[YSS Kanagawa] Prelude

[Arbitrated]

YSS Kanagawa
Bridge

Aradia couldn't help but feel she was being watched. But that was just a weird personal sensation, right? Bah, there's time to think about that stuff later. The little Neo-Caelisolan sat at her station and started a systems check. It wasn't until the third chime that something odd registered in her mind...

Isn't MEGAMI usually more... Talkative? Personable? Did they make a new model that I didn't hear about? The angel thought to herself, slightly put off by the overall artificial feeling it had. Luckily, however, the AI didn't seem to be misbehaving at all - everything was working so far!

 

[Miko]

YSS Kanagawa
Bridge

Thaddeaus having returned to the bottom of the rank pool wanted to find a way to stand out among the crew. In battle that would not be an issue but on a ship just cruising around this was harder to do. So he decided why not take up taking pictures. He figured he would be a front line fighter and would be great to document the heroics of the crew. He had also experienced being around cameras in his past life while on a set for a movie.

"Smile Aradia, you're on the Thadid Camera show." Thad said from across the bridge. She'd notice his lens was in fact clearly set on her. "Smile" he said as the camera snapped a few pictures.

"And here is our wonderful captain. Fearless, ruthless, never gunna give us up." He started to snap pictures like he was at a photo shoot.

"Mr Kai, I have heard stories during my time on the Belmont Compound, give a big smile for your fans back home." Thad has positioned himself so he was almost on top of the poor pilot.

He continued his trip around the bridge taking more pictures of the crew. A few getting an extra set taken as he put it, for his special collection, whatever that meant.

 

[Jack Pine]

BRIDGE
"Mr. Thaddeaus, as much as I appreciate that my family cares for me, I really do not appreciate a lens in my face while trying to not hit something at lightspeed. Ever heard, "Don't distract the driver." before?", Kai said, unable to hide the annoyance from his voice. As much as he loved being behind the sticks, this paparazzi act was starting to encroach on his space. Finally giving a sigh of relief as the man turned his invasion of personal space on someone else, Kai prepared for the exit from FTL. "Fold drop out in one mike."

Bracing on the sticks, and prepared to ease on the reverse thrust brakes, he watched that familiar burst of reality. Hyperspace, with all it's streams of light like a midnight trip through a tunnel of neon lights, shattering as stars and space shuttered into exi-

"What the hell!", was all he could exclaim as what came with it was more then shocking. More then lightly hitting the brakes, a sudden and shuttering slow would lightly rock the ship as Kai gave it more then intended on response. Small thumps almost becoming vibrating impacts as they exited FTL straight into a growing cloud of debris. Checking the coordinates in disbelief, this was where the Destiny was supposed to be. Turning back to the captain around the side of his pilot's chair with a look of deep concern, "Chusa, I'm afraid we're not going to be rendezvousing with the Destiny as planned sir."

 

[Whisper]

YSS Kanagawa
Bridge
Rokusai Gen

Gen had clutched at his chair, only barely staying in it as he was shook about and shoved forwards in a fashion that Picard would have been proud of. He straightened himself soon enough.

The helmsman's words were a mild way to put it, but ones that Gen could appreciate. "It.. seems that way," he replied, looking at the large screen at the front of the bridge that showed the space outside. The YSS Destiny's Call was little more than scrap, now, having been not only shot but lanced apart. Little of the ship's original shape was evident, despite the littered field before them. The one thing that was missing from their field of view and local sensors were the attackers.

Gen's mind reeled as he worked through the implications. The location was in the middle of nowhere, far from any system, and not close to any known trading lanes. How had the Kuvexians - or anyone, for that matter - known where to find it? He refused to believe it was bad luck.

In short, there had to have been a leak. Unfortunately, finding out where the leak had come from would have to wait.

"Toy-hei, systems report."

The blonde had been working at her console from the moment they encountered unexpected trouble. It only took her a moment to reply, "All systems normal, Chusa."

Gen nodded, thinking through their next steps.

And then the rest of the task force began to appear, flashing into place.

One Plumeria emerged right into a massive chunk of debris. Its shields flickered for a moment before they were overpowered, the incredible speed of the impact too much for them to bear. The ship and the debris' zesuaium armor components did not bend or break in the impact, but instead shattered panel by panel. The Plumeria seemed to crumple in the most peculiar way, both fully intact and smashed, like a tin can that had been stomped on.

The other members of the task force were in better shape, but damage alerts were coming in from all sides. Zesu plates went screaming by, causing the Kanagawa's shields to protest and flicker. There was a tense moment while Gen waited to see if the shields would hold.

They did.

"...Toy-hei?"

This time, the Systems Monitor took a few moments to reply. "We.." she swallowed, looking back to the captain. "All- all systems normal, Ch-chusa."

Gen could see the panic in her eyes. Her dossier had said she was new. He sighed; not at her, but at the situation.

"Alright, crew," he began, standing up. The captain started to walk forward, but stopped, finding his movement and his speech both interrupted.

