RP [YSS Azalea II] Episode 1: Fresh Water

YSS Azalea II
Now Entering Power Armor Bay
Ancilla listened to what Spark had to say as they made their way to the Power Armor Bay. She remembered that when another Power Armor AI was found to be sentient, they didn’t allow her to be a Power Armor AI, they’d taken her somewhere else she didn’t know. Of course she didn’t know that the reason they did that was not only the other AI was sentient, but she was in love with her partner.

Ancilla liked Spark, and cared for her, but it was as a sister, she didn’t know if that made a difference to them. But it was clearly causing some problems for Spark from what she told her. “Oh, about the Revanant 3 Data, I’d had that transferred along, Lady Nyx was able to help with that. And you're right, of course, we would be a boon.. Alright its settled, when we get back we will stop bullshitting.” She said finally.

Ancilla’s cheek’s turned red comically as Spark basically head patted her. But soon they were in the Power Armor Bay, and she saw the familiar Power Armor, so it seemed they didn’t get a Mindy, but that wasn’t all they saw. Ancilla controlled herself, but she wanted to swear as she saw how huge the armorer was. She also wanted to correct him by saying ‘we are the NDC transfers’ but she was supposed to pretend to be a dumb AI.

Hanger

Aoi and Akane approached Nozomi for their craft assignment. They had a pretty good idea which one it was, but they stood in what might be considered a line if they were going to be assigned to two different single seaters. They had done both in their time, flying as wingmen and together.

"Spark. Sergeant Third Class, Duskerian Legion. Little sprite in my palm is my AI, Ancilla. Think of her as one part therapist, one part prosthetics driver, and one part power armor AI copilot. I see my request to use a Mindy was denied." Spark took the hand in a firm shake. "Can't be helped, I suppose. Procedure and all. As much as it's a pain on logistics, and the Revenant doesn't fill the Mindy's role. Be just bad manners to roll up on a Daisy fire team in that 3C you guys got me."

Nodding her head to the armor hanging from the racks, Spark noted how it was stowed in the standing closed position, tall and powerful, but a pain to get into. At least they'd gotten the paint right for a prototype. Electric blue stripe from left shoulder to right hip. She hoped the undersuit was folded neatly across the groin support as she liked. But that was neither here nor there. "I was hoping you guys'd be willing to help out with my loadout, whenever you're free. If I get to use a Mindy at all. Close combat, stealth, and grinding crossfire are my specialties. So one of those punching swords on a Mindies'd be a life saver."

Hangar Bay

Yujin stood in line for the scanning and once it was done he moved over to his Hayabusa II and smiles looking it over carefully inspecting each inch of the craft, even going as far as tugging on some key spots to test the fitment of the parts so they will not fall off at high g loads that he knows the craft is more than capable of pulling. He does not want a repeat of what was seen in training when a live ordnance got knocked loose from a landing craft and skidded down the runway, luckily it skidded away from anything important. But now was the real thing and he sighs, stepping back to look over the craft once more.

He was taking more than the five seconds that the tiny Nekovalkyrja said for them to be at the craft. But it was the first time seeing his fighter and he wanted to make sure it was all right before leaving the hangar. Then with a nod and unless he was yelled, before he was finished the Minkin would step away and start to leave the hanger so that he was not in the way anymore, and pounders what to do now.

Nasrin Naceri - Hangar > Lounge
Eight seconds then leave? Nasrin managed to not quite sulk as the swarm of tiny Nekos efficiently took her measurements. An unexpected wave of homesickness hit her and she was a girl again helping her grandmother measure customers and pin up fabric. Before she knew it, the process was done and she was being pointed to craft NG-X1-424-010 and chivvied away. With its sleek design and internal and external hardpoints, the Mamushi looked like a hunter. She longed to sit in the cockpit, caress the controles, even activate the displays, but alas she only had time for a quick walk around before her eight seconds was up. The young pilot scurried out of the hangar with a longing look over her shoulder. Unsure of what to do with herself for the remaining two hours till launch, she headed up to the lounge and set the volumetric window to an external view. After securing a Gun Oil Cola from the minifridge, she curled up on a couch browsing SYNC forums on her data pad.


Pierre Ruike Hangar > Power Armor Bay
Even staying out of the way, Pierre knew they were intruding. The tiny Jôtô Hei wanted her hangar moving with quick efficiency, and didn’t have time for gawkers. Technically, she hadn’t nor could she order the Chui to leave, but it wasn’t a matter of rank but respect. The antlered acquisitions officer backed out of the Hangar and decided to head to the Power Armor Bay. They weren’t an infantry officer anymore, and things would have to have gotten really bad for Sasaki to throw an observer into some armor, but even the best machines broke down eventually. So Pierre decided to prepare for the worst and get fitted for a suit. Their old Daisy should have made it into the ship’s inventory, but for interoperability, Pierre assumed they’d want them wearing a Mindy if they did have to go outside the wire. Entering the Armor Bay, Pierre caught sight of one of the largest women they’d ever seen. Maybe a fellow Minkan? The bodies did offer way more customization than older synthetic bodies.

