RP: YSS Ryūjō YSS Ryūjō - Mission 1 - Fury

YSS Ryujo Power Armor Bay

Her armor back together around her now, though she left the helmet off for now anyway, Kumiko made note of everybody coming in, taking in their demeanor as they entered the room. Noa seeming eager to be present, Megami anything but... This was the first time most of these personnel would be deploying in an actual combat situation, she'd take any hint of how they might respond under fire she could get up front. Though she hadn't really thought of it like that when she made up her list of everyone she wanted, it made sense, now that she watched them, to split the group into two.

Kumiko's eyes took on a slightly vacant tint for a moment, as she received notification of the docking and departure of a shuttle depositing another crew member on board. She made a slight note about the oddness of receiving reinforcements this soon after departing, but decided that could be investigated at a later date. "Sasami, please ask that Matokai-Hei join us in the power armor bay as well. That should round out our numbers." As she sent that request off to Sasami as well, her eyes had regained their focus again, tracking on another entry to the bay, then mentally moving on. Harada, followed directly by Kongo, would be the second part of the plan that was starting to form loosely in her head as the information from the planet continued to come in.

Speaking out loud and telepathically to her group, to accommodate those who hadn't yet made it to the bay, Kumiko laid out the basics of her plan. "We're going to deploy in one group, but plan as two. I'll be in the lead of team one, Lady, made up of myself, Hatoyama-Hei, Amatsukaze-Hei, and Ayabito-Hei. Team two, Riot, will be Matonaka-Shoi, Harada-Heisho, Kongo-Heisho, and Matokai-Hei. Wells-Hei won't be joining us. I want everyone except Amatsukaze-Hei in Mindy armors. Lady will go in light, and fast, Riot, load out like we're going to run into Reapers. Lady will take point, Riot covers Lady. Riot, I leave your loadout up to Harada-Heisho, she knows how to handle you. Matonaka-Shoi, I'd like to speak with you before we get going. Everyone else, get loaded up in the shuttle that Hatoyama-Hei has so kindly delivered for our usage. Our recon is out of danger for now, but I'd like to get down there and figure things out before that changes."

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Harada nodded at Kumiko as her superior finished laying out the basics of the mission ahead of them, a bright smile well emplaced on her face as she turned to get into a Mindy of her own. "Riot, once you're in your Mindy, come to me on the Fore side of the bay, and we'll talk about loadouts. We should be able to get everything figured out quickly."

YSS Ryujo Power Armor Bay

Ume lokoed excited as she listened the orders about squad make up. She would be on squad Lady, which was a light mobile attack squad which was right up her alley in terms of specialties. Once everything was said and done she made her way to her Mindy which stood out from most in the hangar a noticeable custom job, taking off her sword and putting it at the side of the rack.

The Mindy 3A was plum in color with lilac highlights and a plum flower decal on each shoulder in amaranth pink. Once inside and closed up the armor was fitted with a some what strange set up, the right forearm weapon was missing and in it's place a solid metal shield. The legs were both mounted with offensive augmentation pods and on the back was mounted the Barrier shield module along with an Aetheric pulse canon on the right shoulder. The most interesting piece though was a weapon mount placed on the left shoulder, which was then followed by a long single edged Yamataium blade with the Yamataigo characters for "Dragon tooth" etched into it.

Once her gear was all set she picked up her sword and tied it to her waist just above her butt pack, if she ever had to step out of the armor it would be nice to have along with her, then she grabbed a LASR rifle and ammunition, waiting for orders to move out.

YSS Ryūjō, Bridge

Fortunately for Masato's emotional state, Sasami at that moment interrupted the embarrassed technician's self-recrimination. Matokai-san, Kumiko-shoi has requested your presence in the Power Armor Bay as part of a strike team.


Masato was momentarily stunned. Damn it, I'm an engineer, not a ground-pounder! Nevertheless, he bowed to the Chusa and did an about-face as he responded to the MEGAMI via wireless. Acknowledged. I'm on my way; ETA is roughly 5 minutes. Once he'd exited the Bridge, Masato sighed to himself as he ran through the corridors. Figures that I get notified of this once I'm on the other end of the ship.


