RP: YSS Resurgence Resurgence of Yamatai - Mission 9: Space Is A Graveyard

"I'm okay with Mineko asking the questions, though I'd like to record if that's okay. It's a big discovery," said Euikoshi.

"Lets do it. The rest of us will hang back a little bit so not to be overwhelming and keep our eyes peeled for anything else that might happen." Sanda said. She wasn't trying to take over or anything. She was just very confidence in her abilities to do her job without needing to be told what do to first.

"Last suggestion I have." Erika added, her eyes darting back to the group for a moment before returning to her sector. "Whoever is on comms with the sleeper should remove their helmet. Yeah we have no idea if they find us hideous monsters, but without a playbook I think we should stick with what we know."

Leaving the rest to their ill-advised interrogation, Okimi crossed the chamber, back to the entrance they had taken and took up post at the portal. At least this way, when everything went wrong and the station decided to kill them all, she'd be in a good position to defend the team from that direction.

Yayoi stepped back silently, as she didn't want to overwhelm or cause fear but she was curious about this new species.

There was something about a science green uniform that Mineko liked. Whether it was the intrinsic enjoyment of data and what it all meant or just the verdant familiarity, Mineko wasn't going to try to decide now. She was just happy to have Euikoshi being the one taking notes and as interested in what this forgotten civilization could tell them as the analyst was.

"Okimi, Thunder" Mineko asked, "Is there anything you remember when they took possession of you?"

Okimi hummed to herself, trying to decide how best to explain what she saw. After a second or two, she shrugged and went with the far easier choice of copying the relevant memories and uploading them to the group as a data packet. "Easier to see for yourself, Mineko-san."

Sanda grunted. "They're warriors. I saw them fight and die valiantly as their people escaped to this station." The Ranger paused. The images had been so vivid, as if she had been there. "I saw honor in them and that's not something easy to fake."

Despite gaining so much from Okimi, Mineko wasn't prepared to become paralyzed like as well and turned to Erika.

"If my hand even inches towards taking my helmet off, stop me." Mineko said to the operative. All of the intrigue and wonder of the situation had been washed from Mineko's face as she spoke stonily.

Erika took her hand off the grip of her gun for a moment and send a thumbs up over her shoulder before putting it back.

"Which tank is the release mechanism set for?" To Pidole, Mineko had spoke with little lighter tone as she stepped off the central platform.

"It's got a number but I'm not sure how to read the numbers in this language," Pidole said.

"We'll see when it opens, then" Mineko nodded, looking around at the rows of unsightly aliens, wondering what parts of their history would unfold or if they were about to make a new future for themselves.

With a deep breath, Pidole activated the sequence. A distant hum echoed through the chamber, growing louder as one of the stasis pods illuminated more brightly than the rest. With a hiss and a puff of icy vapor, the pod's lid slid open.

Inside was an alien, humanoid in structure but with distinctly alien features, with extensive signs of cybernetics--part organic and part machine. The being's skin was a shade of pale blue, its eyes closed. Slowly, its eyelids fluttered open, revealing glowing orange orbs.

As it sat up, the being looked around, its gaze settling on the team. For a tense moment, everything was silent, each side measuring the other.

Then, the being spoke, its voice melodious and calm. "Who are you?"

"I am Mineko of Yamatai," the analyst said in a mild tone. "My team and I noticed your station wanted to wake you."

The being considered this, then gave a nod of acknowledgment. "I am Alor. Last sentinel of my people. What has transpired? Why have I been awakened?"

Mineko's brows pushed into her bangs at his title. Perhaps they had gotten lucky in choosing what sounded like a leader to their people.

"Some of our group witnessed an evacuation," Mineko said frankly. "Seemingly sent in a message from your station to us of something that has come to pass. Were you aware of something

Alor took a moment, absorbing the information. "Then the emergency protocols were enacted. The entity you encountered was a remnant of our collective consciousness—a desperate cry for help. Our civilization was on the brink of annihilation. We sought refuge here, preserving ourselves in hopes of a brighter future. The entity should have uploaded some language protocols into your consciousness."

"I think we've absorbed them if we can communicate now," Mineko noted. "I want to be honest with you, some scavengers have taken advantage of your unconscious state and not all who were preserved have made it."

Meanwhile Pidole was examining the controls with curiosity.

Okimi could hear the walls whispering again, but it was still too faint to actually make out any discrete information. Still, she had a feeling. Withholding a sigh, she reached out and patted the structure to reassure it. "It's okay, station-dono, we'll wake them all up. Just have some patience, okay?"

"Hey," Cassie said to Sanda, "I think before we wake these guys up we need to clear the entire station so we're not sending them into a deathtrap or starting some sort of refugee crisis. What do you think? What if we, like, call for the Rikugun to send a legion or something? Do you think Cap'n Aoba will go for that?" she speculated.

Sanda snapped around to look at Cassie. If her helmet had been off, they would have seen her eyes wide. How the hell had she not thought of that? She looked around her, suddenly feeling a lot less secure than she had been. "Yes. We'll need to give this place a good going over. This place is huge. Anything could be hiding in here and be completely undetected. We should go ahead and update the Captain. Let me start the wheels turning to get some backup."

"We're going to ensure your right to safety," Mineko referenced the Yamataian Rights to Early Contact as she nodded towards Sanda and Cassie behind her. "What did your people plan to do once awoken?"

Alor frowned. "It's been so long," he said, looking around. "This place looks like a mess. At least it was able to move to the correct place to be found after so many years in hiding. I am very eager to start again but I'm afraid everything we knew may be gone. The plan was to start from scratch. The sentinels would stay awake and protect the people while the others slept. We would go find suitable worlds to settle on..."

"Mineko." Erika said over comms, wanting to maintain the idea of a single communicator. "Might be a good idea to ask what caused their near annihilation. Why they needed to take such drastic measures for preservation."

Mineko sent back through her direct link to Erika an affirmative, "Same braincell!"

“Maybe everything you know being gone is a good thing if it means your enemies are absent, as well. Who were you fighting?” Mineko asked, wondering what it was that could send an honorable army, as Sanda had called them, into such hiding.

