Another day, another report of insurgent activity in and around the home systems. I was scrambled from the Yamaguchi herself to respond to a Kishiro distress call in the vicinity of the Honshu jumpgate, along with Nito Kaii Mitsue Ohru and a member of the reserve fleet operating under an anonymous codename. We arrived on the scene just as the Kishiro escort fighter was engaged in earnest, and I am pleased to report that all three hostiles were destroyed in short order.
Code:
[04.08.2020 21:36:38] Death: GC-Meian was put out of action by Kishiro|Daikon (Mine).
[04.08.2020 21:42:58] Death: Ariel-Rhiza was put out of action by Imperial.Navy.Fighter (Mine).
[04.08.2020 21:49:22] Death: bd]-Junko.Miyahara was put out of action by [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto (Mine).
As the first battle was winding down, however, a second Blood Dragon emerged from the direction of the Hiryo Cloud, and was promptly engaged by our reserve fleet asset. Unfortunately, the Dragon succeeded in disabling our comrade-in-arms' ship and fled the scene before it could be pursued.
Code:
[04.08.2020 22:02:24] Death: Imperial.Navy.Fighter was put out of action by }|{-Keibetsu (Gun).
Following this, I returned to New Tokyo itself along with Nito Kaii Ohru, where a further Chrysanthemum ship was spotted stalking not far from Shinagawa itself. It offered little more than a few words of banal conversation before being engaged and destroyed.
Code:
[04.08.2020 22:16:45] Death: GC|Hajimari was put out of action by [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto (Mine).
Finally, the surviving Dragon from Honshu returned during the latter part of my engagement with the Chrysanthemum pilot, and a lengthy exchange followed -- the details of which are attached below. The pilot proved themselves to be as well educated as they are well trained in handling their craft, for both Ohru-san and myself were forced to pull back and eject within the vicinity of Shinagawa's patrol wings following a fierce engagement. I am, however, informed that Itto Kaisa Hayashimura finished what we started, and thus the final chapter of this patrol was somewhat salvaged.
[04.08.2020 22:16:53] }|{-Keibetsu: Seems your colleague's racking up quite the bodycount today.
[04.08.2020 22:16:58] }|{-Keibetsu: Impressive.
[04.08.2020 22:17:02] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: Something like that.
[04.08.2020 22:17:07] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: She has been since she started her service.
[04.08.2020 22:17:21] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: The Wyvern is treating me well, it has to be said.
[04.08.2020 22:17:39] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: She surpasses me in flight ability many times.
[04.08.2020 22:17:44] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: I am proud of this new pilot.
[04.08.2020 22:17:47] }|{-Keibetsu: Perhaps that's something you should work on, then?
[04.08.2020 22:17:51] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: You're too harsh on yourself, Ohru-san.
[04.08.2020 22:18:24] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Hai, perhaps and yet, I rather engage in diplomatic combat than ship to ship.
[04.08.2020 22:18:47] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: Ohru-san is a staunch adherent of words being weaponry in their own right.
[04.08.2020 22:18:50] }|{-Keibetsu: I'd assume combat is often inevitable in your.. "Line of work".
[04.08.2020 22:18:52] }|{-Keibetsu: Is it not?
[04.08.2020 22:19:09] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Yes and no.
[04.08.2020 22:19:33] }|{-Keibetsu: You won't always have the luxury of only having to spectate miss Kishimoto here doing your job in your stead.
[04.08.2020 22:19:34] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Often times I have a squadmate who would act as the combat person.
[04.08.2020 22:19:41] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Hai, I am aware.
[04.08.2020 22:19:56] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I have faith in my colleagues-in-arms.
[04.08.2020 22:20:30] }|{-Keibetsu: Sounds like that faith may be a little misplaced, based on your colleague's words.
[04.08.2020 22:20:57] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Well, there are others in the Naval Forces, apart from me.
[04.08.2020 22:21:03] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: She has faith in them.
[04.08.2020 22:21:10] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I believe the right spirit is worth more in our line of work than any amount of bloodthirst could ever be.
[04.08.2020 22:21:43] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: After all, these skirmishes will hardly define anything, in the grand scheme of things.
[04.08.2020 22:21:50] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: This civil conflict has spanned centuries.
[04.08.2020 22:22:08] }|{-Keibetsu: And it will continue as long as it has to.
[04.08.2020 22:22:14] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I have no doubt about it.
[04.08.2020 22:22:19] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Hai. That is the case.
[04.08.2020 22:22:30] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: But such is life.
[04.08.2020 22:23:16] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: My point is that two entire strike wings could clash against one another and it would be, more or less, inconsequential.
[04.08.2020 22:23:27] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: At least insofar as these isolated skirmishes go.
[04.08.2020 22:23:35] }|{-Keibetsu: Hmph. If you insist.
[04.08.2020 22:23:39] }|{-Keibetsu: I believe every victory counts.
