[YSS Shiroyama] Mission One: And that's how it all started...

Shasse prompted a chuckle out of the Iroma; she's just like one of his cousins. He can immediately tell he'll find a new friend in her, as well as her polar opposite friend. He let his one and only woman lean into him, as the feelings of infatuation and pride bubbled in his chest. "Hey, I'm down for us being friends! Always looking to expand the family with people we can trust and have fun with, on duty and off duty and all that."

Then, his bright red eyes caught the attention of Hinata, and he couldn't help but wave and say hello. "Hey there! Don't think we've been formally introduced, I'm Latch the lucky, plucky, and skilled pilot! Glad to see you're very formal, though you don't have to be like that around me; I'm a pretty chill last-name/first-name basis kind of guy."

His own tattoos are hidden under the uniform he has donned on, but if he rolled up his sleeves, then he would be revealing their own dull, luminous glow as he felt his blood rush a bit faster.

Wardroom

Kensei had been focussed on the coffee machine, more than he had been on his own question, apparently. Watching with bated fascination as Val went to assist the Elysian. Though a final thump called him back to reality as he glanced back over to Lucas. A soft hiss of sealants going airtight as the plates on his face locked down. Before the pieces at his jaw relaxed again. "Apologies-... We wished to know what our standard formation and modus operandi would be." The android seemed hesitant for a moment, before continuing. "It would be easiest for us- me to adapt to that when I know in advance."

Sachiko smiled at him “yup, that would be my mother, my aunt’s elder sister.” she said happily. “She made sure to have us meet,” she said while fondly thinking of her mother. She loved the woman. “I’m your combat engineer, but if you need anything fixed, I am your girl. “ She said “oh that reminds me, I’m a bit of a tinkerer too,” she said, remembering that she also wanted to see the one in charge of the station.

She couldnt help but look around, to all of the people gathered here, and those who she might be working with, or helping out. She soon caught the sight of a blue skinned Neko who she decided she might want to be friends with.

"Yay! I dunno about family but friends are good, can you cook?" Shasse asked Latch, a sideways questioning expression on her face as she looked up at him, deciding to just hug his waist as well, there seemed to be another person in the way but that wouldn't stop the little neko who simply hugged them both, her white hair making a curtain around her. The small blue girl released him as quickly as she had grabbed him and grinned happily, "Your eyes are funny." She said, noticing his unique Iroma facial features.

Suddenly her hair tingled, someone was looking at her, she could feel it. In reality it was simply her skinvision kicking in although since she never used it she wasn't used to its abilities. Spinning round she saw Sachiko and waved vigorously before bounding over to her and diving into her with open arms, if the other girl wasn't careful they'd both go crashing to the floor on account of the massive strength possessed by the mini super soldier.

"Hey there! I'm Shasse Emiko but you can call me whatever you want, who are you?"

"That is nice to see families staying in touch, I try to do so with my sister. She became a music star, and I....well you see that answer to that one. Also you'll be the first I go to for maintenance work, and am I to assume the woman with you here is your aunt? Suzume Itatski was it? I recognize you from seeing you around the station, as well as my files on my subordinates. Medic, which is a position worth it's weight in gold, pleasure to make your acquaintance ma'am," Lucas answered cheerfully before hearing the question of the robotic fellow, "Oh you must be Kensei, our dracon unit? You're going to be my CQC specialist....operandus? I'm sorry, I am still understanding some of the languages here, so I'm not familiar with the phrase. Can you explain for me please?"

As the little blue neko darted over, it barely phased the iroma man, having grown used to sudden appearances due to......previous life choices. "Good heavens, and who might this be? A friend of yours?"

WARDROOM

Hinata chuckled a little as she finished her sip and stretched out her legs a little. She put her drink down and crossed her arms under her chest as she watched Latch.

"I'm just being nice since the big wigs are here, I'm usually a little more... Huggy Feely, emphasis on the feely, than this." She explained as she watched the room around them. Eventually, she stood and for once felt at home with all the tall Nekos around her, as she had usually been the one to tower over the others.

