The KNS-Soburin awaited, the rocks blocking it from the Dragon's scanners. Amy waited at the helm, eyes fixed on the scanners. Nothing yet.
In a flash, there it was, 8k out, then 4k out, then 2k out. She scanned it, Border Worlds Transport, unregistered, full of Blood Diamonds.
It zoomed past her in cruise, not spotting her Gunboat. She fired a disrupter, then hovered up next to it. Firing on the shield as she did so. The pilot screamed across the comms to her, begging her to stop.
She ignored, knocking out the sheild and working on the hull, the transport attempted to cruise away but another disrupter halted it, allowing the Soburin's forward cannon to rip it up.
Amy waited, allowing for the escort to catch up. It was an Eagle, GMG Tagged and registered.
"What the hell happened?" he buzzed through, "Did you just kill-"
"Silence Kenji, you are a wanted man, you will come with me for questioning" She commanded,
"Like hell I will, I just passed a checkpoint in Honshu! I have rights!" he bellowed,
Without warning Amy opened fire, her turrets decompressing his Eagle and reducing it to scrap. She scanned the debris, beaming in escape pod.
Within the belly of the KNS-Soburin's cargo lay the escape pod of Kenji Saburo. Amy kicked the catch of the pod, causing it to hiss loudly, and spring open. Kenji stumbled out, panting, falling to his knees. Amy stood there and observed him.
"How dare you! Your commanding officers-" he started,
Amy lashed out with her left leg, swinging her whole body and smashing her foot into his stomach. He gasped, winded. She lunged again with a straight punch to the face, knocking the man out.
He slumped to the flood, amazingly, considering Amy was half his size. She knelt down beside him and pressed her lips to his, performing her kiss...
The KNS-Soburin kept it's distance, running scans of the IKN-Kakushi.
Amy programmed in some coordinates and moved to impulse, swooping past the Kakushi. She hovered her thumb over a small green button, lining up the aim.
As she passed she pressed it, shooting a small recon probe out from the side of her Gunboat. It impacted lightly on the hull of the Destroyer, digging itself into the hullplating just a fraction, enough to keep it in.
Satisfied she engaged cruise, before the patrols showed up and questioned her.
Commander Satsumo Kikuji manned the helm of his shiney new Destroyer, smiling at the crew on the bridge. Being a small Destroyer, it only had a small crew. Most of them were below decks in the gunnery suites or engineering.
The last few members of his crew were at their posts, preparing the ship for her maiden voyage.
He did his own checks, a few red crosses in the engineering checks turned to green.
One of the crewmen at the combat logistics panel turned around,
"Sir, I was going to activate the sheilds, but we have a small anomaly on the ship's hull" he explained,
"What do you suppose it is then Ensign?" the Satsumo asked,
"Nothing I've ever seen before, most likely a piece of scrap metal" he replied honestly,
"Okay, activate sheilds then, we'll have them check it when we return" Satsumo ordered.
He watched as the sheilds drew power and came online, his console flashing caution symbols in ancient tongue.
"Sir we have green lights across the board" the directional advisor squeaked,
"Take her out then, to waypoints one through seven" Satsumo ordered,
"Yes sir, releasing docking clamps and engaging cruise"
The IKN-Kakushi glided out of the shipyard, a couple of gunboats and a squad of Chimaera joined formation, linking their comms to Satsumo's command.
The IKN-Kakushi, with it's escorts swept the clouds of Hokkaido, it's task to moniter possible Consortium capital activity. If they were really a threat, they were good at hiding.
Commander Satsumo Kikuji checked his console again, so far all quiet. Nothing on short range scanners, and long range scanners were reduced due to the interferance from the Nebulas.
"Commander we're picking up a scrambled distress call" the navigational officer said,
"Try to trace the source, I don't wanna walk into any nasty surprises" Satsumo replied,
After a few seconds the scanner had a reading, 4k away was a Kusari Naval Gunboat. It's signature read 'KNS-Soburin'.
"Take us in, and open comms, see if they respond" Satsumo ordered,
A fuzzy voice spoke through the comms panel, interferance breaking up the Captain's words,
"This is Captain Michiba of the Soburin, we have a hold of prisoners bound for Shikoku, but our systems are playing up" she buzzed
"Well we can take those prisoners of yours, we can easily make a detour to Fushu, what are the extent of your problems?" Satsumo asked,
"Something with our impulse drives, nothing too major I hope"
"Right, I'll have the Fukuwa moor up and assist you as best it can, you send me the prisoners Captain" Satsumo replied,
"Okay, will do" Michiba replied.
The Kusairi Gunboat, IKN-Fukuwa, pulled up alongside the Soburin, linking their cargo bays. The Soburin traded the mass of the prisoners into the expansive bay of the Kakushi.
A few moments later the Soburin kicked up it's engines, the makeshift repairs being enough to get it to a shipyard.
"Thank you Commander, the crew of the Fukuwa did a fine job, we should get to shipyard though, not sure if the repairs will hold out" Michiba sighed,
"Not a problem Captian, we'll make sure these prisoners are delivered, Satsumo out" Satsumo closed the comms and engaged cruise, his escorts on his wing.
The IKN-Fukuwa had returned to his Starboard wing, the IKN-Makami on his port wing, the squad of Chimaeras leading infront.