YSS Azalea II
Power Armor Bay

The giant Tröll’s eyes lit up with awe upon registering the tiny AI sprite, but he restrained himself from saying anything further, only giving the AI what could be construed as a cute wave! From there, he shifted his attention back to Spark, accepting her firm handshake with a friendly nod.

HarperMadi said:

"I see my request to use a Mindy was denied."

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“Not that I’m aware of.” Bjorn answered. “I could fab’ up a Mindy for ya’ if ya’ want, but figured that ya’ might prefer using familiar equipment.” He added. “As for loadouts, I can lend a little assistance with that too. I got lots of builds goin’ in here.”

With that, the armorer gestured Spark to follow, leading to a rack of weapons and equipment.

“So, close combat, stealth, and firepower.” The Tröll mused. “For stealth, you’ll want some shoulder or leg capacitors, especially for your needs. These will allow you to rely less on the aether generator during long engagements.” He began, before pulling a blocky, menacing looking turbo aether plasma shotgun from the rack.

“One of my favorites.” He said, a grin forming over his tusked features. “Unfortunately, it’s a bit short on range, so not as great for space combat, but there is an alternative.” He added, before putting the TAP shotgun back in its place and replacing it with a shoulder-mounted shotgun cannon assembly.

“Gauss accelerated shotgun cannon. 64 round drum mag. Decent rate of fire. Got a short Neko on the ship who swears by this one. Likes to load hers up with slugs. I prefer armor shot myself, but you can never go wrong with the extra penetration.”

All the while, Pierre would find more than just a large woman standing before him, but a very large Tröll as well. Upon registering his presence, Bjorn set the sensitive military hardware back in its place and snapped to attention, his features going flat as he did!

YSS Azalea II
Power Armor Bay

Ancilla observed how Spark introduced herself and waved back to the giant Troll in response. Then she listened to Spark mentioning she was denied the use of Mindy, but Bjorn the giant said that he wasn’t aware of that and that he could fabricate a Mindy for her, but that he figured she might want familiar tech. That was thoughtful of him, and she listened with interest as he spoke of his recommendations. She knew that Spark’s Niece, Nyx preferred automatic weapons, and if capable, explosive ones too. The tiny girl also knew that Spark new this, but both women had their preferences, their specialty. She began processing what Spark might prefer, when a newcomer had entered. Though Bjorn’s reaction caught her attention, and it made her think that the new guy might be of higher rank.

Medical Laboratory
Kari noticed Masami relaxing, recognizing it with a satisfied nod. If she noticed that it was a conscious effort, she gave no indication of it. Kari herself had experimented with, but quickly given up putting up a façade of something other than how she truly felt.

"Don't be nervous," Kari did her best to reassure Masami in her usual not-quite-angry tone of voice. Despite her cold-blooded demeanour, Kari was remarkably warm and gentle as she put her gloved hands on Masami's jaw and at the base of her skull. Turning Masami's head this way and that, she checked for any deviations from the baseline. "I always include extra time in my plan as a buffer against falling behind schedule. I am not so naïve as to think that I can predict everything that might cause a delay.

"Your preliminary exam results are nominal. If I had seen anything out of the ordinary, I would have been hesitant to move on, in case you were showing signs of an ailment that might be worsened by the scans themselves," Kari explained as she removed her hands from Masami's head, but kept them up in the air to keep them as clean as possible. Somehow she always seemed like she was about to run out of patience, even as she was simply explaining a standard procedure. "As it is, I see no reason to stop us from moving on to scanning your body, which will give us a much more complete picture of your health, and sampling your DNA, which will give us advance warning of several kinds of issues that wouldn't yet manifest on a scan. Finally, I'll take a mental backup, unless you've had one recently that isn't in your file. May I continue?"

“Adease, Hei,” Pierre said, looking all the way up at the Tröll armorer. “Just deal with the task at hand, I can wait my turn,” the Chui said, making a lazy shooing motion. Giving a nod to the big Duskarian sergeant, Pierre stepped off to one side to run a practiced eye over the gear. Pulling up a more complete equipment list on their data pad, they began brainstorming loadouts. More options than on the Daisy, but after a while, some options began to feel redundant. What role did their armor need to fill? They were drawn towards gear they thought of as “leader gear”, items that improved communication or spotting, but they didn’t expect to be taking the field to lead teams. Instead, they might need extra defensive systems and firepower if they expected to be involved in all hands last ditch sorts of scenarios. The diminutive officer allowed themselves to become absorbed with reading technical specifications and user reviews and nearly missed when somebody eventually addressed them.