As he listened to Kumiko's briefing, he heard her mention Reapers, which caused the Minkan - who'd been floating down one of the Ryūjō's zero-g shafts towards Deck 6 - to crash into the deckplate at the bottom of the shaft. Focus, you moronic baka - nothing's been confirmed yet, and you're wasting time holding this internal monologue. With an irritated grunt, Masato picked himself up and, using the NH-31's inertial manipulation, landed on the Deck 6 hatchway with a slight stumble.



YSS Ryūjō, Power Armor Bay

With a few seconds to spare before his self-imposed five-minute deadline, Masato (literally) flew into the Power Armor Bay and, after reestablishing some degree of control over his breathing, the Santô Hei removed his belt, stored it in one of the nearby lockers, and headed over to the storage racks. At least we don't have to pilot these things naked anymore. That would've been...awkward thought the engineer, blushing slightly - having noticed that the room certainly wasn't lacking in the 'attractive ladies' department - as he searched for the slot that he'd stowed his PA in.


After a brief search, the Santô Hei was finally able to locate "his" Mindy and entered it; after releasing the rack's restraints he strode over to Harada, to whom he saluted and introduced himself. "Santô Hei Matokai Masato, reporting for duty ma'am!" Inside his helmet, Masato smiled. There we go. No stuttering this time.

YSS Ryujo Power Armor Bay

Sigrid showed up in the PA-bay on time to listen to the pre-mission briefing. Althought there was not too much of it. She spent most of the time until now, studying the plans of the base and looking for the ways to approach. Something went different and air-recon unit got attacked. Now the mission parameters changed and ships XO was about to lead and actual assault. It was not excatly something Sigrid was happy about, but she was still a soldier.

"Mam," Sigrid raised her hand as she was slowly working on the PA bay system to prepare her armour. "When I checked the ship inventory I saw we have a TROLL tank on board. If you want something that can take out Reapers we can grabt that, it will fit into the Shuttle anyway and can ferry Riot around the battlefield as well."

YSS Ryujo Power Armor Bay

Nobuharu listened to Kumiko hand out the unit assignments with attentiveness. He was pleased to be included with the designated field leader and calmly nodded his head in acceptance. Inwardly Nobuharu was nervous. This would be his first time in the field and he really wanted to make a good impression.

Nobuharu portrayed none of his nervousness outwardly however. His face and body language gave a look of tranquility as he strode to the Mindy assigned to him. Following traditional Yamatai practice he removed his uniform until he remained in only his tight shorts displaying his lean, fit ash grey body. He calmly and neatly folded his uniform, stowed it in the pack and stepped into the power armor intiating the start up procedures.

Luckily, it had not been that long since he was through his initial training and he easily slid back into his basics. Nobuharu took a few practice steps, swings and squats. Though he preferred a DAISY, the Mindy was easy to use. He approached the armory, and drew out a Light Armor Service Rifle with accompanying SLAG and checked the sights.

Aurigaesha I

Errowyn maneuvered her Teisatsu with ease. With the more powerful sensor suite, she could 'see' farther which she took advantage of. Maybe making the trip into the atmosphere was a bit reckless. But it sure added excitement to the recon mission.

She smiled a bit then wondered what the other two pilots were doing. Probaly smoozing with the other females.

Finishing up the route over the planet she whipped her Teisatsu around and headed back on a new course.

"Dragon2, Hellcat. You spot anything new?" Errowyn calmly called over to Kakeru, wondering if he still was awake at the helm of his Teisatsu.

"Hellcat, negative. The decoy I released didn't get shot at too so I guess they don't have much in ground to space weapons either. I sent the exit coordinates with the reinforcement request to the Ryujo already, so I expect the squadron will be coming in soon." Kakeru replied, unaware of the shuttle that was being prepped for launch. While he still thought of flying as a side job with ground recon as his main, he was starting to be aware of how different the protocols for recon squadrons and attack squadrons were, as very vividly demonstrated by Errowyn's aggressive charge into the atmosphere, and how badly a patient, sneaky perspective is going to be needed in a "forlorn hope" mission like this one.

Being so reminded about his job as mission support, he knew that once the Ryujo enters orbit, it was going to drop infiltration, recon and assault troops into the city, and the first thing they would need is a secure DZ. Taking the range when the missiles were fired at "Hellcat", he started scanning the opposite side of the city that Errowyn entered from for any large clearings outside of this range suitable for an assault drop. When enemy forces are encountered, people naturally gravitate towards the point of contact. Hopefully, by landing in the opposite direction, the assault force would face less opposition and allow them to gain a foothold before the enemy brings their full weight to bear on the intruders.