Down in the cargobay, there was a neat block of cells, transferred from the Soburin, containing numerous Chrysanthemum and Dragon prisoners. One of the cells burst open and a small woman in a Kusari Naval uniform crawled out.
She brushed herself off and closed the cell behind her. She held a large canister of an unknown gas, observing the desolate cargohold she read the signs.
"Engineering" Amy read out loud, "Port Gunnery Deck, Maintainance" making her choice from the blueprints she could see in her head, she chose Maintainance, draging the canister behind her.
She traversed the corridor, peering into a room to her left as she passed, a few men were arguing and pointing to a valve, shouting at each other in Old Tongue. She continued to the end and kicked open a door.
Inside were hundreds of small vents and a large pump, this room was responsible for the air supply for the ship.
Amy set down the canister and unscrewed one of the reserve Oxygen canisters, rolling it into a corner. She replaced it with her own, and set the gauge up to medium, clicking on a timer as she did.
She backtracked to the cargobay, and instead deviated, headed up some stairs and into a small kitchen area. She observed the signs again, remembering the layout in her head.
Amy chose the stairs to the left.
"Sir we have movement down in the cargo bay"
"Send a few men down there, have em search the surrounding decks" Satsumo ordered,
A few soldiers passed Amy on her way up, nodding and saluting her as they went, not realising she wasn't supposed to be on the ship.
She smiled at them and continued to the bridge. As she entered the Commander turned to her with a confused look on his face,
"Who the hell are you?" he demanded, seeing her captains stripes on the uniform,
Amy pounced, startling the crew. She dived for Satsumo, pushing him forward and slamming his head on the side of his console. He fell to the ground groaning.
Some of the crew drew guns and couple of armed men appeared behind her. She tapped into the console, increasing the airflow of the pump below decks.
"Away from the console Ma'am" the head security officer demanded, signaling to his men to flank her.
She smiled as the fumes flowed into the cabin, and watched as each crew member slowly lost conciousness. As the secruity officer hit the floor she set the weapons to manual and drew up her targets.
The infiltrator within the Fukuwa told her he was ready, without words or without comms.
*** Time to strike ***
She dropped out of cruise, allowing for the powerplant to recharge. The IKN-Makami buzzed through on comms,
"Sorry Sir, but what is the deviation from the objective?" the voice of the Lieutenant asked,
"Take the Chimaeras and move out, the Fukuwa and I will wait here" Amy ordered,
The Gunboat obeyed, pulling himself and the Chimaeras out in front at impulse,
"Sorry, where is Commander Satsumo and who am I talking to?" the Lieutenant asked again.
*** Strike now ***
Without warning the Fukawa and the Kakushi both opened fire, the defensive and primary turrets ripping through the shield and hull of the Makami.
The Fukawa gunned down the Chimaeras, one by one, beaming in the pilots as it went.
As the Makami lost it's engines, is buzzed one last comms,
"Wh- -he hell is -rong with you!" he screamed.
The Makami finally popped, it's hull ripping apart, scattering the pods of the surviving crew. Amy beamed them in, and set the ship to autopilot.
The Fukawa pulled up into the docking bay and settled, the workers of the Arch hastily pulling the crew out of both and laying them out for conversion.
Amy surveyed the Destroyer and the Gunboat, examining their hulls.
The workers began fixing up both ships to suit the needs of the cause, fortifying the armour and enhancing the sensors.
The Soburin hovered into the bay, mooring up and unloading, more cargo pods...
The bar on Roppongi was cold and lonely. It always was. A week in the Naval Forces and this place felt...alien. Arael was dressed in his full uniform, his helmet resting on the table. He hadn't even bothered to change out of his independent oxygen pack. A cup of cold sake, untouched for the past hour, sat beside his helmet.
The laughter and voices of the bar didn't even gain his attention. They were nothing compared to the thoughts that festered. The words 'Ronin', 'Betrayal', and 'Emperor' kept coming up in different sentences. All of them in that pattern. He was a good soldier! A loyal subject. So why did he see himself in a role that was against the nation that he loved?
A very loud guffaw finally got him to look up. An older officer, high rank by the medals adorning his uniform, had drunken too much and had fallen off his stool. His compatriots, equally drunk as he, found this to be amusing.
"Immature oafs," Arael whispered to himself. He smirked at that, seeing as which he was only nineteen years of age. With a side-glance at the sake, he finally plucked it up, taking a soft sip and closing his eyes.
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
Amy shifted from the bar and drifted across to the drunken man, she glanced down at him with little expression on her face. He smiled up at her, his vision blurred.
She swiftly kicked out, crushing her heel into the drunken man's palm. He yelped and crawled away from Arael's table, taking refuge in a safe corner.
"Drinking here all alone?" Amy queried, sitting down opposite the young Kusari Naval Ensign.
Arael glanced up at at her, admiring her features.
"Oh, hey" he pushed the bottle of Saki across to her, and glanced around the bar.
"You new around here?" She asked, pulling him into conversation.
Arael gazed at this woman, finding her not only beautiful, but interesting. He sniffed slightly and spoke, "I'm a loner, yes. I like it that way, though. People and I don't get along."
He took another sip of saki, regarding the woman even more. "And new? Essentially. I was in flight school for two years. Been in the set-up phase for a week now; just got my ship two days ago," His voice lowered slightly, "Got a kill yesterday...Thought I was a goner."
He took a deeper sip of the saki, looking at her face and gauging her reactions.
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"