Sunny D
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- RP Date
- YE 46.1.5
- RP Location
- YSS Resurgence VR Deck
Erika had her back to the bulkhead leading out of the Resurgences' bridge into the corridor, her eyes closed. She took in a large breath before exhaling, and then reached into a pouch attached to the front of a Type 40 vest she'd slipped on, pulling out a concussion grenade. In her other hand she held a type 41 rifle by its barrel shroud. She tapped the button on the bulkhead door which slid open, before she threw the grenade in. There was a bang and Erika turned the corner with rifle readied. The crew beyond were daized by the detonation, making them easy pickings for Erika to hit as she sweapt the threshold.
Once it was clear she pushed out, locking the bridge behind her. Yoshiro was the first to round the corridor with Chieheinsen. They had their NSPs already drawn. Erika began firing at them, hitting the bird a few times in the plumage of her wings before they both took cover. The operative wasn't loosing the iniative, rushing them, dropping her rifle to let it get caught by the sling and pulling out her own black NSP. She used her ICS to kick off the ground and float high as she rounded the corner. As she was floating her body was steady, so it was just a matter of correcting for her inertal drift and lining up the shots. Yoshiro went down first, his body dropping as Erika hit him in the head. Chiheinsen used her plumage to cover herself though before Erika could get a clean shot. Erika instead kicked off the ceiling and dove down at the bird. The operative pushed through the wing and pressed her pistol to Chi's stomach and fired 3 rounds.
Sanda came from behind, coming up the ventral shaft. The ranger got off a few snapshots, one of which hit Erika in back, absorbed by her vest. The operative was quick to wrap her arms around Chihensen's body, using it as cover as she fired back at Sanda. The ranger took cover in the shaft. Erika cast the Elysian's body down and rushed forward. She couldn't get a good angle on Thunder, only seeing the NSP near the threshold. The operative fired at it, cauing the ranger to drop her pistol. Sanda wasn't going to let that slide, quickly darting from the shaft and grabbing Erika's leg with her organic hand as the mechanical one came for the operative's ribs. Erika attempted to get off a few shots but they went wild as she was swung around.
At a random interval between the bulkheads, the other SAINT aboard the ship passed through the wall. Mineko's mouth was agape as she looked around, but only momentarily as her hand went to her leg where a sidearm appeared out of thin air. Her expression had changed along with her stance so that she was tracking those attacking Erika with hooded eyes.
"We're really doing this?" Mineko asked. "Need me to intervene or want me to just watch your form?"
Erika turned her attention from Sanda to the analyst, bringing her NSP to bear by reflex. She froze for a moment as she locked eyes with Mineko, giving Sanda enough time to get in another strike, causing her body to shake.
"Was already thinking about it when you mentioned it." Erika said gritting her teeth, turning back to Sanda she shot at the arm holding her leg. After she was released the mechanical one came at her in wild swings, causing Erika to duck and weave rather than get her NSP on sight in the tight confines of the corridor. "You're here, may as well." The operative said.
"Sanda will try to fight you on the ground like she just did grappling you," Mineko said. "So fly above her and strike from above. She's also used to having her feet on the ground so if she's in a power armor, try from below since she's not used to shooting below her feet."
Erika once again called upon her ICS and kicked off to the ceiling. She was a little more forecful than intended and struck it with a thud. Though the impact did little to faze her as she brought her pistol back up and fired down at the ranger, hitting her in the stomach and shoulder. As Sanda recoiled Erika took aim at the ranger's head and pulled the trigger, causing her to collapse on the ground. She then floated down and planted her feet on the deck.
A quartet came up the corridoor this time, Aoba, Colby, Yayoi and Poppy. They split off in pairs, Aoba and Colby seemingly rushing towards Mineko while Yayoi and Poppy held back. Seeing this, Erika descided to suppress Yayoi and Poppy with her rifle as the others were obscured by Mineko.
The analyst used her gravity manipulation to move to the corner of the wall and ceiling and shot from there, but Colby moved faster than she had anticipated. Confused but not deterred by the VR clerk, Mineko dropped to the ground and swept at Colby's legs and took the moment that the Iromakuanhe had to right herself to fire off her first shot, then second. The second was a near miss as Colby turned and readied to counter, but Mineko was already rushing away from her with assistance from her gravity manipulation once more. Where Colby had expected Mineko to be was now a beam of scalar energy coming from Mineko down the hall.
The analyst didn't have a moment to think, though, because Aoba was already on top of her with a gleaming zesuaium sword. Mineko's face crunched up as she tried to think of his weakness and realized she had never categorically thought of it. In the time it took her to rack her brain, Aoba had begun slicing towards her. The first and second swipe of his blade she easily pushed away from before she shot towards his shoulder. Aoba turned his body to a slight degree to evade her shot and struck a third time. Because he was expecting her movements away from his strikes, now, he was able to know how she would jump back from them and had a secondary jab prepared for his strike towards her belly just where she was evading.
