew was free to do what they wanted.

Wardroom

"Rossa you got any bbq sauce for these wings." Delmira asked her.

"Yes," Rossa nodded, handing Delmira a bottle. "Try some of the waffle fries," she suggested. "I also have some strawberries and salad if you like."

"Yummy and thank you. Hopefully there's some wings for the others when I'm done." Delmira said loading her plate up with wings taking some fries as well before looking around to find a spot to sit.

Yayoi found herself craving some hot wings for some reason so she decided to give training a break and make her way to the wardroom to eat some. Plus scuttlebutt says Rossa makes the best wings in the empire, so she wanted to try something.

Sanda had showered after the sparing in the VR room and now starving. She felt like a new woman after all the physical activity and shower. She got her a big plate of wings and sat down to eat.

Yayoi entered the wardroom after Sanda and Delmira. But she focused on the task before her which was getting a plate of wings before making her way to sit across Sanda.

"Hermana." Sanda acknoledged as Yayoi sat down. She had a wing in her hand. She placed the whole wing in her mouth and pulled. Clean bones came out. Sanda set them on a second plate she had brought just for the bones and took up another one.

Euikoshi fixed herself a plate and sat down, followed by her roommates Poppy, Pidole, and Cassie. They all had wet hair from the shower and were dressed in T-shirts.

There was a thwip thwip flapping sound as a familiar hand-sized blue beetle buzzed over everyone's heads, making a bee-line for the strawberries.

"hermana' Yayoi replied as she began to eat her first wing, before her ears picked up on the wet heads entering the wardroom. She knew of course they probably had a shower, but if she'd been one of her younger batch sisters she might have thought the girls were playing in the shower. Her red and yellow eyes caught the site of Pidole's little friend flying overhead, no doubt wanting something delicous and sweet.

"I say we need to improve crew bonding," Euikoshi said out of the blue. "You're an expert on bonding, right, Poppy?" she asked the pink-haired medic.

"No, I'm an expert on bondage," Poppy replied with an amused expression. "What are you suggesting?"

Pidole started curiously at Poppy.

"We could do some sort of training simulation," Cassie said. "Remember the problem-solving courses from basic training?"

Delmira sat down with the others and looked at Euikoshi. "Whats this about bondage?" The small neko made sure she had plenty of BBQ sauce on her wings before she started to eat her wings.

Chiasa didn't like eating more than one meal a day, but she had worked hard while training against Yayoi and felt like she might need the spare energy in reserve for later. Not long after getting out of the shower, the tiny Nekovalkyrja made her way to the wardroom, loaded her plate with a small serving of wings and sides, before taking her place at her roommates' chosen table.

"Hi." Chiasa spoke a little cautiously, if only because she wasn't quite comfortable with Sanda yet.

Sanda paused in eating to eye Chiasa a moment then continued. There wasn't any hostility that there had been the night before. But she didn't respond right away because her mouth was full. Once she swallowed she replied, "Evening." and then picked up another wing.

Yayoi noted Chiasa's arrival "good evening, Chiasa, how is your arm?" Yayoi asked her having been in a sparring match against the medic. "You've got in some good hits" she commented before she began eating, though her eyes took in Chiasa's food, but made no comment. Chiasa was short afterall.

"It's healing fine." Chiasa answered. "You did too." She added, but it was very much understatement. It had been a very difficult fight for the tiny Nekovalkyja, being outclassed in more ways than one by Yayoi. Not to mention, Yayoi was a Ranger. That alone made her tough opponent, both in and out of power armor.

Sanda's eyes went from Chiasa to Yayoi and back. So the two of them had done some sparring? Sanda could almost feel Yayoi's gaze on her, willing her to play nice. The lightning tattooed Ranger sighed then said, "I'm sorry about the other night Chiasa. We had a terrible mission with a bunch of rookie misstakes and it had finally got to me. I'm normally very professional and last night was a one off."

Chiasa shifted her gaze to Sanda and blinked.

"I'm sure." She said in what was almost a monotone voice.

Yayoi listened as Chiasa told her that her injuries were healing well, as she knew it would. But it was what Sanda had said next that truely pleased her greatly. She allowed one of her rare smiles to grace her lips as she listened to her talk. Though she glanced to Chiasa and she was surprised by her monotone voice.

"I mean getting to know each other," Euikoshi grinned. "Working as a team, building trust..."

Thia entered the wardroom. Her cybernetic eye was glowing brightly and she only seemed to be half paying-attention as she served herself a plate of wings, smiling warmly at Rossa as she did so. She turned to face the tables and when she saw Chiasa and the Rangers sitting at a table, Thia tried but mostly failed to keep the interest off her face.

Trying to act like she wasn't paying close attention, Thia sat down with Delmira, Euikoshi, Poppy, Pidole, and Cassie. She nibbled at her wings, but listened intently to Chiasa and her new roommates.

Bidole landed on the table next to Pidole's plate of wings and spinach-heavy salad, carrying two strawberries, and began devouring them. Interestingly it didn't touch Pidole's strawberries, saving them for her.

"Go on..." Poppy told Euikoshi, flashing a big smile.

"Yes i to wish to know where where this is going." Delmira said giveing a smile to Thia as she sat down before looking to Euikoshi.

"I think we should play truth or dare," Euikoshi finally suggested. "Who's in?"

"I am." Delmira said eating the wings on her plate.

Thia perked up. "Always in," Thia said with an asymmetric smile as she kept her cybernetic hearing tuned to the other table, even as the one she was sitting at was getting interesting.

Poppy smiled and gave Euikoshi an enthusiastic nod. "Of course," she quietly replied. She looked over to Thia with interest, her face getting a little flushed as she remembered the sensation of Thia's tongue from that wild night in Ternifac.

Mochi made his way into the Wardroom some time after everyone else had convened, no doubt cleaning up the VR room and getting changed before coming here. He made his way over towards the food, smiling at the others here. "Hey girls."

Seeing Mochi, Cassie gave him a wave back, then chuckled and asked the others, "Are we going to allow officers to join?"

Delmira grinned at Poppy and looked at Thia. "When are the three of us going to have out thereapy session?"

Thia looked up when Mochi approached and waved at him before leaning over to Delmira. "He has nice wings," she whispered. "If we're excluding officers, I would have to go. So I say we allow them."

"What about you, Sanda and Yayoi?" Euikoshi asked. "Are you in for truth or dare?"

Sanda eyed Chiasa a moment at her monotone voice. Yeah, I deserved that. Sanda thought. Before she could say anything else Euikoshi called over and asked if she wanted to play truth or dare. Sanda smirked. "With that group? I'd rather fight a hoard of Mishu. I'd feel safer agaist them." She laughed at the thought.

Yayoi glanced to Euikoshi as she asked Sanda and Yayoi if they were in for truth and dare. She raised her eyebrows at Sanda's response. Yayoi hadnt participated in a truth or dare since socialisation, she hadnt had a good experience, but maybe it was because of the group. "truth or dare... interesting I'll... join." She decided since she'd also remembered getting messages from her little sisters, and her mother the headscientist who was in charge of her batch for not socializing.

Sanda tooked at Yayoi in surprise. "I guess I'll just watch then, unless you guys start getting weird. Then I'm out."

"I guess I'm in," Cassie told the others. "Where do we want to play?" Cassie looked to Sanda. "You can't just watch people play. You have to share the risk." Then in a mocking baby voice, she asked, "Is the wittle baby Sanda scared?"

"I don't really have anything better to do at the moment, so I guess I'll play too." Chiasa said, her tone seeming aloof, even as she accepted the offer to partake the game.

Mochi returned to the others, having got some hot wings and fries from Rossa, whom he thanked with a wink. His sunburst wings jostled happily behind him for a moment as he tasted the delicious spices. Looking around for a moment, the Elysian used his free hand to pull over a chair and sit backwards on it, resting his plate on the top of the backrest. "A game? Sweet~"

"With our group we will get weird." Delmira looked at Sanda. "Come on join in for a round or two at least."

"It's okay," Thia patted Del and gave Sanda a warm smile. "There's no need to demonstrate your bravery, darling, so don't feel pressured to join us."

Delmira purred at being patted, Thia knew how to make her purr like a kitten.

Chiasa shot Delmira a look, but otherwise, the tiny medical specialist didn't say anything. It went without saying that she couldn't help but to feel a slight stab of jealously at seeing 'Kitten' enjoying so much of the the Counselor's attention!