Knorr’s first few days out of training was some of his best. For him, he realized how much he loved being free and being able to go anywhere he wanted. Of course, this was kept well within reason, as his new career within the military served as his inevitable check. Knorr didn’t mind this however, this was the path he chose, and so he was satisfied with who he was now. A Ranger in the Star Army. It was definitely step above infantry, and with that came a certain pride that only few other occupations within the military allowed. All of this was in his mind as he found himself at his first posting. The YSS Shiroyama above Terra Multa. Knorr didn’t really know much about the location, though he was sure somebody would fill him in on the situation. It was a bittersweet feeling to leave his home behind, the first thoughts were those of his family. There were several thoughts during training as to if he made the right decision. All of the negative thoughts however were pushed to the back of his mind. He knew that if he worked hard and proved himself, the Star Army would take care of him.


His hunch was right as he sat in on the brief that the CO gave everyone along with his subordinates. One of which was Knorr’s lead NCO, a man who looked to be twice his height. All around him looked to be veterans, some of them more battle hardened than others. Still, the fact remained that Knorr was newest soldier here. This caused him to feel anxious and even somewhat nervous. All throughout training, Knorr barely saw officers. All the NCO’s he interacted with were there for his training, and made sure he applied himself diligently to his education. This was a way to put things lightly; needless to say, all the rank around made him uneasy. Once the CO stopped speaking, everyone sort of broke off into their own little groups. Some of them even knew each other from previous posting. It became abundantly very quickly that Knorr was totally green as he had no one specific to talk to. “Aw man, I bet I look like a total rookie right now.” Knorr thought to himself as he rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe I should try to find my should try to find my Heisho again.” Knorr said under his breath, with the clear look of being lost in the sauce.

Sachiko smiled as her commanding officer had spoken to her, saying that it was nice to see family staying in touch. She agreed with this immensely she loved staying in touch with her mother, and Grandfather. She was pleased that she had an Aunt to talk to here as well. Sachiko listened as she learned that He had a sister and that she now knew the answer to that. She had a feeling she did, sometimes the military had different placements and it would be rare that they get to be in the same place as their loved one. Fortunately, she was able to be with her mother since it took only three months for Neko youngling to mature.

Sachiko nodded her head” yup, that’s right on both accounts.” she said to Lucas and listened as he spoke to her aunt, Suzume, and the Dracon unit beside her.

Of course, she probably should have kept her eyes on her group, but she just had to go and look at the people and suddenly she was enzoed and found herself o the ground beneath her and a hyperactive Neko on top of her. She learned that she was called Shasse Emiko and that she can call her whatever she wished, and then she was asked who she was.

“I’m Sachiko, Itatski Sachiko.” she said to her “nice to meet you, Shasse, I think I’d prefer to call you friend if that’s ok,” she said to her before she moved to sit up.

25 minutes until convergence
The half-SOL finished brewing some coffee in a travel mug and threw her partner's shotgun onto the passenger seat of their vintage speeder before the fusion engine slowly hummed to life, spitting out a small cloud of dust that had gathered over the intake during one of the recent dust-storms that had rolled through a few days ago - nothing too malicious but damn did it manage to get into all the most annoying spots.

Down on the road that ran perpendicular to the long driveway that lead up to their house she could see it, lights as the delivery drone lazily swooped lower to the ground, undoubtedly opening up the cargo hatch to deposit whatever the hell was being delivered - the half-SOL sighed and shifted her vehicle into gear, placing the travel mug in its appropriate spot and letting out a tired sigh before letting her vehicle trundle down the gravel path.

She just hoped the drone wasn't as rough as last time.

YSS Shiroyama, Command Module – Wardroom, Present

"Modus Operandi~" Kimber quietly reciprocated from her position at the front of the room, her mismatching gaze drifting across ot the gaggle of Rangers that had assembled at Lucas' feet, hoping the lack of questions from her own unit was a good thing. "It's Elysian, means 'Mode of Operation', they are asking for the specifics of how you wish them to go about their job," she nodded before looking down to a wrist-mounted communicator that had chirped, scrolling through the projected display with a scarred hand that had lifted away from the Operative's katana.

"Oh, well that's simple really. For now, we are doing routine patrols, gathering intel on anything out of the ordinary. Otherwise it's fairly routine, with the only major difference is that our routes pass through outside areas that are not within developed areas. In the case of hostile elements, we go about the usual operations you were all taught in ranger training. Everything from recon, to targeting enemy assets with lowkey discretion. Ammo dump for example, creep in quietly, hit it and get out." Lucas answered with that now cleared up and understanding the question properly now, "It is a pleasure to meet you all also I must say."

Kimber nodded at the device on her arm and slid it back under the sleeve of her black-paneled uniform, her eyes slowly dancing back to the Iroma with a simple look that asked if he was ready, one auburn eyebrow raised querying to ask if he felt it was time to get started.