[04.08.2020 22:23:48] }|{-Keibetsu: And, frankly, even every single life lost on the battlefield.
[04.08.2020 22:24:04] }|{-Keibetsu: These are still men and women, Kishimoto.
[04.08.2020 22:24:17] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I am aware. I am not trying to demean or belittle their accomplishments.
[04.08.2020 22:24:39] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: If anything, I'd rather as much as anyone that our differences could be settled in one swift, decisive motion, once and for-
[04.08.2020 22:24:41] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: -all.
[04.08.2020 22:24:59] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: But, as much as we like to pretend otherwise, that isn't how the world works.
[04.08.2020 22:25:45] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: Humanity as a whole has only knelt to one ruler during all these centuries in Sirius -- the credit. In that way we've-
[04.08.2020 22:25:49] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: -changed little from our forebears.
[04.08.2020 22:26:09] }|{-Keibetsu: Says she who enlisted in the Naval Forces, the Hogosha's very own pet military.
[04.08.2020 22:26:12] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: The only exception might be the Gauls, but even then vengeance seems like a poor replacement.
[04.08.2020 22:26:29] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I am a recent transfer. Police work has been my choice up until now.
[04.08.2020 22:27:22] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: The Naval Forces has a proud tradition separate from Imperial institutions in its own right.
[04.08.2020 22:27:24] }|{-Keibetsu: I don't really see the difference. Police or Navy, you're fighting for the wrong cause. A corrupt government not worth
[04.08.2020 22:27:25] }|{-Keibetsu: defending.
[04.08.2020 22:27:44] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: One dynasty is as good as another.
[04.08.2020 22:27:57] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I will never understand your fixation with one singular bloodline, to tell you the truth.
[04.08.2020 22:28:10] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: What does it matter who sits on the throne as long as our people are fed and our House prospers?
[04.08.2020 22:28:46] }|{-Keibetsu: Does it truly prosper? I see our house diving head-on into an unjust, unnecessary war.
[04.08.2020 22:29:14] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: There is nothing unjust about a premature strike for the good of Kusari.
[04.08.2020 22:29:29] }|{-Keibetsu: A premature strike against whom? The so-called "Enclave"?
[04.08.2020 22:29:31] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: The Gauls' influence on Sirius has been a cancer ever since they broke through their self-inflicted quarantine.
[04.08.2020 22:29:38] }|{-Keibetsu: They are the ones at fault for the glassing of Leeds, aren't they?
[04.08.2020 22:29:49] }|{-Keibetsu: Instead you've simply chosen an easier-to-best foe.
[04.08.2020 22:29:54] }|{-Keibetsu: They're no honour in this war.
[04.08.2020 22:29:58] }|{-Keibetsu: No just cause.
[04.08.2020 22:30:00] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: If you truly believe they extradited all their previous Royalists to the so-called Enclave, you are nothing short of naive.
[04.08.2020 22:30:09] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: The ones lurking in the Taus are the scapegoat few for the guilty many.
[04.08.2020 22:30:33] }|{-Keibetsu: And so you attack the very same Gauls who - in part - overthrew their King and rebelled, instead?
[04.08.2020 22:31:15] }|{-Keibetsu: Or do you only attack, say, the Duchy?
[04.08.2020 22:31:20] }|{-Keibetsu: From what I've heard, that is not the case.
[04.08.2020 22:31:22] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: Gallia was allowed to grow and prosper, once. It culminated in the burning of a world.
[04.08.2020 22:31:42] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: As much as we may have our differences from the other domestic Houses of Sirius, none of our neighbours have ever-
[04.08.2020 22:31:48] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: -sought to stoop to such atrocities.
[04.08.2020 22:32:11] }|{-Keibetsu: And yet here you are, invading a house already in shambles, looking to do.. What, exactly?
[04.08.2020 22:32:14] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: The Gaul is cut from a different cloth to any Kusarian -- indeed, any Libertonian, Bretonian, or Rheinlander.
[04.08.2020 22:32:28] }|{-Keibetsu: Are you truly trying to say your government fears another Gallic invasion? Have you seen the state that house is in?
[04.08.2020 22:32:30] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I would not presume to guess at the grand strategy envisioned by my superiors.
[04.08.2020 22:32:46] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I can only hope that the threat of a resurgent Gallia -- however many years, decades, or more that might take -- will-
[04.08.2020 22:32:50] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: -be put to bed once and for all.
[04.08.2020 22:33:06] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: That is the hope everybody has.
[04.08.2020 22:33:11] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: Honour is one thing, but against a people who have proven willing to crack worlds, one does not wait for them-
[04.08.2020 22:33:18] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: -to reach their apex once more before seeking to strike them down.
[04.08.2020 22:33:26] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: It must end. Now and forever.
[04.08.2020 22:33:57] }|{-Keibetsu: Instead, one invades. Alienates, antagonizes, provokes an entire House.
[04.08.2020 22:34:02] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: They share little love for you as well, if they even deign to notice you. Remember that.