YSS Azalea II
Medical Laboratory

For all of her efforts, Masami couldn’t keep herself relaxed for long. The medical specialist’s seeming angry tone was grinding on her nerves to such an extent that it was beginning to compromise her emotions. She could almost feel herself getting angry. And yet, as driven by emotion and passions as she often was, Masami managed to maintain her poise. A quick look at Kari’s personnel file—the parts which were made available to her, told the sepia-toned Nekovalkyrja all she needed to know. Kari was young to the point that it made Masami herself feel old at just four years old. Nevertheless, it meant that in spite of their identical ranks, the blonde-haired medic was the rough equivalent of a younger sister to Masami.

That meant it was her obligation to help her.

“Before we do the body scan, I wanted to mention something.” Masami cut in. “I should have said this earlier and for not doing so, I apologize.” The sepia-toned Nekovalkyrja stopped and took a deep, steadying breath. Even though Kari was younger than her, the blonde-haired medic’s perpetually intense, cold disposition unsettled her.

“I admire your dedication to your work, sister. I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into improving yourself.” Masami began. “But, I think there’s a reason you’re finding your patients to be…uncomfortable.” She continued, pausing to let the words sink in.

“Have you considered taking remedial socialization classes?”

"There is no need to apologize," Kari replied, her hands still in the air as if she were scrubbed down and ready to begin surgery. She gave no outwards appearance of being upset by Masami's suggestion. Instead, she seemed to take the interruption as an opportunity to begin a visual inspection of her patient's features. Kari's eyes lingered on Masami's big, bright yellow eyes, inspecting them one at a time; and her ombre violet lips. "I passed my socialization classes, so it hadn't occurred to me to take remedial ones. Though it was a struggle, so it comes as little surprise that you are suggesting further training."

Kari paused for several cycles, narrowing her eyes in thought. Her tail, which had up until this point been slowly curling and swaying back and forth like a shrub in a gentle breeze, straightened and lowered. Something clearly occurred to her after a moment of silence, although her facial expression didn't change, her tail perked up and the end twitched quickly from side to side.

"How rude of me," Kari said at last, her tone still unchanged. "I have a bad habit of only speaking my thoughts using my inner voice, even in a conversation. Points in favour of taking remedial socialization classes include the potential to set my patients more at ease. Points against include the lack of obvious value for comfortable patients as long as they are cared for, taking time away from studying for my pharmacist certification, and the fact that I will not enjoy such classes. Do you have anything you would like to add?"

"An honor to meet you, Bjorn," Spark gave a bright smile.

Immortal Cyan said:

“I could fab’ up a Mindy for ya’ if ya’ want, but figured that ya’ might prefer using familiar equipment.” He added. “As for loadouts, I can lend a little assistance with that too. I got lots of builds goin’ in here.”

Click to expand...

"That would be preferable, honestly. I'm here to learn how Yamatai does things. The Revenant's excellent for ground combat but it's too slow for space combat. And the rollout's not till next year. I'd appreciate if you kept any photos you've taken to yourself."

Immortal Cyan said:

“Gauss accelerated shotgun cannon. 64 round drum mag. Decent rate of fire. Got a short Neko on the ship who swears by this one. Likes to load hers up with slugs. I prefer armor shot myself, but you can never go wrong with the extra penetration.”

Click to expand...

"Been hit with that little bastard before. If it's the same Neko, she came back from that fight with a blue painted Storm Rifle and most of a magazine. Let's put a chaingun on the left shoulder, missile pod on the right, thigh missile and flare pods, punching sword on the right and elliptoid shield on the le--"

Spark saw Bjorn snap to attention, turning on a heel as she moved Ancilla's projector to her shoulder. She slipped into an easy at attention stance as she showed the AI sprite on her shoulder and the Duskerian rank on her chest. "How can we be of service, sir?"

The question managed to snap Pierre out of their brainstorm. “Carry on, Sergeant, you too miss, I’m just in line for the armorer. Feel free to just move me if I’m in the way,” they said, addressing the Duskarian and her sprite with a smile. They went to bury their head in their data pad again, but thought better of it. She wasn’t their chain of command, but they could at least show the woman some Yamatai hospitality. “Happy to have you on board, maybe you can show us a thing or two.” Then leaning in conspiratorially, they added, “From a Rikugun officer to a Legionnaire, it’s good to have somebody else on this ship who’s touched dirt before. No offense, Hei. Well not too much.” They added, addressing the armorer. It was hard to resist a light bit of inter branch smack talk.