Unfortunately for the Captain, this separated him enough for Erika to get a safe shot on him. Her type 41 burst, the rounds cutting through the side of his body before penetrating through the other side with trails of blood. With him staggered there was only a moment before Erika lined up the shot on his head and dropped him for good. Mineko's free hand immediately went up towards his body before he fell, about to press on his wound or stop the bleeding. When he fully dropped, though, she had to remind herself it wasn't real. It could be real, but it wasn't. Not yet.
Though with their attention away from Yayoi and Poppy, the pair began returing fire. Erika took cover behind the corner, bolts whipping past her head. She then stuck her rifile out again and began suppressing them once more before they turned ther attention to Mineko. "Get in cover!" The operative said and the analyst was quick to listen as she crouched down and moved to where the hallway turned towards the recreation rooms on deck two and away from Poppy and Yayoi's line of sight.
"We need to take out Yayoi first, she has the most combat training and Poppy will try to assist her rather than fight us!" Mineko said, firing some shots of her own.
"Well aware." Erika said coldly.
"Glad I'll have no reason to fight you, then," Mineko replied. Truly she didn't like the idea of fighting a tactician and one with the training and skils of a SAINt operative, but seeing Aoba die, even if only virtually, was fresh in her mind and she was thankful seeing Erika go through the same wasn't something she had to be prepared for.
Erika fired the last few rounds from her rifle's magazine before dropping it, taking out her NSP to keep fire down range. She did so one handed, taking a few mags from her vest and then kicked the rifle over to Mineko with her foot, sliding it across the deck. "Take that and keep them suppressed. And throw me your NSP."
Mineko kicked over the NSP in the same fashion that she had received the rifle. She set her eye to look just through the sight and shot a round off. It would have hit Yayoi square in the head if Yayoi hadn't lifted a sword to be hit by it. The shot wasn't deflected but instead had gone through the zesuaium and ruined it. The Ranger dropped it with a clunk but still held a second blade, prepared to use it. In step with Poppy, they descended towards the SAINT agents.
Erika took the extra pistol and holstered it before reaching into her grenade satchel, pulling out a concussion grenade. "Take cover." Erika said, throwing the grenade out into the corridor.
"Copy," Mineko said and pulled herself and the rifle back behind the corridor and into full cover.
There was a bright flash which poured back over them. Eirka wasted no time in pivoting around the corner. She pulled the second NSP back from out of her holster, one for each of their assailants. Poppy was still dazed when she was hit with the energy bolts from the pistol, but Yayoi was faster to recover, having managed to cover her eyes and brace herself before the detonation and quickly dove out of the way of the shots.
"We have one alive," Mineko said. "She's not as good ranged as she is in close quarters so keep a distance!" She herself fired again with the Type 41 and Yayoi was hit once, then Mineko righted her shots and hit her again, this time squarely in the chest rather than clipping her.
"Down," Mineko said, "Who else is there?" She was mentally exhausted but felt her body was ready for more like a true Nekovalkryja.
"Head to the Onsen. The rest will be coming." Erika said before putting an additonal round in Yayoi's head.
The operative made her way in first, doing a quick sweep of the threshold before pushing in to the room. "Secure, take up a position on the door, we'll try bottlenecking them." She said while taking up position in the showers. "I'd suggest behind the rocks around the onsen." she pointed. She pressed her back against the wall, still holding a pistol in either hand.
As Erika said that she noticed some movement behind some of the plants. In the next moment she saw a neko dressed in nothing but a towel and holding an NSP. Erika moved out of the way just as she caught the flash of the barrel, dropping to the ground. There was a flash and a scorch mark formed where the operatives head had just been. She pointed both her pistols at the Neko as she fell, riddling her with holes. The towel clad Neko fell backwards from the impacts.
Mineko meanwhile had taken up her position behind the changing area with her rifle trained on the door, ready for the rest of the resurgence crew or just one or two as they meandered in. The first to come through was Euikoshi, stalking in like a charicature of an assassin on a tv show. Mineko regretted it, but pulled the trigger before Pidole followed and Mineko, again, felt the pang of regret before firing. Even if it was just VR training, it could be real one day and the thought that it was still difficult haunted her.
Those on the other side wern't foolish, even if they were simulations. Before another came through a grenade was rolled in forcing Erika to take cover, diving behind an privacy wall I the shower area. The device detonated and showered the area with fragmentation, giving several crew members to push into the room, getting a foot hold past the bottleneck.