YSS Ryujo Power Armor Bay

Wild ARMs Alter Code: F Rocking Heart - Leave it to Me

Noa indeed seemed eager to be down here to play with the infantry girls and boys, listening with rapt attention as Kumiko laid out the plans for the teams. Lady was her assignment, a team that was to be light, graceful and deadly -- the little green haired soldier was definitely feeling that. It all reminded her of those VCE shooter games she played often in her downtime, only now it was going to be for real. She gave a miniature salute and a grin to the officer and the teammates, "Hai, Kumiko-shoi... with me here we have nothing to fear. I'm like victory in a handy, petite size!" Her enthusiasm about the mission, even with all the unknowns, was rather infectious.

It didn't take long for Amatsukaze-hei to locate her power armor for the mission, one of two lone Sylph mechas tucked into a corner of the rack. They were slightly smaller than their newer Mindy sisters, looking more like some kind of suited, cybernetic Nekovalkyrja than a traditional power armor. Though outmoded for a few years, the dainty things packed quite a lot of systems into a small package, thanks to not having to house a full sized infantry soldier inside.

Noa dropped the supply bag she was carrying around where it was, and proceeded to the pilot's locker area. She just needed the tiniest little cubbyhole on the bottom for her folded uniform and pistol belt, the final piece on top of the pile being her miniaturized Kuromegane visor that she set to sleep mode. All stripped down into her birthday suit, the fairy-like hacker then glided up the shiny metallic side of the Sylph and tapped the lip of the armored chestplate with her finger, causing it to open up with a hissing sound. She looked down with her pink eyes a moment into the fleshy cavity inside, as it was already starting to slowly fill with red, hemosynthetic fluids in preparation for her. "Time to take the plunge!" Noa then held her nose for a second and dropped into what seemed a first a warm and comforting bath. She curled up into a fetal position, as the Mini-SPINE in her back mated wirelessly with receivers in the cavity, and a long umbilical port made a connection with her belly-button. As the hatch opening sealed closed behind her protectively with another hiss sound, she was soon in what seemed uncannily like the dark womb-tube that she first was created from.

As her body's senses melted away, her digital mind sprung to life, reaching out and making connections at the speed of light to a new set of machine awareness. Suddenly she was now the five foot tall Sylph, feeling more like the Mini-Neko's body than her tiny one was. She flexed the fingers of the armor, and began mumbling as she went through diagnostic tests of various kinds. "Connection established. AIES on-line... aether reactor check... sensors check... servos... stealth system... PSC... integrated weapons... repair subsystem..." Some things required a few adjustments as she went, as the armor obviously had not been used in quite awhile, but soon she was satisfied with the new titanium-alloy skinned body's performance. The final touch was testing the ambulation and coordination as she reached down to grab the medical bag from the bay floor with the armor. What was so giant before was now light as a feather, and there was no troubles quickly belting it onto the Sylph M4 in the fashion of a Standard Star Army Butt Pack.

Noa soon gave a thumbs up to the squad leader and tested the communications frequencies with a broadcast, "Amatsukaze-hei, all systems green. I'm large... and ready to take charge." By Chiharu, she always wanted to say that.

YSS Ryujo Power Armor Bay

Megami finished up her checking on the power armor she would be piloting just in time for Kumiko to begin talking to the team. She listened quietly to how she stated she would be in charge of team Riot, while she’ll lead the team Lady. She noted her own team mates, Harada-Heisho, Kongo-Heisho, Matokai-Hei… She paused a moment and smiled with a nod, then Kumiko said she wished to speak to her in private before they left she nodded again. “Hai, Endoh-Shoi. As soon as I finish helping my team prepare, I shall come to see you.”

She looked around for a moment and then takes a breath for a moment, before looking over towards team RIOT. “Harada-Heisho, Kongo-Heisho, Matokai-Hei, don’t forget to double check systems, and ensuring that the systems are up to par, we don’t want any accidental…issues.” She then got into her Mindy and moved over towards Harada having finished her check before Kumiko got to talking. “Alright, Harada-Heisho, ready for my loadout.”