Lucas turned back to her for a moment catching the look, "Also thank you Miss Shanks for clarifying that for me." he said as he gave her the confirmation nod.

"Think nothing of it, happy to help where I can," she responded with a look of respect and subdued warmth towards Lucas before stepping away from the curious rangers and a little further forward to take her version of center stage, letting her presence alone shush the room more than any clearing of one's throat or tapping of a mic might be able to - the green-winged and haired Elysian being ushered out of the room before Valerie took up a position leaning against the wall near Knorr.

"In fact folks, you'll all want to hear this." The ex-preacher turned soldier said as he also stepped around to center of the presentation stage and cleared his throat to garner attention from the others, "This brings me to our first order of business. Today both teams will be doing practice runs, which in this case will be a joint training patrol. Both I and Shanks Heisho will be commanding our respective units, but will stay in contact for coordination. We will commence shortly, so are there any last minute questions before we begin?"

Kimber's eyes narrowed a little as she offered Lucas a brief sideways glance before adding one final thing onto the end of his announcement, "Questions can be asked as you gear up, Rangers your gear is still where it should be in the armoury whereas I've personally ensured the equipment of the seventy fourth has been moved to our ship due to the fact it is primarily our ship - you're all expected to be down on the Buccaneer in five mikes, dismissed," the auburn operative snapped off, quickly shifting to give the Buccaneer's horned pilot a small nod before stepping out of the spotlight to begin making her way to the titular vessel, taking a slower pace to let her team join her.

Juno, now sitting a bit further upright in Latch's embrace, smiled at the small group of soldiers around her before speaking, "Don't worry guys. if he does anything too flashy then I'll thump him for you all," the minkan chuckled a little, floating into a standing position to begin shifting locations - it was time to see how the teams handled themselves.

Armory

A soft if agitated Tch sound clicked from Suzume's tongue as she shrugged off the top of her duty uniform and carefully hung it inside her marked locker in favor of the freshly cleaned type-31 in the ranger-standard rikupat camouflage that complimented her olive skin rather nicely she thought. The annoyed click didn't come from any personal gripe or grievance, But more from trying to struggle out of the tight form-fitting skirt and top into the more preferred uniform. She had, After all, Used quite a lot of powder just keeping a uniform not usually meant for people of her build to not chafe or rub her raw.

She didnt mind changing in the armory. Public changing with the other rangers was just a staple of the culture, And to suzume it was no different from changing with Sachiko, Minus the skinship or almost parental doting she might exhibit towards her ward. There wasnt time for that.

She ignored, Or was more likely oblivious to any stares and offered none in return to any of the other rangers in the armory. And quickly dawned her type-40 vest, Its familiar weight a reassurance to the young neko as she slid unseen a small cloth bag into the spacing between her uniform and the vest, The days good luck charm equally as important to her well being and protection as the armor itself she would argue in some cases.

Boots, gloves, and just about the entirety of her kit came next. She excluded certain items like camouflaged netting, survival kits, and other such miscellaneous items. She wouldnt need those in training most likely.

Finally she entered the code to unlock her personal weapons. A small set of knuckle dusters hung off of her belt, Knives in their sheathes. A fresh issue Type 33 pistol found its holster and an equally unused GP-12 in its ultra-light and compact configuration. She glanced at her concussion gauntlet in its mount and hesitated, But thought better of it. She wasn't going to war and wouldn't need it. It may never get used but she still felt the urge to equip it over her forearm of her armor just for the reassurance and comfort it gave her.

Finding herself ready before the others she left the armory and made a slow, casual pace towards the...

"Bucca... Bucky..." she tried to pronounce the name of the ship with visible frustration when she was sure nobody was within earshot but found it beyond her. Her grasp of Trade was sparse at best and the name simply fell beyond her vocabulary. "Kaizoku" She nodded, Using its yamatigo counterpart instead.

Hovering slightly after a quick skip after checking to make sure she was still alone in the corridor she allowed herself a brief if rare smile from the childish excitement she was feeling before approaching the mooring bulkhead for the SOFT teams ship and reverting to her usual deadpan upon entering the ship and awaiting sachi and the others.

Shasse looked at Lucas and gave him a big grin, "Yeah! We just became friends, good to meet you Sachi." The little blue ball of energy and white hair said excitedly as she was rolled off the poor girl and sat on the floor next to her. "C'mon we gotta get going now!" She said leaping to her feet after hearing the call of five minutes, making a break for the ship to get her gear and get seated.

