YSS Resurgence
There was a rush of activity on the Resurgence as the crew prepared for battle again. The Resurgence, still with hull damage and internal damage, rushed away from the stifling gravity well of the planet and towards the Mishhuvurthyar enemy. As this happened, Pidole, Norita, Azumi, Tomoko, and Taro met in the fabrication bay carrying teleporter units liberated from the YSS Wakaba, and began carefully performing surgery on them. As the ship jolted from the initial exchange of fire, the engineering team assembled the teleporter units into a set of linked teleporation nodes that were built into salvaged FARS drones using 3D-printed armatures. Essentially, they had made a set of floating teleporters that could follow the away team around and attach to a ship-size aether generator and then teleport in sync to move it wherever they needed it--in this case, the Wakaba's engine room.
As the battle began, Aoba came over the ship's network and intercom. "This is the Captain. Condition one, all hands to battlestations. Away team, prepare for boarding."
Armor Bay
Yayoi finished suiting up and checking to make everything was ready to go. "Alright boys and girls, lets make some calamari,' she said as she tried out a little trash talking, though unsure how to feel about it.
Pidole and the engineers poured into the armor bay with the modified teleporter drones in tow. "Here are the instructions," she told the team, "The drones will follow you to the enemy ship when your board it. You have to protect them while they charge again. When we reach the engineering section we'll need to cut connections to the main generator while the drones surround it. If we can hold the engineering section until the drones sync and charge, they'll deliver the generator to the Wakaba. I'll join you and oversee the work but I'll need protection while I set everything up. Afterwards, I'll teleport with the drones and generator to the Wakaba and install the generator. Any technical questions?"
Yayoi was silent as she listened to the briefing, and nodded silently. As a question didnt occur to her, she didnt ask one. The briefing and plan seemed simple enough, and she glanced to the teleporters that her HUD was telling her was modified.
Sanda brought her rifle up and shook her head. She was ready to go. She did say. "Should we each pair with one of the techs to make sure they are safe?"
"The other technicians will stay behind to repair the Resurgence," Pidole told Sanda. "We need every hand we can get on repairs. If I die, I have assigned Caihong to be in her Mindy armor ready to replace me."
"Nothing is going to happen to you little red. Any help coming from the Wakaba?" Sanda asked.
"They've currently got their hands full. But I'm sure once we get them their generator they'll be up and ready to help us." Trowa responded.
Yayoi nodded her head in agreement. She hadnt quite seen the state of the Wakaba, but she knew once they had power they would be willing to join the battle.
Bridge
"Two cruisers, focus fire on the one on the right. We want to break through the shields so the team can teleport aboard."
"Sir, the YSS Renaissance is here and is joining the battle!" Gabriela grinned.
"Excellent, coordinate fire with captain Benna."
"We have a large amount of enemy battle pods approaching, sir..." Kalena advised.
"Renaissance to Resurgence, I have your infantry reinforcement team aboard and I'm sending them over to assist. Good luck out there Captain Aoba and happy hunting."
From her position on the bridge, the intelligence analyst poured over the personnel files from Captain Benna. Mineko hadn't been on the ship long when Benna had been promoted to Captain the Resurgence's sister ship, but she felt a sense of pride for the woman nonetheless.
Captain Aoba watched the tactical display. "Gabriela, try to evade that dreadnaught as best you can and keep hitting the cruiser. It's too strong to take it on directly. We'll have to wait for the armor team to deliver the generator to the Wakaba. A Sharie-class will be able to pull it off."
"Aye aye," Gabriela said, her hands on the ship's controls. The Fuji didn't pack the punch of a battleship but it was very nimble.
Koyama's expression turned sour as her SPINE fed data directly to her. "They've been busy, did the Mishhuvurhtyar even have Dreadnought-class vessels in the First and Second war?" she asked no one in particular. She'd heard of the fearsome reputation of the SMX's 'Flagship' vessels, and even some of the NMX held a reputation worthy of note.
The first officer tried to catch the analyst's attention, instead opting for a simplistic message through the interface. 'Catch as much information as you can on those ships. I've no doubt Taisho Yui will desire as much as we can forward to her.'
From her console, Mineko nodded in the XO's direction. "Already on it." The analyst had been routing the armor team's HUD to parse through what they saw. She was prepared for the torrent of information and the task of dwindling it down to a steady stream that she could put into a report. The amount of work would be susbtantial, but was something the SAINT analyst revelled in.