After recovering Erika rushed forward, shooting one of the crewmembers in the stomach before slamming her shoulder into his neck. WIth the other pistol she took aim around her new living shield at those threatening their position. Some shot at Erika, hitting the crew member while others attempted to move away, taking cover from Erika's onslaught. Those who stood and fougt fell, though not before hitting Erika in her fore arm. She dropped the pistol in that hand before bringing around the other one, doing her best to maintain her counter offensive.
The thought of Erika being the one to die edged into Mineko's mind. She didn't let it take over, though, as she focused on swiveling the rifle to look down the sight and shoot down the crewmen attacking her. She couldn't quite tell who it was and that made it easier. Then she shot just behind Erika at someone to the side of her hurt forearm. The analyst was quickly taking shots then saw something in her own peripheral and knew to turn, getting a burst off to clip Yuri, then another to fully hit the blue Neko. She didn't have time to think, but had to take another atheric shot at someone that was coming through the hallway and into the onsen, downing another and leading to them tumbling over the bodies of two others.
Erika rolled away out of the line of fire, dropping the living shield she was using. She attempted to pick the pistol she'd dropped but her hand phased through it, as it did with the rest of her virtual equipment. With her still good hand she dropped her other NSP and reached once more for a grenade. She activated the fuse with her mouth before pivoting in place so she could just catch sight of the entrance before throwing it through. Another boom was heard shortly after as fragments shot through the door way threshold, followed by the cries of wounded on the other side.
"Who else?" Mineko asked bresthlessly after a few moments of the silence that followed the screams. It was a condensed version of what she had asked earlier and she couldn't fathom there being nobody else, but when no new opponents arrived it felt like a strange relief. She let her rifle arm hang as she huffed. "That was just as difficult as I thought it would be, if not moreso."
Erika tossed her pistol aside before rubbing her face with both hands. She then looked down at the deck between her arched knees as she sat against the wall she was taking cover behind a moment ago. "I hate this." She said with a sigh before turning to Mineko. "And the thing is I still know these are virtual enemies. I have no idea if I'll be able to do this for real. I saw you when you came in and hesitated, letting hologram Sanda get a cheap shot in."
Mineko reflected as she looked around at the bodies. Unable to reply to Erika, she looked up and said, "Megami, can you remove the blood, bodies, and equipment?" They were gone in a millisecond and she started pulling her socks and shoes off then sat on the edge of the onsen, dangling her feet into the water.
Pensively, she began to speak again. "Maybe because it's not real I can't do it. You're not in danger and neither am I. But when Aoba was really about to die to Cheilith, I wanted to kill her. More than anything I wanted her dead and gone and wanted him and myself safe and alive. I think you'll be the same way if there's real danger. You might hate it now but you were able to do what needed to be done in the program. You will when it's real, too. If it's ever real again."
"I didn't though." Erika replied. "I brought Cheilith back, and when she was in engineering I was still trying to subdue her, rather than kill. I tell myself that a good part of that was capturing a specimine exposed to a new vector. But thats ad-hoc rationalisation. Fact is, that mission she was my battle buddy, and you don't abandon your battle buddy."
The operative then sighed again "I have to compartmentalise the way I operate. The way I operate as a solo SAINT operative is different than when I'm with a team. Flicking on that ruthless switch... it isn't something I can..." She shook her head. "No, I can do it, I don't want to though."
"My recruiter Stella would do this thing when I was training because I hated the idea of interrogation. I thought I would get to that phase of training and wash out. I thought that a few times about other phases, but I was really sure I just couldn't question someone and really make myself imposing enough to get them to tell me the truth. It's so much more than that. You and I both know that now, but I didn't back then and neither did Stella, so she prepped me like we are now, just a little less bloody." Mineko monologued as she kicked her feet in the water and looked at the onsen ceiling, recalling her memories.
"She would sit across from me in my tiny little apartment and would be down to her briefs. Like, really basically naked sitting there as I pretended to interrogate her about made up stories. It got me used to it, confident in it, that when it came time for the actual training I felt like a pro. And when it came time to question random robots about missing Selkies and question Concordians about what they were doing, it worked out. But I'll tell you, the first time I looked over at that weirdo with her shirt off I thought I didn't stand a chance in the real thing.
"I guess my point is, we just need to practice until it doesn't matter," Mineko continued. "We do it because we can do it, whether we want to or not can't matter when we're... what did Sanda call us today? Ghouls?"
"Thats what she said." Erika nodded with a sigh. "There is a difference though, at least in my mind. I can flick that switch against someone who's actually, willingly turned on us. No remorse. Same with a zombie. This new vector that the Mishhu have developed though... Cheilith had all her faculties and still turned, but it wasn't optional. We still have to work with her after the fact. Just being ready to slide a knife in a team member at a moments notice... It's messed up."
