K
Kim
---- Outside the orbit of 188-604, after the crazy shit is mostly done ----
A bright blue shimmer preceeded the image of a y-shaped Type-30 Space yacht as it faded into existence as it exited its CFS. Chiharu had for the most part, accepted that her public announcement of Vice Premiership and reappearance on the international scene had caused a stir. And she had difficulty avoiding unwanted attention. She had an inkling, that despite her best efforts, she had an escort that had not yet made itself apparent to her.
She checked her scans and sent a message to Uso Tasuki who was the woman who had laid claim to this little brown planet, "Uso-san, I'm here, where do I go next?"
"HEY! How close can you get to a landing spot? We're on top of Nath tower... you should be able to nail the landing and get dropped off right on the patio right?" Uso asked over text message, pausing for a moment before adding,
"Btw WE is me and Jack. You don't know Jack, but he's always wanted to meet a god."
Uso frowned right as she sent the message, accidentally having implied that she wasn't a god... all things considered she should be one right? She had statues... people probably took her name in vain all the time...
... it was something to think about.
"I can manage a roof top landing if it spot is large enough. This thing is bigger than a Yui class though, can your landing pad handle something 202 meters long?" Came Chiharu's speculative reply as she saw where the transmission was coming from. "I'm fine meeting your friends, staff, servants? Whatever you want to call them."
Chiharu brought the craft down through the atmosphere towards Nath tower and considered the landing pad. "I can probably convince someone to drive it so I can get out."
"You can always land on the ground if you can't handle the precision landing!" Uso teased. Sure the pad wasn't large enough for the whole ship, but a hovering transport could certainly drop someone off.
Uso herself was just inside, laying back on a sofa, arms spread to either side, watching a volumetric display of goings on,
"Hey Jack! Where you at?!"
Jack was in the lift, [on my way up boss, who is it we're meeting again today? I'm not usually called into your meetings like this unless you got something that needs doing.] He telepathed to Uso. The notification of the facility sensors detecting a ship entering atmo over Osman flashed in the corner of his HUD, [I don't suppose this has anything to do with the 202 meter long yacht entering our airspace of Yamatai make, does it?]
There was some scrambling inside the yacht as another nekovalkyrja took the controls from Chiharu. After a couple of minutes, an auburn haired nekovalkyrja stepped outside the hull of the ship. She waved the ship off wand walked over towards where Uso was laying as the wind from the vessel blew her hair and the edge of her dress around. The hem was long enough to not lift up.
Once the yacht had cleared off, Chiharu spoke. "Uso-san! How are you?"
Uso was just typing her message to Jack, sending it as she got up to go see their guest,
"Old apparently!" Uso said, "But lets start with the story of how you cheated death. I always though it was weird you didn't come back with an ST copy or some such... I figured Yui kept you in her bedroom or something."
Jack had to wipe the utterly confused look off his face as the lift neared roof level. He straightened the black leather jacket, muscle shirt, blue jeans, and boots he wore a minute before the doors opened.
Jack exited onto the roof and took a place a couple steps to Uso's side before giving the other neko a respectful nod, but remained quite for the moment.
Uso put her arm around Jack,
"By the way, this is Jack,
He wanted to meet you, and I decided to let him since he's on the fast track to running much of this place,"
"Not quite like that, though, I guess that might have been better than what had actually happened." Chiharu smoothed her hair back behind her ears and chuckled at Uso's comment before she replied. "It's complicated but you remember how the MEGAMI was damaged when the Seraphs boarded the GSS Yui?" She offered a friendly smile.
Her crimson eyes moved to the white haired man that stood beside Jack. Her form fitting red dress matched her eyes and complimented her skin tone. "Nice to meet you, Jack-kun."
The Ketsurui returned her attention back to the green haired nekovalkyrja next to him. "Have you settled down with a Nepleslian of all things after all this time? I had heard that Heram is engaged to a Gartagen woman so it's an interesting time to live in."
Uso's eyes were certainly taking in that red dress. It was quite a bold choice, and here she was wearing a deep blue bodysuit that clearly already had a few miles on it.
But at least it was comfortable...
and had plenty of places to clip on weapons and gear...