"Maximus-hei," Gen said, looking down at the man on the floor. One of the downsides of not having a safe seat to sit in, he supposed. "I appreciate your efforts to ensure our deck's integrity is maintained with your body. However, you need to go get suited up. Time to earn your pay."

The captain looked to the rest of the crew, pausing a glance for the Communications Officer who shook her head in a negative. 'Nothing from taskforce command yet?'

"MEGAMI," he declared. The AI knew what he wanted- the responding chime was one that meant he was now being broadcast to the crew.

"Attention, all hands. The ship we meant to rendezvous with has been destroyed. At this time, we don't know why or by who. All available infantry are to suit up and search the wreckage. Survivors are our first priority; clues as to what happened here are second.

It is possible that this is a trap. Arm yourselves appropriately and take all measures to ensure your own safety. Gen, out."

The bridge door opened shortly after, revealing an out-of-breath info tech. "Renna-hei, I'd like you to suit up, as well. See what you can recover from the Destiny's Call's computers. If you run into trouble, leave it to the infantry."

"Sivins-hei," he continued, "see what you can get off of the ship's scanners. Weapon signatures, FTL traces, anything. I want to know who to blame for this mess."

 

[Miko]

YSS Kanagawa
Bridge

Thaddeaus went to the floor with the grace of a bull in a china shop. Thad looked up at the captain with a smile. "Just doing my part, help hold down the ship and do the daily pantie inspection." He said with a laugh as he stood up. "Speaking of, might need to change mine. That was some scary shit being in this tin can while being tossed around to a possible death." He grabbed at his uniform and straightened it out. He looked himself over to make sure everything was where it was meant to be.

"Roger, reporting to the Mindy bay to suit up." He tucked his arms up close and jogged to the lifts to make his way to the armor bay. Thad wasted no time getting to his assigned armor. He was personally still getting use to wearing armors. He was use to roughing it out with his own two hands. Though the additional power given by the suit was a welcome addition. He stripped naked and got into his mindy armor. While not required, he felt having the extra bulk from clothes was an unneeded addition. Plus it gave him a reason to flex in the buff and still be considered somewhat acceptable.

The docking clamps released the armor and he was within seconds out sailing among the stars. "Thad leader, standing by. It is a mess out here. Mind the floating trash." He said as he punted a floating kuvvy body floating near him. He turned his attention to the Kuvexian ship as there might be some left alive. Thad rendezvoused with a few crew who looked to be making way towards the ship. His sensors picked up a lot of junk and bodies. Only one faint signal seemed to be of any possible life. At least life he carried about. If it was a kuvvy mostly dead, he made a point to finish the job. Mercy he called it but deep down he knew it was really payback. No one enslaves and lives with Thad around!

 

[SageShooter]

YSS Kanagawa
Volumetrics deck.

Hinata nodded as Kai spoke to her and offered him a small smile to help him feel assured. "I know... It's different but it'll be an adventure I guess. A chance to step out." She nodded and returned the kiss with a quick peck, eyeing the others in the room to see who had spotted them with an embarrassed flush over her cheeks. She let out a sigh as she watched him walk out and gave it a few moments before she followed and headed down to the armory to check over the weapons on board and see what all they had in stock.

Armory

The hetero-chromatic Neko had found her way eventually to the Armory, feeling at least a little comfortable down there surrounded by the weapons and something she was used to. Granted the Mindys weren't to familiar to the Neko who had practically lived in a Daisy for years, but now that seemed to be changing. It would be Mindys for the giant of a neko and she wanted to be familiar with the rest of the weaponry and items they could be used with. Her time with the equipment would be cut short though as suddenly she found herself upended and sent tumbling into a wall. Even with her gravity manipulation abilities, she felt herself thump into a wall hard and crumple to the ground with a groan, just before the rifle she had been looking at slammed into her head, butt first.

She lay on the ground with a groan, head swimming and the taste of copper in her mouth and fought to regain her bearings with a huff. Everything spun for the poor neko who was laid out on the floor of the armory, not even recognizing the warmth that spread from her nose across her face.

 

[Immortal Cyan]

RP Date:
YE 42
RP Location:
Volumetric Room to Power Armor Bay - YSS Kanagawa

With the volumetric room having been converted into a firing range, Chasianna had been practicing her marksmanship alongside the other soldiers in the Kanagawa’s infantry detachment after the orientation briefing. As a freshly-created Sprite that had never underwent any formal training, she had plenty to prove regarding her capabilities in power armor. As a Nekovalkyrja, piloting the Mindy was instinctual to her, a lethal extension of her body that granted her nigh-preternatural abilities. Nevertheless, billions of 99-Day Nekovalkyrja and Sprites like herself had met their ends while piloting suits just like it. She had never reckoned with the looming, ever-present prospect of her own death, even knowing that it could come for her at any moment, given the ongoing progress of the Kuvexian War. Millions of Plumerias, Yui Scouts, Midoris, Chiakis and had been reduced to atoms in the span of deciseconds, many times before the captains and crews had realized that they were in danger.

