YSS Kishi Maru, Passage
♫♫ All the Strange, Strange Creatures ♫♫
Hitomi's expression was the definition of pure, gut-wrenching
horror, the blood in her minuscule veins turning into ice-water as the spastically-moving, seemingly
resurrected Nekovalkyrja crewperson approached the Mini-Neko (who, of course, instinctively took several steps backward), staring directly at the latter with eyes that were the sickly milk-white of those devoid of any soul - or life - whatsoever.
What...this...this cannot be happening! Not even a Parasite could last this long in hard vacuum!
It was at that moment the Taii (via her PA's audio sensors) heard a second series of
cracks announcing the "awakening" of a Nekovalkyrja - followed by a third. A
forth. A
fifth.
Oh, no...Empress, protect me......
Her features by now very,
very pale, the mind of the
Takamagahara's Executive Officer frantically raced, trying to re-establish
some semblance of control over the rapidly-escalating situation. "
Contacts, all directions! Charlie, Delta, form a defensive perimeter at my location" - a pause as Hitomi marked said location on the squad's AIES - "
now! Bravo, give cover to Alpha in the...Damage Control Center!"
Wait a bloody minute! These...things only started moving after the MEGAMI was reactivated, and a Kyoto
-class has a complement of over eighty-six thousand sprites, meaning...
The NH-33M Mini-Nekovalkyrja scowled (
......Those FOOLS!) and, in an especially frosty tone, snarled "All units, do
not engage, I say again, do
not engage unless attacked!" over the radio - then turned to face the crewmember still shambling its way towards her. "Security override Kilo-Yamatai-5-1-4! MEGAMI of the
YSS Kishi Maru, I hereby order you to
stand down on my authority as Taii Nakadai Hitomi, First Officer of the
YSS Takamagahara, a
Sharie-class Battleship in the Star Army of Yamatai's Tenth Standard Fleet!"
That said, Hitomi sent a
withering message to the rest of Alpha Team (the Amaterasu twins and Miiko) over the aforementioned "team's" private channel, her voice the deceptively mild - conversational, even - tone of someone
extraordinarily pissed.
"Amaterasu-Hei, Uehara-Heisho...would you
please enlighten me as to why the two of you are
incompetent enough to have triggered the MEGAMI's
self-defense mechanisms in performing the
extremely simple task of bringing it back online? Or, Uehara-Heisho......is it because you
enjoy putting others in harm's way?"