YSS Yorokobi
Bridge
The Yui 7 from which Saiga-chusa commanded SAINT's task group shuddered and heaved under the hail of concentrated Kuvexian fire coming its way. Purple volleys pocked the Yorokobi's abyssal hull as the ship forced its way through a defensive screen. A singular vessel within the Interstellar Kingdom's fleet lay behind this picket: a cruiser levied to the Royal Exchequer, mundane among Kuvexian warships in all ways except its crew and their duties.
With SAINT's formation scattered across the battlefield by now — what ships remained mostly providing electronic warfare support to mitigate the hacking attack — the Chusa had gathered a handful of operatives and power armored analysts aboard the Yorokobi for a vital mission. They would infiltrate the cruiser and attempt to cancel payments made to Kuvexia's mercenary allies.
"Push through!" Saiga roared into his armor's helmet, sure that Kiriko wasn't listening as she fought to keep their course true. Their target cruiser grew larger on the bridge's volumetric screen, wreathed in the flaming wreckage, violet weapons fire, and those dozen-or-so golden escorts tasked with protecting it. "Yeah! Get at it!"
It was clear that the Yorokobi would make it to its target. Making it any further than that, though, was definitely out of the question.
"Brace!" Kiriko announced briskly from her place at the scout ship's helm, comfortably secure in her Mindy 4. Most of her control capability was shot, and the ship drifted sideways within its forward momentum as it approached the Exchequer's cruiser at speed.
When the Yorokobi made contact with the enemy's gilded hull its stern had kicked almost fully around, tearing into golden hull plates like a fiery black comet. Within, Saiga was thrown clear across the bridge while power conduits erupted in sparky overloads that lit the dark space in a teal-white flash. His operatives in the armor bay fared little better. Kiriko, for her part, stayed put well enough through the violent tumbling her trusty steed endured. Eventually the scout ship came to a stop, its sharp zesuaium prow pointing defiantly out through space toward Nataria itself, punctuating a great, dark scar torn across the Kuvexian vessel.
"C h u u u s a ?" Saiga heard somebody ask, her familiar voice echoing from some far-off place. "C h u s a?" came the voice again, and now he recognized it as Akechi Kiriko-juni's. "Stop snoozing! Chusa!"
No more than a few seconds could have passed since they'd landed.
"They're gonna catch on pretty soon!" Kiriko insisted, always the pessimist, as Saiga swam in his own head for a moment. This whole plan was riding on the hope that the Kuvexians would assume their crash was little more than a kamikaze attack akin to the ones they employed, which would give the Yamataians a huge element of surprise. But if it did not work, the SAINT operatives aboard their ruined Yui 7 would need to get out and get fighting with haste.
The Chusa pushed himself up on his elbows with a groan and let his Mindy's control systems do the rest to stabilize him in zero-G.
"You probably made, what, a hundred meters of entryway for us?" Saiga asked with a tired grin on his voice. "Hard part's already over, Kiri-chan. Let's get the others and go."
Bridge
The Yui 7 from which Saiga-chusa commanded SAINT's task group shuddered and heaved under the hail of concentrated Kuvexian fire coming its way. Purple volleys pocked the Yorokobi's abyssal hull as the ship forced its way through a defensive screen. A singular vessel within the Interstellar Kingdom's fleet lay behind this picket: a cruiser levied to the Royal Exchequer, mundane among Kuvexian warships in all ways except its crew and their duties.
With SAINT's formation scattered across the battlefield by now — what ships remained mostly providing electronic warfare support to mitigate the hacking attack — the Chusa had gathered a handful of operatives and power armored analysts aboard the Yorokobi for a vital mission. They would infiltrate the cruiser and attempt to cancel payments made to Kuvexia's mercenary allies.
"Push through!" Saiga roared into his armor's helmet, sure that Kiriko wasn't listening as she fought to keep their course true. Their target cruiser grew larger on the bridge's volumetric screen, wreathed in the flaming wreckage, violet weapons fire, and those dozen-or-so golden escorts tasked with protecting it. "Yeah! Get at it!"
It was clear that the Yorokobi would make it to its target. Making it any further than that, though, was definitely out of the question.
"Brace!" Kiriko announced briskly from her place at the scout ship's helm, comfortably secure in her Mindy 4. Most of her control capability was shot, and the ship drifted sideways within its forward momentum as it approached the Exchequer's cruiser at speed.
When the Yorokobi made contact with the enemy's gilded hull its stern had kicked almost fully around, tearing into golden hull plates like a fiery black comet. Within, Saiga was thrown clear across the bridge while power conduits erupted in sparky overloads that lit the dark space in a teal-white flash. His operatives in the armor bay fared little better. Kiriko, for her part, stayed put well enough through the violent tumbling her trusty steed endured. Eventually the scout ship came to a stop, its sharp zesuaium prow pointing defiantly out through space toward Nataria itself, punctuating a great, dark scar torn across the Kuvexian vessel.
"C h u u u s a ?" Saiga heard somebody ask, her familiar voice echoing from some far-off place. "C h u s a?" came the voice again, and now he recognized it as Akechi Kiriko-juni's. "Stop snoozing! Chusa!"
No more than a few seconds could have passed since they'd landed.
"They're gonna catch on pretty soon!" Kiriko insisted, always the pessimist, as Saiga swam in his own head for a moment. This whole plan was riding on the hope that the Kuvexians would assume their crash was little more than a kamikaze attack akin to the ones they employed, which would give the Yamataians a huge element of surprise. But if it did not work, the SAINT operatives aboard their ruined Yui 7 would need to get out and get fighting with haste.
The Chusa pushed himself up on his elbows with a groan and let his Mindy's control systems do the rest to stabilize him in zero-G.
"You probably made, what, a hundred meters of entryway for us?" Saiga asked with a tired grin on his voice. "Hard part's already over, Kiri-chan. Let's get the others and go."