Yayoi glanced at Thia and Delmira, and began to think that the two were getting close in terms of relationships.

Mochi smirked through a mouthful of fries as Delmira purred and Chiasa gave her what was almost a glare. No doubt he found it pretty funny.

Sanda was silent for a several moments as she weighed her options. She knew this group. They liked to get a little... a lot too friendly and physical. But the Nep in her was screaming to not back down from the gauntlet Cassie and others were throwing down. Finally she said, "I'll play, however I will say that I won't do anything I'm not comfortable with." She left no room for argument in her statement.

"Fair enough." Delmira said and looked at the others

VR ROOM

After dinner, the group gathered in the ship's VR room for the game. Euikoshi set the room to show the livign room of a fancy castle with plenty of seating a huge fireplace lit in front of everyone. A giant bear-skin rug was a on the floor and paintings of royals and knights covered the walls.

Delmira had quickly excused herself to go wash her face and changed into a oversized shirt and shorts.

Yayoi had left to get ready, mainly to something to be more comfortable and easy for excess movement should she need to.

Thia walked in and sat down. She didn't own anything as informal as shirts and shorts except for her exercise uniform, which she refused to wear unless absolutely necessary. Instead, she wore a necklace that cast a volumetric projection of glossy black rotating geometric shapes along the contours of her body, in the rough shape of a dress.

Chiasa was naked, but projected a volumetric image of a pink bodysuit over her form. After seeing Delmira cozying up to Thia, the tiny Nekovalkyrja had made a point to place herself next to the Counselor, almost cuddling up against the taller woman in the process!

Thia smiled and idly brought her hand up and ran it through Chiasa's hair as she waited for the game to begin. "Hiya, honey," she said quietly. In turn, the tiny Nekovalkyrja made quite a show of soft purrs and mewls, a rare smile coming over her features as Thia played with her hair.

Sanda had gone with Yayoi back to the room and at her suggestion, changed into her workout close. Black tank top and shorts. She kept her boots on with her blade and backup type 33 in them. She felt more nervous going to this social gathering than she ever felt going into combat.

Mochi had decided to come in a uniform that he rarely wore, that being the exercise uniform. It seemed like most of the others were in their comfy stuff, so the Elysian thought he'd follow suit. Sitting to one side, he quietly munched on the last of his wings and chips. He'd gone for the cold weather version, with a baggy hoodie and long pants.

"You first," Euikoshi offered Sanda, eager to get started. She had a lot she wanted to know about her crew mates but she also had some other ideas for dares and it was hard to choose.

"Me first what?" Asked Sanda, a little testy at being singled out first. She stood by the fireplace then sighed. "Truth. I don't trust you guys with a dare."

"No, you've got to pick someone," Euikoshi cackled.

"Mochi." Sanda said. He was the only guy there so he stuck out and it just came out. Sanda rook her flask out of her pocket and quickly took a drink. Esta es una mala idea y te arrepentirás en la mañana. Sanda thought to herself.

Mochi's emerald eyes snapped up from his last wing, which he had held in his mouth like some kind of dog. Sheepisly, he took a bite and swallowed it quickly - "M-Mhm?"

"Who wants a beer?" Cassie asked, handing them out to whoever wanted one.

"Me." Delmira said and turned her alcohol filter off.

Yayoi raised her hand to Cassie"i'd like one" she said as she subtly turned her alcohol filter off, as protocol required it. Then turned her attention as Sanda picked Mochi.

"I'd never turn down a free drink from a cutie pie like you," Thia winked at Cassie and took a beer, cracking it open one-handed and taking a sip while her other hand still played in Chiasa's hair.

Mochi pawed at Cassie for a drink, giving a thankful grin as she passed one over. Popping the top, it only now dawned on him how he was the only guy here. But then again, this was Yamatai, and that was hardly so uncommon. Putting the neck of the bottle to his lips, the blonde Elysian took a few long gulps.

"Come on Mochi, truth or dare." Delmira said and took a sip of her drink.

"Oh! Ah! Hmm.." He hastily cradled the drink in his lap as he thought for a moment. "Truth?" The Elysian's gaze flicked to Sanda, wondering what she might ask.

Sanda stood there like a deer in headlights. She couldn't think of a single question. Finally she blurted out, "Who is the toughest fighter on the ship!"

That one, Mochi hadn't expected. Maybe those memories of the classic Dare Parties he'd been in the past didn't quite apply here. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the question. "Toughest? Hmm." He rubbed his chin for a second, then smirked at Sanda. "Me, of course." Whether he was joking or not would be down to the others' interpretations.

Yayoi glanced and observed the conversation before her. She blinked as Mochi claimed that he himself was the toughest.

Delmira watched the two and sipped her beer. "I uh well wasn't expecting that one."

Mochi shrugged and crossed his legs as he took a small sip of beer, "I've seen my fair share. I've had an interesting time in the Star Army to say the least. Got my secret ops award and all that." He gave a little explanation.

Euikoshi picked Thia, "Truth or dare, Thia?"

Thia, still holding her beer, stuck out her finger and tapped it gently against her lips as she thought. "Hmm," she hummed. "Truth."

"Out of all the crew, who do feel the most connected to in a romantic way?" Euikoshi asked Thia.

Chiasa's eyes went wide, her muscles tensing up upon hearing the science specialist's question. Almost unwittingly, the tiny Nekovalkyrja immediately sidled up to Thia, as if to make her case!

"The most connected?" Thia smiled and giggled slightly. "Aww, that isn't fair. I have so many funny answers that aren't true."

Thia sighed. "To be perfectly honest," she began and paused for dramatic effect.

Sanda took another sip from her flask. She was feeling more and more uncomfortable.This was not the kind of game she wanted to play. These questions were way to personal for someone who liked to keep her private life private.

Yayoi placed her glass to her lips and hesitated as she waited for Thia's answer.

Delmira sipped her beer and watched.

Mochi cast a glance at Delmira and bounced his beer bottle gently against his knee.

Delmira flicked a ear and turned to face Mochi.

He shot her a knowing look in reply, a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Delmira moved over and plopped herself on Mochi's lap.

"I don't think I'm really much of a romantic. I haven't been out on a date in years," Thia shrugged, and started patting Chiasa a little more slowly. "But I do love people and sex. So nobody, I guess."

Chiasa held back a frown. While the tiny Nekovalkyrja still wasn't sure how far she wanted to take her relationship with Thia, she was addicted to the idea of being loved, whether it was by someone or even multiple people. Moreover, the idea of being the most loved out of a group was especially exciting to her! As such, it went without saying that she was slightly disappointed in the Counselor's answer, but she was beginning to learn that Thia wasn't the kind of person to commit to one individual.

"Chiasa, honey," Thia looked down and smiled at the tiny neko. "I think it's your turn to pick someone."

Yayoi listened as Thia spoke, then turned her gaze to Chiasa, as it seemed to be her turn for the game, and took a sip of her beer, and blinked at the taste and it begining to affect her quickly, the lightweight.

Sanda watched the different people in the room and shook her head. She really didn't like all this casual sexual stuff. Sanda was an all or nothing type of girl. When she gave her heart to someone it would be forever. She glanced down at the blade handle sticking out of her boot. The honest truth was she already had given her heart to another.

Chiasa smiled and turned her pink-eyed gaze towards Pidole and her pet beetle. "Truth or dare, Pidole?"

"Dare, please," Pidole replied, staring into Chiasa's eyes.

"Close your eyes." Chiasa instructed, a wicked smile coming over her features as she did. Once the technician's eyes were closed, she shifted her attention to Poppy, transmitting a telepathic message to the medic to go up to Pidole and sit in front of her.

"Without opening your eyes, I want you to feel the face of the person in front of you, then guess who they are."

Pidole reached out and touched Poppy's face, using her advanced spatial awareness she usually used on mechanical parts of the ship to map out the face with her fingers. "High cheekbones...good skin without makeup...that very straight nose...it has to be Poppy," Pidole guessed correctly. "I also recognize her scent," she grinned, opening her eyes.

Yayoi blinked as she watched the scene before her.

While the others were chatting, Mochi wrapped his fluffy warm wings around Del, embracing her in a bit of a hug where she sat in his lap. It was very comfy and warm under his plumage.

Delmira purred softly and snuggled into Mochi sipping her beer. She was tempted to close her eyes and fall sleep.

When it was Poppy's turn, the pink-haired medic looked around at her selection of potential victims and chose Chiasa.

"Umm...dare!" Chiasa piped up, feeling somewhat frisky!