"It is messed up," Mineko said forlornly. "But I could have killed her when I shot her, so I don't know. I talked to her today like nothing happened. I know that my switch is already flipped so I don't know what to tell you besides to practice." For the first time, Mineko felt a chasm between herself and Erika and it felt too wide to cross with words alone.
Erika managed a dark chuckle. "Don't worry Mineko. I'll get myself to the point where I can do it. But I feel really personally slighted by the enemy now." She gritted her teeth. "They better watch out."
The operative sighed again "Sanda did have some points. We've been told what SAINT conditioning is supposed to do, however the trigger that activates our own killswitch is an obscured automatic process. There might be a way to countermand it."
"Sanda didn't have a clue what she was talking about," Mineko said more frankly than usual. "And she was just looking out for herself because she doesn't want to be soul transferred. We're built to be brought as Nekovalkyrja and we've been modified to die before we fuck over our Empire as SAINT." Mineko didn't often curse, but she was impassioned now that the discussion she had bit her tongue on before was brought back up. "Sorry, she's a great soldier and maybe the enemy could, but what I think they were doing was coercing the mind. The conditioning package has a whole part of it dedicated to emotional and mental stability in those situations."
"I'm aware." Erika nodded "The issue is we don't know enough about this new method."
"I know enough about me," Mineko said. "You catch me with something telling me to take over the ship or kill you or the captain and the sword's going in me before it goes in you or the engines."
"I want to believe the same about myself Mineko, but I'm sure thats what Cheilith thought before the events." Erika said quietly. "The way she turned, it was so... totalising. Did she even have a chance to resist?"
"I'm not so sure I can believe that she is built like you and me or Sanda, even. She showed some conviction for people kicked out of the whole ass Star Army to me before." Mineko pushed one of her brows down while the other stayed up. Where her bangs would normally cover her expression, the bald side of her head meant it showed clearly.
Mineko's face fell as she said, "But maybe I'm just deflecting because we don't know but we need to. We have the opportunity to work with other ships and SAINT HQ on this so I'm going to take it. Anything they can scrub from Chielith's and Sanda's armors, I want to know. I'm just scared that we don't."
"Happy to tag along with you there." Erika said with a weak smile. "Look, I'm not trying to imply that in your correct state of mind you'd ever do anything against the Empire or the ship. Its healthy though, to occasionally have some self doubt and reflection when facing something like this."
"Without the conditioning package, what would you do? Do you think you'd be able to fight it?" Mineko asked. "Or maybe even with it, if they could get past it?"
"All I know is that I'd try." Erika said with an introspective inflection. She planted her hands either side of her body and looked at Mineko with narrowed eyes. "Without even thinking about the Empire, I don't want to hurt my crew. I'd try and take my own life before that. But that's where the cognitive dissonance comes in. Being willing to die for my comrades, and in the same breath take their lives."
The operative sighed once more, "Fuck the Mishhuvurthyar. This war has barely begun..."
Mineko looked into Erika's golden narrowed eyes as she spoke and sighed, as well. "You know what's going to happen? Oh, this sucks. I'm sitting here with all my conviction but later tonight I'm going to be staring at the ceiling wondering what I would really do. For real, it's too early in the war to be making us doubt ourselves like this!" She hung her head back, realizing her own shortcomings in the face of this while also wishing she were more.
"We have to promise to find a way to hurt them just as much as this hurts." Mineko said, her voice was meek even as her words tumbled out. "As much as it hurt to see Aoba eaten alive and as much as it hurts to not know what I'll do or my friends will do when they're taken by them. At least just to make them stop fighting us."
"Can they even feel pain like that? They've always seemed like a race of sociopaths in my experience." Erika responded. "Bunch of selfish assholes. You wonder how they're able to organise themselves enough to crew a ship."
"I guess we'll have to do something that would hurt a sociopath," Mineko said.
"Well, come on then." Eirka said getting to her feet. She dusted herself off with her hands as she stood upright. "Considering I was with Cheilith during the whole event I'm guessing SAINTs going to have a lot of questions. Then I'll get a psych review and an ass chewing for not taking lethal action." She rubbed her eyes and groaned as she thought about the ride she was in for. "It's going to be a long few weeks."
"I hate having to suffer alongside you," Mineko said with a dramatically forlorn expression. "But I'm going to continue this kind of training. It helps me to repeat things like this. You game?"
Erika leant down to collect the pistol on the floor. She exhaled sharply as she holstered it. "Not particularly, but I'll push though it." She then managed a smile "but only if we go to the actual Onsen once we're done."
"That's good. If you liked it then you'd be worth it," Mineko said, pulling her feet from the hot waters of the tub to leave as well. "It sounds like a deal. There are even some really good ones on Yamatai."