"Yeah, I can't wait for that to blow up in his face. judging by the old man's history it is going to be fucking spectacular. I haven't really settled down... not really my thing I think... probably should mention something about Heram taking your loss not well... but lets skip over that and go right to the 'how you survived'. Someone put your backup back together after all?"
Uso's eyes slowly moved over to Jack,
"... come on Jack... get in here..." She whispered.
"Miss Tasuki and I do not have that kind of relationship, and I am happily married already. I am Director of Section 6 and Commander of the special operations unit, Saber. The two large battle carriers you, no doubt, saw in orbit are ours." Jack added professionally as he ignored the assumption made of his and Uso's relationship.
"I have not contacted Heram yet but I hope to in the near future," Chiharu's expression was thoughtful as she continued. "The condensed version is that my ST got stuck on the GSS Yui and I eventually got broken free of the system so here I am now. That bodysuit can't be good for your vents, aren't you overheating?" She tilted to her head to one side as she considered this before her eyes moved back to Jack again.
"What is Section 6? And Saber? I have been out of sync for a while so please forgive my ignorance. I only know the vary basic things about what Uso-san has been doing here as confusing as it is from Yamatai's perspective." The crimson eyed nekovalkyrja smiled apologetically at the Nepleslian. "I did see the carriers. Are you at war? Should I call the guard down after all?"
"We are not at war, not officially anyways. But we have had several incidents regarding a group of late. Uso's adopted son, Alex Tasuki, leader of the skyguard. His girlfriend ,Araxie Serai, was brutally murdered on an independent station. Then a few weeks ago, the same culprit performed a home invasion where my sister, Sarah Pine was murdered, ending her life and that of her two unborn children. My son, Amit was also taken by intruder that night. So war is not here yet, but it looms on the horizon. As for your earlier questions, Section 6 is a government entity that does independent research and development in multiple fields from medical to weapons. Saber is a department of S6 that both tests new inventions from the labs and workshops, as well as, carry out tactical high risk operations and acts as miss Tasuki's personal guard." Jack said neutrally as he stood straight, but if one could read his eyes, they would see the emotions that brewed within.
Chiharu seemed puzzled by all of this. "Skyguard? So you are her servants then?" She frowned gently at the mention of all the deaths and problems. "Is it a corporate war again, Uso-san? Did you need Chiaki to help resolve this?"
She tapped a finger against her chin as she considered it and looked back to Jack again. "I am sorry about your losses, Jack-kun. We have a history of brutality that comes with corporate wars and wars in general. But we know people."
"The man who did this was my clone, but....weaponized with various augments and enhancements. He wasn't alone either, one of his comrades was a student attending the school S6 runs. We have increased security measures significantly since the incident. And thank you for your condolences, me and my sister especially look forward to bringing the group to justice." Jack said before giving a pained twitch and pulling out a bottle of pain medication, "Excuse me, my injuries have yet to heal fully. I take the meds so I can continue working." He added before taking two.
The Ketsurui looked at Jack with increasing curiousity. It was a lot of information to take in. "Duplication happens more frequently than it should in our country." Her ear twitched at the mention of the sister being alive again. "Oh! So you were able to recover her, that's reassuring but still tragic that she died in such a way." She ran a quick bio-scan of the man as he took his medication, unsure of what to make of it. "If you are injured, you should rest so that you may recover properly. Is Uso-san such a cruel mistress?"
"More like I have more important things to do while that knock off is out causing trouble and I have a son out there somewhere who needs me. The doctors say I'm lucky I made it out of the ICU at all, and that I need to rest as well. I can do that when I'm dead, so for now I keep things going so we're prepared when the time comes to get even. To be honest Uso has told me the same thing." Jack said giving a bitter chuckle.
Chiharu's scans would reveal numerous healing wounds. Minor fractures that had mostly healed, several large caliber wounds, with .455 sized healing wounds to the shoulder and thigh as well as twin 12ga slug sized wounds to the abdomen. Two puncture wounds to the side, with one having punctured his lower lung, which had been synthetically patched. With a wound to the left hand from something jagged like a decent sized shard of glass. It was clear unfinished efforts at recovery were present, to think the man was standing was a wonder.
"Dealing with such things is on the to-do list." Uso replied, "I think it would be inappropriate to discuss our plans...