[04.08.2020 22:34:24] }|{-Keibetsu: Even if you succeed, you'll have to deal with millions of what you'll inevitably call "Terrorists".
[04.08.2020 22:34:39] }|{-Keibetsu: But no matter.
[04.08.2020 22:34:49] }|{-Keibetsu: I'm happy to watch Kusari crash into whatever defence the Gauls can muster.
[04.08.2020 22:34:53] }|{-Keibetsu: We'll be here.
[04.08.2020 22:35:01] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: Of that I have no doubt.
[04.08.2020 22:35:01] }|{-Keibetsu: Let's see on how many fronts you can fight a war at once.
[04.08.2020 22:35:37] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I am little more than a fresh transfer. Whatever will be will be; I have no say in the strategy of it all.
[04.08.2020 22:35:50] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I have faith in my superiors and my House.
[04.08.2020 22:36:17] }|{-Keibetsu: It's misplaced. But don't worry. That realization will hit the entirety of this House before long.
[04.08.2020 22:36:50] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: If nothing else, Kusari has a habit of surviving whatever intransitive conflicts and internal struggling we foist upon her.
[04.08.2020 22:37:32] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I am confident that the spirit of the Kusarian people will live on, one way or another, but I am afraid my convictions-
[04.08.2020 22:37:37] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: -might be a little moderate for your tastes.
[04.08.2020 22:38:03] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: I doubt anything we could ever say would change the mind of a Dragon.
[04.08.2020 22:38:26] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: No, but stubbornness and conviction are not negatives in their own right.
[04.08.2020 22:38:48] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: The fact that we are even able to have this conversation speaks volumes.
[04.08.2020 22:39:11] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Hai. I did not expect this.
[04.08.2020 22:39:34] }|{-Keibetsu: We're only having it because you showed.. some combination of honour, mercy and foolishness in Honshu.
[04.08.2020 22:40:00] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: A ship disabled is as good as one destroyed. I am satisfied with the man-hours that will be needed to bring your original-
[04.08.2020 22:40:03] }|{-Keibetsu: I would have turned that Wyvern of yours into a burning heap of scrap metal if I didn't feel like I owe you a chance
[04.08.2020 22:40:06] }|{-Keibetsu: at a battle you can win.
[04.08.2020 22:40:08] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: -Wyvern back to flyability.
[04.08.2020 22:40:37] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I admire your spirit, but your airframe was one harsh manoeuvre away from total collapse.
[04.08.2020 22:40:46] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: At least you had enough sense to recognise that and leave promptly.
[04.08.2020 22:41:08] }|{-Keibetsu: Do I need to point out that your ship is in similarly poor shape?
[04.08.2020 22:41:08] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I get no enjoyment out of shooting down hole-riddled craft merely trying to wriggle free.
[04.08.2020 22:41:17] }|{-Keibetsu: It'd take me a mere minute or two to reduce it to dust.
[04.08.2020 22:41:46] }|{-Keibetsu: Much like it would've taken you seconds to take me down, before.
[04.08.2020 22:41:56] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: I know. I was, in truth, banking on Ohru-san to chip in somewhat should this come to blows.
[04.08.2020 22:42:35] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: If this conversation comes to an end in a fire fight, I will not let you engage Kishimoto.
[04.08.2020 22:43:18] }|{-Keibetsu: You will not let Kishimoto engage, or you're somehow hoping to stop me from engaging her?
[04.08.2020 22:43:34] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Hai.
[04.08.2020 22:43:46] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: I will stop you myself or attempt at least.
[04.08.2020 22:44:19] }|{-Keibetsu: Presumably the latter.
[04.08.2020 22:44:24] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Who knows.
[04.08.2020 22:44:37] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: At least she will have enough time to depart. Of that I am sure.
[04.08.2020 22:44:45] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: What happens after that, I have no care for.
[04.08.2020 22:44:53] }|{-Keibetsu: One downed Wyvern is just as good as any other.
[04.08.2020 22:45:11] }|{-Keibetsu: Though I'll admit, if your judgement of your own skill is correct, I would much rather down a more skilled opponent.
[04.08.2020 22:45:17] }|{-Keibetsu: But I'll settle for you, if it comes down to it.
[04.08.2020 22:45:42] }|{-Keibetsu: Perhaps you've only lured me into a false sense of security, and are in fact perfectly capable of dogfighting.
[04.08.2020 22:45:54] }|{-Keibetsu: I'd be a fool to just believe my enemy's claims word for word.
[04.08.2020 22:45:58] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: Now that would be a twist, wouldn't it?
[04.08.2020 22:46:06] [KNF]Ni.Kyoko.Kishimoto: Humility is one step removed from lying.
[04.08.2020 22:46:12] [KNF]Ni.Mitsue.Ohru: I assure you, in the last three years I have had very minimal amount of combat.
[04.08.2020 22:46:31] }|{-Keibetsu: Reckon it's about time that changes, then.
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