Yayoi thought of saying something but since her comrades her team had it covered, she remained silent. But she had to admit, Cassie might have the right idea, they might need help more than what those from the Resurgence were capable of.

Yoshiro watched silently and let the people who knew what they were doing do their jobs but he was ready for combat if the need arose. He used passive scans to keep watch over the surrounding area.

Euikoshi continued to point her recorder at Alor, documenting this for future scientists.

"Have your people defeated the machines?" Alor suddenly asked, eager for good news. "We were fighting against legions of automated war machines."

"We've fought against them before," Mineko said, recalling reports of the Resurgence's past missions that she had not been present for. "Defeated them, though? No. Maybe we can find you a habitable world far from them."

"Are we even sure these are the same machines he's referring too?" Erika added, again over coms. "Rogue AI seem to be a recurring issue for any society sophisticated enough to create them." there was a pause before she added "Maybe don't mention the MEGAMI system aboard the Res."

"At least there's hope," Alor sighed. "What is Yamatai?"

"it is a nation, a vast and large one in the cosmos, one of many." Yayoi said finally speaking for what is the first time since Alor awakened.

Mineko looked to Erika, then Alor, "What information can you give us on the enemy you faced. We'll do everything we can to investigate your enemy and establish if we've faced them or if they're gone, too."

"Say, isn't this station home to automated combat robots like the one we found earlier?" Euikoshi asked, with a shiver running down her spine.

"We can talk another time," Alor said, trying to walk over to the controls of the hibernation chamber. "I must see to my people."

Sanda's head snapped around and she moved forward. She didn't exactly get in front of Alor, but he'd have to bump into her if he kept going. "Excuse me... Sir. But we're not certain if the station is secure yet. It might be good to wait till we..."

Alor picked up Pidole and carefully moved her out of in front of the controls and set her down nearby. "Is that a Larundian Blue Linkbeetle?" he asked, surprised to see one. "You must feel so lucky to be one of the chosen."

Yayoi blinked as Alor named Bidole's species, something she wasn't aware of.

Yoshiro looked over at Alor as if he had a question but had to wait for an opportunity later on. He listened to the current conversation.

Pidole and Bidole stared at Alor in shock.

"Chosen?" Mineko repeated Alor's words. She had initially been of the same mind as Sanda and not thought it wise to wake all of the rest of Alor's people, but with his interest elsewhere, Mineko's had shifted as well.

"They don't link with just anyone," Alor told Mineko. "It takes a certain type of mind..."

Cassie started to say something but stopped before she said it out loud. Living with Pidole she always got a sense there was something off about her roommate, that she was on the spectrum as they say. Then Cassie blurted out, "Even if she's wired differently in the brain, she is the best damned engineer."

"They help each other, like a sentinel helps those sleeping. You're not going to wake them right now, are you?" Mineko asked. "Before you've found a world?"

Yayoi found herself agreeing with Cassie, having heard from Luna her impression of Pidole, and had been impressed by her.

Okimi kept an ear on the conversation, although she was confused at the need to summon an army when there was one sleeping within arms reach that would be more than capable of doing the job required. Especially as that would give the Resurgence the opportunity to assess the alien army's capabilities.

"But there is much work to be done!" Alor said, looking at his rescuers with a little unease. "I don't think just because you found us means you get to choose for us what we do." Alor looked around, seeing the countless pods holding his kin.

"We are not choosing for you. We just want things to be safe when you do wake them up." Yoshiro said.

"See, if we teleported him back to the Res this wouldn't be an issue" Erika commented quietly.

"Does this terminal have network access?" Mineko asked, preparing to formally send the Rights of Early Contact. "I'm sending a document our people have made for when we meet new species. You have full control over your station and we won't limit such. But as Yoshiro-heisho stated, we want to be safe. Do we have your—"

There was a crackle of static on the away team's channels, and Kalena's voice came through. "Resurgence to away team, a Mishhuvurthyar ship just jumped in and dropped off boarding parties on the station."

"Away team, prepare for combat. We got enemy boarding teams inbound." Yoshiro said.

Okimi snorted to herself as she readied her aether SMG for action and ensured the bayonet was securely attached. "Gee, would be nice if we had an alien army on hand to back us up, right about now." The sarcasm was real.

Yayoi cursed lowly as she heard the report. "perhaps awakening them may be a good idea.. if they are combat trained.."

Euikoshi's eyes widened in alarm. "That's not good. The Mishhuvurthyar are a hostile species, known for their brutal tactics," she explained to Alon.

Alor, trying to understand the gravity of the situation, asked, "Are they a threat?"

"That's a clear threat to life," Mineko said wide-eyed as she referred to terms from the document she had just sent and Alor's question.

Sanda took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose. She could already feel the adrenaline entering her blood. A fight was calling and she was ready to answer.

"Yoshiro, I suggest we cover points of ingress to the bay while we get Alor's people out." Erika said out loud

"Roger that Erika. Hoshi-heisho if you have heavy firepower pick an entrance and keep it as defended as you can. Take your partner with you. " Yoshiro ordered.

Cassie nodded. "We need to defend this chamber. We can't let them get to the control system or the stasis pods. If they do they're going to turn them into zombies for their forces using parasites and eggs."

"Alor, my name is Erika. Are your people ready for combat? Do you have weapons near by or do we need to evacuate you as quickly as possible?" She asked

Mineko turned to her de-facto battle buddy, Erika and listened to the operative speak to the sentinel as she did system checks on her Mindy.

"If possible, she should keep them from even getting to the station." Sanda said, "Come on Blade. Stall tactics. Just the way the Rangers like it. We'll slow them down while you get this chamber secured and get this station's defenses up and going."

Yayoi turned from the group and proceeded towards the doors, waiting until she was away from sensitive tech as well as lives, before she prepared herself for battle. "i'm on your six, Thunder" she replied to her battle partner.

"Of the 20 million people in stasis, less than half have military experience. We do have access to some weaponry, if it hasn't been looted," Alor answered Erika.