- - -

OOC: JP by Wes, Ajax, Charaa, Cowboy, Soresu, Soban, Spaceeye, Shadowwalker, Ethereal, Yuuki, Zanven, Locke, Damaske, Hyralt, Immortal Cyan
 
YE 44.5.13 - Evening

PART II

Chiasa's mind raced with the possibilities of what Poppy might choose for her to do, even as she simultaneously relished in the challenge she had just given to Pidole. Some small part of her was still hung up on what Thia had said earlier, but she set that part of her aside for the time being. It helped to have Thia petting and playing with her hair.

"I dare you to put on a pair of tights and then take them off without using your hands," Poppy dared Chiasa. She had seen this done recently and it had involved a lot of squirming around on the floor with one's tights halfway down. She didn't want to go too crazy at first. The pink-haired medic smiled and went and got one of those cold beers and gave it a try.

Thia delicately ran the tips of her fingers along the cornrows Chiasa wore on one side of her hair. The tight braids had a repeating pattern of ridges and valleys that Thia idly stroked, imagining that her fingers were like the needle of an ancient record player recreating some mysterious sound in her mind. With her other hand, Thia raised the beer to her lips and quietly sipped, wondering what exciting things the night had yet in store for them. When Chiasa's dare was called, Thia's smile grew asymmetrically and became almost predatory as she turned to watch the tiny Neko.

Yayoi watched the scene before her with new alcohol affected interest as the truth or dare game continued.

Chiasa's mouth formed a distinct O-shape as Poppy gave her dare, but the tiny Nekovalkyrja wasn't one to shirk from a challenge, even one as bawdy and potentially lewd as what the pink-haired medical specialist had contested. Not to mention, the nature of the dare would make it obvious that Chiasa was only "wearing" volumetrics, but a part of Chiasa's disposition was slightly excited by the prospect!

After all, she had already done far worse in the presence of a military police officer!

Before long, one of the Caretakers offered her a pair of tights, to which Chiasa smiled before standing up and sliding her legs into them, though the tight nature of their fit meant that the tiny Nekovalkyrja needed to jump up and down a few times in order to get them over her butt! Nevertheless, once that was done, Chiasa took a deep, calming breath, briefly considering her options to get the tights off.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for some others), their tight, undersized fit meant that it wasn't going to be quite as easy as Chiasa might have hoped!

While doubling as Delmira's floofy blanket, Mochi reached up from under his plumage and took another deep drink of his beer. This was already shaping up to be an interesting little game. He had to admit, Chiasa looked good with those things on. Very tight.

Sanda took another drink from her flask. The rum was starting to warm her up. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to be here, but at least she was starting to relax a little bit. She couldn't help smile at how ridiculous Chiasa looked trying to get those tights on.

Yayoi watched as Chiasa began her part of the dare. She was confused about the caretaker that brought her pants untill it occured to her that Chiasa was wearing volumetric outfits. Her younger sisters liked wearing that instead, and she suspected that the woman she met with Tachiko, Yue was also like that. She watched Chiasa, and hid a forming smile of amusement as she worked.

Thia at first bit her lip and then took a long sip of her beer as she watched Chiasa get the tights up over her butt. Her hazel-colored cybernetic eye glowed with obvious interest as she watched the fabric stretch over soft flesh.

Chiasa couldn't hold back the blush that blossomed on her cheeks as Thia bit her lip, the sensation of eyes leering in her direction causing her muscles to tense with excitement. Then, resigning herself to her fate, Chiasa lowered herself down onto her back, butt touching the ground first before she began to work her hips back and forth along the floor in a series of forceful, gyrating motions which were accompanied by a few soft grunts of exertion!

Delmira watched and drank her beer. She was watching Chiasa intently focused on how the Neko was going to get the tights off.

Thia watched intently as Chiasa gyrated on the floor, feeling the almost overwhelming sensation that Chiasa was a helpless animal onto which she should pounce and put out of her misery. Rather than acting on her impulses, Thia swallowed and focused on her breathing to maintain her composure.

Realizing that her initial efforts weren't working to draw down the tights, Chiasa was compelled to pick up her pace and intensity, skin beginning to glisten with sweat as she did! From there, it didn't take long for her to make some progress, but the tiny Nekovalkyrja still had yet to get the tights over the fattest, most protrusive part of her butt. Before long, Chiasa was pushing herself back and forth with more vigor, to such an extent that the coconut-sized assets on her chest jiggled with the effort. Slowly but surely, her lurid, suggestive movements began to pay off, as the tights finally shifted to the underside of her butt!

Yayoi watched as Chiasa worked with interest as she tried her best to do her dare. She'd considered reaching over to help her pull the pants off, but she didnt think that was allowed since she couldnt use her hands, even if they werent her own.

Mochi's blonde eyebrows were well and truly raised as he enjoyed the show. It had been a very inventive dare, but the payoff was seemingly worth it. Chiasa's white hair was dancing this way and that as she endeavoured to free herself of the body-hugging, restrictive fabric. Nervously, the Elysian glanced down to Delmira who was upon his lap, wondering if she was about to look back at him with an accusatory stare.

Delmira wiggled a bit in Mochi's lap adjusting her position but kept watching Chiasa. She did turn her head a bit to look up at Mochi.

Thia shifted her body to one side, rolling so that she was reclining on her hip with her legs tucked together on the other side. As she did so, the volumetric projections of black three-dimensional geometric objects that formed a kind of virtual dress preserving her modesty shimmered and contorted to match the curvature of her body. Still feasting on the sight of Chiasa's figure with her eyes, Thia couldn't help but clear her throat out of excited discomfort.

Next, Chiasa transitioned to a slightly more tame series of movements, though anyone of a particular dirty mind might liken it to a certain form of outercourse! Slowly, the tights were manipulated down the fat part of her thighs, drawing a more aggressive, animalistic series of grunts from the tiny Nekovalkyrja's lips as she worked them down ever further towards her calves and then finally, her feet!

Gravitiy could have taken care of the rest in theory, but Chiasa was savoring the attention! Shifting her attention to Poppy, Chiasa gave the pink-haired Minkan a naughty grin as she slid back over to her position presented her feet up to Poppy's head, silently daring the medical specialist to pull the stockings off of her feet, however she saw fit to do so!

Poppy flexed her arm between Chiasa's legs. showing off her bicep and this created a hook for Chiasa to use. The tiny Nekovalkyrja immediately leveraged the Minkan's toned arm to pull the tights off, a coy smile coming over her features as she took in Poppy's athletic, yet feminine physique! However, she was slightly disappointed by the fact that the pink-haired medical specialist hadn't elected to pull them off with her mouth instead!

Down the corridor, Mia knocked on the cabin door of new crew member Morivai Janik. "Hey, Julia says there's truth or dare happening in the VR room. It might be a good chance to get to know some people," she suggested. She was holding a sleeping baby in her arms.

Morivai was still figuring out his personal quarters, the space he'd been provided since onboarding with the YSS Resurgence. He still couldn't believe after all this time that he came to work for the very crew that rescued him, a whole year ago. So much time had passed since then, and he'd learned a great deal after signing up with the Star Army and joining other upcoming technicians. Some of his personal belongings were still in boxes, and he didn't have the heart to open them up. Not yet. He could only stare at the bare minimum of a freshly cleared room, wondering what to do with the space.

A welcome distraction arrived earlier than expected, and Morivai's gaze shifted with the knock on his door. He turned to open it, stopping when a woman's voice called out to him from the other side. She invited him to join the "Truth or Dare" VR game going on upstairs. Truth, or Dare! Seemed compelling. He'd never heard of such a game before. He made sure to answer Miss Mia, even if he didn't know whom he spoke to.

"Sure, I'll check it out. Thanks." The Senti shoved one of his bigger boxes aside as he shuffled over to the floating shelf to grab his immediate belongings.

Mia gave Morivai a smile and a thumbs up before heading down the corridor and out of sight.

Yayoi raised her eyebrows as she watched the show before her.

Delmira watched the show her cheeks red like her hair. "Uhhh Yayoi, truth or dare." She said not taking her eyes off Chiasa. She squrimed a bit in Mochi's lap trying to get comfortable.

Yayoi blinked when she realized Delmira spoke to her, and realized it was delmira's turn to ask for truth or dare. The alcohol was doing things to her mind, but she was feeling courageous. "Dare" She said watching to see what Delmira comes up with.