Sachiko smiled, Shasse was really full of energy it seemed and honestly, Sachiko liked that about her. She was so cute and she felt happy she had made a new friend, and she was even called Sachi by her. She nodded when she heard the call and saw her new friend run off to get changed, so she got up and moved t join them in the armory, and her mind began to go elsewhere as it usually did when she did things on instinct.

As the young girl got dressed with her teammates, like her aunt she was oblivious to the staring that might happen. Her mind was far away, rather levels, away in her space she managed to claim for herself. Yup, even now, while she was changing, she was thinking about tinkering. When suddenly after getting her pants off, and now dressed in her panties “of course! Yes, that could work! “She thought as she stood up “if I do it that way I could add power to the coupling, and the stabilizer will run smoothly, but if I am not careful, it could blow up in my face..” she said and then she noticed some stares ’oh, sorry! She said and quickly changed before she found herself approaching her Auntie. She smiled at her, feeling pleased that they would be on the same team.

She wanted to tell her she might have an update on her own personal project, but she knew she should do so later. She hoped that she remembered, however. She was certain her aunt would be pleased that she had made a new friend.

SpaceEye said:

When Miko's eyes locked onto Sora's figure he walked over and put his arms around her waist and gave a hug. "Morning!!," he said in a pleasant tone of voice.

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The towering archangel pat her boyfriend on the head a couple times, laughing quite softly for a person of her stature. "I was wondering when you were gonna get in here! I was about to give you a call to make sure you didn't miss the briefing for the mission." Turning to face Mikodimus, Arinori gave him a brief hug before turning back to the nekovalkyria woman.

SageShooter said:

"Nito Hei Arinori Sora, infantry with the ninth legion, little to note with service, but made to Nito Hei with little issue. I hope the informal meeting style that has seemingly caused a lack of respect will be left here. Isn't it custom to at least give a small salute to superior officers when at a briefing?" Midori asked as she looked the Elysian over and stood. While she stood almost a full foot and a half taller then the diminutive neko, Midori felt no worry about the larger woman. Midori was a Samurai, and an old one at that. But as Mikodimus walked over, she raised her eyebrow in wonder at the Minkan, the first real show of emotion on the otherwise stone-faced Neko.

"Good to see you too. It seems this meeting has made everyone lax..."

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With a half-smile, the Patritian responded, "The time for formalities isn't exactly right now. Liven up a little! People work together better when they're more comfortable with each other, and being professional can wait until we're on the field!" Her perfectly fluent Yamitaigo carried itself cleanly to the Eihei, still relaxed despite what she had said the the angel. Though, she had started to move away; the last thing she'd said directly to Midori was, "Just relax a little! It keeps you from cramping up!"

"Yes, Kenseijin ichi-rei, Kensei is-... What you'd describe my callsign." The lights that portruded from the cracks where normal cheeks were supposed to be seemed to dim and flare up as he spoke. Though Shanks-heisho beat him to it and the droid inclined his head as the commander declared his query. "Understood," the droid answered as cheekplates relaxed ever so slightly, before tightening again. As if the droid had caught himself off guard for the indignance of such an action. Organic's facial movements and animation was an odd thing to behold, though he found himself imitating it to the best of his extent. And adressing a senior officer was, after all, a professional setting.

Once more, the droid inclined his head. "Thank you, Arturius-heisho," the droid retorted, before taking several hesitant steps backwards, before retreating back to a corner of the room. Away from what he felt to be prying eyes, mayhaps even disgusted looks. He wouldn't want to offend, the best course of action to do such, was to just not be around.

The droid perked up as both Lucas and Kimber decided to adress the room. Giving their commands. The droid was already out of the room before Lucas managed to get interjected by Kimber. On his way to the armoury. Though for the droid, there was little to gear up for. With soft scuffing from the duressed soles of his makeshift shoes, the droid navigated to the armoury, pulling open a locker with one metallic hand, while his other digits made work of clicking the regal and ornate mask off. Swapping it out for a far thicker one, that obviously already had been scarred by battle.

WARDROOM

Midori watched the Elysian walk away, her face slipped back behind her impassive mask of a lack of emotions. There were things she wanted to say, but instead, the woman bit her tongue and held her words. It wouldn't do to piss everyone off the first day with her grouchy disposition. Instead, she went silently down toward the ship to look over her gear.

