RP [Yamatai] Third Battle of Nataria (YE 42) - OPEN RP

NSS Pimpilicious

Gunfire has subsided on the ship of the second Battle Group, but her internal systems couldn't keep performing without causing more damage.

Near the last scapegoat, the JANE of the pod was welcoming the large group into its closures. Near its doors was a linear comm panel that the now bloodied glove of Violetta pressed into. The Savtech JANE's voice spoke over itself by speaking through this comm unit as well.

"External outgoing comms are down," came the perky voice. "You will be ab-"

"How extremely apt," came the fast voice of a moving woman, the last in her Scapegoat.

"Jettison us away, Jane," Violetta said as she stepped into one of the few empty seats. "Long range comms?"

"Working and online!" Jane replied while the freeing of clamping mechanisms shook several points of the pod. The people inside all had faces like Violetta's- eyes whose fire to live jumped out from the dank grit of blood and dust. The admiral's own eyes fell on none as clean faced and cherubic as this morning's breakfast had seen them.

"Nepleslians," she looked to her crew as she spoke to the many different parts of Nepleslian fleets there. Methodical in her placement of words, the admiral was hoping that the soft gurgle of blood at the back of her throat was quiet for just this time.

"We have the unfortunate luck that this graveyard is ours. The enemy retreats and we can reclaim our fallen brethren. Not everyone has a cerebral chip, though. The lives of those lost eternally are of the utmost importance to commemorate- not only with victory later, but love now. Today I see the death all around us, as do you all. Tonight, tomorrow, and time after every Nepleslian life that was taken will be found and will be given that life by way of brain spider or by commemoration of them!" Violetta took a moment for breath and thought. The hauntingly brightness of eyes in comparison to the blackened blood and matted dust of her face strayed from the faces of those in her pod to look past the durandium of her pod and to look out at the vast expanse of space.

"The enemies of our neighbors have taken many from us. Make no mistake, they have assuredly found a formidable enemy of the Imperium of Nepleslia! Fight back Nepleslians, fight onward! The enemy grows fearful of us moment by moment! Give them reason to fear!" Her former words had been so decisive that the admiral hurriedly remembered to add, "This is Grand Admiral Violetta De Luca, signing out."

Her own escape pod had needs to tend to, on top of her own internal wounds. She let those things happen while the JANE did all those savtech things, including showing their position to other Nepleslians as it took a roundabout way back home.

Rp location: Natarian Space, 3rd fleet battle line.
Year:YE42

XO:CMDR. Irene Barná

Ship location: bridge

Running, full sprint back towards the bridge, looking at the carnage, the Comms Sargeant,Collen laid near the crackling communications equipment with several officers near her. The helmsman, and engineers were slowly sitting up, their eyes slowly coming back into focus."all hands, sound off if you can fight." The remaining crew begin to call out in broken yells, furious and in pain, like the final wail of a cornered animal, they were looking for a fight. The starboard side of the bridge had been heavily damaged, but with reserve power, the Wrath of Nepleslia would still be able to fight. Medical personnel rushed into the bridge patching most of their woulda or providing combat stims. Utilizing her Data Jockey, with the assistance of her communications Sargeant they managed to loosely repair communications." All hands on deck, this is your XO speaking. Capitan Yusef...has died, I am assuming command of this ship. We are going to full battle stations protecting both the NSS pimpilicious with our Grand Admiral De Luca and the NSS Venom Assembly! Once we are able, break 25° to your starboard side killing any filthy blue skinned bastard you see! We will show these cats and the enemy why we are named the Wrath of Nepleslia!" The crew invigorated by their Commander, the unassuming young woman stood tall a vicious air now filling the room, each member of her crew now chomping at the bit to taste enemy blood.

"ma'am we are getting a Hail from an NDC signal under a'captain' Corrin." Irene looked to the bandaged Sargeant," patch them through then get the Rear Admiral back on." The Sargeant nodded patching the transmission."
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"Nepleslian fleet, this is Captain Corrin of the NDS Shield, acting commander of the New Dusk Conclave fleet within the system. We're moving into position to join your fight. Sending over IFF information now."