Sanda raised an eyebrow at Yayoi. "¿Quién eres y qué has hecho con mi hermana?" She said teasing Yayoi. She'd only ever seen Yayoi drunk once. It was when the Res had rescued her from Hanako's world. But Sanda could tell, the Neko Ranger was definitely intoxicated.

Delmira snapped her attention to Yayoi. "Uh well fuck I was hoping you would say truth." She looked over Yayoi and gave a naughty grin. "Ok I got two dares for you in case you don't want to do the first one or should I offer both and see which you take?"

Yayoi glanced to Sanda as she spoke using her heart language, but she didn't respond, as she turned her focus back on Delmira. She simply shrugged her shoulders at Delmira. She can do what ever she wanted as far as the alcohol induced Yayoi was concerned.

"Whew," Thia whispered to herself as she brought her free hand up to fan some fresh air into her face as she turned her attention from Chiasa to Delmira and Yayoi.

"We should do these more often." Mochi muttered to Del, wiggling a little under his bright plumage, shifting his big wings a bit this way and that. He leaned down and whispered something in the Neko's ear, giving a barely audible chuckle.

"Ok,you look bit warm maybe you should remove a layer of clothing, or if you can't you should go liberate ice cream from the kitchen with your sneaky ranger skills for all of us." Delmira said.

Yayoi rolled her eyes and her body began levitating, using her Neko levitation ability to being her up to a level where she could stand. "honestly.." She said, her eyes closing as her mind went through the alcohol, and... off came her outfit. "ichy" she said simply then turned on her heels and walked out of the VR chamber. She'll likely regret this tomorrow, and feel Sanda above all would think less of her but in her intoxicated mind, she didn't bother worrying.

Sanda actually laughed out loud. Now that was a pretty good dare. Not the clothing removal part, but the sneaking icecream part. "Don't forget the toppings for the ice cream. Rossa keeps them hidden."

Morivai left his room behind, curiosity overtaking him. If it was a VR related game, they'd be located at the holodeck. He activated his portable device to check out the navigation routes of the ship. Once he located the VR Room, he pinned it on his device so it could guide him towards his destination.

Delmira looked around. "Well shit I only wanted her to do one not both." She watched Yayoi leaved.

Mochi blinked down at Del, "You're complaining?" He muttered incredulously, an amused grin on his lips. His emerald eyes glanced to the others, "That's gonna be a hard one to top for whoever's next-"

"Nope." Delmira said simply

Thia nodded approvingly as she watched Yayoi walk away without her outfit, eventually turning back to look at Chiasa once Yayoi had left the room.

Before long, Chiasa lowered herself back into Thia's lap, a naughty grin plastered over her features as she glanced up at the Nepleslian's pulchritudinous, sepia-toned features.

"Enjoyed the show, Counselor?" She purred softly, a sensation of pride rising in her core at having turned Thia on to such an extent!

Thia began to reply but found her throat was entirely dry. After a short coughing fit and a hard swallow, Thia nodded enthusiastically. "I've seen less exciting exotic dancing," Thia said before giving Chiasa a distinctly impressed expression, with her eyebrows reaching never-before-seen heights. Without giving it any obvious thought, Thia resumed tidying Chiasa's now quite disheveled hair.

Pidole was up next. "Truth or dare, Poppy?"

"Dare," Poppy said with a big smile, feeling bold.

"I dare you to send a naughty photo to the new doctor."

Poppy caughed up a mouthful of her beer. "Shit!" She stood up, "I'll be right back," she said, heading to a nearby restroom to get the perfect mirror shot. In a few minutes she came back. "Mission accomplished." Vec's communicator now had something less than worksafe in its inbox. She showed the pic to Pidole, who simply said, "hot."

Chiasa immediately launched into a fit of high-pitched, girlish giggles. Even she knew that Pidole's dare might be quite daring for the pink-haired medical specialist, especially since she had yet to gauge the CMO's tolerance towards that kind of thing.

Sanda sat down on one of the volumetric armchairs that was near the fireplace and put her legs over one of the arms. Her lighting tattoos going down her legs reflected off the light of the fireplace. She sat up when she heard Poppy's dare. "Yeah, that's going to go over REAL well." She took another drink. Her flask was almost empty. At least she was comfortable.

Delmira almost fell out of Mochi's lap laughing. "I need more alcohol."

Mochi followed suit, bending over a little instinctively as he guffawed. "Lucky bastard. I hope he's not doing surgery or something right now!" Thinking on his lap-Neko's request, Mochi used his augments to mentally request his science drone pick up some drinks from storage and shepherd them down to the party.

Thia snickered, having had some experience with Vec she imagined he would simply react clinically, perhaps calling Poppy into the medbay for a closer inspection and medical examination.

"Alright, my turn," Thia announced as she looked around at the crew. Her mismatched eyes locked on to Sanda, who had called out Mochi but hadn't yet had to properly play the game. "You. Sanda, is it? Truth or dare."

"What?" Sanda asked. Her flask in her mouth trying to get the last of the dregs. She held the flask up and pouted at it. This was the second time in two days it was empty. "¿Por qué se acabó mi ron?"

"Truth or dare. Pick one, soldier," Thia barked and smiled, doing her best impression of a drill sergeant.

Sanda half sat up. "I'm a Ranger and Giretsu. Not a soldier." She plopped back into the chair, giggling at herself. Damn it. She was tippsy again. "Verdad."

Thia narrowed her eyes and considered keeping up the drill sergeant bit, but decided against it. Thinking back to earlier, she remembered Sanda being the one who needed some convincing and only agreed to join as long as she felt comfortable. "Truth, then," Thia leaned back and thought for a moment. Sanda's insistence on being called a ranger and not a soldier gave Thia the impression that she was proud of her abilities. "Tell us about a fight you lost."

Eventually, Morivai found the VR Room. The short hallway towards the room looked like any other room on the ship. He glanced down at his device to make sure he'd gone the right direction. It pointed straight ahead, and with that he turned off the directions, pocketed his handheld, and walked towards the door.

A part of him was nervous, but the other part excited. He didn't have many chances to interact with his coworkers outside of tasks needing to be done. Whether it was on the ship or when they docked, they were always a busy bunch. To have the chance and unwind, be goofy and silly for a bit? It was an oddity to the industrious Senti, and it made him all the more interested in investigating further.

Sanda seemed to get all serious as she stared up at the volumetric castle beams on the ceiling. "This stays in here right? That's the rules of Truth or Dare right?"

"Yes," Thia nodded and looked around to the rest of the crew, giving them each a serious look before turning back to Sanda. "This stays with us."

"When I was sixteen I was running with a bad crowd. They were a gang and I wanted to be a part of them. So they had me do an initiation. We were to jump a someone coming out of a bar. A Star Army Joto Heisho with one eye and his arm in a sling." Sanda laughed. "He beat us all up. With only a knife, just like this one." She pulled out her own Straight Silver blade from her boot. "Beat me up bad, but instead of turning me in, he told me I had skill. I should stop fighting for thugs and fight for the Star Army. He was really cute. So dashing with his eyepatch. I think I might have been in love with him. So I joined, hoping that maybe he was... But when I got out of basic he had gone and married my sister. So whatever." She glanced again at the knife in her hands. It had a dragon engraving on the blade. "But he has a really cute cousin. I think we're engaged." She giggled. "We traded knives."

Morivai knocked on the door, hoping he wasn't disrupting something.

Thia listened to Sanda's story, pleased that she hadn't made the ranger uncomfortable, but feeling a little disappointed that she hadn't pushed her comfort zone. Perhaps in time, she thought to herself. "That's a great story, ranger," Thia said warmly. "I'm impressed."

When a knock came from the door, Thia turned and spoke. "Come on in!"

Nervously, a new face creaked the door open and wide, golden eyes peeked inside. The blue tones of the Senti shimmered against the illuminated room. He happened to hear the back end of Sanda's story as he neared the door, and waited as best he could for her longest pause. It was a deep and serious story, and he didn't want to interrupt it. So when he opened the door and looked into the VR Room, he didn't slip inside completely. Instead, Morivai awaited further instruction.

"Whoa," Cassie squeaked, surprised.

"Wow." Mochi rumbled, echoing Cassie's sentiment. That was pretty heavy stuff. It was nice to see them bonding as a crew though, sharing each other's stories was a big part of that. In her own way, Sanda was unknowingly bringing them all closer together as they empathised with her story. It helped demystify the people you saw in the hallways every day. "Traded knives? Congratulations!" Mochi beamed, remembering something about Nepleslian culture in that respect.

