RP: YSS Ryūjō YSS Ryujo, Post-Mission 2

Fitness centre

"Okay, erm, theese is a spechull one, I'm callin' de graviton kick, yah?" Eisei's green-orange eyes flashed like orbs of rusted brass, as she skulked sideways. It was a bit like a housecat trying to look natural in order to fool an enemy, but the way she combed back her fluffy pink ears with those long nails spoke of an eagerness to impress, too. "You safe wurd is 'string beans', okaayee?~"

The attack was a sudden and vibrant movement, beginning with a sharp twist of the waist followed by what looked like a lousy backflip... Bouncing forward with her free hand was the real purpose, however, as the high angle allowed her to use her gravity organ, diverting the momentum and propelling a kick straight upwards, almost directly at Zdena's chin!

YSS Ryujo Maintinance Tunnels

The Minkan woman with a name of silver crawled through the vein-like network of the ship. She occasionally grumbled to herself, essentially fixing any problem that she could find in any nearby rooms as she effectively went through the ship in a methodical way.

Leave the tunnel. Check the local wiring and plumbing for any malfunctions. If it was something more complex like fabrication equipment, run a test protocol. If everything goes smoothly, note it down. If something is on the fritz, the time to fix it is now. Repeat until the ship isn't falling apart by the actions of some creepy alien boarders. Some of the technicians she's passed have said they shapeshift, others said they can possess people.


Argenta did admit under her breath, those attackers were quite interesting. They managed to disable technology and people with apparent ease, or so it's been said, and-

Smack! She hadn't been paying attention, the technician's head colliding with another's accidentally as she was trying to enter the tube again after that last room. The collision wasn't dangerous, just enough to briefly disorient both people involved.

"S-sorry..."

YSS Ryūjō
Gym

Eisei's kick came swooping in at Zdena's chin, but a clumsy yet swift dive to the left gave Zdena the spacing she needed to avoid the kick. Her opponent had announced her attack after all. However, as Zdena recovered from the dive, she was bent over for a split second too long, giving Eisei the leverage she needed to end the fight in a single blow or grapple if she took it...

YSS Ryujo Maintenance Tunnels

The mandibles of the technician with which Argenta had collided clattered together for a few moments, and the translator she was wearing reported in Trade, "Ow. No problem." as she slithered past, mechanical limbs folding up in her backpack. Argenta knew something about her crewmate, Zaoggyilo. Her species was blind, but could 'see' magnetic fields. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Zaoggyilo was known as the ship's best electrician, and an expert in magnetic containment systems.

There was a lot of wiring to repair, and that seemed to be her present task. There weren't many others on board who could sense faults in wiring without tools, even before the panels were removed. Given the nature of the threats the Ryujo had seen recently, it was a shame only one of her species was on board.

Deck 6, Fitness Center

So, Fyodor thought, looking over the given information, we got ‘boarders’ on at least three decks, with at least four KIAs and fifteen casualties overall. What in the world can these things do if you get a bigger group together? He shivered at the thought. Good to see my misdeeds were redacted, I guess. Wonder what clearance you need to have to be to see that.

The real question is what were these guys after? The Kodian thought as he watched the Nekos go at it. Why not just cause some havoc in security then gather everyone together and force your way through engineering? Sure, at least make sure you get some secondary targets and all that. But what do they gain from taking out one Yamataian ship? I’ll have to talk to both of them about what exactly happened to their squads, cause something went seriously wrong in those simulation bays. Then talk to Squad 2 to see what they did right. Need to be better prepared for the next time we face these ‘boarders.’ Hmm, did the Captain give me access to anything else? He wondered as he looked through his inbox, waiting to see which of his squadmates would win this round.

Fyodor didn't find he'd been given special clearance for any other reports, but there was enough relevant data available to any Santo Hei in the infantry that the mission would be over by the time he went through it all. There were others working on it, and some had begun to draft briefings, though they hadn't gotten too far in just a few hours.

At least in theory, Fyodor could get faster, more reliable data by asking the MEGAMI than by looking around on his own. Some assessments certainly contradicted others, as it wasn't possible for the enemy's primary goal to be to disable the ship and abduct crew, or to kill as many Nekos as possible, unless not all the infiltrators were working toward the same objectives.

Was there any harm in finding out what the computer's answers were to the questions already on his mind?

Deck 6, Fitness Center

The moment that Zdena had bolted underneath her, Eisei's body changed direction in mid air; Now flying down and backwards, with her plastered arm arced in a perfect elbow drop! A person both obsessed with anime, and possessing a Nekovalkyrja gravity organ, really had no reason to obey the laws of physics after all!