==================

"Captain Corrin, this is Commander Irene Barná of the NSS Wrath of Nepleslia, damn fine timing, We just received your IFF Info, both the admiral and grand admiral as well as myself could use support, we are slowed currently, so fighter assistance and anti boarding actions would be major help. I will report back to Rear Admiral Glover, these damned Squids are trying to run like cowards. We are moving to support the NSS Venom Assembly. Commander Barná out. "
The radio crackled once before another emergency hail came over the comm system, the Ships Ace making corrections in the path heading to assist their allies.
=============
"The enemies of our neighbors have taken many from us. Make no mistake, they have assuredly found a formidable enemy of the Imperium of Nepleslia! Fight back Nepleslians, fight onward! The enemy grows fearful of us moment by moment! Give them reason to fear!"

==================
Part of the Grand admirals speech ignited a fire in every able-bodied sailor aboard the ship. Even heavily damaged the ship moved as if on sheer will."prepare the portside guns and every working missle pod we have left, fire on any fighters and kuvexian craft dumb enough to stay behind for a time." With that said the Carnivore class cruiser, began to live to its reputation, turning enemy fighter and transport alike into nothing but ragged space debris.

location:
Inner walls ofFort Minori, and central transport hub.
Fort Ready
Rp year: YE42

Battlegroup: imperial blade
All kuvexian infantry forces.


The call came over kuvexian comms, "begin final assault!" All available Stabarons called their forces to overwhelm the Yamataian soldiers. While, their systems now showed payments being cut, showing many of the mercenary companies were not to be paid. They turned to looting what they could before falling back, leaving less than half of the main kuvexian force left to fight on the ground.
==================
Fort Ready

Stabaron Rabishu'en Ediinbarra

Seeing the transactions fail, he slammed another fist against the communications array." Those damned mercenaries! What is the Exchequer thinking!?" Calling out to the remaining kuvexian soldiers." Attention kuvexian infantry and airborne, return to the transport ship our objective has changed, we will begrudgingly assist the other two Stabarons. Fall back immediately and leave the rixxikor to reproduce!" As the orders came across the battlefield, many of the heavy infantry and infantry troops began falling back bounding with each team, laying down waves of fire to cover one another, before scouts could provide an overwatch, all while the aether cannons were hurriedly packed back into the transport as it's main cannons began bombarding the fort again, causing grief for the remaining SAoY forces.

Before too long the engines Began to roar to life as the Kuvexian transport made its way towards Fort Midori, once in range, they too began to bombard the Fort with massive blast of Aether, the smaller guns providing anti Air assistance.

=================
Fort Midori
As the Stabaron Bei'lifir burst into the dining hall#3 seeing the growing group of Yamataian soldiers, he laughed heartily spinning his spear around before pointing out the group, and in perfect trade he looked to them once more." Who is the highest rank among you, I have a water for you. You can take it or you can fight miserably like the weak creatures you are. Take the bet and if you win my men here won't kill you right away, I win and you all become slaves." He laughed again, his power armoured entourage not nearly as entertained as he was, watching the remaining soldiers carefully.
==========
Noro Stabaron Zemir Bolad.

Unlike his counterparts the Noro Stabaron loved to right in the front lines, his entourage nothing but heavy infantry, he himself in a set of heavy power armor. They trudged through the broken streets, before making it to the train station. With little effort they began turning it into a base of operations inside the city fort. Establishing their communications, the Noro Stabaron called to his soldiers that remained. All remaining true kuvexian soldiers, I will personally give you bonuses, keep fighting and make your way to my coordinates. Fight hard and you'll be rewarded in the next life, move the shuttles to this location and bring all of our heavy aether weaponry, our drednaught is falling to the planet and we will make our temporary base here, all grav tank squadrons move in and level the city!"
With that order, the loose squads of kuvexian armored troops and unarmored rear guard began heading to the train station, the small transport shuttles bringing communications systems, food and additional supplies. Multiple slaves began setting up barriers and fortifying the transit center as the tanks and attached infantry made their way through the large city, taking casualties along the way, before several of the tanks were destroyed, the remainder of the forces converged into one position helping to fortify and prepare for a counter attack.