"Well I'm glad something good came out it." Delmira said ernestly to Sanda.

Outside the VR Room

Yayoi walked out of the VR chamber and headded towards the wardroom, and the part of the ship where Ice cream and toppings were. Her mind memorising Rossa's schedules and habits, prossessing a time in which she would be able to get the ice cream and toppings.

Make sure to get some ice cream for me~, Chiasa transmitted to Yayoi from the VR room. Cookie dough flavor!

Thad was on his way back to see Mia when he came across Yayoi. He blinked a few times confused at her current outfit, or lack there of. "Hey Yayoi...did you misplace your clothes. You seem to be a little more naked than normal."

Yayoi was caught! "Forget what you see and go to Mia, you see nothing, understand? Or else." She said hoping that he won't be able to tell she was drunk as she left him alone. Now she focused on her skills to

Thad was going to head back to see Mia however he was now curious. This was unlike Yayoi to be out and about like this. No doubt she was put up to this so Thad could at least give a helping hand. "I don't see a thing. If Mia found out I was checking out another naked woman she'd have my balls." He said with a chuckle. "Let me give a hand then I will be off. You're out here getting something right?"

Yayoi glanced at Thad, for all that Sanda hated the guy he could actually be useful now. "Sure, go in the wardroom, and get a large container of ice cream, and also toppings, and then just give that to me." She told him. They wouldn't have seen her go in but Thad, and she could sort of be sneaky.

Thad looked at Yayoi with a smile. "So should I get naked too?" He said with a wink. "Joking, one of us needs to act the role of being sober." He gave a nod and went into the wardroom and started to hunt for the icecream Yayoi spoke of.

Thad found the food storage was locked with an electronic padlock. That's when he noticed two figures in the dark behind him. "You are not supposed to be here," a voice said. It was recognizable as that of an Emma, a common domestic android found throughout the Star Army in a support role. The galley lights came on to reveal the redheaded robots. "It is against the captain's orders," the second added.

"Oh I am glad you two are here. This storage seems to be locked and I am in need of some refreshments for Mia. You know her, always wanting to take care of the crew. I just need a couple items, some icecream, whipped cream and jar of charries." He said with a grin across his face. "I am sure this will not be missed."

"Wait in the wardroom," the first Emma instructed, silently calling for authorization. After a moment the robots actually brought out the items Thad requested, along with some containers for them.

Thad wasted little time to gather the items and hurry back to were he had left Yayoi. "Pst, I got the items you asked for." He said in a low voice as he neared Yayoi.

Yayoi accepted the items gratefully. There was hope for Thad yet. "thanks, i'll put in a good word for you to Sanda" she said as the lights above suddenly flickered and there was darkness a sec before they came back on, but Yayoi had disappeared would this have been a figment of Thad's imagination? who knows.

Thad was a little unsure why Sanda had been brought up. Surely she would not find herself mixed up with something involving the items he brought back. A big smile came across his face thinking what torture she might be enduring. Either way he did some good and was pleased with the results. He quickly made his way back to Mia, with a small stash of items he had skimmed off the top to have some of his own fun.

Back in the VR Room

Yayoi had returned with the items that Delmira had requested. "here ya go" Ice cream, and toppings sneakily aquired." She said and moved to sit beside Sanda again.

"Hermona." Sanda said to Yayoi in a quite sweet voice, "¿Me trajiste más ron?" She started giggling again. Poor girl had definitely moved beyond tippsy.

Morivai naturally moved out of the way when Yayoi returned with the desert, holding the door open for her, and then promptly turning around to shield his gaze. Was... was she nude? He pleaded with If'Ni that he was imagining things, hoping he was hallucinating.

"Now we need bowls and spoons." Delmira said pondering how to get them. She got off Mochi's lap and brought the stuff over to a counter and started to dig around the room.

Thia watched Morivai standing in the doorway for a moment, curious to see if he would come in and join them on his own. A moment passed before she grew impatient. "You there," Thia tilted her head in Morivai's direction. "Come in, close the door, and sit with us."

When Delmira jumped up, Mochi got to his feet and wandered towards the door, one hand conveniently over his inner thighs. "Hey there, take a seat!" The Elysian smiled at the Senti newcomer, before reaching around behind the open door and glancing for his drone. After a moment, it zipped down the hallway and hovered in front of him. Reaching over, Mochi grabbed the four bottles it had brought by their necks and turned back to the others, holding them low so that they hung around his sweatpants.

Morivai's gaze whipped back to Thia, and then to the Elysian lumbering towards him. Shaking off his initial shock, he slipped by the winged man and fully walked inside. He quickly glanced at all of the Truth or Dare participants who joined that evening, a small, shy wave emanating from him.

"Hello," the Senti greeted everyone. "I was invited so... I wanted to see what it was all about. Oh, I'm Morivai Janik, the new technician on board."

Yayoi glanced at Sanda "sorry Hermanaa, just the ice cream and toppings." She said and was about to say something next, somehting shocking to Sanda related to Thad when the new guy, a Senti spoke.

"Truth or dare, new guy?" Cassie challenged Morivai almost immediately.

"Oh wait, uh-!" Morivai felt some heat rush to his face as he stuttered. Everyone seemed so comfortable, and he was about to make things awkward in his mind. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but I've never played 'Truth or Dare' before. I have no idea how it works." He shrugged up and wrapped his hands around his biceps nervously.

"Oh, you gon' learn today," Cassie said, closing in on Morivai until she was pressing her chest against his. "Pick truth or pick dare," she repeated, this time sounding a little aggressive.

Immediately growing flustered, Morivai slipped out and away from Cassie's bold approach and created some distance for himself. He suddenly noticed how much alcohol was present in the room, and wondered how many individuals here were tipsy, drunk, or wasted. A nervous gulp slid down his throat.

"Maybe," Morivai pondered, "Maybe I should come back another time. Sorry to bother you all."

Delmira grabbed bowls and spoons from the robots and brought them over to the counter. "Who wants ice cream?" She looked and Mochi and grinned. "You need something cold for sure."

With the issued challenge, Mochi hurried back towards the spot on the floor he had occupied earlier. Glancing around for a moment, he spotted that Sanda had taken an armchair but there were others scattered about. Changing his mind, the Elysian offered out some bottles of whiskey and alcopops. "I've got more drinks here too!"

"Me!" Chiasa piped up immediately. "Is there any cookie dough?" She inquired.

Yayoi raised her arm "i'd like one" She'd say then glanced at Morivai a moment.

Delmira go to work scooping up some generious bowls of ice cream. "Eat up we need to hide the evidence." She said and worked swifty. "You want toppings you put them on yourself however."

Feeling a sugar high, Chiasa took a generous helping of the vanilla ice cream for herself, before covering it in caramel sauce, marshmellows, sprinkles, hard candies, and brownie bits!

"Thank you, Kitten~" Chiasa purred to Delmira, using Thia's pet name for the red-haired Nekovalkyrja, before offering her a playful wink as she sat back down.

Mochi shot Delmira a knowing glance as she gave him a little comment, popping down the couple of spare bottles of alcohol onto the ground amongst everyone, so they could be claimed. He smirked and shuffled over to Delmira, intending to steal her ice cream while she was distracted!

Delmira was piling toppings on her ice cream, choclate chips, marshmellows, sprinkles and syrup. She would grab a bottle of whiskey and pour some of it on her ice cream concotion she made. Delmira looked at Chiasa and giggled.

"I guess we'll take an ice cream break," Cassie shrugged, realizing she'd have to pick someone else to choose truth or dare. "I've never met a Senti that was shy before. Not that I've met many, I mean..."

"Mhmmm...I'll have to brush up on some Senti anatomy." Chiasa added, a playful giggle leaving her lips as she did!

"Trying to get the silver bullet?" Euikoshi asked with a cackle.

"If I can get him at the right temperature~" Chiasa answered, winking as she did. She knew that Senti had certain temperature requirements, which might present some unique obstacles towards sleeping with one. However, the tiny Nekovalkyrja wasn't one to be cowed by a challenge!

While Del was giggling to Chiasa, Mochi slipped around her and deftly lifted the bowl of delicious ice cream out of her hands, bounding over to his free armchair with a dastardly snicker.

"H-hey thats mine damn it." Delmira said, her tail swatting at Mochi. She would make another bowl bigger and better than the last one she made and with more whiskey poured into it.

