YSS Kōkatsu
On Approach to Tange IV
31日 4月 YE39, 0156 Yamatai Standard Time
The Tange star system was a veritable ghost town of a place. Where its spacelanes had once been a constant bustle of cargo haulers and patrol runners — even somewhere this far out from the sector's core — it was now home to little more than the dreaded phantasms of the past. Sitting on her bridge as the
Kōkatsu weaved gently past the system's
sparse outer asteroid belt, Chusa Okano Yoshiko still felt the back of her neck prickle every time they passed into the shadow of a particularly big rock. SAINT's preliminary sweep noted no activity whatsoever, but surely the Matriarchy had missed at least one NMX raider, right? But still, the vast loneliness of Tange persisted.
This was the consequence of the Lorath and United Outer Colonies' independence: Utter devastation.
By the chance of this mission's schedule,
Kōkatsu's advance brought the ship past the gas giant that'd only ever been named Tange VI, its myriad moons silhouetted over the swirling bands of creation that tore across its surface. There'd once been a military outpost in orbit there, too, now just as dead and empty as the rest of the system. Still, just after the obsidian-hulled SAINT destroyer had cleared Tange VI's gravity well, a klaxon rang out just once to let all aboard know that something was amiss.
"Sensors, report," Yoshiko called over to one of the two black-paneled Nekovalkyrja who worked on the bridge with her. Only one of the three of them was usually present here, but entering the mission's primary area of operations meant all three were on duty. While the alert had been sudden, the captain managed to keep her composure and not jump out of her skin. If a Neko's heart could race, though, hers surely would have been.
"Give me whatever you've got on-screen."
A small space station appeared on the big volumetric screen at the fore of the bridge, in front of the
empty chair reserved for another crewman they didn't have. Its design was simple, with a main working compartment and somewhere to dock plus a few weapons platforms, and reflected
Motoyoshi F
leet Yards
sensibilities. But its drab mauve-and-cornflower hull was scorched and torn, even revealing some decks within, and bits of detritus hung suspended in the vacuum around it. It had no light that shone from without or within.
"We've been pinged for access verification, Shosa," one of the bridge operating operatives replied. This one's skin was as white like a blizzard on
Vicky and almost glowed beneath her long, dark green hair. "No life signs... no major energy signatures and... no additional signals since the first. We must have triggered an old Peacekeeper protocol. It probably drained whatever residual energy that place had just to send it."
Yoshiko examined the station from her captain's seat, sitting relaxed with her back angled into one corner and her legs crossed. Her face was locked forward on the screen but her golden eyes darted around at all of the battle damage that marked the station, noting each kind of Mishhuvurthyar weapons system that had been leveled against it.
"Nothing to worry about there but the
ukabarenairei," the Shosa decided, flipping open a comms channel to the cargo bay where her field operatives were assembling in their power armor. "Sorry for the alarm, everybody. Please continue your preparations. Oh, and if you'd like some sort of cool designation other than 'team' or 'you girls,' now would the time to let me know," she said with a chuckle. "Bridge: out."
And so the
Kōkatsu kept flying forward to its destination. Its pilot traversed the system's inner belt with ease, even though it was more compact and crowded both geologically and because of hastily left-behind mining equipment that still floated around certain asteroids. From there, they were home free, and Tange IV grew from a bright dot on the bridge's view screens — and the armor team's AIES, should they check their available data feeds — to a frosty orb flanked by infinite darkness.
The planet wasn't as frozen solid as SAINT's headquarters world, but even from orbit looked cold. Great, blue oceans churned beneath wintry weather systems, even though it was early spring here, and the telltale white of snow gripped down from the planet's poles to claw at its sweeping green-red-and-yellowy
tundras. Two of its three main cities were visible from
Kōkatsu's orbital position, too — Frozen Coast and Yuriko Bay — both dark and sprawling outoward from the seas they were built beside while the last — Misato City — lay somewhere on the far side of the world.
Frozen Coast would be the team's first target. Scout ships had identified facilities there as likely research installations, among others elsewhere, but it'd been the least populated of Tange IV's cities so would be the quickest to check over. By now, the
Kōkatsu had entered the upper atmosphere and raging winds beat against its hull. Yamataian technology saved the ship and its crew from experiencing the effects of turbulence, but the gargantuan currents' sound still howled through their shields, hull, and power armor suits.
Especially after Yoshiko ordered the cargo bay door open.
"Ready to—" the Shosa began, stopping herself when she heard the winds' roar on the other side of the channel. "
Are you ready to launch?" she asked with her voice raised, yelling on the bridge even though her operatives would hear her just enough on their end. "
Your coordinates are locked in so you all have the green light from me!"