"Its a date." Erika replied with a soft chuckle. She then exhaled, collecting her sidearm in her hand as she steeled herself for the next round. "Alright, lets go murder the crew again."
"Let's go," Mineko said, more agreeable as well as she imagined a massage at the onsen instead of the horrors of the real battles behind them.
----
JP by Amethelian & Sunny D
Once it was clear she pushed out, locking the bridge behind her. Yoshiro was the first to round the corridor with Chieheinsen. They had their NSPs already drawn. Erika began firing at them, hitting the bird a few times in the plumage of her wings before they both took cover. The operative wasn't loosing the iniative, rushing them, dropping her rifle to let it get caught by the sling and pulling out her own black NSP. She used her ICS to kick off the ground and float high as she rounded the corner. As she was floating her body was steady, so it was just a matter of correcting for her inertal drift and lining up the shots. Yoshiro went down first, his body dropping as Erika hit him in the head. Chiheinsen used her plumage to cover herself though before Erika could get a clean shot. Erika instead kicked off the ceiling and dove down at the bird. The operative pushed through the wing and pressed her pistol to Chi's stomach and fired 3 rounds.
Sanda came from behind, coming up the ventral shaft. The ranger got off a few snapshots, one of which hit Erika in back, absorbed by her vest. The operative was quick to wrap her arms around Chihensen's body, using it as cover as she fired back at Sanda. The ranger took cover in the shaft. Erika cast the Elysian's body down and rushed forward. She couldn't get a good angle on Thunder, only seeing the NSP near the threshold. The operative fired at it, cauing the ranger to drop her pistol. Sanda wasn't going to let that slide, quickly darting from the shaft and grabbing Erika's leg with her organic hand as the mechanical one came for the operative's ribs. Erika attempted to get off a few shots but they went wild as she was swung around.
At a random interval between the bulkheads, the other SAINT aboard the ship passed through the wall. Mineko's mouth was agape as she looked around, but only momentarily as her hand went to her leg where a sidearm appeared out of thin air. Her expression had changed along with her stance so that she was tracking those attacking Erika with hooded eyes.
"We're really doing this?" Mineko asked. "Need me to intervene or want me to just watch your form?"
Erika turned her attention from Sanda to the analyst, bringing her NSP to bear by reflex. She froze for a moment as she locked eyes with Mineko, giving Sanda enough time to get in another strike, causing her body to shake.
"Was already thinking about it when you mentioned it." Erika said gritting her teeth, turning back to Sanda she shot at the arm holding her leg. After she was released the mechanical one came at her in wild swings, causing Erika to duck and weave rather than get her NSP on sight in the tight confines of the corridor. "You're here, may as well." The operative said.
"Sanda will try to fight you on the ground like she just did grappling you," Mineko said. "So fly above her and strike from above. She's also used to having her feet on the ground so if she's in a power armor, try from below since she's not used to shooting below her feet."
Erika once again called upon her ICS and kicked off to the ceiling. She was a little more forecful than intended and struck it with a thud. Though the impact did little to faze her as she brought her pistol back up and fired down at the ranger, hitting her in the stomach and shoulder. As Sanda recoiled Erika took aim at the ranger's head and pulled the trigger, causing her to collapse on the ground. She then floated down and planted her feet on the deck.
A quartet came up the corridoor this time, Aoba, Colby, Yayoi and Poppy. They split off in pairs, Aoba and Colby seemingly rushing towards Mineko while Yayoi and Poppy held back. Seeing this, Erika descided to suppress Yayoi and Poppy with her rifle as the others were obscured by Mineko.
The analyst used her gravity manipulation to move to the corner of the wall and ceiling and shot from there, but Colby moved faster than she had anticipated. Confused but not deterred by the VR clerk, Mineko dropped to the ground and swept at Colby's legs and took the moment that the Iromakuanhe had to right herself to fire off her first shot, then second. The second was a near miss as Colby turned and readied to counter, but Mineko was already rushing away from her with assistance from her gravity manipulation once more. Where Colby had expected Mineko to be was now a beam of scalar energy coming from Mineko down the hall.
The analyst didn't have a moment to think, though, because Aoba was already on top of her with a gleaming zesuaium sword. Mineko's face crunched up as she tried to think of his weakness and realized she had never categorically thought of it. In the time it took her to rack her brain, Aoba had begun slicing towards her. The first and second swipe of his blade she easily pushed away from before she shot towards his shoulder. Aoba turned his body to a slight degree to evade her shot and struck a third time. Because he was expecting her movements away from his strikes, now, he was able to know how she would jump back from them and had a secondary jab prepared for his strike towards her belly just where she was evading.