Mochi stuck his tongue out at Delmira from where he sat upon the soft armchair, his spoils of war in one hand, a bottle of Virginian whiskey in the other. The Elysian slid them onto the coffee table beside him and had a delicious spoonful as he waited for Del to join him, if she would.

"Chiasa I may have to join you in that experiment." Delmira said and dug into her alcohol flavored treat.

= = =

OOC: JP by Wes, Ajax, Charaa, Cowboy, Spaceeye, Shadowwalker, Ethereal, Yuuki, Zanven, Hyralt, Immortal Cyan, Xove
 
Thad made his way back to the room she shared with Mia . As he walked in he heard the soft coo come from the bed where Mia was sitting. She noticed the food and a sly smirk came across her face. She asked if that was for her or him. He softly smiled at her and said "both". He sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her side. With a flex he gave her a hug. "Sorry for the delay, got caught by the kitchen bots." He did not share what all he seen, instead to keep that to himself. None the less his mind started to wonder as he pictured all the girls having some kind of slumber party. Though he was curious how Sanda would handle such a party. He figured she felt completely out of place and more than likely drunk. None the less he hoped she enjoyed a night with him not being around. He knew how exhausting he was to be around. He slowly looked at Mia, as he too knew the trouble to keep one in line.

"Welp, we best use this whipped cream before it melts." He took the can and put it into his mouth and hit the trigger. It instantly filled his mouth. He grins then went in for a big kiss on Mia, whipped cream and all.
 
YE 44.5.13 - Evening

"Alright, let's try this again," Cassie said, swishing her tail back and forth. "Yayoi, truth or dare?" she asked.

Vec had turned in early with an ellusive lady he'd been chasing for ages: a full night's sleep. A buzz from his communicator snapped him back into wakefullness. Rolling out of bed, he grabbed his comm expecting a summons to the bed bay. A single message flashed on the screen. Curiously, he opened it to see a certain pink haired woman in a state of undress. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head and he quickly deleted the image and began typing.

"Hey Pink. check the "TO" before you hit send, next time. K?"

He rolled over preparing to go back to sleep.

Vec's communicator lit up and buzzed again. "Sorry, it was for truth or dare," Poppy had texted him back.

Opening his eyes again, he typed: "No worries, have fun, don't do anything I wouldn't. Or Do. I'm not your mom."

Taking another spoonful of her caramel sauce, sprinkles, candy, brownie, and marshmellow-laden ice cream, Chiasa's pink gaze shifted towards Yayoi, a wicked smile coming over her features as she did. While she hadn't taken a drink, the fact that everyone around had their inhibitions lowered because of the alcohol had rubbed off on her!

Take the dare, Chiasa flashed to Yayoi via wireless, at which point Chiasa took a particularly exaggerated "bite" of her ice cream, making a show of working her tongue and lips as she sucked the sweet-tasting treat into her mouth!

Yayoi ate the ice cream as the alcohol began affecting her greatly.

"Yayoi you're popular tonight being called twice tonight." Delmira said eating her ice cream treat. The short Neko swayed a smidge.

Yayoi glanced over to Delmira. "my turn for truth or dare?" she asked her, the alcohol causing her to slur her words a little.

"Cassie picked you to go." Delmira said looking over at her.

The temporary naturist glanced towards Delmira her mind remembering the short term that the other made her chose between getting naked and getting ice cream, and of course she Yayoi, went a little overboard. "Delmira...truth or dare?" she asked her.

"Well...?" Cassie narrowed her eyes at Yayoi. "Which one?"

"I think Yayoi is confused Cassie since she was dared already." The short neko said and looked around for a seat and sat down as soon as she could.

Chiasa let out a high-pitched, cackling giggle, very nearly dropping her ice cream in the process!

Yayoi blinked her eyes in confusion as the alcohol has confused the giretsu ranger. She was certain she'd did a dare was suposed to ask but she might have been confused. "uh... trueth?' she asked the poor dear was so confused.

Wearing nothing more than a loosely-bound yukata over Type 40 exercise shorts and sports bra, Tachiko was barefoot, but floating, as she passed by the entrance to the holoroom. She floated backwards a moment, then peeked in and looked around. She blinked, taking it in, then with perhaps a longer delay than it ought've, she realized it was a dare party. Into the holoroom she floated, like a ghost, yukata falling open in a very not-Tachiko-all-perfect way.

"Okay," Cassie said. "Yayoi, we've both been through some really rough times. You were on Hanako's World with the resistance, and I lost my ship crew and got stranded in space. What is the thing that keeps you strong and motivated after all that's happened. How do you avoid feeling broken?" the gray catgirl asked.

Yayoi glanced at Cassie as the question came out of her mouth, her mouth opened slightly as her drunken mind processed this question put to her. “it sucked hard there, Kuvexians hunting and Rix ravaging... I once told Sanda about one incident where I was captured and we had to watch as this Rix just ate people before, but what has motivated me was the kids, back in the shelter, these smiling kids putting on brave faces, believing that they will survive and be free of the bad guys. This is true, you guys picked them up and took them off-world away from harm. My hatred was a small part of it, but those kids they were the real motivation... I… I want to have a kid of my own, I want to see little kids smiling happily knowing they will be safe from harm. “ She said as the drunk Yayoi admitted a secret she held.

Delmira smiled at Yayoi. "You and me both." She said cheeks flushed with alcohol she finished her ice cream and didnt trust herself to stand up to go and give Yayoi a hug but gave her a thumbs up. "I would give you a hug but i dont trust myself."

Cassie gave Yayoi a big hug.

Yayoi hugged Cassie close as her red eye caught sight of Delmira's thumbs up. "heh" was all she said.

Next it was Mochi's turn. "Euikoshi, truth or dare?" the Elysian asked his fellow scientist.

"Dare!" Euikoshi answered, feeling adventurous.

"I dare you to talk like a high-pitched cutesy anime character for the rest of the night, Euikoshi," Iemochi said.

Euikoshi looked a little annoyed at first and then said, "Okay!" in this ridiculous high-pitched lewd squeaky voice. "Yayoi's turn!"

"Oh, I haven't been to one of these since..." it took Tachiko a moment to think, "Y.E. 29?"

Delmira saw Tachiko and patted the seat next to her.

Yayoi looked over to Tachiko, and saw Delmira indicated Tachiko should sit beside her before she glanced to Euikoshi and blinked. "ok.. now i ask right another right?" she asked for confirmation, before she started. "Delmira... truth or dare"

"Dare" She didnt let Yayoi finish her sentence and her tail swayed behind her eagerly.

The alcohol pushed her mind towards the lost inhibitions and towards NSFW region of the game. "I dare you.." she said glancing at her own legs "to join me in this state of dress... and... do a adorable dance"

Delmira pretty much floated off her seat and still somehow managed to nearly fall over as she she removed her shirt and shorts followed by her underwear. She landed and brought her hands up like cats paws. "Nayn~ Nyan~." She said and did a cute catgirl dance. "Nyan~ Nyan~" She said and changed her pose to mirror how she started her tail curled up to give the impression of half a heart and she danced and mirrored her poses a few times.

Mochi grinned with amusement as Del jumped up and started doing an anime cat dance. He clapped lightly, giving a beat by which for the Neko to time her movements and 'Nyans'. She was pretty good at this and it was very entertaining given how enthusiastic she seemed. "Go Del, go!" The Elysian cheered on, careful to not interrupt her little song and dance. Smiling, the blonde took a big swig of Virginian whiskey from the bottle on his coffee table.

Yayoi watched as she performed her dare and found herself both impressed and amused to new heights. The alcohol had another effect which was to smile something she hadnt done openly.

Tachiko barely had time to sit before the one she'd just sat next to hopped up and stripped off her clothes. Yes, these were still dare parties, as she'd remembered. She gently applauded Del's dance with a giggle.

Cheilith laughed at the dancing nekos. She scaned the crowd before pointing at Del. "Truth or Dare?" She asked.

"Dare not wait truth." Delmira said. "Why not lets do truth."

"You never seem embarassed by anything, so what is your most embarassing moment?" Cheilith asked.

Delmira thought long and hard but then she shrugged. "I cant think of a time truth be told."

Yayoi actually felt shocked by Delmira's admission.

"no no there was on time but i would rather not talk about it because it was with Kinie and i dont want to discuss things that she may not like." Del said and gave a sagely nod she was lieing however but to what extent she didnt say.

Tachiko, roused in spirit by being at a Star Army truth or dare party, leaned onto Del, turning her gravity manipulation all the way up, adding 2 G's onto her weight. "Lulieeee- That's noble of you, but you said truth."