"20 million?" Erika said astonished before her professional tone returned "I'm sure we can spare some if needed. Prioritize waking up the military personnel and have them establish a defensive perimeter. I would suggest not waking them all up though, we don't have the food for that many people."

"Just a few million would definitely help," Mineko quipped in response.

"If we can secure them." Erika said wordlessly "I don't want to consider the idea of 20 million infected alien mishhu zombies. If I start I also begin thinking about scorched earth tactics, which would go completely against the SOP."

"Wait, what," Cassie said, blinking in surprise, looking at Alor.

"Earlier I was able to activate what appeared to be a security robot," Pidole said. "What if I brought more of them online?" she suggested. "Are they on our side?"

"Time to go to battle. By blood and blade shall my enemies fall!" Yoshiro said with a grin on his face.

Okimi couldn't help the ridiculous thought that the team leader had somehow forgotten about bullets. She shook her head and refocused on the passageway before her.

"I see you, too, are warriors," Alor said, pulling out a metallic cylinder which rapidly unfolded into an assault rifle with a glowing green stripe on the side.

"Yes, we are and we will fight with all of our strength to protect you and your people!" Yoshiro said with fire in his voice. He pulled out his aether blade smg and himself for battle.

Erika laughed "We are biological weapons platforms created to defend the Yamatai Empire and destroy its enemies. Be glad we're on your side." She said as she moved to one of the doors and checked her equipment.

"If we can bring the station's main power back online, we can activate hundreds of thousands of security robots," Alor told Pidole, "But there's a problem...it can only be done from the station's core. And whoever controls the core controls the station and its defenses. If I were the enemy that would be where I would go first."

Mineko felt like she still had so many unanswered questions for Alor but now that the mission had turned to combat, there was no precedent for asking more. The anxiety she had felt when he was going to wake his kin had turned to comradery. Though a bunch of roused warriors may have turned on the Resurgence crew, with the Mishhu needing to be fought, it was obvious that their budding friendship with Alor's people was going to be forged in flame.

The analyst did have one question for Alor, "What are your people called? You know we're Yamataians. It would be nice to know the name of the people we're about to fight alongside!"

"We called ourselves the Celestial Concord." Alor told Mineko.

"How do we get to the core?" Sanda asked. She'd figure out what they were called after she killed all the Mishhu buggers.

"I know the way," Alor says. "I can lead you there. To say this station is mazelike is an understatement."

"If you can just give us co-ordinates we might be able to teleport there." Erika added. "My suit has a special device that can move us instantaneously to any location within a one million kilometer range, providing there is no special shielding or anything like that."

"Hoshi-heisho, be careful out there." Yoshiro said to her. "I know you and I don't see eye to eye but I want to see you come back."

Yayoi was of the same mind as Sanda, preferring to think of how to get to the core, and take down Mishuu, a sort of destroy enemies first ask questions later sort of deal. "don't worry, i have her back" Yayoi said to Yoshiro.

"Celestial Concord," Mineko repeated to herself. With the satisfaction of Alor's answer churning in her mind, Mineko flew towards Erika at the door. "We'll protect them!"

With Yayoi's word ringing in his ears Yoshiro uttered his battlecry. "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!" He shouted.

Suddenly, micro-missiles sailed into the room from one of the doors, exploding in a lingering flash of light and shrapnel as one of the Mishhuvurthyar boarding parties reached the chamber! Ripper power armors rushed in, their aether blades blazing with fury! From the darkness came an evil, arrogant laugh... "HU HU HU."

"Hu Hu Hu my ass, you mutated offspring of tentacle porn characters! IF YOU WANT IT, COME AND GET IT, YOU STUPID BRAINLESS OCTOPUS! You will watch as your souls leave your bodies as I push my aether blade deep into whatever degenerate organ you call a heart!" Yoshiro shouted as he lit the blade on one of his Aether blade for his smg. "I am the Harbinger of your unconscious nightmares! I will be the last thing you see when you go to sleep and then the first thing you see when you awaken! I am Yoshiro Tanaka, Joto Heisho of the Star Army of Yamatai and I bring death to your armies!"

He was being reckless by far but he was ready to fight and destroy the enemies of Yamatai. They had taken way too much from people, including him and he was not going to let that happen to anyone else!

Sanda didn't wait for orders or waste her breath yelling and saying what she was going to do. She acted. As soon as the micro-missiles were detected, she activated her counter measures. Her shoulder weapons, a gauss cannon and shotgun, began targeting the micro-missiles. As the Ripper Power armors began entering the room, Sanda activated her suit's thrusters and launched herself at them. Mid air she pulled the boarding shield she had been carrying from her back and locked it into place. With her right arm she activated her suits Aether blade.

Sanda plowed into the Ripper at full speed with her shield. The force of the hit pushed the Ripper off it's feet and back into the suit behind it. Sanda kept her thrusters going and kept pushing both Rippers backwards while stabbing her energy blade into the closes armor. The Ripper tried to get its own blade around Sanda's shield, but the Ranger parried the attacks and kept stabbing at it. The Rippers had been pushed back into the whole they had blown out to enter the room, blocking the way for it's comrades to help.

However, Sanda forward motion was now spent. She had now lost the element of surprise and the Rippers were quickly recovering and countering. She had gone from deflecting one blade to two to now four. Moving with a speed that showed why she had graduated from both Ranger and Giretsu training she dodged and parred the enemy blades. But even she couldn't block the shear number of blades that was coming at her. It was time to leave.

Using her shield to block, Sanda retracted her energy blade and grabbed two grenades. She activated them then wedged them against the Ripper in front of her. Planting her shield against the floor, Sanda raised up and kicked with both legs against the Ripper, crashing it against the others. Just as the grenades went off, Sanda used her teleporters to jump back to the rest of the team. The explosives went off with satisfying screams of pain. Taking back up her rifle she raised it up, ready to fire as soon as the smoke cleared. "Move it people! I've got the rear!"