Medical Center
Okimi sighed as the Captain's order to battlestations sounded. It would have been nice to have had enough time to fully recover from the previous excitement, but alas such was not to be. The caretaker let out a grunt as she swung her aching body out of bed and forced herself to her feet, only to be forced to grab the side of the bed as the room suddenly tilted on her. "Okay, not the greatest idea I've had...." she muttered to herself as she waited for the sudden disorientation to pass.
Yuri gasped as she saw Okimi trying to get out of bed. "whoa whoa whoa!" She said as she ran to her friend and cousin's roommate. "Okimi-chan! your body isnt ready yet!' yuri said as she tried to help her back into bed. "Don't worry there's time yet!!" She added finally.
Okimi could have tried to fight her friend's attempt to get her back into bed, but the caretaker really didn't have it in her and collapsed onto the bed with an 'ooph'. She also failed to stop the groan that followed as her body protested even the small amount of movement she had put it through. Honestly, who knew that exposing yourself to a hard vacuum would take such a severe toll on your body? Ignoring her own rhetorical question, Okimi gratefully accepted Yuri's help at getting her settled once more. "Thanks Yuri-chan. I think I did a dumb-dumb."
Yuri couldnt help but be forced to nod her head in agreement. Indeed, Okimi had done a bad move in moving too early. But she wasnt going to hold it against her.
YSS Wakaba
As the two Fuji ships focused their fire on the Cruisers and prepared to steal a generator, the Wakaba was busy fighting off the drop pods that were attacking the downed ship. Most of the Wakaba crew had made it back to the ship but a handful were still trickling in from the nearby village.
YSS Wakaba - Bridge
Shoi Kohosei Shima Hoshiko signed off from her console and stood as one of the Wakaba's Starship Operators who had just arrived on the Bridge moved to the communications station she had been working at. Hoshiko saluted the senior officer and stepped aside, taking up a place at the side of the Bridge. Technically, having now been relieved, she should leave the Bridge, but she couldn't deny a certain eagerness to witness her first combat from the Bridge. She was especially interested in observing how more seasoned crewmembers handled themselves under the stress of combat.
Thomas arrived on the bridge, his pipe still clenched between his teeth. "Status report?" He ordered.
Seeing as the newly arrived officers were still streaming in and taking stock of the situation, Hoshiko decided that she was probably in the best position to answer the Captain. She was fairly certain it was against protocol, but the situation seemingly warranted her taking the initiative. Hoshiko stepped forward and saluted the Captain.
"Sir, as of 30 seconds ago, both NMX cruisers were still on approach. The YSS Resurgence engaged the cruisers and has been joined by a second Fuji-Class ship identified as the YSS Renaissance. The NMX Dreadnought appears to be proceeding in-system at a slower pace, likely acting as a command-and-control element." With her report, and knowledge of the situation, delivered, she stepped back once more.
Thomas nodded. "Very good. Let's repel these squids and see if we can't send them some backup."
YSS Wakaba - Engineering
Crysta moved here and there using her hover ability as she moved helping to remove the in piece, pieces of the Wakaba aether generator that they had been putting together over the past 6 month. It was soon cleared away and they started to set up the teleport devices as Crysta readyed to rush in and get the Generater hooked back up and ready to power the Wakaba.
Ryoko stood back and examined the set up. It looked good, but a lot of this was just theory to her. Hotaru was trying to get a few more teleporters as back up but she was taking forever.
Crysta moved over to look over the setup as she looks around in the room. Floating backwards and up higher to gain a more wider view, Lou moving to fly up underneath her and force her to ride him once more after a certain time. Crysta sighs and leans in to Lou saying "Lou, please you need to stop that." And slips off looking down again. "I think that we need to move them out just a little more. Not much more though, then we should have room for the Generator!" Then slips back onto Lou and they fly down to help move the devices outward a little more.
YSS Wakaba - Fighter Bay
Runa dropped into her Mini-Neko modified pod and took control over one of the Hayabusa fighters. "ohh yeah, hear that roar!" She said with a grin as she prepared the fighter for lift off. "you know i gotta say, biggies have got to be in a disgusting place on that ship heh" she said to herself again.
YSS Wakaba - Hangar Bay
Hotaru was searching the Hanger Bay for some teleporters when there was a flash of light of something Teleporting in. She gasped. Those weren't Mindies. Those were Ravagers! And Mishhu!
"Contact!" Hotaru yelled into her comms. "Enemy Contact in the Hanger Bay!" There were dozens of them. Hotaru grabbed her spear as a Ravager came at her. The Hanger bay suddenly was a battle zone.