Unfortunately for the Captain, this separated him enough for Erika to get a safe shot on him. Her type 41 burst, the rounds cutting through the side of his body before penetrating through the other side with trails of blood. With him staggered there was only a moment before Erika lined up the shot on his head and dropped him for good. Mineko's free hand immediately went up towards his body before he fell, about to press on his wound or stop the bleeding. When he fully dropped, though, she had to remind herself it wasn't real. It could be real, but it wasn't. Not yet.
Though with their attention away from Yayoi and Poppy, the pair began returing fire. Erika took cover behind the corner, bolts whipping past her head. She then stuck her rifile out again and began suppressing them once more before they turned ther attention to Mineko. "Get in cover!" The operative said and the analyst was quick to listen as she crouched down and moved to where the hallway turned towards the recreation rooms on deck two and away from Poppy and Yayoi's line of sight.
"We need to take out Yayoi first, she has the most combat training and Poppy will try to assist her rather than fight us!" Mineko said, firing some shots of her own.
"Well aware." Erika said coldly.
"Glad I'll have no reason to fight you, then," Mineko replied. Truly she didn't like the idea of fighting a tactician and one with the training and skils of a SAINt operative, but seeing Aoba die, even if only virtually, was fresh in her mind and she was thankful seeing Erika go through the same wasn't something she had to be prepared for.
Erika fired the last few rounds from her rifle's magazine before dropping it, taking out her NSP to keep fire down range. She did so one handed, taking a few mags from her vest and then kicked the rifle over to Mineko with her foot, sliding it across the deck. "Take that and keep them suppressed. And throw me your NSP."
Mineko kicked over the NSP in the same fashion that she had received the rifle. She set her eye to look just through the sight and shot a round off. It would have hit Yayoi square in the head if Yayoi hadn't lifted a sword to be hit by it. The shot wasn't deflected but instead had gone through the zesuaium and ruined it. The Ranger dropped it with a clunk but still held a second blade, prepared to use it. In step with Poppy, they descended towards the SAINT agents.
Erika took the extra pistol and holstered it before reaching into her grenade satchel, pulling out a concussion grenade. "Take cover." Erika said, throwing the grenade out into the corridor.
"Copy," Mineko said and pulled herself and the rifle back behind the corridor and into full cover.
There was a bright flash which poured back over them. Eirka wasted no time in pivoting around the corner. She pulled the second NSP back from out of her holster, one for each of their assailants. Poppy was still dazed when she was hit with the energy bolts from the pistol, but Yayoi was faster to recover, having managed to cover her eyes and brace herself before the detonation and quickly dove out of the way of the shots.
"We have one alive," Mineko said. "She's not as good ranged as she is in close quarters so keep a distance!" She herself fired again with the Type 41 and Yayoi was hit once, then Mineko righted her shots and hit her again, this time squarely in the chest rather than clipping her.
"Down," Mineko said, "Who else is there?" She was mentally exhausted but felt her body was ready for more like a true Nekovalkryja.
"Head to the Onsen. The rest will be coming." Erika said before putting an additonal round in Yayoi's head.
The operative made her way in first, doing a quick sweep of the threshold before pushing in to the room. "Secure, take up a position on the door, we'll try bottlenecking them." She said while taking up position in the showers. "I'd suggest behind the rocks around the onsen." she pointed. She pressed her back against the wall, still holding a pistol in either hand.
As Erika said that she noticed some movement behind some of the plants. In the next moment she saw a neko dressed in nothing but a towel and holding an NSP. Erika moved out of the way just as she caught the flash of the barrel, dropping to the ground. There was a flash and a scorch mark formed where the operatives head had just been. She pointed both her pistols at the Neko as she fell, riddling her with holes. The towel clad Neko fell backwards from the impacts.
Mineko meanwhile had taken up her position behind the changing area with her rifle trained on the door, ready for the rest of the resurgence crew or just one or two as they meandered in. The first to come through was Euikoshi, stalking in like a charicature of an assassin on a tv show. Mineko regretted it, but pulled the trigger before Pidole followed and Mineko, again, felt the pang of regret before firing. Even if it was just VR training, it could be real one day and the thought that it was still difficult haunted her.
Those on the other side wern't foolish, even if they were simulations. Before another came through a grenade was rolled in forcing Erika to take cover, diving behind an privacy wall I the shower area. The device detonated and showered the area with fragmentation, giving several crew members to push into the room, getting a foot hold past the bottleneck.
After recovering Erika rushed forward, shooting one of the crewmembers in the stomach before slamming her shoulder into his neck. WIth the other pistol she took aim around her new living shield at those threatening their position. Some shot at Erika, hitting the crew member while others attempted to move away, taking cover from Erika's onslaught. Those who stood and fougt fell, though not before hitting Erika in her fore arm. She dropped the pistol in that hand before bringing around the other one, doing her best to maintain her counter offensive.