"Yhea!" Cheilith said, egging her on.

"Well if you insist i may have ruined our relationship." Delmira said and look over at the others. "Told you i didnt want to talk about it and wont go any further."

Yayoi listened as the conversation happened before her.

Tachiko frowned, having actually heard most of it over the comms, but hadn't shared it with others. "Oh... Yeah... that." She didn't stop leaning on Del, but did turn the gravity system off.

Delmira looked adorable as she was leaned on by Tachiko.

The glass slipped out of Yayoi's hand but fortunately didnt break as it said hello to the floor no matter the material the floor was made of. Her eyes blinked as they became blurry but she was able to see the cute sight before that happened. "fucking lightweight.." She said as her head dipped towards the floor followed by her naked body. Something Poppy had noticed looked prestine and scarless unlike before.

Yayoi has passed out due to drunkenness.

Mochi spotted Yayoi pass out, the glass rolling a little across the floor as he stood up from the comfy armchair. "Hey Del, how about we make sure Yayoi gets to bed?" He offered in a warm tone, padding over and crouching beside the fallen Ranger. "Or shall I go ahead while you wrap up?"

Delmira prodded Tachiko. "How about you? Who are you picking for truth or dare."

"Dare." Tachiko didn't even hesitate. As far as she was concerned, there weren't two options.

"No no silly, who are you asking to give the option to?" Delmira asked Tachiko.

She'd committed the same mistake as Yayoi had. But, "I just got here! I don't have anything like that thought up!" Tachiko protested.

Looking back up from the sleeping Yayoi, Mochi couldn't help but crack a smile at Tachi and Del poking and leaning against each other. Too cute.

"I'll take her to bed~" Chiasa smiled as she moved to the passed-out Neko, gently brushing her hair before picking her up with typical Nekovalkyjra ease—an especially comical sight due to the fact that Chiasa was utterly dwarfed by Yayoi's larger frame. Nevertheless, after picking up her ice cream in her other hand, Chiasa moved to leave the VR room.

The brightly coloured Elysian gave a thankful smile and a wink to Chiasa. "Thanks, hun." Mochi hummed, plonking to the floor from his crouched position and crossing his legs as the small Neko carried out their sleepy friend. "Watch her head on the doors-" He called out in a protective, fatherly tone as he realised it was something that Chiasa might not have much experience with given her diminutive size.

"Woops!" Chiasa squeaked out, stopping just short of the exit, before she would have most certainly banged Yayoi's head against the frame. Ouch avoided! "Thanks Iemochi-san!" The tiny medical specialist replied, waving her ice cream towards the Elysian before bending down to get the unconsious Ranger through the door unscatched!

"Well i dont have a dare or truth for you." Delmira thought for a moment. "Mochi you got an idea?"

Euikoshi stretched out and yawned. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I may go crash myself. This was fun, though! We should do it again sometime," she smiled.

Tachiko just huffed and sank back into her yukata, her turn denied due to tardiness.

Mochi waved his bottle in Chiasa's direction as she disappeared, smiling appreciatively that she'd taken his advice and not given Yayoi a worse headache than might already be the case. Spotting Tachiko's disappointment, Mochi's expression brightened as an idea crossed his mind. "Hey, after-party in my cabin. If anyone isn't sleepy and wants to have a couple more rounds?"

Delmira smiled. "Lets go Tachiko, however i cant walk straight because im drunk."

"Hai, hai, Spokesneko-chan. Anything for the agency's talent." Tachiko hoisted Delmira, and attempted to "hang" her in the air. "That's what flying is for!"

Delmira only said "Weeee." as she was hoisted into the air. She will float, however, afterwards. And start floating to Mochi's room.



= = =

OOC: JP by Wes, Ajax, Charaa, Cowboy, Soresu, Soban, Spaceeye, Shadowwalker, Ethereal, Yuuki, Zanven, Locke, Damaske, Hyralt, Immortal Cyan
 
Sanda had left shortly after Yayoi returned with ice-cream. Drunk or not, she had had enough of this game. She slowly made her way to her own quarters. Once inside she took her boots off and put in her ear pieces, cranking the music up to as loud as it would go. She sang along with her favorite songs, belting them out as loud as she could. By the third song she fell down on her bunk and just lay there. She did just manage to reach her pistol and set it beside her on the bed within easy reach. Finally she pulled out her straight silver dagger with the dragon engraved on it and smiled again. Kissing the blade she began to sing, "And I..... Will always love Youuuu......." before falling asleep.
 
Ranger and Medic Quarters
Yayoi awoke with a headache that day along with some confusion of last night's events. However, her ship alert systems said that they had arrived at the place the ship was going to. So that didn't leave her time to process. Instead, she got up, dressed and went on with her preparation.

Though she hoped to ask Sanda and Chiasa about last night.
 
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.

ku2Ac6LKbPPSNU_m9Zr7lGzLzdZsZdTweKK3fWAj3bh5WkF-d7C0490es5l0PM_1YHFJeJqQKV3JpinnQW5kStCto0BDCBpppNxONnTZ70v-8hZ6ySE8M_AofO6b32EVn1dYYxhnHoRDh66kNdG-PRTLr5FeMHZt4lK2i9CmEV6z-aOZmpn1mtHDdMeKag


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.
 
The Ryoko was next out of the hanger and unfurled itself from its crouched position. The hanger techs carted the mechs weapons to edge of the hanger bay and dumped them into space. The hanger was to small to properly equip the mech so Del and crew practiced this method and they soon would be loading her next weapons up for her to dump into space for her to grab. She followed after the shuttle and Zanvans fighter when it deployed however she would eventually split off to find geosynchronous spot in orbit where she can drop some ordinance from to support the landing party.
 
Aboard shuttle, Descending towards the machine moon.

Sanda sat next to the shuttle door watching a live feed scan of the machine moon. She was comparing it with what little data the Ship had on these things. Her read on the topography was matching up with the data she had. Marking a couple of places on the map that she felt were the most likely areas that a control room of sorts would be, Sanda turned her attention to the assembled away team. All the medical personal were here. Hable acerca de poner todos sus huevos en una canasta. She thought to herself.

She glanced over at Yayoi sitting beside her. Yayoi was the senior NCO aboard. Sanda knew her fellow Ranger preferred to follow than to lead but Sanda had every confidence in her. She would do a good job. The rest of the team though...

Sanda took a moment to look over the assembled away team. Cassie was pretty dependable. She had been in enough fights to know what she was doing. Maximus. Dios ayúdame. Maximus. Setting aside all the grief and drama the man had caused since stepping foot aboard the Res, Sanda had to grudgingly admit that the man could fight. He was no soldier, by any definition of the word, but he was a fighter. Iemochi. For a non-combatant, the science officer could fight. Sanda had seen him in the Dojo and at that barfight. If she had to guess, Sanda would say the winged officer had done some special forces at one point in his carrier. He could be counted on.

That left the other Non-Combats. The Resurgence entire medical team. Poppy she knew some. The woman was good at her job and could probably hold her own. The other three were all new to the Res and she had had little experience with them. She would need to keep an eye out for them. Make sure everyone returned to the Res, alive. For Sanda, STs weren't a factor. If one person died then the whole mission would be a counted as a failure to her. ETA to the machine planet was rapidly diminishing. No more time for idol reflection. It was time to go to work.

Sanda opened her coms to the team. "The last time we approached one of these machine moons, they had some sort or Virus Creatures on them. Took a lot of firepower to bring one down and they like to attack from ambush with long slicers. Their biggest threat however, is that they can hack your PA. Cassie experienced that first hand." Sanda nodded to Heisho. "My suggestion," addressing Yayoi and Iemochi. "Is to not land the shuttle. The creatures were especially attracted to our shuttle last time. We're all in Mindys. Send me down first to fine a secure LZ then the rest follow." Sanda uploaded a map of the machine moon. Several places were marked. "From what little data we've got on these things, and some Ranger intuition. I think these areas are our best bet to find a control room of some kind." Sanda presented her information, now it was the part she hated. Where everyone put in their two cents and they debated what was the best course of action.
 
Frank stood on the shuttle wearing his heavy assault mindy loadout as he looked left to right with everyone onboard. once he reoriented himself to look straight ahead to the ramp. "Ill try not to needlessly sacrifice myself Sanda so that we may all get home together." Frank stated feeling the tension in the room. What he remembered from the robot fight albeit second hand from the battle on that ship he worried that those with a digital mind could mabie get taken over by the machines it worried him espeacilly with how much firepower he was packing.
 
