The Rippers, each a formidable behemoth of raw power and advanced technology, found themselves confronted by the sheer determination and versatility of the Star Army soldiers. The small size and agility of the Mindy suits allowed the soldiers to bob and weave, avoiding the Rippers' powerful, but slower, melee strikes.
The security robots continued their strategy of shoving any Rippers that were too close to the computers. These hulking machines added a layer of complexity to the battlefield, their singular focus ensuring the safety of the computing units. Sanda's rush had sent several Rippers off-balance, their footing on the platforms unsure. As Erika and Mineko joined the fray, the pressure on the Mishhu grew.
Euikoshi, using her tech knowledge, managed to divert some of the energy nexus's lower power tendrils into the Mishhu's path, creating temporary barriers that forced them back and away from the control platforms.
A concerted push from Caihong, wielding her graviton emitter, sent another trio of Rippers hurtling towards the edge. Two managed to right themselves, but the third was caught off guard and, with a scream, was sent plummeting into the abyss below.
Erika, wielding her Aether pistol, sent pulse after pulse into the central body of a Ripper. The force of each shot rocked it back, the armor beginning to show signs of stress and cracks. With a final push, she sent the machine teetering off the platform. Her fierce scream, muffled by her helmet, echoed around the chamber, a testament to the indomitable spirit of the Star Army.
Cassie was close behind, her kinetic impactor sending shockwaves of force against any Ripper in her path. She danced around them, never letting them focus on her, always moving, always striking.
Meanwhile, Okimi kept close to Pidole, ensuring that their technician could work on the systems without being disturbed. She was a shield, a sentinel, ensuring that their mission could progress.
Yayoi, not to be outdone, leaped into the fray with her blades, slicing through mechanical tendrils and creating opportunities for her teammates.
The Mishhu were on the back foot. Their numbers dwindled as the Star Army and the station's defenses combined to repel them. The ghostly entity, its presence now clear, continued to intervene where it saw fit, ensuring that the balance tipped in the Star Army's favor.
It wasn't long before the chamber began to clear, the remaining Mishhu forces regrouping for a final stand around their commander. Their guttural screams of defiance echoed around the chamber, but their numbers were fewer, and the Star Army had the momentum. Seeing the odds were against them, the two Mishhuvurthyar simply faded into nothingness with a snarling growl. "BE SEEING YOU," the team heard in their minds. The remaining Rippers rushed at them in a sort of banzai charge.
The battle had shifted, but the war was not over yet. The next steps would determine the fate of the station and all aboard. "Are those explosives?" Pidole suddenly pointed at objects placed around the AI core's computer banks.
Cassie hissed like a cat as she got bum-rushed by one of the Rippers, as it tried to stab her with its aether blade, which began burning through the Zesuaium edge of Cassie's aether saber. "A hand please," she asked as it pushed her towards one of the beams of lightning.
Reloading his aether SMG and chasing after the Mishhu who was causing Cassie grief he grabbed the Mishhu and pulled it off of her. "Demons run when a good man goes to war." Yoshiro said and threw it in the beam.
"Are we saving the AI?" Euikoshi asked, because she honestly needed to know if that was part of the plan or if it'd be easier to let it be removed to make it easier to take over the station for Yamatai.
Sanda, her initial charge done, found herself in the type of fight she had often practiced in the VR room. Close quarters melee fighting. Each attack and dodge flowed into the next. You couldn't stop. If you did, you died. It was fighting more by instinct that plan. Sanda had to drop her shield to keep her maneuverability up. Eventually she dropped her rifle and just used her bayonet to dodge the Mishhu's attacks before countering with slices to their legs or heads, depending on where she found herself at the moment.
Poppy tackled a Ripper that was going after Euikoshi, using the Ripper's top-heaviness on its scrawny legs to wobble it onto its back so it couldn't unleash its shoulder weapons on her roommate. "Alpha strike them," she said, tagging them all in the AIES so the team leader could call targets, MMORPG style. With multiple team members on one target, they could whittle down their numbers faster.
Yayoi didn't let her guard down after her initial attack, her focus completely on their surroundings.
Okimi's eyes tracked across the objects that had been pointed out by Pidole, making sure to tag them in her head's-up display so that they would also be updated on the team's network. "Please be advised... that Pidole-heisho has... identified suspected explosives... attached at marked locations." The caretaker relayed the information to her team, her breathing continuing to remain shallow, before resuming her vigil. It would be just like the Mishhu to pretend to leave while instead positioning to ambush the mission-critical personnel.
"We've got to save the AI!" Always one to listen to Euikoshi, Mineko had answered the scientist's question.
As the Mishuu fell over the edge Erika didn't linger, she turned to face the next foe as one of them charged her. She was close to the edge now, at risk of being cast off the edge. As the Ripper drew close she made a thruster assisted jump over its head and over to its back, slamming into it to give the creatures momentum a hand.