Fort Minori
"Special" Kuvexian Mercenaries

"Can you believe this!?" A Kuvexian said in their native language to her surviving mercenaries. Some information they were looking for had been relayed in the direction of their true superiors. Her Grand Marshal always taught them what to do when the checks bounce. And not only did the check bounce, but their naval forces were also abandoning them. Good thing she bribed a communication specialist to relay the truth to her.

Seeing the first large Yamataian force making their way to the transport hub, she and the Kuvexian mercs dropped their weapons and raised their hands. "I'm not paid to kill you anymore." She says in accented Trade.

KNS Badh Hakdezzia
Bridge

Santo Hei Nakama Osakura

How Osakura now found herself right next to the legendary Chusa Saiga is a story for another time. But she was just happy to have gotten live experience with her hacking to keep the damage control teams from alerting the bridge of their presence. Though it bothered her just how much they kept throwing them out without sending proper guards to investigate. Did they completely miscalculate into thinking they would never be boarded? Such arrogance!

As Saiga-Chusa shoved the commander into the escape pod, she couldn't help but grin as it seemed like a proper reward. While the Yamataians did not actively target escape pods normally, she didn't think the odds of him surviving being really high. As she made her way out, the gleam of the holdout pistol caught her attention. Using the excuse of "weapons research", she quickly pocketed the fool's weapon and teleported out.

Time to continue the fight elsewhere!

Nataria Space

Confusion and anger rapidly spread through the ranks of the Kuvexian Mercenaries, who started a rapid exit of the Nataria system. The last of the Kuvexian ships that could leave did so, leaving behind thousand and thousands of wrecked ships, fighters, and transport shuttles in the rush to escape. Meanwhile the Star Army and Nepleslians had lost over 90% of their ships as well, and the battle in space quickly became an ad-hoc search-and-rescue operation as the surviving ships started sending out rescue crews to their fallen sister ships while conducting mop-up operations and hunting down any lingering Kuvexian ships that hadn't been able to escape due to damaged FTL systems. Emergency repair teams were dispatched and Ghost Star Fortress became crowded port for critically damaged Star Army ships, which were towed to it and docked for repairs.

Planet Surface

The Kuvexian had landed several more millions of Kuvexian soldiers and Rixxikor hooligans on Nataria than there were Yamataian defenders, but the Nekovalkyrja and other soldiers had been fighting hard and the Kuvexian troops were losing their advantages. Their air support had become really spotty and Star Army ships, including the YSS Eucharis, were shooting down at them from above, and the Star Army response was getting more organized and more effective by the minute. Thousands of robot-piloted aerial gunships were now taking to the Natarian skies and raining fire down on the invaders.

Some of the Kuvexians were so frightened they simply ran off as fast as they could into the Natarian woodline to hide in the pine forests. Others, rather than being violently killed, broke open their suicide capsules and waited to wake up with a new body in some Kuvexian cloning lab. A few surrendered successfully. But most of them died, their wrecked bodies piled up sometimes armpit-deep around the burning rubble of Fort Minori and the and shot-up Fleet Depot. There was so much blue blood spilled that the ground looked almost like it was an another planet.

Nataria Space

The Desudoramu was still moving on its own. There were multiple sections of the hull that had been damaged. But the Emergency Systems were working and those sections had been secured. smoking from a number of locations. Two of the Sharie Battleships had taken up positions on either side of the Dreadnought these were crewed by 300 soldiers. The 30 Super Eikan Heavy Cruisers were non-operational. 4 of the Heitan-1b Carriers were still operational. From the bridge Sorano was coordinating Search and Rescue in the area that the Task Force ended in.

Sorano looked at the carnage, it would take a long time before all of the battle debris was gathered.

Of the 2,352 Super Kawarime only 300 returned to their carriers. Over two-thousand pilots died in the fighting, but they were lives well spent. The Heavy Cruisers were automated and the only 'crew' were EM-J2-1a Geboku Androids. The same was true for the Sharies that had been destroyed. She used those ships as weapons driving them into clusters of the enemy, and when the ship's could no longer fight, detonated their reactors to take as many of the enemy as possible.

Several hundred Ke-T7 shuttles were moving among the debris. Looking for SAOY personnel who were alive and trapped in the various wreckage.

Sorano sent a of the Task Force to whomever was in charge of the SAOY at Nataria.

