Wardroom, YSS Kōkatsu
Most
Chiaki-class Destroyers came furnished with same the standard wood-paneled walls and a tiled floor in their
wardrooms. They tended to be warm and comfortable places where the crew could relax or dine together atop plush crimson seats and chat over the communal hibachi grill that became the centerpiece of any ship's community.
This was not so on the
Kōkatsu.
As part of the ship's refit for clandestine service, its interiors were overhauled with dimmer lighting and darker bulkheads. SAINT blue carpeting replaced the standard red in the
Kōkatsu's
passageways, and its walls were a dark gray instead of white. The wardroom was decorated similarly; what seemed to be a single
black granite slab covered its floor, and the walls were bare save for a single painting of a black
Chiaki-class ship in front of a brilliant, stylized nebula. The booths and chairs here were upholstered in a cool navy blue, and the hibachi was replaced with SAINT's logo atop a circular black table polished to a mirror finish. While a kitchen was still attached, the
Kōkatsu's wardroom was more a place of business than somewhere to rest and unwind.
The captain stood behind a chair opposite the wardroom's entrance as the crew trickled in, nodding as each individual or pair entered and saluted to her. She gripped the seatback gently while she examined them with a steely gaze, trying to size up the operatives she'd been assigned as best she could.
"I am Taisa Okano Yoshiko," the white-haird Neko said once they'd all settled down and taken their places around the table. "Welcome aboard the YSS
Kōkatsu. I take it you've all had the chance to meet one another—and I know who every one of you are already—so we can dispense with further pleasantries and discuss our objectives straightaway.
"You may have heard the scuttlebutt regarding the Lorath Matriarchy in recent days," Yoshiko continued, steadily shifting her gaze to address all of the crew with equal attention. Her eyes may have lingered on the miniature Iki for a moment longer than the others, but only on the first pass. "Star Army Intelligence's first wave scouting operation through their territories following the outbreak of those extraordinary rumors have confirmed that the Matriarchy has indeed somehow vacated their population from previously-held systems."
Yoshiko wordlessly ordered the ship's MEGAMI to create a volumetric projection of subsector space. A bluish-purple hue extended out from Yamatai's southeastern border and quickly enveloped all systems detailed on the map—out to Miyamae in the far South and up to E12 near the Neshaten border—to show the progress that SAINT scout ships had made in the days after the Great Lorath Disappearance of YE 39.
"In their preliminary reconnoiter, our comrades laid active sensor buoys and regained control of Emrys communications satellites throughout
former Lorath space," the captain continued. "Most of their core worlds seem to have been afflicted with a variety of spatial distortions and,
eeto, metallurgical alterations. But those anomalies are not our concern. Our target is
Tange."
A quick telepathic instruction from Yoshiko to the ship's computer prompted the volumetric map to zoom into the system they were headed to.
"Initial sweeps show Tange IV's atmospheric and geological compositions unchanged from previous data," she explained, gesturing to the fourth planet from the star floating between them. That action made the projection zero in again, displaying the tundra world's ruined cityscapes, frigid seas, and ice-swept plains in full detail. Several teal indicator markers blinked to life across the holographic globe. "Those sweeps also show what analysts believe are intact research and military installations, unsullied by the Mishhuvurthyar, forgotten during
the evacuation, and unnoticed in the following years under Lorath dominion.
"Our task is to investigate and retrieve whatever data or equipment still exists on Tange IV," Yoshiko concluded, allowing the projection to fade away so that she and her crew could speak further without anything impeding them. "Many of you are fresh operatives, but I am confident you can handle whatever awaits us down there. Do you have any questions regarding the mission or assignment to my ship?"