"Anyone know anything about explosives besides Pidole?" Cassie asked. "I mean the disarming part...I've set them but not, uh, un-set Mishhu ones..."
Yoshiro continued his fight against the Mishuu. "Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. " Yoshiro said as he shot at several of the enemy.
"Okay, I'm going for it, then!" Pidole shouted to Mineko, Okimi, and the team, leaping up to the computer level and out of the fray, starting to disarm them. As she figured them out, she also sent the steps to Okimi so Okimi could replicate them on the other devices since they were all the same model. "Let's get them all before they blow!" she told the helpful caretaker.
"We've got your back," Mineko said. "As a team!" The analyst was sure to raise her aether blade as she looked to the Yamataians around her.
Okimi offered a short, sharp nod to the redhead Technician and took off in the opposite direction. "Please... check for any... unmarked explosives... we missed." She sent to the team as she arrived at the first of the Mishhu explosive charges and began following the directions she had been sent. After a moment's thought, she also transmitted a copy of Pidole's instructions across the team's network so the other's could assist the defusing efforts as well.
Yayoi nodded her head in agreement, having decided on not speaking, since she didnt think it was important. Now her focus was on their enemies, though a dot of a second(a second's second) was spent thinking if they should save the AI or not, after all the AI did help, and enemy of my enemy was my friend, as far as Yayoi thought. Like Sanda, she too moved to protect Pidole, and Okimi.
Sanda moved in to protect Pidole and Okimi as they disarmed the explosives. She had drawn her side arm, a SIZI model 38 special duty revolver. It packed a much for such a small side arm. The Ranger usually carried it with a verity of shell charges so that it would be effective against anything she came up against on a day to day basis. But today it was just full of heavy shells. The PA-killing kinda shells. She rolled a Ripper armor with her foot and smirked down at it. "You've been Thunder-struck."
The last few Rippers started firing antimatter in small quantities, filling the room with a massively bright and powerful explosion like a little nuke. Everyone got knocked on their ass, but the threat was gone when they rose, as the enemy had destroyed themselves. Thankfully the Zesuaium of their Mindy armor protected them from the worst of the gamma radiation that had flooded the room briefly. Thankfully the station was built of stout stuff and also took the explosion with grace, and Pidole and Okimi's efforts managed to keep the Mishhu from taking out the station's core AI. This actually worked in the Star Army's favor because now...it owed them one.
Erika, still close to the edge was cast off the side of the platform by the detonation. Her mind racing, she was able to use her thrusters again, preventing her from falling into the energy below. She caught herself on the wall of the chamber, the impact of her armor creating an indentation in its surface.
With the battle over, the bombs defused, and her body battered, Pidole, who had been running on adrenaline, tried to relax but instead slumped over and fell unconscious in a small pool of blood.
Okimi went to share a smile with Pidole, forgetting for the moment that she was wearing a helmet. She let out a cry of concern when she saw the Technician collapse and rushed over towards the unconscious redhead. The caretaker, looked around for the Resurgence's medical wonder. "Poppy! Pidole needs you!" Okimi's Mindy was suddenly forced to it's hands and knees, as she fought hard for breath that didn't want to come following her panicked shout. Suddenly, her vision was full of sparkling spots and started greying-out. "Ugh. Don't... Feel... Too... Hot... Myself..."
Sanda moved slowly, revolver cocked and held ready, checking to make sure all the mishhu were indeed dead. It didn't make much sense to her that they had destroyed themselves so she was making sure that this wasn't some sort of trick or a trap.
Yayoi was confused at how the Ripper's just died, just like that, but the Ranger thought it was convenient, and perhaps the aid of the AI, which indeed pushed her mind towards saving it. With Sanda moving slowly, she lifted what ever weapons were left, as she watched Sanda's back. "speaking of, how are you doing, Okimi, Hermana?' she asked both of them, then as her mind processed Okimi's words. "Poppy, Okimi will need a Medevac."
After checking that all the Mishhu were in fact dead. Sanda slowly lowered her revolver. "I've been worse." She said but added quietly, "I've also been better." She glanced over at some of the others who had sustained more damage than her. "But I'm still in good enough shape to do my job and help get everyone squared away."
"On my way," Poppy told Okimi, heading to Pidole's postion. She gathered the wounded technician up on an antigravity stretcher. "I'd like to return to the ship," she said, hoping the whole team would come as they'd just been through hell. "Maybe it's a good time to regroup."
"With the battle against the Mishhuvurthyar decided, Mineko pushed her hands against the floor where she had fallen, thrusting up to the platform as she looked to her battle buddy.
Erika pulled herself out of the creavace she'd made in the wall and glided down towards the platform, touching down gracefully. When she started to take her own weight however, she slumped slightly.