Fort Minori
Dining Hall #3

Mikael turned around when he heard the voice of the Kuvexian, with Mizumitsu standing behind the now bounded Kuvexian sitting on their knees. If the Keiko's "face" could show how he was feeling, the overconfident officer would clearly see he was not amused. "That would be me." Mikael said walking forward, towering over his makeshift fire team. His coherent rifle had been holstered on his shoulder, so it was out of the question to get the jump on them. So he and the other Giretsu soldiers could only do what they were trained to do, think about the weaknesses and response time of their foe's power armor.

"So you want a duel, is that it?" Mikael continued. He silently cursed himself for misinterpreting the sensor data warning him of their presence. He had thought they were further away than they truly were. He looked down at the Stabaron as he waited for him to respond.

The Kuvexian Stabaron smiled once more. "Yes, a duel would be perfect. You have spent too much time with mercenaries and filth, it's time for you to see the difference." Bei'lifir said before he slammed the shaft of the spear into the ground as the Kuvexian soldiers made a defensive position. His guards watched the rest of the Yamataian soldiers as their employer was focused on only the giant Keiko before him. "Know my name Yamataian! It is Stabaron Bei'lifir, eldest son and Co CEO of Bei'lifir industrial!"

"Echo Echo 6. Mizumitsu, shield the captive on my mark." Mikael simply said on an encrypted channel to the other four as he entered a CRIED stance. The code he had uttered was shorthand for "Eat Aether from Behind", a teleportation trick the instructors taught passively at the swamp (SAIC). It was not a maneuver for the weak of heart. Mikael thumbed past his non-existing nose as he waited for Bei'lifir to make his move. Growing impatient, he eventually speaks.

"Harris." he spoke before extending his hand and making the come one motion.

"Harris, eager to die are you? Very well!" the Kuvexian said as he kicked the spear forward spinning it around once more before planting the tip in his direction. Stepping forward Bei'lifir wasted no time thrusting for each one of the joints of Mikael's power armor making sure to recoil with the help of the power armor. To the casual observer, it seemed inhumanly fast. The quick jerky motions making the spear seem almost rubber as each strike came for the Yamataian.

Given the size of the Keiko, Mikael was equally quick as well. Mikael twisted his body in a slightly inhumanly fashion due to limitations set in place by the software. Doing this allowed Mikael to deflect a number of the strikes going for his knees. Though he doesn't look remotely shaken when the trident occasionally strikes a joint, the lack of organic sensory and armor being a blessing.

The duel kept on for a while with Bei'lifir thrusting the trident at Mikael and the Keiko gradually forcing him via the deflections and timed strikes to move where Mikael wanted him to be. Meanwhile, the three Giretsu just watched and silently used laster communication to assign their marks. "I'll take the ugly one." Nito Heisho X mentally said. Kamiya-hei was confused since they were all largely ugly in her eyes. Sensing her confusion with her silence, he simply marks the one on the left. "Oooooooh..." was the only thing she could mentally say. The guards continued watched the Giretsu carefully though, knowing this fight would escalate quickly. They looked equally ready to pull the trigger.

Stepping back and creating distance with a wide swipe the Kuvexian laughed again." That armor is impressive, though it is rather ugly." Bei'lifir opted for his strikes become harder, noting the lackluster responses of his opponent. Stepping to his right Bei'lifir closed the distance momentarily, to whip the rear end of the trident into the visor of his opponent's helmet causing a crack across the side, the strength of his strikes increasing as the power armor began to operate in harmony, as if alive with the Stabaron.

"Bad choice." Mikael simply said as he instinctively shook his head to try to correct his vision, having faded for a moment,. Clearly the head was not as armor, but the sampled vision compensated regardless. He could only imagine the thoughts going through the officer's head right now, with him not reacting to his blows as he had expected. His style was increasingly becoming more and more aggressive in an attempt to break through his defenses. Perhaps this to him was much like Mikael's experience with the heavier prototype armor the Kuvexians were designing. Nothing he threw at it seemed to phase it in the slightest.

But despite that, he had a duel to win. He had to desire to be taken as a slave after all. Now fully inside of the reach of the trident after his reckless strike, Mikael simply reached down with his left hand and grabbed on to the shaft of the trident, in between the hands of the Kuvexian. He then slammed down into the shoulders, severely depleting the shields of his power armor. "Surrender now and enjoy the hospitality of the weak creatures or die. The choice is yours." Mikael remarked as he locked Bei'lifir into place, fighting against his attempts to break free, the true power of CRIED! That and the graviton beam projectors in his hands.