Despite the Mishuu’s bizarre HU HU HU bit, Yayoi was oddly calm as she stepped forward. Beside her, Sanda charge ahead, showing how badass she usually was as Yayoi and Yoshiro faced their opponents. Yoshiro with some pumped up bravado, Yayoi with silent calm. Perhaps Yayoi had entered the state her sister, Kiyo does when she fights. The Giretsu trained Ranger dodged to the right of her first opponent, as her Aether Pulse cannon, pointed up and shot him. This allowed Yayoi to show the Mishuu a new warrior they could create one with a smoking hole in its chest.

Certainly that would be intimidating to the Mishuu’s enemy’s right?

Yayoi kept shooting her weapons - Aether Pulse Cannons, Shoulder-Mounted Scalar Machine Gun, and leg pods - at their Mishuu opponents.. Her sensors taking note of the explosion that satisfyingly injured/murdered the parasitic tentacle monsters. That reminded her that she too had grenades in her cluster grenade pack. She grabbed the next Mishuu future corps to force it to be used as an extra shield. Yayoi would be lying if she didn’t think that this felt like she was back on Hanako’s world fighting Kuvexians.

Pod Room

The Ripper Sanda had attacked was surprisingly agile for its larger size which made the Mindy look small. The hulking power armor, made during the First Mishhuvurthyar War to be a "Mindy killer," was still significantly more armored, shielded than she was and it carried a ridiculously powerful aether saber that could easily cut through Mindy armor. Piloted by disembodied brain programmed as a combat AI of sorts, it was a death machine that couldn't be reasoned with. When Sanda kicked it, it held up its aether blade and pushed it up through her foot before she teleported to safety. Covered in smoke, but still moving, the damaged Ripper stood aside as four more entered the room.

Getting close the the Rippers was really difficult because of their swift moves with their blades, and at range the Rippers were firing railguns and anti-matter. When Yayoi grabbed one, it hacked her off off at the elbow and headbutted her in the face. The whole room was a mess of flames and radiation, with deadly fire spraying around. Euikoshi stumbled out into a corridor shielding Alon with herself as best she could and Pidole struggled to activate the room's security robots from a control panel for a moment before falling back, trailing smoke and blood as she went. "I'm hit...Sentry gun going up," she shouted, as one of the station's walls reassembled itself into a security mecha and began firing on the Rippers, finishing off the one that Sanda had hit with a rapid stream of neon orange plasma beams.

"Away team, this is Resurgence, we are deploying a fire team to assist," Kalena said over comms. "Sakuko is dropping off soldiers Wando, Simril, Lyons, and Engineer Wong. Medic Poppy is also on the way along with possibly other volunteers. They will attempt to secure the pod room while you head to the core."

Pod Room

Okimi watched as everything went to hell. She felt genuine terror take root in her soul as the most experience soldiers among the away team were so brutally repelled. The caretaker really wanted to just take off towards the safety of the reinforcements. But, that wasn't the job. And, she had a promise she had to keep, even if this wasn't how Okimi had imagined things working out when she had promised to look out for Yuri, back at the Hanami Festival. Dialling her aether SMG to its maximum setting, she prepared herself.

Carefully judging the distances involved, Okimi triggered her Mindy's teleporter. With any luck, she'd land beside the injured Yayoi, shoot off enough aether energy to distract the ripper that had engaged her, use that time to scoop up the ranger with her free arm and fly back like the very beasts of hell were in pursuit. Which of course, they likely would be so she'd have to move erratically too to prevent the enemy scoring an easy shot.

"Yayoi!" Yoshiro shouted in anger as he shot at the one that hurt her. He shot at two Mishhu Rippers that tried to sneak up on him as he drove his Aether blade deep into a third's "degenerate organ" they called a heart. He totally lost his mind and just started laying in to the Mishhu. "You will pay for that, you mutated ass SON OF A BITCH!" He yelled into a Ripper's equivalent of an ear and slammed the bastard in to the ground until it was a mix of mashed organs and bloody pulp. Out of breath Yoshiro whispered, "You will pay...I promise you that I will make you pay..." and watched for reinforcements as he continued his fight.

Pod Room

As the situation grew dire, the SAINT analyst pivoted from standing around talking to the grisly alien to taking on a combat stance. She watched the away team's two Rangers take damage and winced. It wasn't a good first impression on this new friend, but they were also the groups tanks. Without them, everyone dying here was looking like a probability.

"Fall back," Mineko said to her battle buddy. There was a reason Mineko was a cerebral officer over a combatant and she wasn't about to play into the Mishhuvurthyar's strengths and her weaknesses by jumping into the fray. She inhaled sharply as she assessed the situation as best she could, sure to keep her visual scanners up as she avoided the railgun fire while she withdrew from near the doorway. Her NSBs provided a flurry of cover for herself as she did.

"Alor, we have reinforcements coming to protect the pods." Mineko reassured. "Is there another way out of here to the core?"

As she regrouped with the Concordian, her aether saber was drawn as she held it between Alor and the Rippers. Even if he was a Sentinel of his people and a warrior, he was still their most valuable asset in helping those that were helpless now.

Pod Room

As Yoshiro was engaging Rippers to protect Alor and his people he sent a message to the Resurgence over a secure communication channel. "Resurgence, this is Tanaka Heisho of the away team. What is the ETA of the reinforcements?" He asked. He was reloading his smgs as he radioed in. "There are a lot of Mishhu and we need help." He stabbed at a Mishhuvurthyar, trying to conserve ammunition by not firing when they got to CQB range.

Suddenly, everything went white to the Giretsu trained ranger as she firstly, had her arm cut off, again. For a moment it felt like se was back on Hanako in the resistance, and she lost her arm. She was strangely used to it, but the pain had pushed her out the Asakura combat trance, which was also done by the headbutt. Humiliation and disorientation filled her mind but she could feel herself being moved away. Eventually she started to process shouting, Yoshiro-centric words as she was moved from the Ripper. Her Mindy immediately got to work on a volumetric limb that she could use.