"Yeah, we legionairres saw your Daisies and thought we can do better." Spark gestured to the Revenant III in the racks. "No photos yet, please. That's a prototype. Not sure why my uppers even sent that. And we don't have Zesu, but we can still take the hits. But you guys have that really cool physical shield that makes shield walling a viable tactic, and gives the real estate for a couple missiles. The older Revenant 3 protoypes had it. I'm sure a few of our crackpot engineers will bring your Daisy III to the same level as the third gen Revenant, but we're still the sneaky bois."

The now visibly human giantess smiled, tilting her head with confidence. "I've trained my whole life to be able to say baseline human and can still kick some ass. Here's hoping you guys are still ahead enough I have to actually work."

So not a Minkan. A human. Shouldn't this infantrywoman be on a preserve somewhere, getting fat and happy? No, this woman was infantry, from her body that seemed too thin, too lithe, but still well over the average, pushing three hundred pounds of solid muscle that could easily wield a dead suit of power armor as though it still had a power cell. This woman carried herself as though she was born a weapon, flash cloned and programmed from donor DNA, optimized and cleaned of the vulnerabilities, but not quite so far as to separate her from the rest of the population. Increased muscular growth rate, increased muscle and bone density, blood oxygen holding potential, oversized heart, oversized canines, red eyes, white hair, mirror white skin, all common mutations. All in the same place. No, this was psychopomp work. This was a Fenrir. A clone soldier. And judging by her attitude and words, a defective one. A weapon built with the wrong trigger group. Like a targeting AI or an adaptive missile navigation system that had learned to feel. That AI on her shoulder must then be her companion. The copilot to her armor and to that cybernetic arm on her left, the one that looked like it was ready to burn out, overpowered by Spark's strength of body.

That spoke volumes to her soul and mind, with the RFID tag of every life Ancilla and Spark had saved represented in name and face, embedded in the blue of the paint, visible to anyone with a Geist or other way to connect to and see RFID tags. A weapon that had dedicated its life to stopping the bloodshed with quick, focused, violently precise actions. Whether that was with words, a sword, a well placed orbital strike, or a half inch movement of her shield, it was a safe bet that this Fenrir had decided to become a bulwark and shield, rather than a goddess of pain and destruction.

But her soul was still infantry. The rush of grinding crossfire and the churning soil under artillery fire and the scream close air support engines, the smell of gunpowder, smoke, and earth radiated from her eyes as the smell of death and blood and lightning radiated from her hands. But there was something else there. A warmth, the comfort of a hearth bound fire, the sound of children and the kiss of a woman loved. Maybe it wouldn't be long before this berserker's love convinced her to hang up the rifle for the last time, and retire into the sunset to hold her children and ensure they would never become like her.

Her name would make sense. Spark. A small ark or piece of flame that could turn into a warming light of safety or peace, or a raging wildfire with equal ease. And on her shoulder, the AI that had been with her through it all. One of a very small number of people capable of taming that inferno.

YSS Azalea II
Power Armor Bay

“I’ve always been of the opinion that the Daisy is a bit underrated.” Bjorn said. “All she needs is some Zesu plating, a melee weapon that isn’t a glorified baton, some aether, and maybe a little bit of EWAR.” He added. “She’s already got drones, point-defense, and stealth. Good ol’ Xiulurium. Oh and speaking of EWAR…”

With that, a giddy grin came over the hulking Tröll’s tusked features. Then, gesturing to Spark, Ancilla, and Pierre, he led them to an armor rack in the far corner of the bay that was concealed by a white sheet.

“You're with the NGFP working group, right sir?” Bjorn looked to the faun-like Chui. “Just know that those fighters aren’t the only experimental things on the ship…” The Tröll said as he pulled the white sheet off the rack, revealing a diminutive prototype armor that closely resembled a Mindy, albeit with fewer sharp edges in its profile.

“Ladies and…gentleman,” Bjorn began, taking an exaggerated bow as he did. “May I present to you, one of the first Molly power armors in the Star Army of Yamatai.”

Hangar Bay

Briefly running on autopilot as she focused her attention on looking at the various fighters and craft in the hangar bay, Rowena was taken by surprise upon registering how quickly the Mini-Neko technicians had taken her measurements. From there, her fighter was quickly pointed out to her—a Mozu 1B with cadet blue and periwinkle hues. It was one of the experimental fighters on the ship, and having been relegated to being a gunner on a bomber for her entire career up until that point, Rowena couldn’t believe that such a craft was now hers.