"Maybe we will ransom you all back if you are good."

The Kuvexian slammed down, still keeping his footing but clearly caught off guard. He looked back to Mikael curiously. "If you think because you have my spear you have me, you're mistaken!" The excitement clear on the face of the Stabaron. He gripped Mikael's left hand and with the off-hand also gripped the center of the spear shaft. With an audible click, the shaft separated. The bladed scepter of the Stabaron remained stuck to the Yamatain's left hand. Using this as a chance to possibly break his balance, Bei'lifir kicked hard using the power armor's strength into the knee joint of Mikael's suit.

Grabbing the bladed scepter with all his might, he disengaged to create distance once more." It seemed I underestimated at least one of you. Usually this is for ceremony, however, some of us train with more than just our spears." His stance changed and the quick, jerky movements he had already been making became even more apparent watching for his opponent's next move.

The maneuver on his knee did momentarily set Mikael's balance, but it was quickly recovered as the suit's limitations were lessened to allow the slightly damaged joint to bend in a more inhuman way. Mikael watched his opponent clearly getting overly excited about this as he corrected his form. While there was still much to learn about the Kuvexian mindset, it would have to be a case study for another day as the duel could not drag on any longer. "Prepare to execute." Mikael said mentally to the three, green indicators quickly returned on his HUD as their response.

Mikael finally deciding to use his greater reach and mass, Mikael overrode his suit's imposed limitations on the joints and motors as he started his assault of exhausting and bringing the Kuvexian into submission. Employing the same tactics the Kuvexian was attempting on him, he commenced the I of CRIED aka attacking his joints. Particularly the knees, a known weak point of this particular model of Kuvexian armor. With no limitations, Mikael used the greater speed and flexibility to stay ahead of Bei'lifir's attempts to block or attack. Each time he did, Mikael quickly countered with a strike to his knees. Though there was a cost to all of this he was going to feel later.

But it paid off this time, the Kuvexian dropped to his knees with a sudden cry of pain, feeling the armor beginning to buckle. Seeing their leader go down and the call onto their communications that the assault had failed, the four soldiers dropped their rifles and opted to take poison capsules instead. The Stabaron himself knelt down. "You have stopped my ability to continue this fight... I gave you my word. It was a deal after all." As the words escaped his pale blue lips, the sound of sheer aggravation dripped from each word. He slowly lifted his hands, dropping the scepter, knowing it was foolhardy to continue.

"And I recognize you as an honorable man Stabaron Bei'lifir." Mikael said in rather rough Kuvexian due to his Keiko not creating the right sounds. Despite the circumstances, there was sincerity in his words. Though he was distracted as the suit's computer systems were blaring to him the overheated and damaged joints from his stunt. Not able to really move now, Mikael just stood there looking out a blown section of the building. Guess he wasn't ready after all.

"Establish a perimeter around this facility, we are going to be here for a while. Mizumitsu, search his power armor for any poison capsules. I don't want him forgetting this experience."M said as he pinged a request for pickup from any available airlift unit for his prisoners, the cooks, and his band of warriors. The four salute with Mizumitsu remaining as a guard and

"Now who is this Mizumitsu-hei..." Mikael thought to himself as he started to access PANTHEON. "Oh... oooooooooh... WHAT!?"

It was going to be a very long wait indeed.

Pilot Profile updated...
Uploaded...
Engaging Tactical Analyzer...
Analyzing...
Dynamic Profile Saved.

Fort Minori

Chui Matsuda

A gunshot was heard, echoing through the hall that once served as the epic center of all wounded that tried to get back on their feed and serve the Yamatai Empire to the bitter end. The hall was a mess, bodies laying everywhere, small fires here and there, broken equipment that did its job till the bitter end of healing the people. Covered in Rixx blood, leaning forward on a ruin of debris. The smoke that came from the overheated barrel that served as an extension to the rifle was glowing still yellow as the woman that held it took a deep breath and leans backward with her eyes closed taking at the moment as a lifeless Rixx body laid there in front of her.