In spite of death’s persistent, all-encompassing gaze, Chasianna subconsciously knew that she would never accomplish anything of value in her presumably short life.

That was why Chasianna briefly paused in space when the Destiny Call’s destruction registered in her digital mind. Her volumetric firearm dissipated in her hands when the readiness status was elevated to Condition 2, the MEGAMI gently urging her to don her Mindy and pick up a real gun in order to defend the Kanagawa.

Chasianna did exactly that.

Within a few seconds, she was in the power armor bay, her gravitational controllers having propelled her through the ship at maximum speed. There was no danger that she would crash into anyone or anything, because along with her digital mind’s ability to react to external stimuli in mere nanoseconds, she also had an intimate connection with the Kanagawa’s MEGAMI. Her mother was constantly aware of the location, activity, status, and health of everyone on the ship. She fed that information directly into the mind of her daughter, which Chasianna was then able to call upon whenever she needed it.

As such, the moment Hinata was struck in the head by the butt of one of the rifle’s in the power armor bay, Chasianna sensed it. She was at the Heisho’s side in a split second, but she knew that it might take considerably longer for medical to arrive, in the event that she required it.

“Heisho! Are you okay? Medical should be arriving soon, if you want it, but unfortunately you’re bleeding. It might be a concussion.” Chasianna said, speaking in an accelerated, high-pitched tone that spared little in the way of breath. “I have to suit up and get outside, but help should be arriving shortly. Stay awake and keep breathing, Heisho.”

With that, Chasianna slipped out of her bodysuit and entered her assigned Mindy. Then, after picking up an aether beam rifle from the weapon rack, she crossed through the force field at the end of the launch area and entered the cold void of space...

 

[Skuld]

Date:
2 Years 147 Days Before Present
Location:
Independent Exploration Ship Estella Nuova around orbit of an uncharted black hole.


With Alphara being alone on the IES Estella Nuova she’d taken the luxury of turning the gravity off on her little ship. Outside of the ships sole screen that pretended to be a window was the warped space of a black hole that had burned hawking radiation into the universe for the last ten million years.

The air was warm and her hair free from any restraint left her feeling like she was a reborn medusa, and the lack of any sentient life forms, both organic and digital, left her as little more than the undisputed empress for as far as she could see in the emptiness of space.

The ship was carrying out its tasks, Alphara was little more than a glorified baby sitter for the ship. Just to make sure that nothing too terrible happened, no jumping into a celestial object, and no deploying prob after prob after prob into the same jammed launch bay. Needlessly destroying the equipment, even if everyone involved knew many of these would never be retrieved as anything more than scrap.

Floating there she was warm, slipping into sleep when a gentle beeping on the ship’s console roused Alphara. She knew what the rhythmic meant, though it confused her. It was a proximity alarm, something large was approaching her ship and the navi computer had determined that in ten minutes there was a greater than 1% chance of a collision. She had to stretch and twist to reach anything to push off.

The beeping continued as she floated over, she ran her hand over her hair to pull it back, and with the flick of a practised wrist she pulled it taught and into an elastic to keep it out of her eyes. Grabbing onto the captains seat, and the dinner seat, or really the only seat in this entire ship Alphara looked at the display to gauge if she even had to be bothered.

At first she had a bored expression as she read the information: size, speed, density, all seemed normal to her. With the line describing the estimated heat caused her eyes to shoot open as her hand shot out to grab the headset for comms, as she double checked the surface temperature of -3 Celsius, an amazing 270 degrees higher than the background temperature of the void.

Trying to hail the unknown ship she spoke. “This is the IES Estella Nuova to the ship on approach, please respond.” She repeated the call to the ship as her hands made busy work to start up the engines, and chart a new FTL jump. She could hear the engine warming up but it was too slow, the ship had gotten closer to her, what had only been two minutes had managed to sap eight minutes of the navi computer’s expected time to interception.

A blind jump would be her only hope with a ship that refused to respond to her was all that she could think of doing. No sooner than did she start to prep for the blind jump than was there the sound of ionizing air as the system went haywire. Her ship hadn’t been military and what would have been an easily defeated attack by even the most lightly armoured scout ships had leaf her dead in the water.

She worked as fast as she could to get her systems back up enough to make a blind jump anywhere, even if it was just a few light seconds away that’d be enough. But it was of no use, she could hear mooring lines connecting to the Estella Nuova and pulling it, the poorly connected parts of the ship creaking and cracking under the uneven strain.

There were three loud bangs were heard through the side of the ship, she gripped onto her captain’s chair instinctively as she heard the tearing of metal. Then there was a hole in the side of the ship, the precious oxygen escaping from her ship, and her lungs.

She gasped, her vision already losing its colour around the edges as she saw creatures in pressure suits rather than full EVA suits. She could hardly focus now as this invader raised their weapon at her and pulled the trigger. A stun weapon modified to burn the rainbow sweater and her flesh beneath, leaving her conscious just long enough to smell the burn, and the whispers of pain in the low pressure of her ship that had been spared the void.

Then there was nothing, no dream, no nightmare, just the void she thought she had been spared.