Luckily between S6, FSC, Skyguard, and the old man, we have ST-like tech availbe to us, and we've been trying to spread that around to the locals.
We also happen to be really good at this whole killing-people thing."
Uso wanted to brag, She realllly did... it hurt a little having to maintain infosec, but she wasn't about to blab all of their growing list of enemies and outline every resource of theirs that was stretched thin.
"... and besides, this is all just fun-ware for around the home-front. Venting isn't an issue unless I'm moving around a lot or using stealth...and neither works too well when I'm clothed... though I've got some mesh pannels on here that do kinda help with venting in an overheat situation.
It is no worse than those old SAoY Bodysuits."
She raised an eyebrow at the results of her scans of Jack but did not comment further. "If you say so. I didn't think the 7s were meant for this long of a run, does everything still work? You could come back and get a tune up or something?" Chiharu smiled, teasing. "You are a long way from home, ever think of coming back?"
"What's that thing at the back of Jack's neck anyway? That's the second one I've seen this week and I don't recognize it as any thing NAM or otherwise, is that something you guys make?" Chiharu added with growing curiousity.
Jack raised a eyebrow at this comment, "Have you been scanning me? As for your question, it's called the Geist. It's a neural implant created by S6, that allows the user to control technology. As well as the ability to possess vehicles as a host." Jack's organic irises began to glow crimson before telepathically communicating, [I am more in tune with technology on a deeper level]
"Interesting. Bridging gaps. It can be worrisome as many nekovalkyjra and Yamataians are digitally minded. It would be unfortunate if a less ethical person got a hold of it," Chiharu commented thoughtfully.
"Jack... honey... don't go giving away information if you don't have to.
You can expect anything Chi sees or hears is on record. Digital minds mostly don't forget anything."
Uso paused for a moment, holding up her fingers and going point by point,
" - I still got a few miles left on this body
- Everything still works
- Being my own boss is fucking amazing
- and really what is there to tune up? I may actually be the single greatest combatant ever created."
Chiharu chuckled, "And you don't have to worry about sweating. You know how to do your own maintenace which is always good. How do you deal with the fuel thing? I don't remember if it breaks down after a while or if the body is supposed to reabsorb it?"
Jack crossed his arms, "Right, because it's not like don't need any help finding it."he said sarcastically.
"I'm still a penny-eater, I can form or break down anything I need," Uso replied, "And what about yourself? The cult of Chiharu has gotten pretty big..."
"Running for Vice Premier but otherwise, I've been on Virginia building refugee towns. Same old Star Army stuff. I was rolling around the fleet fighting Mishhu for a bit too. I'm still getting used to the Shintoism. I keep hearing people call my name or declaring submission and I don't know what to do but smile and bless them. Confusing stuff. But you use these guys as guards? From what? You can handle most anything and can fly.. mostly." Chiharu grinned as she smoothed a loose strand of hair behind her ear again.
"I started the group because I didn't like how things were, so I did something about it and worked to make the change. All for a better world, and a better home right. We're her guard because I respect Uso and quite frankly don't want anything to happen to her. If the USO lost her the other groups would most likely be at each other's throats for the seat." Jack grinned as well, not really sure what else to add.
"What's thing thing about economic collapse that has everyone in a tizzy? Why not get recognized as a Major Yamatain corporation? Or colony, for that matter? Then you could be backed by the KS and the empire," Chiharu watched them curiously. "There would be other benefits of course, as you might remember, Uso-san, if you made the request and declared yourself. Or course, there is always Nepleslia too but I am unaware of their laws concerning citizenship and corporations."
"But I am only a Kami. The Ketsurui Chiharu and for all of my infinte 'divinity', I can only answer prayers and give cryptic encouraging words to the people that seek it."The crimson eyed nekovalkyrja met Uso's purple gaze for a moment and smiled gently, awkwardly with a light blush on her cheeks. Chiharu had always been a reserved and private captain. Her reaction 15 years prior to being told that there was a ship named after her, the ship she ended up dying on, was turning a deepshade of red. "Anything more political at the moment requires Yuumi-san."
"And on the matter of answering prayers," Chiharu's silvery voice was filled with concern. " I heard that you do have Yamataians out here with IIS and at least one that is an intern. Are these people safe here or do I need to take them home with all the trouble and the man that kidnapped a child? I just wanted to know how we might be able to help out your people here."