Sanda went to take a step and fell down. Pain swept over her. Stubbornness more than anything else kept her from screaming from the pain. She forced the pain aside and looked down at her leg. Although she suddenly wished she hadn't when she saw the state of her foot. Sanda was about as tough as they came however. She didn't have time to wait for aid. Taking her bayonet, she activated the Aether energy. She took deep breath and gritted her teeth. She hacked off her leg just below the knee. Her suit sealed the break and would keep her from bleeding out. It also formed a temporary leg that she could stand on.

Getting back to her feet, she feel back to the doorway that Alor was leading them to. Once she got there she began firing at the Ripper Armors with both her plasma rifle and gauss rifle. Using her cybernetics she was an deadly marksmen. She was aiming for the Ripper's eyes. Trying to at least blind the basterds.

The pod room, awash in sporadic light and erratic alarms, had become a scene of utter chaos. The terrifying agility and brutality of the Mishhuvurthyar Rippers had already made their mark. The predatory machines, designed to be unstoppable adversaries, tore through the room with relentless vigor, their aether blades gleaming with an otherworldly glow. The vulnerability of the cryogenic sleeping pods added another layer of desperation to the team's defense. Any damage to them would mean the potential loss of untold numbers of innocent lives.

Alor, the Concordian guide, and key to the away team's mission, moved desperately through the conflict, trying to lead the team toward the ancient control center. However, in his rush, the poor alien passed too close to a damaged reactor conduit, and a lethal dose of radiation seeped into him. The bright azure hue of his skin turned pale, and it was evident his moments were numbered. Yet, with commendable resilience, he whispered the location of the control center to Mineko before collapsing. The information he imparted seemed crucial, but it came at the ultimate price.

The room filled with the sounds of firing railguns, explosive anti-matter discharges, and the occasional clash of aether weapons. The swirling vortex of violence was maddening. Sanda, with her new makeshift limb, displayed impressive marksmanship that left several Rippers temporarily blinded. Meanwhile, Yayoi's volumetric limb became a symbol of defiance as she battled on, in spite of her injuries. Yoshiro, in his fury, became a beacon of hope for the team, fighting Rippers and fiercely guarding the wounded Alor. The air crackled around him, filled with tension, resolve, and desperate shouts.

Suddenly, the oppressive atmosphere was broken by a rush of new energy. From the way the team had arrived from, the reinforcements arrived in a blaze of aether and mini-missiles. Sakuko's team, with soldiers Wando, Simril, Lyons, Wong, and Medic Poppy, stormed into the fray, bringing with them a surge of hope. Combining forces, the two teams were able to set up a killzone of overlapping fire, and the Rippers were hit from multiple directions. The young SAINT analyst, Mineko, scored a kill, as did Yoshiro, Sanda, and Yayoi. Soon the Ripper squad lay dead in the form of smoldering, pockmarked robotic corpses, laying face down in heaps as smoke rose from them.

"This isn't all of them," Kalena's voice said over the comms. "The rest are probably headed for the core but at least you kept them off the sleepers," she told the team.

Poppy rushed over to check on Sanda and administered a powerful painkiller to her, and then one for Yayoi. "I can fix your limbs but you'll need to come back to the medical bay for some time in the hemosynth healing tanks. It looks like you found the Mindy 4's "peg leg" feature...I can't recommend continuing on like that but if you chose to, at least this will keep the pain away. To be clear, you can't regrow your limbs with hemosynth blood if they're cauterized at the stump, blocking the blood flow."

Pod Room

As the last enemy in the room went down, Okimi let her Mindy slide down the wall at her back until she was sat on the floor of the pod room. Her heartrate was still much higher than normal and the caretaker's breathing was erratic. When she had tried to teleport to Yayoi, Okimi had swiftly discovered that there was a problem. Given the Mindy stated the P3802 module was fully-functional, she could only assume that someone had erected some kind of teleportation-inhibiting field. After a momentary flare of pure panic, Okimi had instead gone with an even less sane option.

Using her Mindy's combined field for propulsion gave her a top speed just shy of two hundred kilometres per hour. Given the distances involved, it really wasn't that much slower than a teleport. So, she'd jumped into the air, poured on the speed and gone to retrieve her best friends' aunt. It hadn't been quite that simple because there had been plenty of firepower crossing the intervening space, but Okimi had somehow managed to avoid the worst of it and pulled the impromptu rescue off. A maximum deceleration, foot on the deck, spin, grab yayoi and bounce back just as fast as her Mindy had let her.

Once back to the relative safety of the rest of the group, she had released Yayoi - who naturally had just formed a new arm and gotten straight back into the fight. Meanwhile, Okimi had had to retrieve her aether SMG from where she had, perhaps unwisely, dropped before initiating her mad flight. The caretaker was sure she'd be booted from the armor team when all was said and done, but hey, at least she wouldn't have to look Yuri in the eyes and tell her that she could have tried to save Yayoi's life, but chose not to.

After that, the remainder of the battle blurred together. All Okimi knew was that she had never been so grateful to see Poppy and the rest of the reinforcement team and that now there was time to take a moment, the caretaker was certainly in need of doing so. Now, sat on the ground in her charred and beaten suit, she decided it might be a good idea to run a systems and ammunition check, so, blinking, turned her attention to her Mindy's operating system.

YE 45.6

Space Station

It became difficult for Mineko to look away from Alor’s paled face. She wondered if whether the Celstial Concord had Soul Transfer technology would have been one of her next questions to the alien man or if she would have chosen something more pragmatic. There wasn’t much time to think on the matter of life and death, much less what it meant to Alor’s people. She pushed down his agape eyelids so that he could rest now before her own eyes lifted to look from Yoshiro in his zealous flurry of battle. Her mind was guided back to the task at hand and she called out.

"We've held them off for now, but we need to regroup and head towards the station center,” Mineko said decisively.

Sanda nodded her thanks to Poppy then held her arm up to be helped to her feet. "I'm Nepleslian. A cybernetic replacement will be just as good as a flesh and blood one. Besides, there's still work to do and I'm still conscious." Sanda wasn't going to let something like losing a leg keep her from fighting.