"Chui" A voice came from her side as she slowly opened her eyes and looked at her side seeing a wounded soldier holding onto her arm that was wrecked up "The area is secured, Kuvexian mercenaries are surrendering and all Rixx are taken out" She reported standing at attention in front of the current highest-ranking person in the area. The woman lowered her head and looked at the entree.

Erina shrugs "Typical...." She answers to the report "This place is useless to get wounded treated proper. What is the status of the other hospital section?" She asked as Erina walked down the rumble and is followed by the soldier "I believe one of our transport pads is still operational for transportation right?" She made her way towards the pad that was laying next to the other transport pad that got hit by a grenade.

The soldier nods to the Chui "Yes the other location is fully operational and all wounded are redirected towards that location. We got reports that Nepleslia pilots being part of the wounded batch" Looking at the pad "The second pad is being repaired at this moment ma'am it will take some time before its fully operational" Concluding the requested information that her Chui asked of her.

Grabbing a medical kit that was laying at the side "Good, then we only got to worry about our current operational area. While this area is not fit by any medical standards to treat anyone, I do want you to gather soldiers fit and ready to do some work and go out there and find wounded soldiers to bring back here. Those with medical experience can treat them until we can transport them off to the second camp. This includes all Yamatai and Nepleslia soldiers, and slap any Nepleslian that is bitching about their honor, I take no-nonsense when it comes to health" She stood up and started to bandage the soldier arm as she looked confused at her Chui "That includes you, I tied this up as good as I can, but this arm needs to be checked as soon as possible. When that pad is active, you go with the first batch" She placed a knot around her neck and nods as the soldier nods back walking away.

Taking a brief look around, this area was a mess, no...it was actually refreshing for her. It reminded her of the battle at Himiko, giving a small hit to a lifeless Rixx body "Damn f*cker...keeping me work like this" Erina shook her head and moved on to get ready for the first batch of wounded.

Rear Admiral Glover

The ships on the screen were broken, small explosion here and there, bodies flying everywhere. It was cruel to watch so many deaths floating in space, a sight that Gustav was getting used to, this was a war, and while they won it. It took a large price from them all. Gustav looked around seeing his bridge crew doing whatever they can to get the bridge restored, wounded taken care of and fires under control. Sparks of broken consoles fly off it as he looked at the remains of his fellow flagship that he helped to protect. Taking a deep breath he knew that this was a part of the duty he didn't like.

"Report status of Ravages Hunters ships, I want a full damage report on the Venom" Two Nepleslians responded with a firm aye as he looked at his communication officer that had a serious head injury and smiled softly for the dedication of this man "Send word to the NDC flagship that we honor their sacrifice in combat to aid us in this glorious fight. For now we are fully able to function on our own. I advise them to set course towards Nataria and communicate with the Star Army if they require any assistance in mopping up the thugs that are salvaging our deaths for their own profits" The officer nodded "And Boris....get that head checked lad" The man blinks for a second and then nods again.

"Damage report coming in from Task Force Ravage Hunters sir....currently operational are five Bastard Heavy Cruisers, seven Punkbuster Battlecruisers, three Carnivore cruise, eleven Shaika carriers four Bison destroyers, seventeen Cobra Gunships, twelve Atlas destroyers. We completely lost the Hray corvettes and only got five Jackdaw Corvette left. We are unknown as of to yet how many pilots we have lost" The man concluded his report.

Trying to remain calm, he still bold his fist knowing he had lost more than the half of his task force and looked at the screen as Gustav opened his mouth "Pull back all remaining fighters, all Task Force ships are to relocate on our position. Give out the signal to the escape pods to relocate to our location as a waypoint to any Nepleslian pod. I want the remainder Jackdaw to perform a search and rescue operation to retrieve any SOS signals and be brought back to the Shaika carriers" Gustav narrows his eyes "Communicate to any remaining Second Assault Fleet ships and Task Force Cloverfall to regroup at Venom waypoint. If Star Army wishes our aid, we shall provide. But our people come first for now" He gave out the orders placing his arms over each other.