It was a tremendous force which thus landed against Santo Hei Nylund's back, projecting the entire pink-haired cat girl's body weight down upon her, and resulting in a devastatingly audible crack...

"P...P-Please say 'string beans'!..." Eisei demanded, through her voice was now strange and enfeebled for some reason. They seemed to be trying to use their butt to pin their opponent to the floor much more than their arm now. "...'String beans' means you give up, r-remember~?"

Funny. They heard a horrible noise, but Zdena didn't feel like they'd broken anything themselves...

...Why were Eisei's eyes suddenly watering up?...

Deck 6, Fitness Center

To ask the MEGAMI or not to ask, Fyodor thought, sighing as he scratched his head. Is this something we ‘aren’t supposed to know’? Stupid AI not following instructions. You know what, fine. Guess I can deal with being told I’m an idiot for the second time today. He mentally reiterated his questions: Any idea what the boarders were after? Any suggestions on why they targeted officers, engineering, and the simulation bays? Any suggestions for fighting the boarders in the future?, then sent them off to the MEGAMI and settled in to wait for it to get around to answering a demoted Santo Hei’s questions.

Before the Kodian could get too comfortable though, he refocused on the Neko’s fight as he heard something crack. “What was that?” he asked, getting to his feet and lumbering over to them. “Either of you get hurt?” Great way to start together as a squad.

"It is probable all enemy units, including infiltrators, squadrons, and carriers, shared the same objective: To capture the Raccoon shuttle on which you arrived. The boarders' actions are consistent with an attempt to delay pursuit of their fleet within the strictures of their rules of engagement, which appear to forbid attempting to kill their enemies. If they have taken prisoners, it is likely a contingency plan also meant to delay pursuit. The attack on the simulation bay was a diversion. Your squad leader will provide instructions should it become necessary to engage this enemy before official policies have been implemented."

The MEGAMI had given Fyodor only one non-answer. Maybe the repairs were going well? The rest of the squad received the same answers by telepathy, save with the word 'you' replaced with 'Fyodor'.

Fitness Center

Zdena could turn off her pain receptors, and continue the fight if she had wanted to. But, she was terrified of this whimsical and villainous Neko. Besides, in any circumstance, Zdena was simply outmatched, and a continuation of the fight would have exacerbated her injuries.

After turning off her pain receptors, Zdena also turned off her pride, and spoke the silly phrase which Eisei had ordered her to say.

"String...beans...I give up!"

Deck 6, Fitness Center

Zdena was only bruised, and not badly, although with her pain receptors turned off, it wasn't obvious to her. Eisei, meanwhile, now had a compound fracture, at minimum. The Azorean--Zdena's former squadmate, who was sharing the mat with them for her exercises--looked over at the tableau that left, turn back, and fell on her side in the other direction, apparently glad to stay out of it.

Deck 6, Fitness Center

Fyodor sighed, both at the MEGAMI’s response and Eisei’s fairly obvious re-broken arm. Why was that shuttle so important? He thought as Zdena cried uncle. Probably some classified garbage that was in a box next to my armor. Unless they wanted my Kodian-original paint brushes for some nefarious purposes.

“Eisei-san,” he said, taking a knee and putting a paw lightly against her back. “Come on, let’s get you to medbay. Looks like you broke your arm again.” Once the Neko had extricated herself from her pinned counterpart, he scooped her up and cradled her in an arm, her broken arm resting against his chest. “No way either of you are fighting me in this state,” he said, looking between the two Nekos before starting towards the door. “Unless you have better things to do, Zdena-hei, would you come with me so we can talk about the boarding operation yesterday? Feels like I’m missing something, but it would be nice to not just be talking to the MEGAMI.”

Deck 6, Fitness Center

Despite faying a small smile over the assurance of this victory, Eisei actually found herself completely unable to remove herself from Zdena's back, frozen in a cold sweat. For several awkward moments this continued, probably not helping the level of creepy that her pained grin was giving off.

When Fyodor scooped her up, though, this also meant that he found it significantly easy to cradle her. Given that her incredibly light body was still trapped in a balled up position, it was weirdly just like stealing a store front mannequin.

"Ow ow ow Bee gentul Fee-yoo-door!~" A grimace, and a high pitch squeak. "...Zee-dinner Hei, she gonna find out she beat meee... without even usin' 'er armses!~..."

NMX neko. They were built weird in the head.