Yayoi grumbled to herself as she heard Poppy's words. She had a difficult choice, on one hand, she continued on, and become a cyborg, like she'd been while on Hanako's world, on the other abandon the mission to get healed. It wasnt an easy choice she could make, especially as a warrior.

Euikoshi looked to Pidole, "Hey Poppy, Pidole's been hit as well," she called the medic over, spotting the rivulets of blood coming from burned holes in Pidole's armor suit. The pink-haired medic darted over and began giving a the red-haired technician a hemosynth blood injection along with pain relievers and wound treatment.

"I was thinking," Pidole started, and stopped to cough, "Maybe I could stay here with the second team and you can take Caihong. I've got to get this battle damage under control. Are we going to wake up the rest of these people or any additional ones?"

Smoke trailed from the barrel of Erika's weapon as she picked herself off the ground, having taken a prone possition to lay down suppressing fire. She took a moment to take in the aftermath, her eyes lingering on the corpse of the sleeper, recently awoken only to sleep for the rest of eternity. "Mineko's right." she said after a moment "Relief has the location secured. I suggest everyone not wounded start making a move."

Okimi continued to sit on the floor, her Mindy propped up against a bulkhead as she continuously re-ran her power armor's internal status checks. Sooner or later they would detect something that had gone wrong with her Mindy. There was no way she'd just shrugged off that much firepower, after all. No-one was that lucky, right?

"I didn't really think I'd be fighting Rippers," Colby Wando, one of the lower-ranking infantry guys said. "I joined for the Kuvexian War." He was a relatively recent transfer from the legendary YSS Aeon II.

"I'm staying, have to complete the mission" Yayoi said, as she remembered she was back in Yamatai's Star Army, no need to worry now. She looked at her arm for a moment, before she focused on her targets.

"Well, I won't pull you for being unfit, but I expect to see you in the medical lab when this is done, and don't stay out for more than an hour and come back right away if you start getting woozy. Also apparently the teleporters are sketchy on this station due to weird energies so you'll be huffing it back to the shuttle bay. I'm going to leave an antigravity stretcher here just in case," Poppy told Yayoi and Sanda.

Sanda held a hand to her chest as if she was hurt by Poppy's suggestion that she wouldn't immediately report to the med lab after this was over. "Poppy. Do you think I would hang around and not report back as soon as the fight it over? Why I practically live in the med bay." Sanda hated reporting to med bay and had only been in there twice in her whole carrier.

"I saw a lot of weird stuff on the way in," Poppy shrugged. "Maybe once this place is a little calm it will be great for tourism. For now let's focus on the mission."

"It's not now, though," Mineko said sharply. “All these people only have us to count on now, we should head to the core. Whoever's going down and whoever is staying here, let's help them before the Mishhu help themselves to them!"

"Let's go then. Point the way. I'll take the point." Sanda said as she brought up her rifle with bayonett attached. Her dented boarding shield was strapped to her back again.

"Caihong, you go with Team 1," Pidole ordered her junior technician.

"Yes, Heisho," Caihong nodded.

"hai" Yayoi said in response to Poppy's words, as she stepped forward, as she checked what weapons she had access to, now that she lost a limb. "hey Okimi, thanks for pulling me back" she sent to the caretaker.

"No," Mineko shook her head to Sanda. "You're injured, hold the back of the line. Erika can take point for you. The doorway over there should get us there," Mineko said as she looked towards a egg-shaped neither they nor the Mishhu had barreled through yet.

Sanda looked over Mineko. "Even injured I'm more than capable of doing my job, Nito Hei Mineko." The Ranger didn't like the suggestion that she wasn't capable to do her job. She also didn't like having a mere Nito Hei giving her orders. She was on the verge of saying so, but the team and begun to move, reminding the tattooed woman of the mission at hand. Grudginly she took the rear.

"We've wasted enough time talking," the analyst said. "Let's do that job as a team."

As Erika walked past Sandra to take her position. "I'm more than capable as well and uninjured. Let me take the heat for a bit, I'm sure you're far from done for the day." She said with a warm inflection. She didn't wait for a response before taking up her position. The small drones in her thigh hardpoint launched and took up a position infront of her.

Okimi looked up at the mention of her name, having forgotten about the new arrivals in what she now realised had been a small panic attack following her rescue of Yayoi. At least nobody had checked on her and found her panicking, so that couldn't be held against her, right? She forced herself to her feet, finally putting aside her compulsive rechecking of her suit's status readouts and noticed the incoming message from Yayoi. "I keep my promises, Yayoi-san." She slipped one of her reloads into her aether SMG and started crossing towards the rest of the team.

Colby Wando, still unsettled by the events, piped up, "You're right, NIto Hei Mineko. We need to move quickly. Whatever happened here, the Mishhu are probably a few steps ahead of us."

As the team began to mobilize, a sense of unity began to replace the immediate shock and grief. Their mission was clear, and the path to the core was set. But the unknown dangers that lay ahead continued to loom ominously. Their unity, skill, and sheer determination would be tested.

Wiping a smudge of soot from her face, Pidole nodded in agreement, staring at the controls for the sleeping pods. "Thanks. Caihong, Stay sharp. And everyone else, remember, we are the Star Army's best. Let's show these Mishhu that."

Wando's words were undoubtedly true and they made Mineko all the more grim, but Pidole's belief in them gave the analyst a renewed sense of vigor. She tested the controls of the door as she double checked that Erika and the rest of the team were ready to keep moving.

"Does anyone else hear that weird screaming?" Wando asked, looking around. "...the hell?"

"That's normal," Euikoshi said. "Watch out for the red ghost," she added.

"What?" Wando scratched his head.

Yayoi turned to look where Okimi was, and soon spotted her. "Okimi's armor.." she'd say out loud. as she used her Heisho rank to check in on Okimi.

Together, with unwavering resolve and focus, the team advanced towards the hatch and whatever challenges the core held for them. The battle had taken a toll, but it had also steeled their determination. For the survivors and for Yamatai, they would see this through.