Outer edge of Fort Minori
Nataria


Picking up more of the fodder gathering on the other side of the wreck, Egwene gave a smile. Eventually they would amass enough to have the balls to storm the place, but that wasn't something she was going to allow. Creating flight telemetry and sending out a request on her network, she managed to flag down a flyboy that wasn't bothered following allied independent requests. The ground rumbled as aeronautic grade munitions ripped up the scene, turning the men gathering to attack her into a fine red mist. She needed to get herself a gatling laser or something. That'd be really cool.

Not quite so cool was the pair of QM-305 suits arriving on the scene. Blasting up from her cover, she caught one with a pair of repulsor beams to the chest. Not enough to totally waste the suit right away, but certainly enough to make a mess and stun the pilot. Though these guys were better soldiers and his friend reacted quickly, blasting Egwene from the sky with his coilgun. The impact of the munitions and the slam into the ground afterwards wasn't doing much at all for her hull integrity, and she was risking breach if this went on much longer.

So she got into position and echo-located the second suit as it came to finish her off, and used her Repulsor to launch a chunk of battlefield debris at it, enforcing a very reflexive dodge out of the way. From there, Egwene blasted a full power thrust from her feet, rocketing her towards the QM suit, and tackling it like an all-star rugby player. Driving the both of them to the floor, she stuffed her palm in the face of the cockpit and turned it into mush with a point blank repulsor blast, shredding the metal and splattering the pilot. She'd then rip his gun out of his grasp and spray it down range at the second suit that was recovering from the blow. With the earlier damage, the coilgun minced the power armour and gave the pilot explosive trauma.

Recovering the second coilgun, she was pretty much done here. Heavily damaged suit, with some worn servos being touched up on with her nanogenus being the only thing keeping her moving. She needed to hook up with someone, but everyone was locked down with heavy combat inside the fort, she'd need to fight through that to get to them. And going anywhere near combat with damaged armour like this wasn't a great plan...In the end, she simply found herself a crater to lie low in and hooked up with the Natarian communication system to lend her processor to it so she could still feel useful.

Akina
Nataria Space
YSS Logi
Zero Fleet

The field of debris would have been art if it were just the Kuvexians. The damage to what had survived from her vanguard was streaming through automated reports, the bloody no retreat fighting that had siphoned the enemy into the field the Logi and her sister ship for the mission the Aomori designated the primary kill zone, even with the strength of main weapon fire overlapping there was the matter of the enemy having to be kept there, mopped up, and keeping what friendlies were operating in the area alive, and at what point they could no longer be fired at all. Towards the end of the fight Shimizu had been forced to invert the formation while consolidating her forces and slam into what was left of the combined defense fleet and the enemy.

"Kuvexians are withdrawing, as predicted!" Wary but relieved sighs could be heard over the din of chatter around the upper section of the bridge, everyone was connected to the ship already but hearing it out loud made it feel more real. Once their formations changed it became more clear what was going to happen. It had definitely not been certain for most of the incredibly sorrowful battle.

Both Izanagi under her command had experienced damage and heavy losses, the Aomori eventually had to move to a stable high orbit with a minor escort as fires to her hangers and other large compartments were vented and otherwise stopped, no thanks to no less than three smaller Kuvexian ships that slammed into her during the end of the battle, one of which was mostly destroyed before impact.

Aboard the Logi, Akina finally sat down again, "Divert what is left of the fighters and armor teams from Aomori here, triage priority. I am reforming the...", The admiral felt cold a moment, "...23% of the remaining nodachi squadrons to consolidate and vector to Nataria to provide CAS and send 15,000 Mindies with them, bring the rest close in to ships still able to make a jump." If orders came to chase them down, they would end each other in whatever corner of the sector they had to if it meant they could turn things around, even if it meant chasing her own death again.

"Taisho, damage control teams are near capacity, but we have maintained readiness." The pink-haired captain of the Logi reported.

"Launch half the shuttles to support the SAR operation, get the second bridge on it until such time as the Aomori can take over coordination." The other officer replied simply, with so many personnel MIA on the other stricken ship it would not be going anywhere, but without access to landing bays they could at least still work as an organizational hub. They didn't have enough personnel left to fire their main weapon in a prolonged fight anyway, and she was not about to lose the whole ship if the fight was going to spare it. Massive hulks spinning out into the pitch that had fared worse in the battle were enough of a sacrifice.