Bridge

Takeyu waited patiently for the away team to be off, but had noticed that it seemed to be taking them a bit of time; he wondered if some of the green infantry were having issues - but - he would leave that up to Kumiko to sort out. Leaning back in his seat, the captain closed his eyes for a moment in thought before opening back up. "Yaeko-Shoi. Please send out a message to the recon team, inform them that infantry are on the way, however; as we don't know teh capabilities of whomever it was that attacked them I want to be cryptic in what you send, enough for our pilots to understand but not for others. We'll be keeping the Ryujo back until we are sure that whoever is on that planet doesn't have anything big enough to damage either this ship or any others in our squad."

The captain did wonder who would be stupid enough to fire on a couple fighters, given that fighters would rarely head anywhere alone without 'something' to back them up in the event of trouble. Thinking on that, the captain began to rub his chin.

"Anjin-Shoi, if the recon squad has sent back any useful information, please begin analyzing it."

Yaeko turned in her seat as she heard her name behind her, she paused for a moment to consider possible coded messages before responding with, "Aye sir, I'll figure something out."

She turned back to her console and leaned back against in her chair with a sigh as she contemplated. It was Hellcat out there, somebody that she knew, so she figured there must be some way to send her a veiled communication. Maybe a reference to an old mission, or some terminology that they used to use when they flew together in the 21st. Suddenly she realized that the trick would be simplicity. Switching to the fighter squadron's communications channel she chimmed in.

"Hellcat, Hunter. Daisies. Out."

Aurigaesha I

Errowyn perked up at the incoming message on a frequency that only a handful people knew in the 21st. She gave thought and responded back on the same frequency.

"Hunter, Hellcat. Get the 'Bees' ready, out." Referring to the two fighter pilots back on Ryujo. Crap was about to hit the fan and she was stuck in a recon craft. Not her beloved '5', her kawarime.

Someone must hate her. Rookie pilots, stuck in a recon craft when action was about to happen. Half of her defensive measures expended.

She moved her recon craft closer to Kakeu's. Using telepathy, ~~incoming ground forces, dragon 2.~~ Errowyn relayed to Kakeru.

"Roger that, I've started looking for a drop zone for them." Kakeru sent back to Errowyn.

"We rotate out once Doc and Nicols arrive on station?" The idea of trying to provide top cover in slow, lightly armed recon craft did not appeal to him either, and the arrival of the new pilots would give the recon team a chance to swap out into more appropriate fighters while the others watched over the deployment.

Power Armor Bay

Ingrid looked around at her small group. "Well, as the name implies, our group is going to go in heavy. Kongo-Heisho, you and me will go in with the Gauss Bazookas, as well as a shoulder mounted gauss cannon, and a shoulder mounted missile launcher. Matonaka-Shoi and Matokai-Hei, you'll both go with the APRs, a single gauss cannon on one shoulder, and the energy shield projector on the other. Outside of there, I leave your loadout up to you. Just keep in mind that we need to be the hammer if anything goes wrong." She smiled impishly at the group for a moment before attaching her own helmet, her voice issuing from the helmet after only a moment later, shouldering the gauss bazooka that she'd picked up as she spoke. "Now let's hurry up. We haven't been told there's any huge rush, but we don't want to wait too long either."

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Kumiko nodded to Megami, then looked at the 3 people she'd picked out to take with her in the point squad. "I'm glad to hear that, Amasukaze-Hei. If you're all ready to go, go ahead and get loaded up in the shuttle. I want everyone but Hatoyama-Hei to be ready right at the back end of the shuttle, just in case we need to disembark in a hurry." She locked her helmet down into place, the sensors in the corners of the helmet's matte visor pulsing a red line across the screen as it came online. "By the same token, Kongo-Heisho, we're leaving the Troll behind for now. It might be worth it later, but we're still effectively just doing recon, we need more time to investigate before I want to bring any heavy armor down. As soon as I've had a chance to talk with Matonaka-Shoi, we'll head out and get down there."

Aurigaesha I

~~That's the plan. I want you to ride backseat with me in '5'. To continue to gather intel and act as EW. Since you have a feel of the situation and can advice the ground forces commander.~~ Errowyn sent back via telepathy.

She smiled at the way things were working out.

YSS Ryūjō, Power Armor Bay


Masato, thankfully, didn't notice Noa as she entered her armor - the resulting nosebleed would've been.....messy, to put it mildly (and a pain to clean up, as well). "Acknowledged, Heisho" said the Minkan as he strode off in the direction of the nearby Armory so that he could configure the loading arms. A bit heavier then I would've preferred, but - Masato mentally shrugged - we are the heavy-hitters providing fire support for the 'Ladies'.