The thought of Erika being the one to die edged into Mineko's mind. She didn't let it take over, though, as she focused on swiveling the rifle to look down the sight and shoot down the crewmen attacking her. She couldn't quite tell who it was and that made it easier. Then she shot just behind Erika at someone to the side of her hurt forearm. The analyst was quickly taking shots then saw something in her own peripheral and knew to turn, getting a burst off to clip Yuri, then another to fully hit the blue Neko. She didn't have time to think, but had to take another atheric shot at someone that was coming through the hallway and into the onsen, downing another and leading to them tumbling over the bodies of two others.
Erika rolled away out of the line of fire, dropping the living shield she was using. She attempted to pick the pistol she'd dropped but her hand phased through it, as it did with the rest of her virtual equipment. With her still good hand she dropped her other NSP and reached once more for a grenade. She activated the fuse with her mouth before pivoting in place so she could just catch sight of the entrance before throwing it through. Another boom was heard shortly after as fragments shot through the door way threshold, followed by the cries of wounded on the other side.
"Who else?" Mineko asked bresthlessly after a few moments of the silence that followed the screams. It was a condensed version of what she had asked earlier and she couldn't fathom there being nobody else, but when no new opponents arrived it felt like a strange relief. She let her rifle arm hang as she huffed. "That was just as difficult as I thought it would be, if not moreso."
Erika tossed her pistol aside before rubbing her face with both hands. She then looked down at the deck between her arched knees as she sat against the wall she was taking cover behind a moment ago. "I hate this." She said with a sigh before turning to Mineko. "And the thing is I still know these are virtual enemies. I have no idea if I'll be able to do this for real. I saw you when you came in and hesitated, letting hologram Sanda get a cheap shot in."
Mineko reflected as she looked around at the bodies. Unable to reply to Erika, she looked up and said, "Megami, can you remove the blood, bodies, and equipment?" They were gone in a millisecond and she started pulling her socks and shoes off then sat on the edge of the onsen, dangling her feet into the water.
Pensively, she began to speak again. "Maybe because it's not real I can't do it. You're not in danger and neither am I. But when Aoba was really about to die to Cheilith, I wanted to kill her. More than anything I wanted her dead and gone and wanted him and myself safe and alive. I think you'll be the same way if there's real danger. You might hate it now but you were able to do what needed to be done in the program. You will when it's real, too. If it's ever real again."
"I didn't though." Erika replied. "I brought Cheilith back, and when she was in engineering I was still trying to subdue her, rather than kill. I tell myself that a good part of that was capturing a specimine exposed to a new vector. But thats ad-hoc rationalisation. Fact is, that mission she was my battle buddy, and you don't abandon your battle buddy."
The operative then sighed again "I have to compartmentalise the way I operate. The way I operate as a solo SAINT operative is different than when I'm with a team. Flicking on that ruthless switch... it isn't something I can..." She shook her head. "No, I can do it, I don't want to though."
"My recruiter Stella would do this thing when I was training because I hated the idea of interrogation. I thought I would get to that phase of training and wash out. I thought that a few times about other phases, but I was really sure I just couldn't question someone and really make myself imposing enough to get them to tell me the truth. It's so much more than that. You and I both know that now, but I didn't back then and neither did Stella, so she prepped me like we are now, just a little less bloody." Mineko monologued as she kicked her feet in the water and looked at the onsen ceiling, recalling her memories.
"She would sit across from me in my tiny little apartment and would be down to her briefs. Like, really basically naked sitting there as I pretended to interrogate her about made up stories. It got me used to it, confident in it, that when it came time for the actual training I felt like a pro. And when it came time to question random robots about missing Selkies and question Concordians about what they were doing, it worked out. But I'll tell you, the first time I looked over at that weirdo with her shirt off I thought I didn't stand a chance in the real thing.
"I guess my point is, we just need to practice until it doesn't matter," Mineko continued. "We do it because we can do it, whether we want to or not can't matter when we're... what did Sanda call us today? Ghouls?"
"Thats what she said." Erika nodded with a sigh. "There is a difference though, at least in my mind. I can flick that switch against someone who's actually, willingly turned on us. No remorse. Same with a zombie. This new vector that the Mishhu have developed though... Cheilith had all her faculties and still turned, but it wasn't optional. We still have to work with her after the fact. Just being ready to slide a knife in a team member at a moments notice... It's messed up."
"It is messed up," Mineko said forlornly. "But I could have killed her when I shot her, so I don't know. I talked to her today like nothing happened. I know that my switch is already flipped so I don't know what to tell you besides to practice." For the first time, Mineko felt a chasm between herself and Erika and it felt too wide to cross with words alone.