"You okay, Erika?" Cassie asked. "That was a heck of a blast." She pointed at the pockmarks in her armor left by tiny molecules of antimatter. "I can't believe they fired it in the atmosphere and just blew themselves up just to spite us.
Yoshiro had arrived with the others. He was exhausted but he kept an eye out. "Maybe they were going to use the explosives." Yoshiro said.
"Armor took most of the impact." Erika answered, sucking in a breath. "Not all, but most. I'll live, but tomorrow might be a bit rough." She straightened up and rolled her shoulders. "They didn't blow themselves up simply to spite us. Two vanished in the chaos, it was to give them cover. We need to get after them."
"I thought Henitot-heisho was going to stay back," Caihong said, looking at Pidole. "I guess she just couldn't stop herself from helping out. It looks like she may have overdid it though."
Sanda moved over to give Okimi a hand. "Come on. Let's get you over to Poppy. You did pretty good... for a caretaker." That was a pretty big compliment coming from Sanda.
Okimi, realizing that her breathing wasn't getting any easier and that her vision was continuing to darken, did the only thing she could and triggered her armor's release sequence. At least someone would be able to pull her body out of the suit now. With the last of her strength, she lifted the Mindy's helmet from her incredibly pale, clammy and sweaty face. She offered a happy smile at Sanda's words before her eyes rolled up into her head and she passed out.
Poppy set up another stretcher for Okimi and began administering hemosynth blood to her and to Pidole. She noticed Bidole seemed concerned about her.
We'll take over where the mishhu left off," Mineko said as the analyst looked over the computer that the Advanced had been working at. "Albeit with a gentler hand. Euikoshi senpai, ready to take a crack at it?"
Yayoi kept her eyes on their surroundings now that the other more injured crewmates were seen to. Yayoi of course remembered she lost an arm, but she didn't think of herself as being worse off, or in need of medical aid.
"With all due respect, if I start trying to mess with that computer it's probably going to possess my body and jump me into an energy stream," Euikoshi told Mineko. "As long as we have the station's favor, perhaps we don't need to control it by force."
"Is there any other way to get it working?" Mineko asked of the scientist, but she turned to Erika afterwards to speak via laser comms to solemnly say, "If that's what it takes, I think someone should do it. Agreed?"
"You asking for a volunteer?" Erika said, a pained sigh evident in her reply.
"I'll took for a way to restore the station to operational status," Euikoshi nodded.
Yoshiro took command and started giving orders. "Hoshi-heisho get the wounded back to the ship. Euikoshi try your best to get the station operational." Yoshiro said.
Thankfully the huge security robots were not bothering the team. They continued to mill about the room looking at the visitors with...curiosity? Suspicion?
"I'm just making sure you won't hold me back," Mineko replied to Erika.
"Always. I'll stop you from jumping over the edge if you want to give it a crack." The taller neko replied
"Maybe some of those fridged people know how to work this place," Cassie speculated.
"Well, we'd need to access the system in order to wake them right? Catch 22." Erika turned to Cassie with a shrug. She then coughed slightly, tasting iron before swallowing.
"Pidole could answer that better than I could," Cassie replied, with an exaggerated shrug.
"Then we have the potential issue that any one of their people will want to wake them all, as did the Sentinel." Erika continued "We simply don't have the resources on hand to even feed 20 million refugees, let alone provide security and medical care, and I doubt their supplies have kept."
"Let's take it to the captain," Cassie suggested. "We need to update him on the situation."
"Roger." Sanda responded. There was a little bit of sass in her voice, but mostly it was exaustion. She made sure that Pidole and Okimi were secured on the stretchers and that Poppy had done all that she was planning to do with them for the moment before heading towards the hanger where the shuttle was that would carry them back to the Resurgence. Despite the pain her leg. She would be back as soon as she dropped off the wounded on the ship.
"Team 2 to Team 1, this is Wando-hei, pod room is secure and Pidole stabilized the area before she left. She had glowing eyes when she did...anyway, we're okay here, no sign of Mishhu. Weird noises though. Over."
"Team 2, this is Operative Erika. Core room secure, though 2 Mishhu activated Active Camo and disengaged before the fighting was over. Suggest you keep an eye on those weird noises."
Yoshiro was making sure everything was secure. Seeing that everything was secure he went to see Yayoi heisho. "How are you holding up Asakura-Heisho?"
Yayoi heard the report from Wando-hei, with the injured(minus herself and Sanda of course) Yayoi turned her focus on the Mishhuvurthyar, she knew they were still on board, and still a threat. "I am fine, Yoshiro-heisho, nothing of concern to report." she said boldly.
"That's good to hear, Asakura-Heisho. " Yoshiro said.