Setsunu appeared in the Hanger Bay in a flash of light. One of the enemy PAs saw her and raised its rifle to blast her. Setsunu’s spear spun and sliced the weapon in half. Before the PA could react, she had moved in and hacked off an arm followed by a leg. Before the PA could even begin to fall Setsunu drove the blade so deep into its chest that it poked out the other side. As she ripped the blade out, allowing the PA to finally fall to the ground, the Lady of Death lopped off the head of the suit before doing a flourish with her spear and searching for her next target.
Before Setsunu could move, a blade swung at her. She was just able to block it before a storm of more came flying at her. Setsunu blocked, parried, and countered every attack. Her long green hair flew out behind her like a cape. She had not had time to tie it into a braid like she normally did. And there wouldn’t be an opportunity either. She knew exactly who she was fighting. They had dueled a few times over the past two years. It was the one simply referred to as Warrior.
After an intense few minutes of fighting the two warriors, without word or signal, paused and stared at one another in a fighting stance. The fight in the hanger was still raging but for them, time had stopped. Finally, Warrior raised her arms and removed her helmet. Her blue hair fell out and flopped to one side, the other side of her head was shaved. Her scarred face smiled, revealing canines that had been filed into fangs.
“So, you are Joto Heisho Setsunu Meiosei, the Lady of Death.” Warrior said.
Setsunu spun her spear around into a different stance. “And you are the Demoness. The one simply known as Warrior.” Setsunu shook her head. “Although I think traitor is a better title for you.”
Warrior snarled and launched herself at Setsunu and the two were fighting again, so fast that it was hard to keep track of their swings.
YSS Resurgence - Armor Bay
In the armor bay the comms systems lit up and the voice of the intelligence analyst came in to the ready crewmen.
"The shields on the first Mishhuvurthyar cruiser are downed," Mineko said from the bridge to the armor bay. "All set for boarding, armor teams."
"That's our cue!" Sanda said as she closed her eyes. She had been doing a lot of teleporting of late and it was starting to give her a headache.
"Think happy thoughts." Koyama's voice sounded in Sanda's helmet.
Yayoi stepped forward towards where she was set to teleport her armor from the Resurgence.
Mishhuvurthyar Ship - Interior
With a flash of light, the Resurgence away team arrived in the fleshy cargo hold of the Mishhuvurthyar ship. The walls were covered in trashbag-size bulges of flesh and nets of sinew that looked like pink pulled pork barbeque, strange insects scattered across floor wet with a 2-inch deep layer of slime. The interior was dimly lit. Ahead, a sphincter-like doorway led to the ship's artery-like corridor system, which was lined with human-sized pods, some with rotted skeletons still in them.
Yayoi grimaced when she arrived in the new environment. soo.. this is what our predecessors and sempais saw.. honestly, this is disgusting. She thought as she looked around, then waited for the drones to do their thing.
Pidole held up a handheld scanner and pointed the green laser of her NSP towards the passageway ahead. "Aether readings are coming from that direction. Let's push for engineering before they can get their response organized," she suggested.
"Copy that" Yayoi said in reply as she heads to where the Aether readings were pointing them.
"I've got the point." Sanda said. She had her rifle held up and a boarding shield as well.
"I've got your six." Trowa informed, also carrying a boarding shield.
As they made their way into the ship, brushing against strands of muck hanging from the top of the passage, they were pestered by an incessant buzzing sound that could only be heard in their minds. That's when they saw the first Mishhuvurthyar up ahead, a nightmarish mass of tentacles with a bony shell on top, with eyes and teeth and suction cups all over. It looked at them and narrowed its many eyes in total hate.
Sanda opened fire as soon as she saw the abomination. Firing at a high rate of fire with pinpoint accuacy thanks to her cybernetics.
The Mishhuvurthyar rushed towards them, charging into Sanda's fire and closing the distance fast. Its bleeding mass slammed into her body, pressing its weight onto her and sending her stumbling. "I'LL TEAR YOU APART." its voice boomed as it literally tried that, yanking at her legs while keeping her torso pinned. She felt a terrible pain in her hip joint.
"With what?" Sanda snapped back. She activated the Aether Bayonet at the end of her rifle and sliced at the tentacles.
Yayoi targeted the beast with her Aetheric pulse cannon and fired, upon its unusual hide. She made the attempt to rescue Sanda from more attacks of the creature.
"Back to the pits that spawned you, you misrable pile of excrement!" Yayoi snarled and hoped that she defeated it.
An explosion of gore and flesh came as the aether ripped into the Mishhuvurthyar, and it eventually ceased and flopped down, only to completely convert into a transparent liquid and fall into the puddles of the ship's floor. That's when the squad of Ripper power armors leapt out and started shooting aether back at them.