Hinata stood and headed down to gather her own gear as she finished off her drink. It was a quick trip to the armory for the Neko.

ARMORY

Hinata was down to her standard issue undergarments as the others filtered in and did her best to get an eyeful of her new compatriots as she dressed. She stuffed herself into the standard issue Rikupat gear, grabbed her rifle, and readied herself as she headed down to the Buccaneer.

BUCCANEER

Midori checked over her weaponry again, her LATR felt comfortable in her hands, as did most weapons from the Ketsurui. She had to admit it was a little strange for her to be in a more overwatch or sniper role as she was used to leading squadrons from the front, in the thick of combat, not such a quiet sneaky role. Granted her last real placement had been a stealth position, she still felt strange.

Hinata was relaxed in her seat, her rifle at rest on her hip leaned up to her shoulder. Her eyes were shut yet they could still be seen moving as she did her best to work out just what she needed to do and her responsibilities for the upcoming bit of training.

"Hmph, look who's talking smack," Latch looked back at good ol' Juno, faux offended by her jab at his capability to be mature during a combat situation! Latch is cool, dark, and thought-provoking, and he knows he is! Yep, absolutely.

"I can handle myself, you know! And I can do it anywhere, including behind the wheel. But definitely from behind the wheel," the Iroma reassured the others. "My fighting skills aren't very flashy."

With that, Latch stood up, opting to go to the armory to get geared up and ready to get this patrol exercise going... In the brief meantime that he'll linger in the wardroom, he wondered what the heck he should bring to the fight at all.

Miko smiled as he received the head pats followed by a hug. He was more than happy to be around friendly faces once more. This put his mind at ease for the mission ahead. "Sora is correct about not being formal and being yourself." Miko said to Midori as he moved his hand down and grabbed a big handful of Sora booty to get the point across. He looked up at Sora with his signature shit eating grin as he gave another squeeze. It was normal for Miko to be laid back and more carefree in his off time or prior to a mission. During a mission however he was a completely different person.

A relatively short, blue haired minkan was preforming her best attempts at eavesdropping from where she stood. Gemma, currently slipping into her uniform- and not giving a damn whether someone was staring or not, smiled brightly, seemingly very excited about day ahead of her. The Minkan was pretty excited about her first mission, but having just come out of training as a Santo-hei, she still had quite a lot to learn. Once dressed in uniform, Gemma filled her backpack with all the absolute necesities she thought she might need during their endeavor, and went ahead to grab her weapon, a GP-12, with a camo paintjob suited for her ranger duties.

Miss Takasho looked at everyone in the armory with a bright smile. She singled out someone in the armory, and attempted to approach, before restraining herself. She should be focusing on her job! As she swung her 'toaster' on her back, she made a mental note to engage in conversation the second an opportunity sprung up. With that mental note now figuratively pinned, she hastily walked towards the buccaneer, boarding once arrived.

While she sat in the ship waiting, Shasse couldn't help but look around at everything she was easily bored. The observant little neko watched the other troops milling around, some still talking while others were prepping too, they all seemed to be heading in the general direction of the ships though. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Miko standing next to a tall Elysian, she really really wanted to go run over to him and say hi but despite how carefree and somewhat naive she appeared to people her DNA was basically built around military training and when she got on that ship her body then refused to leave it.

Then a strange new person walked on to the ship as well, her expression was all over the place and she looked like she was looking for someone, "Hey there! Are you looking for someone? You seem lost." The small blue creature asked with big eyes looking over at Gemma with a smile to match.

Meanwhile, Miles had also spotted Miko and headed over for a quick reunion with his brother. "Morning Miko, Sora. Mind if I drop in quickly? Just wanted to let Miko know that I've sorted out the last bit of paperwork with the family and its finalized." The medic stood with his arms folded and a serious expression on his face. "I know you have told me not to go through with it before but it's done now, I'm not going to be ignoring you or anyone else just wanted to let you know, and the name change will be coming soon."

Miko looked over to Miles for a moment with a confused look on his face. Then it clicked just what Miles was talking about. He thought for a moment to really understand what this would mean for the two of them. "Brother, you are again being serious when now is not the time. I care not your name for we grew up together and shall forever be brothers. Be it by name or not, brothers we shall be." Miko said as he walked over to him and put an arm around Miles. "You have a path to forge and if this allows you to forge it then you have my blessing." He pulled him in a little closer before releasing him. "Talking about last names, so Sora..." A grin formed as he looked over to his soul mate in arms to see if she got the hint.