Station Hallways
The team was able to make it back to the shuttlebay without any fuss, though the fact that two Mishhuvurthyar were still somewhere aboard made it a paranoid affair. Hachirobei Sakuko and Beryl Leyton were there at the two shuttles, providing overwatch in their Mindy armor suits. Poppy carefully secured Pidole and Okimi's stretchers in place in the back of the Beryls of Fun. Beryl got out of out her armor and stowed it then climbed into her seat up in the shuttle's cockpit and powered it up. "All aboard for the Resurgence!"
YSS Resurgence
Back in the comfort and safety of the beautiful Fuji-class gunship Resurgence, armor team one was able to take some time to heal and regroup. Medic Poppy had the injured crew in the medical lab, treating them for gunshots, amputations, mild radiation sickness, blunt force trauma from duking it out with Mishhu power armor, and other ailments picked up during the course of the mission. And down in the armor bay, Norita began repairing the damage to everyone's Mindy armor.
Once out of her armor and with her Type 37 jacket over her bodysuit, Mineko had made her way to the bridge to give a quick face to face debrief to the captain and first officer
Yuri immediately jumped to her feet, ready to get to work, and gain experience.
Erika exited her power armor with not insignificant effort, it was taking quite a bit of the load. The front of her body was red from radiation exposure and she had significant bruising on her back. Her organs had taken a bit of a rattle too. She was given some medication to deal with the pain and prevent further deterioration from radiation sickness, though it would be some time before the capillaries in her skin healed and she'd return to her former fair skin. She had to be told repeatedly by medical staff to stay put.
When Sanda arrived on the Res and removed her Mindy suit the extent of her injuries was apparent. Her amputation job had not been pretty. She had almost lost consciousness and had to be carried to the Med bay, and had complained and protested going in and out of consciousness the whole way. She had to finally be given a powerful sedative to put her under. The Nep just would not go down.
Poppy ended up having to 3D print a new leg for Sanda that was made using her cloned DNA, and then attached it with a seal of specially-programmed hemosynth nanomachines. It was a first for her on the Resurgence but she found some great instructional videos on Yamatube. It didn't hurt that she'd been going to med school lately either.
Yuri watched, taking note of the injured, and pushing herself to focus, especially with the arrival of Sanda and Okimi, her favorite auntie and her cousin's lover respectively. Though she did notice someone missing. She tried to focus even more, to spite her worries. "Alright, i'm gonna take care of Okimi." she said while she thought. If i allow Okimi to die, Luna-chan will be displeased.
YSS Resurgence Bridge
"Welcome back, Mineko," Captain Aoba said, sitting in his captain's chair with his samurai sword at his side. After since the horrific attack on the ship's bridge, he'd gone nowhere without it. "Report."
Trowa stood off to the side, even though he wasn't the first officer, he had monitored the away team's progress and was very interested in their report.
"Thank you captain," Mineko said. "The away team sustained several injuries while on board the station when engaging Mishhuvurthyar forces. But we also made contact with a potential new ally: the Celestial Concord. Their people are in stasis within the station which has technology we didn't readily understand all of, but their scientific aptitude is evident. The sole member of the alien race that we made contact with perished to help our progress, unfortunately. He called himself a Sentinel." Mineko added after the fact, almost, "Oh and their sentient AI was able to posses members of the team. It was a boon though, oddly."
"Would you say that station's AI is an ally?" Aoba asked, rubbing his beard. "Is it part of the Celestial Concord? Do you know if the station was built by the Concord or did they just colonize it with the sleeping pods?"
"The first question I can answer," Mineko said with her hands clasping behind her charcoal field jacket. "As long as we're not about to shoot on its people, we can rely on the station AI to work with us. But I'm not sure how the Concord came to be here. Or who they work with, for that matter."
"I think we need more manpower to secure the station because of its size. If you think it's safe enough, I'd like to call in a legion of Star Army Rikugun infantry to do a sweep of the station. With the ground forces in place providing security, our team will be free to focus on solving some of the mysteries the station holds. What do you think?" Aoba asked.
"We'll definitely need more ships in case the Mishhu decide to come back." Trowa agreed. "I can't see them not taking as much interest in the station as we are. Especially now that they know we know about it."
"The errant Mishhu left on the station will almost assure more, sir," Mineko said stiffly to Trowa. Looking back to Aoba, Mineko considered her answer: "As long as additional forces are briefed on contact protocol with the station's inhabitants, Captain."
"I agree," Aoba told Mineko and Trowa. "I'll also get on the horn with the Rapid Disaster Response Service and Star Army Emergency Services and get food and emergency supplies for the sleepers, to help them start off when they start waking up. With any luck, some of them will be interested in becoming Yamataians. In the meantime, let's get our away team back to full strength and give this another go soon before the Mishhu make another attempt."
= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Ame, Cowboy, iaincarter, Sunny D, Yoshiro