"There's a larger room up ahead," Pidole said. "If we can get to that, Bidole says there's a person-sized access tunnel in it that can get us to engineering. They haven't reacted to her presence yet. Also it has containers we can use for cover."
Trowa helped Sanda to her feet. She shook her head a moment then activated her suits speakers. "I'm a Yamatai Ranger! And one Yamatai Ranger is better than any two Mishhu!" She taunted the Rippers as she began firing again.
"Away team, Resurgence, please hurry, this cruiser packs a punch," Kalena's voice came over the squad channel.
"Copy that" Yayoi said as she moved forward further into the ship and the room before them, trying got to get distracted by the environment.
YSS Wakaba - Hangar Bay
“A traitor. That is all you are.” Setsunu said in between swings.
“You know nothing of me!” Warrior snarled.
“I know a Nataria-born Neko when I see one.” Setsunu responded calmly. She was trying to get Warrior angry so that she might make a mistake. “When did you turn? After the First Battle for Nataria?”
Warrior howled and her attacks became more vicious. “The Star Army never cared about me! I was a tool that they used! When I was no longer useful to them, I was cast aside like a broken blade!”
Calandri appeared in the Hanger bay. Wielding two blades and two rifles, she screamed obscenities in her own language as she fired and sliced left and right.
Setsunu Meiosei was hands down the fiercest and most skilled fighter on the Wakaba. No one would dispute that. She and Warrior seemed to be evenly matched. Neither could gain the upper hand over the other. Both had sustained damage at this point. Setsunu wasn’t wearing any Power Armor, but her Type 33A body had all kinds of prototype gadgets and upgrades. For one, her skeleton was reinforced with Yamataium. It practically made her body as tough as a Power Armor. Although even that didn’t prevent her from receiving some bad cuts on her body, including a particularly bad cut across her beautiful face.
Warrior was not without damage either. Her Power armor was reading severe damage to several major systems but it didn’t seem to slow her down too much, save she was beginning to favor her left side.
Calandri hacked and stabbed and shot everything. Her blood was up now. All the pent up anger at those slavers, that had come to her home world and destroyed everything she loved, came up and overflowed out of her. She had been very happy on this new planet - teaching the young had reminded her of home. A Reaver came at her and knocked her down. But she was quickly back on her feet and headbutted the Reaver so hard that it’s helmet cracked.
There was another point where the two broke off and stared at one another, seemingly to try and catch their breath. The fight was intense all around them. It seemed to be a stalemate.
It was at this point that something caught Setsunu’s eye. Hotaru was fighting alone against a Mishhu. She was fighting bravely but she was being pushed back against a bulkhead. The Mishuu had her trapped. As Setsunu watched another of those tenacled horrors was sneaking up on her and Setsunu could see that her daughter was not aware of it.
A look crossed Setsunu’s face. It was a look that had never crossed her face before in her entire life. It was fear. She, Setsunu Meiosei, who was known as the Lady of Death because she killed without fear was suddenly very afraid. Afraid for her daughter.
Warrior caught the look and followed Setsunu’s gaze. She immediately picked up on the connection. The young Neko was wielding a spear with the exact same style as Setsunu had. Setsunu did a micro teleport leaving Warrior smiling. So, she had found the great Lady of Death’s weakness.
Suddenly there was a gout of fire that engulfed the Mishhu that was flanking Hotaru followed by a war woop as a Havoc drake swooped past the Mishhu, On its back was a Mini Neko with her pistol out set to tier 2 as Crysta opens fire on the Mishhu that Lou just flamed. Then taking up a mini Aether lance she charges at the Mishhu once more as Lou spits out another gout of fire and this time tries to slice into the head. " THIS IS FOR MY MOTHER AND FATHER!!!" The mini-neko screamed out.
The Mishhu was completely taken aback by the sudden flame thrower and ferrocity of the attack by the tiny Neko. But the Mishhu recovered and began swatting at the anoying little Neko.
Lou with Crysta on his back dodged the swatting tentacles of the Mishhu, as she kept up her attacks, First a gout of fire toward it's main eyes, then dash inwards to slice at the head of the Mishhu trying to hit a vital spot. Already taking the second Mishuu off Hotaru's flank as she was glad that she had come to the sound of the fighting.
Mishhuvurthyar Ship - Interior
As the team surged forward towards the engineering section of the ship, the conflict grew more intense. Every step they took towards their objective was a battle, their determination and skill tested against the ferocious defense of the Mishhuvurthyar. But they pushed onward, guided by their mission and the knowledge that their success could turn the tide of the battle in favor of the Star Army of Yamatai.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Resurgence, Captain Aoba continued to oversee the battle. "Keep the pressure on them. Our teams are still aboard, we need to keep them distracted and buy them as much time as we can."