Thia nodded along to Sanda's briefing, but when she heard about how the Virus Creatures could hack power armour, it felt like her stomach dropped into a pit. Thia hadn't realized until just then that it was quite possibly her greatest nightmare for her own power armour to be used against her friends and loved ones. But Cute Pie Cassie had ordered the use of Mindies, and if she had experienced the nightmare first hand, surely she knew that the benefits outweighed the risks.

Trying to take her mind off the horrors that might await them, Thia looked down at her Mindy-clad hands. It wasn't nearly as revealing as her preferred outfits, but she had to admit that it still felt slender and stylish. As she moved, she felt her body rub against the thin fabric of her bodysuit and the synthetic material of the armour's interior. But curiously, she also felt a layer of musculature on the other side of that interior, which flexed and relaxed depending on which way she moved. The sensation reminded her of Neko cuddle piles she'd been a part of before, just with more layers of fabric between her and the other bodies. For a moment, she wondered how it would feel to be totally naked in a Mindy, before her thoughts moved on to other things.

Building on the sensation of the musculature moving as she did, she began to move her body rhythmically, as if dancing to music unheard. She swayed her hips from side to side and swung her shoulders in circular motions, causing the armour's muscles to ripple across her body in waves. When she unconsciously let out a quiet moan, she suddenly realized where she was and stopped what she was doing with a quiet, embarrassed giggle.

To nobody in particular, she said "I like this armour."
 
Mochi looked up from the Science Pad that he was oggling. The readings were truly amazing and he had difficulty tearing his emerald eyes from the scrolling numbers and vibrant graphs. The blonde Elysian thought on Sanda's plan from a strategic standpoint - nowadays it was best he leave the rest to the NCOs, if only for them to gain more confidence and experience. "That sounds like a good way forward. If the Rangers - and whoever they want with them - lead up the front on low-power.. They can try to get an idea of which direction we should be heading in, that would reduce some risk of too many power signatures causing an ambush before we know which way we're fighting towards." The scientist hummed for a moment before continuing, "Of course, it might help if I was there to help gauge the direction from a scientific perspective. Once we have an idea, then the rest of us can drop in as Sanda says. Especially if the first wave is spotted by any of those things, given they seem quite the adversary, the second wave will need to be fast." Mochi nodded, "I'd agree we don't set the shuttle down at any point and instead have it run orbits until we need extraction. What do you think?" The officer looked over to Yayoi and Cassie, the two NCOs who hadn't pitched their thoughts in as of yet.
 
Aboard Shuttle, Descending towards the machine moon.
As the shuttle made its approach, Yayoi was contemplative thinking about the last mission they’d taken on. Her eyes closed as she entered a focused meditation, allowing her mind to think and process. She knew she preferred following to leading, but with the promotion came leading requirements, so she tried to focus on that, focus on what a leader should order them to do. Her red and yellow eyes opened her mouth would follow suit when Sanda was the first to speak.

Sanda proved what a better leader, she was, and Yayoi nodded in agreement, her suggestion was sound, as far as the Neko was concerned. “Agreed, Having the shuttle not remain sounds like a good idea, You are right, we are in Mindy’s we don’t need to land the shuttle to leave. “ She said before glancing at Frank. Indeed, his death was one of the hardest things she had endured. Her eyes went to Mochi as he spoke of the science side of things then back to Sanda again. Though Thia’s actions distracted her, for a moment. That’s when she realized that Thia hadn’t been in a power armor in a while.

“I don’t know if I like the idea of you going off alone, I’d prefer to go alone in your stead. “ Yayoi told Sanda. Sanda had a good head on her shoulders and leadership qualities, unlike Yayoi. She thought Sanda should stay back and lead but she knew from the chain of command that she was supposed to lead them.
 
Delmira piggy backed her sensors off of the shuttles and zoomed in as far as she could the little neko was looking for anything that looked like AA sites or launch facilities to scramble fighters to intercept. She extended her howitzer and her railgun was powered up and her aether beam cannon charged. The sniper turned mecha neko was marking potential sites as she saw them and prepping firing solutions.

"Marking potential AA sites, once i get confirmation i will launch a orbital strike to destroy them and secure the LZ."
 
Aboard Shuttle, Descending towards the machine moon.

Sanda scowled at Thia's moan. Didn't the woman understand they were about to go into combat? Maldito no combate. Sanda thought to herself. She was much happier to hear Inmochi's agreement of some of her points. Going all without an idea of what they were getting into was reckless. A chance to gather a little intel and not risk everything in one swoop, that sounded like a good plan in the Ranger's book.

Sanda was also relieved but unsurprised that Yayoi also agreed with her assessment. Although her playful smirk at Yayoi saying she didn't want Sanda going alone turned to blank confusion when the Neko ranger suggested she should go instead. Had anyone else made the suggestion, Sanda might have took it as a challenge that they didn't think she could handle things. From Yayoi however it was something else. Sanda sent Yayoi a direct message. "Look Hermana, I know you don't have a lot of confidence in your own leadership, but you're wrong. You're a natural. Everyone on the ship respects you and will follow you're lead. Besides, you got a cooler head for dealing with people than I do. Don't leave me here with them." Sanda sent a smile at the end of her message to show she was kidding. Like she had said. Everyone, especially her, respected Yayoi and would follow her orders.

She glanced over at Frank as he spoke. An old movie quote came to mind, she couldn't remember the name but the line had stuck with her. Do, or do not. There is no try.
 
The steady thrum of the shuttle’s drives sent gentle vibrations through Vec’s back. His breaths came slowly as a familiar pre mission calm eagerness mostly washed away the knowledge that a lucky bit of AAA could end their trip real quick. He’d been doing this sort of thing for years and never died, but the non-zero chance of dying helplessly would never sit easy with him. The Rescue Jumper preferred things that he did have control over. He stopped himself from checking his gear again. Seals were tight and ammo topped off. Just like before.

As Hoshi mentioned the enemy could hijack people’s armor, his hand gave a momentary twitch as if reaching for an emergency release latch that wasn’t there. It seemed like their armor might potentially be more harm than anything. It didn’t matter though, bombs and bullets could also kill you, but you had to be willing to break cover to get the job done. Vec just didn’t like the idea of breaking cover with a target on his back. The slight twitch was all he allowed to show however. Emotions could be contagious and this wasn’t the time to undermine morale. The voice of a woman, who after all these years he didn’t know if he loved or hated, repeated a familiar proverb in his head. Ours is not to ask why, ours is to do or die.

He reached a gauntleted fist over and thumped Ohara on the shoulder, “No, dying today kid, that’s an order.” His helmet hid a wolfish grin. If dying was off the table, the only thing left was to do.


From the Vec Playlist seems appropriate
 
Shuttle
Descending to Machine Moon


It went without saying that Chiasa was nervous. Her very first away mission and here she was, surrounded by grizzled veterans and elite soldiers who were all various flavors of badass. Right in front of her was Iemochi-san, an ex-SOFT team leader and one of Yamatai’s leading minds in biological warfare. Next to her was Vec “Malpractice” Wilson, an ex-rescue jumper of one of the 171st Combat Rescue Squadron, one of, if not the premier combat search and rescue unit in the Star Army. Not far from the tiny Nekovalkyja was “Frank the Tank”, heavy assault specialist and ex-killer android. She could certainly learn a lot from him! Close to Frank was Sanda “Thunder” Hoshi, a grizzled, no-nonsense Ranger who had saved the Sakura Fleet Depot during the Battle of Glimmergold. Then, there was Asakura “Blade” Yayoi, heroine of Hanako’s World who was as feared by the Kuvexians as she was loved by those she had saved.

Last, but not least and closest to her in more ways than one was Counselor Thia.

Chiasa restrained a giggle at seeing the Nepleslian move her body to music only she could hear, before her attention was drawn to her commanding officer in response to the thump on her shoulder. The tiny Nekovalkyrja glanced up to him and spared a nod, her features going flat beneath the unreadable mask of her helmet as the ominous sphere of the machine moon loomed in the viewport.

“Only do.” Chiasa answered automatically, a familiar proverb immediately registering in her digital mind at Vec's words.
 
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"Lulie-hei, I have priority queue set up for your target markers." Tachiko's voice was in everyone's ears as the team descended. "Mina-san, everyone, I have your armor and vehicle diagnostics in an overview, and also routed to Systems and Safety Monitoring. We'll be watching, and will know early."
 
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