= = =

As instructed, Erika took point. Ahead of her a pair of her Nodal Support Bits checked the corners before her arrival. To keep an even faster pace she had the antigravity system on her Mindy activate, and floated at speed down the corridors, catching herself on each bulkhead to await the rest of the team to catch up, her Aether SMG aimed down the corridor. While she waited her drones once again headed to the next intersection, repeating the process.

Okimi kept pace with Erika as best she could, although there was some issue with the function in her Mindy's right hip joint that was causing her to be extra careful when transferring weight across that side of the suit. Her Mindy assured her it was well within operational limits though, so obviously the damage couldn't be that bad, no matter what her own senses were telling her.

As the team emerged through one of the corridors, they were met with an open area bathed in a soft, azure light. Bioluminescent trees with translucent leaves stretched upwards, their trunks gently pulsating with light. Floating spores, akin to fireflies, left streaks of phosphorescent trails as they meandered through the air. This grove seemed to serve as a bio-engineered oxygen generator, with an atmosphere noticeably fresher than other parts of the station.

"I really am going to have to spend some time looking around this station," Euikoshi told the others as they rushed through the forest.

"Now's not the best time for sight seeing." Erika commented as she held herself against a tree, establishing a field of fire while waiting for them to catch up. "Okimi." She continued, pointing in the direction she thought the caretaker was best covering, establishing agood cross fire if they did encounter hostiles.

Yayoi observed Okimi as she hurried to keep up with the others, before she arrived at this new place. Her eyes blinking at the bioluminescent flora.

Okimi nodded at Erika's instruction and took the assigned position, her aether SMG travelling loosely after her eyes as she swept them back and forth.

Beneath her helmet, Mineko's brows drew upwards at the hindrance. She had thought she wanted just as much as Euikoshi to take scans and understand the station's odd nature, but realized there was a distinct difference. She was ready to turn around and pull the scientist's Mindy when Wando spoke out.

"Got a Rixxikor chewing on a tree here," Caihong pointed out the random insectoid as they ran by. Sure enough, an old-looking Rixxikor was stuffing his face with some sort of alien bamboo. As the team came by he skittered away on all fours.

Sanda kept pace with the rest of the team. Despite her feeling about being put in the back she stayed alert, her rifle held up and ready.

Yayoi's eyes twitched at the sight of the Rixxikor, but calmed down as he skittered away. She noticed Okimi's actions.

Further ahead, massive chamber opened up with myriad gateways or portals. Each portal shimmered in a different hue and seemed to lead to different terrains, from arid deserts to dense jungles, and even to the depths of the ocean. It appeared to be a transportation hub, perhaps connecting to different parts of the galaxy or even alternate dimensions. The glowing purple and distinctive gangly eye-covered Giger-esque design hinted that these were probably purchased or otherwise acquired from the Essai Collective.

This time Erika couldn't help but comment, taking her eyes off her firing lane for a moment to examine a portal. "You know if these things link to any of our worlds this station is..." she paused, thinking of the best way to put her thoughts "Very Strategically Valuable."

"We're so definitely scanning this place later," Mineko said with the same eagerness Euikoshi had expressed seconds before. "The control center is further down this way."

"I'd actually suggest you call back and get the second team to plant detonation charges when their done with the wounded." Erika commented as she continued into the next corridor. "It would be a nightmare if this facility fell into enemy hands. We should have a contingency."

As they rushed forward, the group stumbled upon a massive spherical chamber, seemingly devoid of gravity. Inside, large bubble-like water orbs floated, each containing some exotic aquatic life forms from unknown worlds. At the center, a levitating platform offered a mesmerizing dance performance of colorful holographic sea slug entities, seemingly defying the laws of physics.

Sanda scanned for contacts. Had they managed to beat the Mishhu here?

All the contacts were alien in nature, all unknown species. Also there were two large security robots pacing around one end of the chamber, at the opposite side the team came in through. As they got closer, Sanda could see the husk of a blown up Ripper power armor, which the station had attacked. There were still wisps of black smoke coming from it. As the team approached, the truck-sized security robots eyed them with glowing red orbs, looking for any signs of hostility.

"Are they on our side?" Combat Engineer Caihong asked nervously. "Orders?"

Erika kept her weapon away from the robots, but took a deep breath upon seeing the Ripper. "They only fire on hostile action. You'd hope the Mishhu didn't figure out that out, but you'd expect more than one burnt out ripper if that was the case. Sacrifical test case."

Yayoi couldnt help but almost smile as she saw the smoking body of the Ripper.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Sanda muttered, mostly to herself. "I don't suppose Alor told you how to make those things friendly, Nito-hei?" Sanda said to Mineko.

"You give me too much credit, Thunder," Mineko said lightly, happy to again be given one rank more than she was. "But as far as them, just be friendly." The team passed through the room and Mineko wondered why there would be protection for an entertainment hall as she looked up to the slugs as they danced.

As they neared the core, they finally stepped into a colossal energy nexus chamber pulsating with vibrant energy. Cascading streams of light arced gracefully from the floor, converging upwards into a brilliant orb. This nexus was not only the station's power source but also a monumental testament to the architectural prowess of its creators.

Along the edge of this core room were thousands of energized computing units that drew power from the central orb, and a series of rotating platforms that went up to them, and on one these platforms there was a huge Mishhuvurthyar, a crowd of Ripper power armors. Strangely, they didn't shoot at the Star Army interlopers, instead they pulled out maces and axes like it was medival times or something.

"This is like a video game," Cassie commented to Erika, following along.

"Friendliness isn't going to work anymore, is it?" Mineko mused, readying her own melee weapon to carry out Alor's last wish.

"I'm more concered about if we fire on the Mishhu, will the robots fire on us?" Sanda clarified as she looked at the group of Mishhu through her sights, her finger itching to fire.

As if to confirm Sanda's suspicious, dozens and dozens of the giant security robots were swarming the lower part of the big chamber, carefully avoiding the lighting and energy beams, and pointing at the intruding Mishhuvurthyar without firing.