A bright blue shimmer preceeded the image of a y-shaped Type-30 Space yacht as it faded into existence as it exited its CFS. Chiharu had for the most part, accepted that her public announcement of Vice Premiership and reappearance on the international scene had caused a stir. And she had difficulty avoiding unwanted attention. She had an inkling, that despite her best efforts, she had an escort that had not yet made itself apparent to her.
She checked her scans and sent a message to Uso Tasuki who was the woman who had laid claim to this little brown planet, "Uso-san, I'm here, where do I go next?"
"HEY! How close can you get to a landing spot? We're on top of Nath tower... you should be able to nail the landing and get dropped off right on the patio right?" Uso asked over text message, pausing for a moment before adding,
"Btw WE is me and Jack. You don't know Jack, but he's always wanted to meet a god."
Uso frowned right as she sent the message, accidentally having implied that she wasn't a god... all things considered she should be one right? She had statues... people probably took her name in vain all the time...
... it was something to think about.
"I can manage a roof top landing if it spot is large enough. This thing is bigger than a Yui class though, can your landing pad handle something 202 meters long?" Came Chiharu's speculative reply as she saw where the transmission was coming from. "I'm fine meeting your friends, staff, servants? Whatever you want to call them."
Chiharu brought the craft down through the atmosphere towards Nath tower and considered the landing pad. "I can probably convince someone to drive it so I can get out."
"You can always land on the ground if you can't handle the precision landing!" Uso teased. Sure the pad wasn't large enough for the whole ship, but a hovering transport could certainly drop someone off.
Uso herself was just inside, laying back on a sofa, arms spread to either side, watching a volumetric display of goings on,
"Hey Jack! Where you at?!"
Jack was in the lift, [on my way up boss, who is it we're meeting again today? I'm not usually called into your meetings like this unless you got something that needs doing.] He telepathed to Uso. The notification of the facility sensors detecting a ship entering atmo over Osman flashed in the corner of his HUD, [I don't suppose this has anything to do with the 202 meter long yacht entering our airspace of Yamatai make, does it?]
There was some scrambling inside the yacht as another nekovalkyrja took the controls from Chiharu. After a couple of minutes, an auburn haired nekovalkyrja stepped outside the hull of the ship. She waved the ship off wand walked over towards where Uso was laying as the wind from the vessel blew her hair and the edge of her dress around. The hem was long enough to not lift up.
Once the yacht had cleared off, Chiharu spoke. "Uso-san! How are you?"
Uso was just typing her message to Jack, sending it as she got up to go see their guest,
"Old apparently!" Uso said, "But lets start with the story of how you cheated death. I always though it was weird you didn't come back with an ST copy or some such... I figured Yui kept you in her bedroom or something."
Jack had to wipe the utterly confused look off his face as the lift neared roof level. He straightened the black leather jacket, muscle shirt, blue jeans, and boots he wore a minute before the doors opened.
Jack exited onto the roof and took a place a couple steps to Uso's side before giving the other neko a respectful nod, but remained quite for the moment.
Uso put her arm around Jack,
"By the way, this is Jack,
He wanted to meet you, and I decided to let him since he's on the fast track to running much of this place,"
"Not quite like that, though, I guess that might have been better than what had actually happened." Chiharu smoothed her hair back behind her ears and chuckled at Uso's comment before she replied. "It's complicated but you remember how the MEGAMI was damaged when the Seraphs boarded the GSS Yui?" She offered a friendly smile.
Her crimson eyes moved to the white haired man that stood beside Jack. Her form fitting red dress matched her eyes and complimented her skin tone. "Nice to meet you, Jack-kun."
The Ketsurui returned her attention back to the green haired nekovalkyrja next to him. "Have you settled down with a Nepleslian of all things after all this time? I had heard that Heram is engaged to a Gartagen woman so it's an interesting time to live in."
Uso's eyes were certainly taking in that red dress. It was quite a bold choice, and here she was wearing a deep blue bodysuit that clearly already had a few miles on it.
But at least it was comfortable...
and had plenty of places to clip on weapons and gear...
"Yeah, I can't wait for that to blow up in his face. judging by the old man's history it is going to be fucking spectacular. I haven't really settled down... not really my thing I think... probably should mention something about Heram taking your loss not well... but lets skip over that and go right to the 'how you survived'. Someone put your backup back together after all?"