Armory


Upon seeing the vast quantities of firepower and equipment stored in the compartment, Masato became far more nervous as it finally caught up with him that he was going into actual combat. Fortunately for the technician, however, it didn't take long for him to banish his fears - after all, he'd already been scared witless before in his life - and, in a way, he was looking forward to something like this. Now head-bobbing as he played a song over the Mindy's internal speakers (having a digital memory was epic), Masato approached the aforementioned control console for the Armory's manipulator arms and, with his suited fingers dancing over the volumetric displays, programmed in his module selections.


Having finished entering his selections into the console (and double-checking that it had been saved correctly, Masato went over to the one of the numerous wall racks, grabbed an Accelerated Plasma Rifle, attaching a Ke-M2-W2909-RGL to it, then double-timed it back to the Power Armor Bay.

Power Armor Bay

After pausing the background music and checking to ensure that the APR's safety was enabled (having it go off now would, for obvious reasons, be a bad thing) as he gingerly leaned it against the nearest bulkhead, Masato re-secured himself in one of the Armor Storage Racks and, via the Mindy's AIES, signaled the Armory systems to equip the suit with the (in the Santô Hei's opinion) aptly-named 'Brawler' loadout.

Following what seemed like an eternity to the technician - in reality having been about 30 seconds -, a notification appeared on the Mindy's viewscreen signaling the completion of the attachment process; recalling Matonaka-Shoi's advice on double-checking the power armor's systems, Masato ran a quick diagnostic on the newly installed modules and, due to his hatred of a demon named Murphy, on the Mindy itself. With that running, Masato retrieved his APR and walked over to where Harada-Heisho was, struggling with the Plasma Rifle's plasma intake connectors as he did so. Who the frell designed these gorram connectors? Son of a bosh'tet!

Finally connecting the last of the aforementioned plasma intakes, the Minkan looked up just in time to avoid colliding with Harada. Smooth, you baka. "Matokai-Hei, ready for action...diagnostics will be complete momentarily." said Masato as he stepped back slightly, not wanting to crowd the Jôtô Heisho. Moments later, the power armor completed the aforementioned diagnostics, displaying them on Masato's screen with a 'ping!'


....Next time, I should probably find a way to collapse the menus thought Masato, wincing as he scrolled down through the list. "Diagnostics are all in the green, no faults detected. I'm ready to go." Now that he'd finished preparing his mobile adaptive weaponry, the engineer unpaused the music he'd been listening to and, moments later, began head-bobbing again.

"Hai, Joto Hei." Kakeru had a sinking feeling as Errowyn "requested" him for her backseater. He could just imagine himself stuck in the back of her Kawarime as she charged straight into the worst of enemy fire and resolved that the first thing he did in '5' was to memorize the location of the eject lever.

Bridge

After receiving Hellcat's communication, Yaeko stood up and turned to Takeyu. "Sir, the pilots have been notified. Yumeobito-Hei has asked me to prep her fighter so she can switch to a combat craft and, if it's acceptable with you, sir, I'd like to take the second one out myself. I've wrapped up most of what I can do here, and I'm more useful to you out there."

Power Armor Bay

Having already donned all her gear, Ume made her way back to the shuttle to prep it for launch. She never did like to wear power armor while piloting, the chairs weren't designed with that in mind but she didn't have much choice given the situation. While she was at it she called up the Megami on her screen "Request for an live entry trajectory to put us down near the active area."

Sasami gave a salute on screen before she did a little work and popped up a displace that showed the position of the Ryujo, the shuttle and the city and a flight path that was constantly updating to show the best way to get down their quickly and safely.

Ume gave a nod and then turned around to call out to everyone, though she spoke over the comm system so it didn't matter which direction she faced. "All systems green and flight path is in. Ready to go once you guys are."

Power Armor Bay

Megami nodded to the quartermaster that had been assigned to give them stuff, she gathered up all that she was told to, an APR, a shoulder cannon of the Gauss variety, and the energy shield attaching them where they needed to go. Making sure she had nothing else to get, she bowed to Ingrid giving her a thanks, and then headed to go find Kumiko. She was wondering what she wanted to talk to her about, most likely plans once they got to the surface, she was eager to see what she had in mind, testing Kumiko's strategic value seemed to be a good decision.