Date:
1 Year 29 Days Before Present
Location:
Unidentified Dark Star Research Station.

Alphara was in the corner of a room, her captor simply calling herself Madam. The last eight hours had been spent on the floor screaming at the visions the Madam had played for her. With the drugs that had been forced into her system these eight hours had seemed to last ten thousand years. Notes were scribbled, many of them to never be read again, instead just the Madam’s sadism being fulfilled on one of hundreds of toys.

A demon then appeared from behind the Madam, grabbing Alphara’s bare skin, it’s touch feeling burning away all her flesh, she knew in her soul if she looked where she was touched there would only be char to greet her eyes.

She was slammed into the box where she would never dream, instead she would get visions of people standing over her for a moment and then she’d be in front of the Madam again, for her to be played with, her soul destroyed and reconstructed for like a sewn together chimera of a personality to see if the parts could be reassembled back into the form they had once been in.

And then there was once more nothing for a time.


Date:
17 Days Before Present
Location:
Unidentified Dark Star Research Station.

There was yelling, Alphara couldn’t hear it, but she knew it was happening, flashes of light, was there and then it was gone. Alphara’s cage was being moved, a disruption in the power supply or flow of cooling. It took only a moment but the pod she’d lived in for much of the last three years as being taken away from the Dark Star Research Station.


Date:
YE 42, Now
Location:
Debris field of YSS Destiny’s Call and Unidentified Kuvexian Ship

Floating in the debris field was a small biparted grey-white box, with a volume of less than 90 litres. On the face of the container is an inscription of PL79E2. The bottom compartment is significantly smaller and has been damaged at some point when it appears that there was an attempt to pry it open. This is the object that Thaddeaus finds, the life sign of a creature who’s heart at this moment isn’t even beating a full time every day. And so this tiny bird in her tiny cage is in his hands.

 

[Miko]

Debris field of YSS Destiny’s Call and Unidentified Kuvexian Ship

Thaddeaus took little time to find the item that he was seeking. Granted he had expected to find more than just a tiny box. He fought with the mindy AI as it was telling him there was a person inside. "The fuck you mean a person is inside this." He said clearly out loud even if this was not required. He took the box and placed it next to his head as if he could hear what was inside it. "I got gifts that were bigger than this box and your telling me a person is crammed in this thing." He resisted the urge to shake the box to see if there was really anything inside it. "I don't know if you can hear me but your in safe hands whoever you are in there."

Thad wasted no time getting back to the ship. While the box seemed sealed he knew the air inside would not last forever. Once back in the ship and the armory he quickly got out of his armor. Time was short so only took the time to wrap a towel around his waste before bolting off towards the medical bay. With a loud thud he placed it on the first open medical table. "Alright doc, got a maybe live one in here. Stand back while I break this thing open." As he walked out of the armory bay he had grabbed a cutting blade that would make quick work of the container without hurting the person inside. With some effort and powerful ID-SOL grunts he break open the box with a loud clang. Part of the door breaking off and lodging deep into the wall. "Dooooooodge." He yelled out with a laugh.

Without looking he reached inside to feel around for a body. He was not ready to find a glob of goo but that was what he found inside. He carefully lifted the person out. As the goo dripped off he quickly took notice this person was a female person. His heart sank as he gently placed her on the table. Such a sad sight to see someone caged like an animal. No one should be in this type of situation. They should be free and able to do as they please. Without a second thought he removed the towel he had wrapped around his waist and covered her with it. He then reached over and grabbed a nearby robe to put on.

 

[BloodyScarlet]

Medical Lab

Taharial smiled at her first patient and chuckled at the sudden look she noticed on the person "Have no fear I share no ill will towards the Star Army with what they did, I have to tell people before to relax around me." With this she grinned "My crew is my family, you need anything and I will be there for you, questions asked, but only so I can make sure you are treated properly."

Taharial then lead Suzuki Akira to get their back up, while this was happening she also help all the other people coming in for check ups and back up, to make sure no one was going to lose too much from dying or get sick before a mission.

When the action starts
MedLab -> power armour bay

Taharial was ready from the moment she was launched off her nice chair. She got a couple of the first aid bags and other items that would be needed as she heard the call of the bridge telling everyone what had happened "Damn it, seems this mission is probably going to require me a lot." That is when she got the message to head to the armour bay as someone took a rifle to the head "And it keeps getting better."

With this news on had, Taharial raced to the bay, going as fast as she could, a head injury could be very bad, especially if they were hit with a lot of force and with the corner of the rifle. one at the armour Bay she sees the person who needs attention and kneels down with them "Hello there, don't worry I am with medical and I will make sure everything is okay." She then checked her head and smiled a little "It is a bad cut, but nothing to dangerous by the look" with this she cleans and bandages the wound, just some things I want to check as well as well before I say you are totally fine."

Taharial pulls out a small flashlight from one of the bags and shines it in Hinata's eyes, to check her pupils and their dilation "mhmm yes, all seems fine, just rest for now though, I will stay here." She offers the injured gal some water "once you are feeling up to getting up, I will help you up, then we can make sure your body is functioning normally as well, then you are coming to the med lab to properly rest."