Yayoi took note of the robots actions, and then glanced to the overly large Mishhuvurthyar.

"We can bait the Mishhu to fire first," Mineko said as she assessed the situation. "I don't think we should start this fight, though."

Euikoshi said, "I don't think damaging the computers up there is a good idea."

The vibrant hues of the energy nexus painted a kaleidoscope of lights across the room, creating an almost ethereal setting against the imminent tension.

As Erika's drone took position, a high-pitched metallic whirr echoed through the chamber. The Mishhu seemed to recognize the drone's presence, a few of them turning their headpieces towards it in suspicion. Their vast, hulking leader's eyes, however, stayed fixed on the Star Army team, watching them with cold calculation.

Caihong, her hands trembling slightly, whispered, "It feels like we're at a standoff."

Suddenly, the large Mishhuvurthyar bellowed something in their guttural language. The echo of his voice was oddly harmonious against the hum of the nexus. The Ripper power armors brandished their medieval-style weapons, clanging them together in unison, sending out a chilling challenge.

The vast chamber was filled with a tension palpable enough to cut with a knife. The Star Army members and the Mishhuvurthyar stood on the precipice of a battle, with the hulking security robots acting as an uncertain and powerful variable.

"'Whoever controls the core controls the station and its defenses,"' Mineko said, quoting what Alor had said in the pod room prior.

It looked like the Mishhuvurthyar commander was buying time for his comrade to reprogram the station's computers. A second Mishhurhyar was up top messing with one and had a large floating computer of his own with him, which resembled an oversized brain wrapped in goop and sinew, with tentacles/wires coming out of it and cybernetic parts melded into it. Very Mishhu.

"By grace and glory, we shall destroy you and all that you foul beasts represent!!!" Yoshiro screamed with a bellow meant to pierce at the infernal squid's very center.

"Pidole was able to bring the sentry online. Euikoshi, Erika: we have to get to one of those computers," Mineko said as she looked to the closest ones lining the walls. Then to the others, the analyst said, "It's what they're trying to do, someone else has to stop them."

"I'll go for their computer tech." Erika said, reaching into her grenade pouch "I have an idea"

Sanda took aim at the mishhu with the oversized looking head working on a computer. The moment things went weapon's free she was going to splatter its brain matter all over that platform.

A ripple of energy suddenly pulsed from the central orb, a silent, deep thrum that was felt more than heard. The station's AI came to life, its voice echoing with a calm but firm undertone. "Violence is not permitted in proximity to the Energy Nexus."

Euikoshi looked around, "That voice! It's like the station itself is talking," scanning the many computing units. "The energy nexus seems to be linked to a central consciousness, likely the station's primary AI."

Cassie's voice wavered slightly, "So, what do we do? They're clearly waiting for us to make a move. I, uh, think...I think we have to melee them," Cassie said, rummaging through her inventory looking for swords, knives, and kinetic impactors.

Sanda looked up from her sights on the Mishhu over at Cassie. "You saw what happened earlier when Yayoi and I went up to melee. Those things are mean close up." Sanda took aim again, assessing the scene. "Of course, I think the damn things got lucky earlier. I wouldn't mind some payback."

Thinking on what Euikoshi said, Mineko asked, "Primary AI, like the red ghost you guys experienced? What if we contact it... or let it contact us, I suppose?" The analyst was already taking off her helmet, showing a mop of bangs plastered to her sweat-beaded forehead above concerned eyes.

One of the Ripper's eyes began to glow red as the ghostly entity from before hovered above it, and it reached over and shoved the Mishhuvurthyar technician away from the station's computer banks, causing it to recoil.

"There is it is!" Euikoshi pointed it out to Mineko with obvious excitement in voice. "It's trying to protect itself!"

Yayoi blinked her eyes when she saw the ghostly entity.

Stifling a look of hesitation under a half smile, Mineko looked from the scientist up towards the rotating platforms. 'This is so dangerous,' she thought to herself.

Erika stopped what she was doing and turned to the situation. "That changes things a little."

"We are your new Sentinels!" Mineko tried shouting to the station's consciousness, hoping in an abashed way that the enemy Mishhu wouldn't hear.

Some the non-possessed Rippers began getting into a brawl with the possessed one and it knocked one of the Rippers off the floating platform where it fell to the floor. When it was on the floor, safely away from the computer banks, one of the large security robots gave it a powerful shove and it flew into an energy beam and completely disintegrated into a ball of light.

"Do you see the way forward?" the ghostly red entity asked the team, pointing at its creative method of Ripper removal.

"It sounds like it's time for a shoving match," Cassie said, looking at Mineko and her teammates.

"That we can do," Mineko said confidently, looking between Sanda and Erika as she pushed her helmet back on and activated her aether plasma thrusters.

Caihong pulled a graviton emitter from her engineer pack, While not much of a weapon, it would allow her to do some pushing and pulling. "Ready," she said.

Sanda took her shield from her back and held her plasma rifle with attached bayonet like a spear. She gunned her thrusters and sped towards the mishhu packed on the floating platform like a rocket.

= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Ame, Cowboy, iaincarter, Sunny D, Soresu, Yoshiro

Erika hesitated for the briefest moment, imperceptibly to anyone amidst the chaos of the control room. A disgruntled sound escaped her lips. Quickly, she swung her SMG over her shoulder and drew her Aether pistol.

“If this damn station thinks I’m getting into a straight slugging match with a pack of Rippers it’s got another thing coming.”

With a forceful push off the ground, the Mindy's thrusters propelled her like a missile towards the encroaching horde. Weaving through a maze of tendrils, Erika found herself face to face with one of the Rippers, her helmet mere inches from its optical sensor. Beneath her helmet, a primal scream erupted. Were it not for the opaque visor, the creature would have been met with Erika's mouth wide open, fangs bared, and eyes aflame with fury.

She thrust the pistol's muzzle against the monster's body. She fired the weapon as fast as it was capable. Her thrusters blazed with intensity, joining her comrades in their bid to force the creatures over the edge.