Uso's eyes slowly moved over to Jack,
"... come on Jack... get in here..." She whispered.
"Miss Tasuki and I do not have that kind of relationship, and I am happily married already. I am Director of Section 6 and Commander of the special operations unit, Saber. The two large battle carriers you, no doubt, saw in orbit are ours." Jack added professionally as he ignored the assumption made of his and Uso's relationship.
"I have not contacted Heram yet but I hope to in the near future," Chiharu's expression was thoughtful as she continued. "The condensed version is that my ST got stuck on the GSS Yui and I eventually got broken free of the system so here I am now. That bodysuit can't be good for your vents, aren't you overheating?" She tilted to her head to one side as she considered this before her eyes moved back to Jack again.
"What is Section 6? And Saber? I have been out of sync for a while so please forgive my ignorance. I only know the vary basic things about what Uso-san has been doing here as confusing as it is from Yamatai's perspective." The crimson eyed nekovalkyrja smiled apologetically at the Nepleslian. "I did see the carriers. Are you at war? Should I call the guard down after all?"
"We are not at war, not officially anyways. But we have had several incidents regarding a group of late. Uso's adopted son, Alex Tasuki, leader of the skyguard. His girlfriend ,Araxie Serai, was brutally murdered on an independent station. Then a few weeks ago, the same culprit performed a home invasion where my sister, Sarah Pine was murdered, ending her life and that of her two unborn children. My son, Amit was also taken by intruder that night. So war is not here yet, but it looms on the horizon. As for your earlier questions, Section 6 is a government entity that does independent research and development in multiple fields from medical to weapons. Saber is a department of S6 that both tests new inventions from the labs and workshops, as well as, carry out tactical high risk operations and acts as miss Tasuki's personal guard." Jack said neutrally as he stood straight, but if one could read his eyes, they would see the emotions that brewed within.
Chiharu seemed puzzled by all of this. "Skyguard? So you are her servants then?" She frowned gently at the mention of all the deaths and problems. "Is it a corporate war again, Uso-san? Did you need Chiaki to help resolve this?"
She tapped a finger against her chin as she considered it and looked back to Jack again. "I am sorry about your losses, Jack-kun. We have a history of brutality that comes with corporate wars and wars in general. But we know people."
"The man who did this was my clone, but....weaponized with various augments and enhancements. He wasn't alone either, one of his comrades was a student attending the school S6 runs. We have increased security measures significantly since the incident. And thank you for your condolences, me and my sister especially look forward to bringing the group to justice." Jack said before giving a pained twitch and pulling out a bottle of pain medication, "Excuse me, my injuries have yet to heal fully. I take the meds so I can continue working." He added before taking two.
The Ketsurui looked at Jack with increasing curiousity. It was a lot of information to take in. "Duplication happens more frequently than it should in our country." Her ear twitched at the mention of the sister being alive again. "Oh! So you were able to recover her, that's reassuring but still tragic that she died in such a way." She ran a quick bio-scan of the man as he took his medication, unsure of what to make of it. "If you are injured, you should rest so that you may recover properly. Is Uso-san such a cruel mistress?"
"More like I have more important things to do while that knock off is out causing trouble and I have a son out there somewhere who needs me. The doctors say I'm lucky I made it out of the ICU at all, and that I need to rest as well. I can do that when I'm dead, so for now I keep things going so we're prepared when the time comes to get even. To be honest Uso has told me the same thing." Jack said giving a bitter chuckle.
Chiharu's scans would reveal numerous healing wounds. Minor fractures that had mostly healed, several large caliber wounds, with .455 sized healing wounds to the shoulder and thigh as well as twin 12ga slug sized wounds to the abdomen. Two puncture wounds to the side, with one having punctured his lower lung, which had been synthetically patched. With a wound to the left hand from something jagged like a decent sized shard of glass. It was clear unfinished efforts at recovery were present, to think the man was standing was a wonder.
"Dealing with such things is on the to-do list." Uso replied, "I think it would be inappropriate to discuss our plans...
Luckily between S6, FSC, Skyguard, and the old man, we have ST-like tech availbe to us, and we've been trying to spread that around to the locals.