Fitness Center

After Eisei was lifted off of her back, the confused looking Neko made an effort to stand up and to examine herself. She looked up and down for injury, however, seeing none on her anterior, Zdena briefly turned on her pain receptors. The pain seemed to be focused on her back, so she ran her hands along her back until she reached a sensitive area, her face grimacing as her hand moved across it.

Despite her relative state of pain, Zdena decided that there was little cause for concern, and turned off her pain receptors. She looked up at the screaming Eisei and back down at the mat, before moving to follow Fyodor.

"Umm, okay. I'll tell you about it. What...what did you want to know?", she asked timidly, anticipating another verbal reprimand for her poor conduct during and after the mission.

Deck 6, Fitness Center

“Oh shush,” Fyodor said, showing his own teeth in a Kodian smile as he booped Eisei’s nose. “You can’t complain when you’re the one who thought using a broken arm in a pin was a good idea.” Shaking his head, he left the gym and started towards the medbay, but walked slowly until the other Neko caught up.

“I want to ask about your experience in the simulation bay, Zdena-hei,” he asked, glancing at her before looking where he was walking. “I know I could look up your report, but since you’re here, I thought that I’d give you the chance to get it from you.” Especially wondering why it got so bad that you got hit with ‘friendly’ fire.

Deck 6, Corridors

The overall response to the training accident, at least from those in the fitness center, had been largely one of polite murmurs; it didn't seem anyone present was quite willing to laugh or frown, although silently judging the team wasn't out of the question. As luck would have it, however, their squad leader had arrived on the deck at around the same time as they'd left the fitness center, and the felinoid Minkan was approaching them at a brisk and purposeful walk, down the corridor ahead.

Though human-shaped, she had all the features of a mountain lion, including the teeth. She was lithe, with dark blue eyes, and appeared to have seen fit to change into her exercise uniform before hitting the gym, unlike around half of the others there. To describe her gait as catlike and sinuous was almost redundant.

It seemed she hadn't noticed that Eisei was wounded yet, so perhaps there was still time to make a good first impression... somehow... at least for the others. Eisei didn't quite have that chance, since she was the only member of the squad whose squad leader hadn't changed, Nitô Heisho Sakurai Shrii had been her supervisor for weeks. Eisei could tell Shrii's eyes were narrowed, already.

Deck 6, Corridors

"...Didn' think about eet, jus happund..." Eisei answered in a hushed tone. Fyodor's huge fangs were pretty scary, but that also made her feel a weird little unknown notion. Perhaps she liked him because he was scary?... "A noble soldier of good and light has gotta do what they need-ta ta win. A willing sacrifice es how you know who's da good guy, you know?..."

Encountering her squad leader in the halls, that was enough to make her leap out of the bear soldier's arms, regardless. She did a full rigid-backed bow of greeting, as spoiled as it was by clutching her arms together, with tears flowing down her cheeks all the while.

"Heisho! Your m-mane is as glorious as your warrior's soul bright, on this fine morning!" A change in voice, to something far more smooth and clear. Being conditioned to respect authority was one thing, but this bug-eyed explosion of enthusiasm was really something else.

Ryujo Maintinance Tunnel Network

Argenta let the technician pass, before thinking for a moment. She asked a relatively simple question, if worded slightly complexly.

"Do you mind if I help you out, Miss Zao-Zaoggylio? If we work together the repair work should go faster significantly."


An afterthought, safely tucked within her artificial cranium: And maybe I can pronounce your name without stuttering and stumbling over the syllables like an idiot if I say it enough times... I wonder if she might have any idea what those guys earlier could do to the ship, as well.

Deck 6, Corridors

"Well...it's a long story...", started Zdena as she followed the big Kodian out of the fitness center. As the group turned out of the door, they ran into their new, feline squad leader.

After moving forward to cover Eisei's injured arm with half of her body, Zdena straightened to attention, set her eyes forward with an abrupt grace, and gave a swift salute.

"Sakurai-Heisho, Nylund-Hei reporting!", she said in enthusiastic voice, somewhat mimicking Eisei's tone.

Deck 6, Corridors

Fyodor nodded encouragingly as Zdena started talking, unconsciously rocking the Neko in his arm as he made his way towards the medbay. The appearance of his new commanding officer made him stop in place, as he tried to figure out why she would come to them instead of asking the group to go to her.

His thoughts were interrupted when Eisei bounced out of his arm and was surprised when she bowed to their commanding officer. Wonder if it’s real fear or some NMX programming, he thought, shaking off his bewilderment off his face before bowing himself. “Zima-hei, at your service, ma’am,” he said, before taking a step to the right, to help ease traffic through the corridors, and straightened to attention. Nice teeth. This ship really likes being unique.