Erika managed a dark chuckle. "Don't worry Mineko. I'll get myself to the point where I can do it. But I feel really personally slighted by the enemy now." She gritted her teeth. "They better watch out."
The operative sighed again "Sanda did have some points. We've been told what SAINT conditioning is supposed to do, however the trigger that activates our own killswitch is an obscured automatic process. There might be a way to countermand it."
"Sanda didn't have a clue what she was talking about," Mineko said more frankly than usual. "And she was just looking out for herself because she doesn't want to be soul transferred. We're built to be brought as Nekovalkyrja and we've been modified to die before we fuck over our Empire as SAINT." Mineko didn't often curse, but she was impassioned now that the discussion she had bit her tongue on before was brought back up. "Sorry, she's a great soldier and maybe the enemy could, but what I think they were doing was coercing the mind. The conditioning package has a whole part of it dedicated to emotional and mental stability in those situations."
"I'm aware." Erika nodded "The issue is we don't know enough about this new method."
"I know enough about me," Mineko said. "You catch me with something telling me to take over the ship or kill you or the captain and the sword's going in me before it goes in you or the engines."
"I want to believe the same about myself Mineko, but I'm sure thats what Cheilith thought before the events." Erika said quietly. "The way she turned, it was so... totalising. Did she even have a chance to resist?"
"I'm not so sure I can believe that she is built like you and me or Sanda, even. She showed some conviction for people kicked out of the whole ass Star Army to me before." Mineko pushed one of her brows down while the other stayed up. Where her bangs would normally cover her expression, the bald side of her head meant it showed clearly.
Mineko's face fell as she said, "But maybe I'm just deflecting because we don't know but we need to. We have the opportunity to work with other ships and SAINT HQ on this so I'm going to take it. Anything they can scrub from Chielith's and Sanda's armors, I want to know. I'm just scared that we don't."
"Happy to tag along with you there." Erika said with a weak smile. "Look, I'm not trying to imply that in your correct state of mind you'd ever do anything against the Empire or the ship. Its healthy though, to occasionally have some self doubt and reflection when facing something like this."
"Without the conditioning package, what would you do? Do you think you'd be able to fight it?" Mineko asked. "Or maybe even with it, if they could get past it?"
"All I know is that I'd try." Erika said with an introspective inflection. She planted her hands either side of her body and looked at Mineko with narrowed eyes. "Without even thinking about the Empire, I don't want to hurt my crew. I'd try and take my own life before that. But that's where the cognitive dissonance comes in. Being willing to die for my comrades, and in the same breath take their lives."
The operative sighed once more, "Fuck the Mishhuvurthyar. This war has barely begun..."
Mineko looked into Erika's golden narrowed eyes as she spoke and sighed, as well. "You know what's going to happen? Oh, this sucks. I'm sitting here with all my conviction but later tonight I'm going to be staring at the ceiling wondering what I would really do. For real, it's too early in the war to be making us doubt ourselves like this!" She hung her head back, realizing her own shortcomings in the face of this while also wishing she were more.
"We have to promise to find a way to hurt them just as much as this hurts." Mineko said, her voice was meek even as her words tumbled out. "As much as it hurt to see Aoba eaten alive and as much as it hurts to not know what I'll do or my friends will do when they're taken by them. At least just to make them stop fighting us."
"Can they even feel pain like that? They've always seemed like a race of sociopaths in my experience." Erika responded. "Bunch of selfish assholes. You wonder how they're able to organise themselves enough to crew a ship."
"I guess we'll have to do something that would hurt a sociopath," Mineko said.
"Well, come on then." Eirka said getting to her feet. She dusted herself off with her hands as she stood upright. "Considering I was with Cheilith during the whole event I'm guessing SAINTs going to have a lot of questions. Then I'll get a psych review and an ass chewing for not taking lethal action." She rubbed her eyes and groaned as she thought about the ride she was in for. "It's going to be a long few weeks."
"I hate having to suffer alongside you," Mineko said with a dramatically forlorn expression. "But I'm going to continue this kind of training. It helps me to repeat things like this. You game?"
Erika leant down to collect the pistol on the floor. She exhaled sharply as she holstered it. "Not particularly, but I'll push though it." She then managed a smile "but only if we go to the actual Onsen once we're done."
"That's good. If you liked it then you'd be worth it," Mineko said, pulling her feet from the hot waters of the tub to leave as well. "It sounds like a deal. There are even some really good ones on Yamatai."
"Its a date." Erika replied with a soft chuckle. She then exhaled, collecting her sidearm in her hand as she steeled herself for the next round. "Alright, lets go murder the crew again."
"Let's go," Mineko said, more agreeable as well as she imagined a massage at the onsen instead of the horrors of the real battles behind them.
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JP by Amethelian & Sunny D
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