"Hai." The XO replied, leaving Akina to plot more of the FTL capable ships into an actual formation. The ships able to jump and fight were moved to her group, and those unable to were placed in as defensive a perimeter as was able in the graveyard around the Aomori, any ships more damaged than that were towed away from that group by their comrades to Ghost Star Fortress, or limped there themselves.

Strumming her fingers on her thigh to keep it still, the veteran watched as the last gasps from enemies unable to leave took their toll on ships she could not reach in time, making her issue a silent apology as the remnants of her fleet element changed course again, "Vectors updated, continue to fire on anything that can't get away. Prioritize anything that might be able to suicide. After that, anything we can incapacitate that SAINT might be able to snap up, and flag it."

Keep your mind turning, the numbers crunching. Pain comes later.

Miyako
Nataria Space - Upper Atmosphere
YSS Botan
Star Squadron

"This hurts more than I remember!" The immediate pain of what felt like a cruiser embedded through her arm but was formerly a console being roughly pulled clear as a medic worked on her from her chair made the Chusa give a yelp and her toes curled so tightly in her boots she thought she cracked half of them. The fact some of her toes were broken did not really come up as she bled all over the deck of the lovely ship they had loaned her for the fight, the one that she was sure was going to come apart before the end of the battle.

The Botan had entered Nataria's atmosphere and they were going to end up right in the thick of it, even with the armor she had left, Miyako wondered if the ongoing battle below would mean a great Kuvexian arm would reach up from the ground and swat her from the sky with what was left of her squadron. "-usa."

"...-ha chusa." The medic shaking her brought her back, she was hooked to a field kit but it meant she could stay on the bridge. "The color is coming back to your cheeks. You had me going. I have to get to sickbay." The bridge was locked behind the Neko again as a new report came through.

The Elyasian she was starting to associate with bad news informed her, "Star Three has made it to Ghost. Two is still MIA."

"Well that's a-ssss oh these things will pay. Increase descent vector helm. Some good news, they made it back. When we get closer to the deck I want to own the skies, and anywhere we do I want to make a bloody streak of their bodies." Miyako reached into the kit and wiped blood from her brow, sealing a bandage over a wound she had really not even thought about as more than a throbbing headache. All she could see was through SPINE as blue black became blue filled with ships, explosions, and death over the sea of a green nightmare slowly filling up their vision as the bristling gunship continued to fire on the way down.

Misaki
Nataria Space
Kuvexian Capital Ship

The final bulkhead cracked open, sending the double SOFT onto the command deck as the chaos of the battle outside combined with the dagger being thrust through the soft underbelly of the massive vessel in the rapid strike. While their mission was to attempt to capture a ranking officer, he made it impossible for them as MINDY armors scattered to create a deadly crossfire and coordinate their targets with every living being they could find just as they had practiced so many times before the mission. Their CO jerked in front of a lower ranking officer to trade a shot with Misaki, or perhaps to shield himself from fire her heavy was putting down to the other side, and ate a round that caused his head to decorate the readouts next to him.

Target down. Alternate plan, spike beta. Their tech specialist used the open console conveniently splattered with DNA they took as a sample for later in case it was a VIP on file, and attempted to get as much data as possible. Their heavies secured the ingress and anyone without a job was laying down more anger from the direction they came as scant resistance had to be put down, there was a short window before a secondary bridge would take over even with the tech they had with them.

The combat engineer reported, Demo green. As she set the last of her charges, the clock continued to wind down, and even though Misaki did not actually know if the sleek Kama was still out there for them, the veteran clipped a soldier rounding the corner in the neck and then hit him in the center mass as the status from the download finally came back. They got all they could manage. If there was data to be salvaged that would be for SAINT to go through once things were over.

Once the timer hit zero the entire deck shuddered as a storm erupted inside. Each one of the MINDY armors vanished as their teleportation pods deposited them well away from the enemy ship moments before the bridge erupted into a fireball along with every key junction charges were affixed to on their way in, outright knocking out the ability to jump away from the battle as secondary explosions engulfed it.

Kurusu took a passive scan as the team landed on a piece of debris and then gave the all clear to go active again, before giving the order to return to the Kama. They were going to go to the surface or follow the fight if it left the system, their primary mission was over.