Before long, her eight seconds were up, but not before she managed to take a few pictures and touch the Yama-Dura hull. Accordingly, Rowena quickly saw herself out, before any of the Mini-Neko had the chance to chew her out for getting in their way!

Medical Laboratory

Masami stood up from the bed as Kari spoke, allowing the medic to proceed with the body examination. All the while, she listened intently as the younger Nekovalkyrja weighed the possibility of taking remedial socialization classes against other factors, including her pharmacy training.

“Sometimes things don’t have an obvious or immediate payoff.” Masami began. “I’m not a medic, but I believe that patients who feel loved and supported heal faster than those who don’t.” She continued.

“Would you agree, sister?”

Ancilla focused her sensors on the chui she learned was named Pierre, and then recreated his body and made it appear on the little pad that was her home as she walked around it. “Interesting” she said to herself before removing the image placing herself back in full view. She found it fascinating. There was another faun here. According to what Lady Nyx had once mentioned, one of her uncle Zeke’s loves was a Faun, though she was female, while Pierre seemed male, or perhaps not any gender. She focused on his words and then listened to Spark’s reply, Ancilla herself felt the same as Spark.

She also recalled the Daisy hadn’t had upgrades done to it, unlike the Mindy, and of course the Revanant. Bjorn the giant troll had thoughts on the topic himself, before Bjorn also revealed a new armor. “hochimagosh” she couldn’t help but say as she observed it. She’d seen a Mindy but this armor was no Mindy it was different. Through the Geist, Ancilla sent Spark a message “want to try that one?” she asked her. It was a new armor, and Spark was used to testing new Armors they both were.

She thought they could help Bjorn out with that.

Pierre shrugged off the Daisy comment, the Daisy II did indeed need upgrading. To the armorer, they said, “I’m not quite sure about the aether, and honestly melee weapons on Power Army beyond a simple punching blade always seemed a bit self indulgent. The sergeant here can probably back me up on this, but good ground pounder armor needs to be simple, durable, and reliable above all else.” Their eyes brightened, however, at the sight of the new armor. “So, I’m assuming an enhanced EWAR package, but what else’s going on under the hood?” The acquisitions officer leaned in, poking the gray and blue armor.

YSS Azalea II
Power Armor Bay

"Well, for obvious reasons..." Bjorn said, his gaze briefly shifting to Spark. "I'm not allowed to say how it works, but the Molly's main features are EWAR, heat dampening, graviton manipulation, advanced audio sensors, battlespace networking, and integration with Project THOUGHT. The main downsides it has compared to the Mindy is lighter armor, no teleportation but you can stick that on a hardpoint, and well...let's just say Molly likes to work her pilots a bit harder than most. She's quite a bit faster than the Mindy, so she tends to break people like the TARSA does. As for the quality-of-life, there's a lot of shared systems and parts with the Mindy, so it makes my job easier." The armorer finished.

"This particular suit is for that little shotgun Neko I was telling you about earlier, Sadow Masami. But if either of y'all are interested in one too..." Bjorn paused, taking a moment to contemplate what exactly he had to work with.

"I might be able to work some strings."

Bridge

Eun-kyung busied herself getting the Mission Ops Terminal exactly to the specifications she liked. Being both the communications officer and the mission ops officer on the ship, she was going to be glued to it for quite some time. After the systems diagnostic came through, she turned her towards the captain and gave a thumbs up.

"Comms are up and ready ma'am"

She then turned back around and partially connected her SPINE to her Type 35 seat. Since she was going to be connected to MEGAMI quite often, it might be time to start getting to know her possible future friend.

"Greetings, I am Chui Kim Eun-Kyung, your new Mission Ops officer. What should I address you by MEGAMI?" she spoke silently between only her and the ship's computer.

Yup. Sadow Masami. Spark had fought her before. And considered that fight a loss. "You know, she's why I'm here. Still, looks like a pretty standard hybrid role. You know what they say about one size fits all. One size fits none. A good armor needs to be armor. It needs to stop the pilot from getting killed whilst maximizing damage potential. Such as the Revenant 3 over there. Sure, big sonofabitch. But sneaky. That..." She put a knife hand towards the new armor.

"That armor's trying to be too many things at once. But if you can get me one, I'll show you its weaknesses. That's my job in the Duskerian Legion, and the reason for my blue stripe. Bravo Strike Prototype Division. Used to be Bravo Strike Team. I've been on the Revenant project since the generation 1 prototypes. And on the Storm Rifle project just as long."