Back in the MedLab

Taharial had taken Hinata to the med lad and took her to an observation room so that she could keep an eye on them and make sure their wasn't a concussion. She has just sat back down when Thad ran in with a box, slamming it on one of her nice clean tables, then nearly killed her with the door before she could say anything. Thad woman he pulled out made her worry a little but she nodded to Thad "Thank you, but I need space to check on her vitals."

Once she had her space she checked what the woman was first, it looked like a Nepleslian with tons of cybernetics, until she notices the few little thing on the scans. This woman was a Freespacer "Oh damn, I have never had to work on a freespacer before, this could be bad." Taharial closed her eyes and focused on what she needed to do, the woman's heart rate was very slow but it was still just there, so she made sure she could keep an eye on the reading, if it dropped she would need to be restarted. "Thad, in the drawers by my chair their is a defibrillator, please get that for me, it is a just in case scenario, but if that happens I want it close at hand."

With this task for the other person in the room, Taharial got to work, making sure the freespacer will stay stay alive, as she tested the goo with a touch of her finger she shuddered as the tip of her fingers goes numb "Thad you may also want to shower that goo off..."

 

[Skuld]

As Alphara is pulled from her cage of a cryopod the medium of green with lavender smoke wisps throughout cover Thaddeaus’ hands. As she is placed on the medical table some of the medium drips off of her body, but it has the consistency of tapioca and as willing to stick to anything as honey.

At first it just feels like any cool liquid to Thaddeaus, but soon he’ll realize his hands and everything the green-lavender goo has touched has gone numb, any joint now fights him as he tries to flex it. In areas where the goo is more than three milimetres deep it flows freely to bare skin, or drips to the ground.

For Alphara she is completely covered, and while nothing can be seen, she leaves no more to the imagination than any gymnast. Though Thaddeaus quickly made it so she left more to the imagination with his towel, though he was now leaving nothing to the imagination for any in the room.

Slowly as the cooling was removed from her though the medium started to melt becoming as water on the table around her.

As the colour of the medium thinned revieling her shoulder, and a deep burn in it, the same PL79E2 in her skin that had been on the cover of her cage.

She continued to sleep her dreamless sleep on the table, as every so slowly her heart beat doubled already, now beating once every fifteen hours.

 

[Miko]

Thad looked to the medical doctor. "Once I know she is stable I shall go show off this goo." Thad in what looked to be a very lazy arm lift tried to show the doctor he had some movement left in him. Despite being a half ID-SOL this goo was strong enough to numb even his hardened skin. He than put his eyes back on the young woman he had saved. His eyes locked onto her shoulder which was burned with a marking. He stood and walked over to her side. "PL79E2, looks to be a branding of some kind." He went to reach to touch it but paused just short.

He fist wrapped close and he once again took a seat. This had confirmed she was more than likely a slave. Thad hated more than ever anyone that enslaves a person. He had seen far too much damage come of this. He let out a sigh knowing at least this one would know freedom once again. Least he could do is look out for her as she adjusted to life of being free.

 

[Valona Longweave]

Volumetric Room -> Bridge, YSS Kanagawa
Kanagawa Renna

Renna had decided to stop by her room - the MEGAMI room - while on the way to the bridge from the Volumetric Room, after the briefing was dismissed. While in the room, she was alerted by the MEGAMI – her ‘mother’ - that the ship was leaving port. Soon after this, while she was making her way to the bridge, not in much of a hurry, the first broadcast came in from the captain, the neko stopping where she was, although standing near a wall to vacate the walkway, as she listened, finally learning of their mission, and the path they would take to get there. Smiling gently at how the captain said he had full faith in the ability of the crew. Sabotage against Kuvexian assets. Well, her skills could come in handy for that! With her knowledge of tech and code, and with more training and time, she was sure she would be able to put it to use to hack into Kuvexian computers and systems. With it, they could disrupt and destroy the facilities, or the production within them, without even sending in an away team! Well, possibly. But nonetheless, she was certain her developing skills would be put to use, and to the test, soon enough.

And how right she would be on that. Even if earlier than expected. And not quite for the uses she would have thought, either.

As she continued her walking to the bridge after the broadcast, not worried about her speed at all, not expecting to be needed currently, she felt as the ship came to a sudden stop. A Very sudden stop. The sudden slowing of the ship caused her to lose balance for a moment, before she activated her inertia control, stopping herself before she fell over or was slammed into a wall. She had guessed they arrived… but that didn’t feel like a stop that a supposed skilled pilot would do.

Of course, all was explained once the readiness status was raised. Her eyes going wide, she started moving again, quicker now, and using her inertia control, as she listened to the captain’s message, despite being notified and updated by her ‘mother’ before the captain even spoke. She was unsure of what she was yet to do, due to the message, while to the whole crew, only specifically told the infantry to suit up and explore, and that this may be a trap. Despite being in cornflower blue, she was no infantry, only in the colour because she was a newly created soldier, although she was training specifically in the role of an info tech. So, she continued to the bridge, where she was supposed to be stationed, to pick up her orders, whatever they may have been.

