RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission 36: Kōsaten no Hoshi

[Gles]

The knowledge that there was nothing she could've done to save Sif didn't make Molli feel any better for her uselessness and panic--panic that had been more becoming of a trainee than a seasoned veteran of two years. She didn't leave Sif's side while the NMX doctors conducted their life-saving operation; sharp glares and repeatedly tapping the rank pink helped dissuade any efforts to shoo her out, and her heart skipped a beat once Sif's eyes fluttered open at last. Molli had returned Sif's smile, though her crimson eyes lacked warmth--minutes of worry and fear had sucked that out. "Didn't miss much," she said, holding a freshly-healed hand out for Sif to take if needed, "Glad to have you back."

Molli gave Chincha a long stare while she waited for Sif to rearm herself and wondered what their tenuous ally thought of the whole ordeal. Though she'd follow orders out of fear, no doubt, did she harbor any suspicions as to their true motives? Thinking back, Molli wished that she and Sif hadn't gotten involved in their little adventure in the first place, though she'd never admit that to Sif. Her optimism wasn't something Molli ever wanted to snuff out. They failed to accomplish much this time, but maybe, against all odds, next time could be different.

It wasn't hard to notice Sif's uncomfortable hold on the rifle as they walked to the bridge, and when Sif stepped aside to warn Molli of the issue, she directed Sif into a small maintenance closet so that they wouldn't be observed. "Yeah, I noticed," she said with a grimace, squeezing Sif's hand lightly in return. In Molli's original body, it had always been the case that other nekos needed to exercise a certain degree of restraint around her, lest their overwhelming strength cause some kind of injury. Sif was experiencing what that felt like for what was likely the first time in her life, and Molli was decidedly uncomfortable with the reversal of their usual roles. Sif was always the shieldmaiden, she was damn good at it, and Molli didn't think she'd be able to shoulder that burden, even with all of her borrowed body's strength.

Sif's request made Molli's grip on her hand tighten, and she took a step closer, frowning, "You won't threaten nothing, hear me?" she sounded irritated and indignant, but after taking a small breath, Molli set a comforting palm on Sif's shoulder, "I'll watch your back, just stay close." That was human weakness talking, Molli knew it, and Sif probably did too. She couldn't fathom letting Sif die, much less being the one to kill her, even for the sake of a mission this important, even knowing that death didn't mean anything to her. "I'm not gonna let you die," Molli reiterated softly, squeezing Sif's palm and shoulder, with warmth returned to her eyes from newfound purpose.

"Let's get to the bridge, they'll be on our case if we take too long," Molli said, coming out of the closet after she was certain nobody was watching.

 

[Gunhand4171]

After things had settled down, William had transitioned to the bridge. There he found the systems console and had jacked himself into the system. Back inside the reconstructed NUCLEON system, his 'cyber megacity' stretched out before him. He was only partially aware of what was happening on the bridge, ensuring that his newly built system was doing what it was supposed to.

At Erika's revelation he tuned back into the bridge. "Let me take a crack at the data." He said, pulling the code and diving back into the network.

Inside the central tower, William isolated the code, just on the off chance that it was malicious. Picking up from where Erika had left off, he began to poke around the code. If it had originated from Hoshi, and wasn't running traditional Yamataian encryption, then it had to be personal. He began to pull from his own memories. Every detail he knew of the blue haired captain. Saiga, the Shooting Star Ranch, the Yaks... then it hit him. "Kaiyo..." in the bridge William began to chant the word, like a prayer.

Back in cyberspace the towers pulsed with the weight of William's eurkea moment. Kaiyo meant Ocean in Yamataian. The images that Erika pulled were of an ocean world. There had to be something there. He used the ships name, its motto: Light in Darkness, even the ship's song as ciphers. "Come on, come on! Work damn it!" The ships lights began to dim as William started pulling noncritical power into feeding his ad-hoc network excess power to break through the encryption. He'd get there even if he had burn out his implant.

 

[raz]

Aiko paced across the bridge, methodically surveying each station and its workings. She had thus far refrained from idling her moments away behind the command console and remained actively monitoring all of the goings-on while their Mishhuvurthyar ship cruised toward their destination and Hoshi. Beside William, the princess lingered and watched as he engaged with the data, trying to pull from the signal any clues that would make their job easier.

And then he found it. Though the ID-SOL soldier still mumbled entranced while his consciousness was split between this reality and cyberspace, Aiko could see on the volumetric display beside him the fruits of his labor. He'd triangulated the source location of Hoshi's signal — or at least as close as they were going to get — high above the surface of the world Erika had illuminated them about just prior. By then, Sif and Molli had come onto the bridge, too, so the Star Army team was finally all together.

"Take this vessel straight into Kokoro's atmosphere," Aiko commanded the helm. Her tone and demeanor remained a harshly unflinching mirror of the famous Kitsurugi princess' usual poise while she maintained her role as an NMX Overseer for the benefit of the Mishhuvurthyar Neko still present. "After we are beneath the world tree's canopy then we will get a fix and swoop in to collect her."

 

[Ametheliana]

Redirect:
https://stararmy.com/roleplay-forum/threads/mizu-no-iro.73342/#post-462134