Kalena nodded, unleashing another volley of aether blasts towards the cruiser, the ship shuddering as they returned fire. The sight of the Resurgence, battered but unyielding, became a beacon of hope amidst the chaos, their resolve an inspiration for the away team in their perilous mission.
As the team moved deeper into the Mishhuvurthyar ship, they had to fight every step of the way. The corridors were filled with enemies and traps, making their progress slow. However, with their combined firepower and determination, they were starting to make headway. Their ultimate goal, the enemy ship's engine room, was getting closer with each step.
"Get moving towards the access tunnel!" Pidole urged, "I'll help cover the rear with the drones!"
The Mishhuvurthyar counter-attack came swift and relentless. The small squad of Ripper power armors launched into action with an almost unholy vigour. Their forms seemed to meld seamlessly with the flesh of the ship, obscuring them momentarily before they lunged out from the grotesque mass of living architecture. As the Rippers moved, their forms fluctuated, armored plating hardening in response to the team's retaliatory fire.
Sanda stabbed another Ripper and then shot it for good measure before running forward towards the access tunnel Pidole indicated.
Trowa hung back with Pidole, adding his drones to hers. "Lets not dilly-dally now Little Red. Keep moving."
"Roger that!" Pidole said, eager to follow the path Bidole had scouted for them. "We're almost there."
Their aether cannons crackled with electric intensity as they targeted the away team. Each fired shot was a vibrant, sizzling arc of energy that lit up the grotesque, dim interior of the Mishhuvurthyar ship with a fierce, terrifying beauty. The sharp smell of ozone filled the air, mixing with the humid, fetid aroma of the ship's innards.The drone of the ship and the mental hum of the Mishhuvurthyar assailants seemed to rise to a fever pitch as the battle commenced.
When the aether shots hit, they exploded with a brutal force, temporarily illuminating the pulsating, fleshy walls with stark, bluish-white light. The impacts sent showers of caustic sparks in all directions, illuminating the Ripper armors. The team's protective MINDY armor was the only barrier against the onslaught, its layers of heavy Zesuaium plating and advanced hemosynthetic materials absorbing and dispersing the kinetic energy of the impacts while deflecting the residual aether radiation.
Simultaneously, the Mishhuvurthyar melee attackers rushed forward. Their forms were as grotesque as they were lethal. Muscular tentacles tipped with razor-sharp talons and teeth lunged towards the away team. Each movement was accompanied by a chorus of maddening hisses and roars that resonated both audibly and mentally. Despite the intense assault, the team had the advantage of superior training, discipline, and technological prowess to counter the horrifying onslaught.
As the team spilled into the larger room and the tunnel to engineering came into sight, Pidole rushed over to it and began making her way up to the engineering space through the snot-like goo that drained through it. "I hate organic ships," she complained to no one in particular.
Sanda was unfazed by the Mishhu terror tactics. She had run many simulations agaist them and knew how best to fight against the horrors. She also had countered with some terror attacks of her own by screaming obscenities at them in every language she knew. Taunting them as she hacked away at them with bayonet and rifle.
Yayoi simply smirked at the tactics but remained unbothered. She'd shoot either way.
As Pidole emerged into the ship's main engineering space she found Cassie standing over the corpse of the Mishhuvurthyar chief engineer. "I'll hold them until the rest of the team gets here."
The red-haired technician immediately got to work, pulling out a cutting torch and disconnecting the generator as her makeshift drones encircled it in an organized shape. As the power was disrupted, the ship's interior was plunged into near-total darkness, lit only by the flashes of gunfire. "Trowa, Sanda, I think it's actually gonna work!" Pidole yelled. "You ready to book it out of here?" she asked as Bidole returned to her travel pod on Pidole's shoulder.
"If I never set foot inside a Mishhu ship again it'll be too soon." Trowa said.
"You old man! I will haunt their dreams for years to come after this!" Sanda yelling one last obsenity.
"I'm ready to get out," Yayoi said as she prepared to teleport.
With a brilliant flash, the team reappeared into the Wakaba's engineering bay. As Pidole got to work, she gave the team her thanks, "Thanks for protecting me. Boy is this dreadnaught about to get a surprise," she said as the power readouts of the Wakaba began to rise.
Ryoko jumped back as the Resurgence away team suddenly appeared. "What the hell!?"
= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Cowboy, Ame, iaincarter, Soresu, Damaske