She looked to the captain as soon as the bridge door opened, but before she could ask for her orders, they were already given to her. “Understood, Chusa. I’ll pull whatever I can from it. Hopefully, the data, and the computers themselves, are still intact. If it’s corrupted or damaged data, I might be able to store it and bring it back and see what we can do to fix it.” She said, before she turned the other way, to head to the Power Armour Bay, after a quick stop at her room once more, to pick up her EM-J5-1a.


Power Armour Bay -> Wreck of YSS Destiny’s Call
Kanagawa Renna, pt. 2

As she reached the power bay, Renna would notice the on-the-floor Hinata, her sister by her side speaking to her, as she suited up, but waited, as she watched her sister don her armour.

Crossing the forcefield and entering space alongside her sister, she spoke to her. “With me, sister.” She said, simply. “I’ve been told to extract whatever data I can from our was-to-be rendezvous’ computer systems and leave any possible trouble I run into to the fighting types like you.” She continued, before starting to fly off to the wreck, looking back to her sister, making sure she was following along.

Entering the wreck, her EM-J5’s flashlight turned on for a source of light in the dark other than what her power armour might provide, she started looking for a computer, or even one of the main ones, if she could. Hoping she’d find the data intact, or intact enough. And the computers themselves, for that matter.

Finding a computer that was intact, be it fully or just to a degree, she began to access it, seeing what, if anything, she could find, about what had happened here…

 

[Whisper]

YSS Kanagawa - Corridors
The ship's crew were abuzz as they tried to respond to the handful of survivors that were being brought aboard. The Medical Lab was quickly becoming overrun with patients waiting to be seen. Most had been found in the cold of space, with or without a suit. All showed some degree of exposure.

A chime rang out near one of the ship's caretakers, Sharon Starburst, leading her towards the Med Lab to provide assistance.

Wreck of the YSS Destiny's Call
The ship - what was left of it - had clearly been sliced apart by some type of high-power beam weapon. Once inside, the sprites knew enough to recognize the various burns on the zesuaium components as having come from aether weaponry.

The halls themselves were mostly pitch black. Those that weren't had only momentary illumination from flickering emergency lights as the over-strained backup power supplies did their best. Occasional bodies drifted by, mostly neko, casting shadows whenever the light caught them. A combination of decompression and weapons fire had done the majority of the crew in. Given their general state of dress, it was clear that they were not prepared for whatever had attacked the ship.

The computer they found was still lit. Its own backup power had somehow survived the widespread systems damage that plagued the rest of the ship. Once the terminal acknowledged Renna's (somewhat forceful) commands, data began to flow back to Renna. It came first as basic telemetry and then an audio log.

Black Box Footage from the YSS Destiny's Call - Bridge
"I swear," muttered a female voice, "that I'm going to crash for at least a day when all this is done. These clandestine supply runs just never sit well with me, you know?"

Another voice responded in acknowledgement, "Ever feel like you can hear voices? Sometimes, when we're out in the middle of nowhere, I feel like I can hear space talking back to me."

A pause. Then, the first voice, "That's weird as hell. You sure you don't have a few screws loose?"

"Alright, you two," spoke an authoritative female voice. "Enough chatter. Your shift will be up soon enough and then you can complain somewhere that I can't hear it."

The original two voices gave a muttered "yes, chusa" as a reply.

The log began to speed forwards towards the next prominent data entry.

"Uh, Chusa? We're seeing signs of ships emerging via Hyperspace Fold."

"Strange. The task force isn't due for nearly an hour. Maybe the schedule got bumped up? Let logistics know."

"Aye, Chusa," replied the voice. After a moment, the voice continued. "Chusa, those aren't Star Army ships. Getting an ID lock - they're Kuvexians!"

"Shit!" spat the Chusa. "Get our shields up! How the fuck did they know we're-"

The captain's speech cut out as explosions rocked the vessel. A high-pitched, modulating energy sound dominated the log starting at one ear and moving to the other, as though it was passing by the microphone that had been used to record the audio.

Log End

Wreckage of the YSS Destiny's Call
The log ended abruptly. All that remained was the telemetry data of the arriving, and departing, enemy vessels. There was enough information to determine the direction the attackers had left in.

Not all of them had left, however. One of the sprite twins would notice a new light in the hall, slowly moving in their direction. Their IFF trackers showed no allies nearby.

YSS Kanagawa - Bridge
Gen gritted his teeth as he watched the reports coming in.

"Taskforce command," he said, instantly getting put through to the officer in charge. "How are things looking?"

The semi-transparent bust of a Neko materialized in midair in the forward portion of the bridge. "Rokusai-san," she said, sighing and looking off into the distance. "Things aren't looking good. Our radio silence prevents us from reaching out to fleet command to get further orders. Standing orders are to intercept any hostile forces we may discover along the way and prevent them from warning the Kuvexians of our approach."