We also happen to be really good at this whole killing-people thing."
Uso wanted to brag, She realllly did... it hurt a little having to maintain infosec, but she wasn't about to blab all of their growing list of enemies and outline every resource of theirs that was stretched thin.
"... and besides, this is all just fun-ware for around the home-front. Venting isn't an issue unless I'm moving around a lot or using stealth...and neither works too well when I'm clothed... though I've got some mesh pannels on here that do kinda help with venting in an overheat situation.
It is no worse than those old SAoY Bodysuits."
She raised an eyebrow at the results of her scans of Jack but did not comment further. "If you say so. I didn't think the 7s were meant for this long of a run, does everything still work? You could come back and get a tune up or something?" Chiharu smiled, teasing. "You are a long way from home, ever think of coming back?"
"What's that thing at the back of Jack's neck anyway? That's the second one I've seen this week and I don't recognize it as any thing NAM or otherwise, is that something you guys make?" Chiharu added with growing curiousity.
Jack raised a eyebrow at this comment, "Have you been scanning me? As for your question, it's called the Geist. It's a neural implant created by S6, that allows the user to control technology. As well as the ability to possess vehicles as a host." Jack's organic irises began to glow crimson before telepathically communicating, [I am more in tune with technology on a deeper level]
"Interesting. Bridging gaps. It can be worrisome as many nekovalkyjra and Yamataians are digitally minded. It would be unfortunate if a less ethical person got a hold of it," Chiharu commented thoughtfully.
"Jack... honey... don't go giving away information if you don't have to.
You can expect anything Chi sees or hears is on record. Digital minds mostly don't forget anything."
Uso paused for a moment, holding up her fingers and going point by point,
" - I still got a few miles left on this body
- Everything still works
- Being my own boss is fucking amazing
- and really what is there to tune up? I may actually be the single greatest combatant ever created."
Chiharu chuckled, "And you don't have to worry about sweating. You know how to do your own maintenace which is always good. How do you deal with the fuel thing? I don't remember if it breaks down after a while or if the body is supposed to reabsorb it?"
Jack crossed his arms, "Right, because it's not like don't need any help finding it."he said sarcastically.
"I'm still a penny-eater, I can form or break down anything I need," Uso replied, "And what about yourself? The cult of Chiharu has gotten pretty big..."
"Running for Vice Premier but otherwise, I've been on Virginia building refugee towns. Same old Star Army stuff. I was rolling around the fleet fighting Mishhu for a bit too. I'm still getting used to the Shintoism. I keep hearing people call my name or declaring submission and I don't know what to do but smile and bless them. Confusing stuff. But you use these guys as guards? From what? You can handle most anything and can fly.. mostly." Chiharu grinned as she smoothed a loose strand of hair behind her ear again.
"I started the group because I didn't like how things were, so I did something about it and worked to make the change. All for a better world, and a better home right. We're her guard because I respect Uso and quite frankly don't want anything to happen to her. If the USO lost her the other groups would most likely be at each other's throats for the seat." Jack grinned as well, not really sure what else to add.
"What's thing thing about economic collapse that has everyone in a tizzy? Why not get recognized as a Major Yamatain corporation? Or colony, for that matter? Then you could be backed by the KS and the empire," Chiharu watched them curiously. "There would be other benefits of course, as you might remember, Uso-san, if you made the request and declared yourself. Or course, there is always Nepleslia too but I am unaware of their laws concerning citizenship and corporations."
"But I am only a Kami. The Ketsurui Chiharu and for all of my infinte 'divinity', I can only answer prayers and give cryptic encouraging words to the people that seek it."The crimson eyed nekovalkyrja met Uso's purple gaze for a moment and smiled gently, awkwardly with a light blush on her cheeks. Chiharu had always been a reserved and private captain. Her reaction 15 years prior to being told that there was a ship named after her, the ship she ended up dying on, was turning a deepshade of red. "Anything more political at the moment requires Yuumi-san."
"And on the matter of answering prayers," Chiharu's silvery voice was filled with concern. " I heard that you do have Yamataians out here with IIS and at least one that is an intern. Are these people safe here or do I need to take them home with all the trouble and the man that kidnapped a child? I just wanted to know how we might be able to help out your people here."