The taskforce commander rubbed at her forehead. "Once we have an idea of the size of their force, we're going to send a detachment of healthy ships in pursuit. My tech thinks our FTL might be faster than theirs, so we may have a chance to catch up. Problem is, we don't know which way they went."

The Kanagawa's captain nodded. "We're working on that. The Kanagawa is in excellent shape thanks to our pilot's quick response."

The unspoken 'So let us go after them' was clear in his voice. He was sure that his crew shared the sentiment.

The volumetric display flickered a moment, then the woman on the other side nodded. "Understood, Gen. Let me know if you find anything."

The display collapsed, leaving the bridge empty once more. Gen folded his arms, fighting against the need to pace.

"Sivins-hei," he said, looking to the Science Officer. "Any luck?"

 

[Immortal Cyan]

RP Date:
YE 42
RP Location:
Wreck of the YSS Destiny’s Call

Chasianna naturally gravitated towards the firm leadership of her big sister, and so, she followed Renna towards the wreck of the YSS Destiny’s Call, transmitting her silent, yet intimate telepathic aura in order to confirm her presence. Once they arrived at the wreck, Chasianna floated after Renna as her sister led the way into the dead hulk of what was once a majestic Yamataian warship. The diminutive, pink-skinned Sprite quickly took in her surroundings, but she was not prepared for the mass that struck her like a punch to the gut.

Suddenly, the panic-stricken features of a dead Nekovalkyrja filled her perception. In the microseconds that followed, the lifeless visage of the corpse in front of her was permanently burned into her digital memory, like a brand on the forehead of an unaugmented human. The Sprite let out a visceral, terrified scream before roughly pushing the corpse out of sight. However, it was only then that she suddenly became cognizant of the other lifeless bodies floating around her. Some were sleeping peacefully, but most bore expressions of primal fear, having suffered for far too long in the cold void of space before finally expiring.

It was all the days-old Sprite could do to hold herself together.

Tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes. However, she couldn’t afford to break, not now when the mission demanded her concentration. Chasianna continued to cry, but she set her emotions aside, repressing them in a flimsy cardboard box that she prayed was strong enough to hold for the duration of the mission. She could break down and cry later, in the comfort of the room Renna had so gracefully procured for her.

Perhaps then, her mother would finally speak to her.

“Sister...did they really all die?” Chasianna said tearfully as she waited for Renna to extract the data from the black box. “There has to be...the SSP!” The pink-skinned Sprite continued, a sudden note of hope coloring her soprano inflection. “It might still be intact! Renna, I-I have to try and recover the pod. It may not have launched but it could be extracted and maybe they can bring all these people back!”

It was uncharacteristic of Chasianna to do something without seeking feedback from her sister, but she was too overcome with the desire to save the dead to wait for Renna’s acknowledgement. She immediately turned around, intending to find the pod herself, if necessary. However, when she perceived the strange, moving light at the end of the hall, she suddenly found herself irresolute, a looming sensation of dread overcoming her as her digital mind rapidly cycled through scenarios pertaining to moving lights in dead starships...

 

[Miko]

Thaddeaus while waiting for the doctor to give her findings was playing around with the fact his arms were mostly numb. He had slight control further up the arm but his hands for example were completely limp. "Hey doc, you have anything to like, I dunno, unnumb my hands." He asked standing up. He started to swing his arms around thinking this would help get feeling back into them. While he didn't feel it, he sure heard it. In his hurry to get feeling back into his arms he had wondered close to Taharial. Being the bigger than life Nepleslian landed a slap firmed on the ass of Taharial. "Oh shit, my bad!!" He said taking a step back. He did his best trying to act sorry but the smile followed by a laugh dispelled any legit concern.

"Lets just act like that didn't happen." Though despite his wise words had not stopped swinging his arms around. His hands caught something fragile that crashed to the floor. He stopped and looked like a dear in headlights. "So uh...just gunna go shower..." He said doing an exit stage left as best he could. On his walk to the showers he asked crew if they could give a hand helping him shower. One being a young, bright eyed Sharon Starburst.

 

[Arbitrated]

YSS Kanagawa
Command Center

Aradia's mouth was perpetually open, held there by the force of gravity as she processed the carnage around the ship. It was rare for a Yamataian ship to be destroyed so efficiently as to prevent any communication from reaching nearby ships at all, and the damage looked.. .Recent. She didn't like that.

She hadn't bothered to close her mouth, if someone hadn't known better they'd likely have joked about her catching insects. Her fingers flew and her eyes twitched, sifting through data - high frequency scanning, mass-penetrating low frequency scanning, pulses... The works. It took her captain's words to bring the redhead out of her focused, silent stupor.

"They had a task force in the area, who left after the fight. Their distortion wake is fresh, taking our bearing with a seventeen-downspin, four-proaxial degree variance. We should be able to track and follow them, but with several ships it may be dangerous - at least one wake is notably larger than a Super-Eikan Cruiser's jump distortion," the winged scientist prattled off as she brought herself back into the waking world. It was a bit technical in wording, but at the least Kai and Gen knew what it meant - "downspin" represented the direction "behind" an observer relative to the spinning motion of the Kagami Galaxy, and "Proaxial" was, in layman's terms, "up".

"The battlefield is making too much interference to determine an exact time of departure, but at the most it has been an hour since they had departed," the smol concluded.

 

[Whisper]

YSS Kanagawa
Command Center
Gen nodded to the Science Officer, taking a few steps towards the main screen to get a better look at the wreckage. He tightened one hand, held it, then released it.

"Thank you, Sivins-Hei. Sounds like a troublesome force. Not one I'd like to leave running around," said the Captain. He looked over to her. "Send it on to Taskforce Command."

It didn't take long for a response.

"Rokusai," said the commander, not even bothering with pleasantries. "We're sending your ship, the YSS Antecendent, and the YSS Amaterasu's Fire in pursuit. Don't engage unless you think you can take them down. We don't need more needless casualties."

Gen nodded and began to move through the image to issue orders. Then, he paused. "For how long? What about rendezvousing with main task force?"

The commander's image paused in return. "When the task is done, return for supplies before jumping to our original coordinates. We'll leave some breadcrumbs for you to follow when the time comes."

"Understood," the captain replied, considering what they'd just been asked to do. 'When the task is done?' That..could take a while. Depending on what they were up against...

He looked back to where the taskforce commander's image had been, now just a few flecks of light as it faded away. 'What are you thinking?'

Still, orders were orders.

"All hands," he commanded, "begin preparations for our next jump. Sivins-Hei, Sagara-Hei, we're going to do some hunting. We'll pursue their path, but I don't want to exit the Fold right on top of them. See what you can figure out.

To everyone else: return to ship and get to your stations. We're heading out as soon as the drives are ready. Don't miss your ride."

He had a few loose strings to pull - the non-SAoY survivor was the first. He began to head for the door, patting the back of Adria's seat on the way and wondering how the twins were doing as he stepped off the bridge.

Wreckage of the YSS Destiny's Call

The light drew nearer and nearer to the open door, silent in its movements. An outstretched hand became visible, angled so that it might quickly reach at Chasianna.

The rest of the body came into view shortly thereafter; a mangled Neko corpse missing the majority of its upper half. The lone light came from a worklight on the deceased engineer's jumper. The body drifted by, hand still outstretched.

"Glad to be rid of that damn thing," cursed a voice in Kuvexian. The female Kuvexian rounded the corner, holding a cracked helmet under one arm. "Bodies freak me out. Now, let's see about sending that distress sig-"

The woman paused, suddenly face to face with the two twins. She began to draw the pistol at her side.

Medbay
Gen was still in a bit of shock after passing the green goop covered Thaddeus in the hallway. The man was as flippant as ever about the whole ordeal and seemed to be searching for someone to help him remove the goo - manually. Gen had just shaken his head and kept on.

"You must be our new passenger," he said, looking at Alphara. "I'm Rokusai Gen, Captain of this vessel. As soon as Chasan-Hei gives me the go ahead, I've got a few questions for you."

When the time came, the Gen's questions were simple enough - Who are you, How did you arrive here, and How comfortable was she in an escape pod?

It seemed that the Captain planned to drop her off for the main forces to collect before the Kanagawa went on its hunt.

 

[Immortal Cyan]

RP Date: YE 42
RP Location: Wreck of the YSS Destiny’s Call

The distinctly brutish, indelicate notes of the Kuvexian tongue was enough to immediately bring about a nigh-uncontrollable sense of indignation in the diminutive Sprite, which resulted in her immediately drawing her aether rifle from the hardpoint on her left shoulder and raising the weapon to her cheek before the Kuvexian had rounded the corner. Hatred and anger once more boiled to the surface when she saw the mangled corpse of the Nekovalkyrja engineer, making her body quiver with rage as yet more tears slipped from her eyes. The female Kuvexian rounded the corner, but she would find herself staring down the barrel of an aether rifle, wielded by a vengeful Nekovalkyrja with no misgivings about shooting Kuvexians, even if they were not fully-armed or armored soldiers. Apart from executing the standard IFF procedure, which her digital mind performed automatically upon perceiving the target, Chasianna immediately squeezed the trigger of her rifle. In the ensuing violence, seven fiery-white bolts of aetheric energy discharged from the barrel at relativistic speed. It would almost certainly result in a gratuitous overkill, but that would at least partially satisfy the Sprite’s desire to bathe herself in an unending river of Kuvexian blood, in revenge for the atrocities they had so callously enacted against her Nekovalkyrja sisters.

 

[demibear]

Debris Field of the YSS Destiny's Call

Akira is a busy kitty. Not quite an away mission, she decided to use the opportunity to watch her infantry underlings do their own thing. Thus far, she wasn't really disappointed. Makes training them up all the easier now. Though when she will hear about Chasianna's executing a possible prisoner, she is going to be pissed.

But in the meantime, she spent the time using her Keiko's graviton beam generators to carefully sift around the debris looking for survivors, the soul savior pods, and anything that might look important enough for SAINT to look at.