6675/You've arrived, eh

You've arrived, eh
Date of Scene:	01 July 2019
Location:	Great Ocean
Synopsis:	Several aircraft have gone down over an area of the Phillipines. An alert was put out after a high-speed scout plane escaped with minimal damage and reported ground fire in the area. The Fifth Fleet and some allies got to the place, and find a graveyard of downed cargo planes. And a new 'friend'.
Thanks to:	Everyone for coming
Cast of Characters:	Shigure, Neuroi Girl, Staren, Haguro, Kotone Yamakawa

---

Shigure has posed:
    The Fifth Fleet have deployed, sans their slowest member, to a group of islands that many people from Earth-based worlds would know as the Phillipines, north of Australia. Shigure, Yuudachi and Kuma are in a triangular formation, with the cruiser at the fore, flanked by the destroyers. A general request for assistance has been put out, based on reports of several civilian and military aircraft going missing in the vicinity. The 'terrain' is largely ocean, but several atolls, and small islands dot the area, as well as some larger landmasses that could be hiding pirates, or worse.

    Meanwhile, hidden behind and island, out of view and screened from most sensor systems, a young looking girl, alabaster skin and matching colour uniform, watches the fleet and any allies that attend it with mild amusement. <Kitanda... eeeh? Kitanda~.> she muses to herself.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     As she often does these days, the little Neuroi known as Evangeline is flying overhead, providing the Fifth with both long range detection capabilities and air cover. And of course any allies that have come along who do not have flight capabilities and don't feel like riding on a boat have been granted temporary Neuroi powers upon request, changing their general colorscheme to that of a Neuroi and converting most weapons to laser versions of those weapons.

Staren has posed:
    A speck in the sky reflects sunlight intermittantly. It's a far away speck until it isn't -- suddenly it zooms closer, resolving into a fighter plane from which legs suddenly unfold as it brakes to match speed with the fleet, a sonic boom overtaking it.

    <"Here too now, huh? Do you think it's a single one like the strait, or a whole fleet?">

    The Star Hawk hovers along in chicken-walker mode, staying well above the water in case of a sudden attack from below the waves.

Haguro has posed:
After hearing about the call for assistance in investigating the disappearing air and sea craft, Haguro's arrived to check things out herself. Strangely enough, though, she hasn't actually said a thing to anyone about coming here. She hasn't joined up with the Fifth and those responding to the Fifth's summons, instead opting to just follow along from a good ways off from a dinky little rowboat.

As to why she's doing this... Even Haguro's not sure. Whatever the reason is, she's holding a pair of dollar store binoculars to keep an eye on things without having to give away her position too soon.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has also deployed with the fleet herself given the islands? Kotone is not on the water she's beamed down from her spaceship which is more a space RV when you get down to it, she's already let up her drones though to scout out the region and the other nearby small landmasses worse comes to worse she can get a lift from someone else in the fleet or help from Evangeline.

<<Not sure on this end Staren>>

Kotone is also remaining cloaked while she's on the island as well for whatever good that will do.

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure looks to those that arrive, nodding to the Star Hawk. "I'm afraid so. Information is currently very sparse. We only knew something was amiss due to the missing flights, and a very rattled military reconnasance aircraft pilot who barely escaped an ambush." she replies, radioing to the gathering allied units. <"We will need to split up to cover the area. Remain in radio contact, and report anything you find immediately."> she then gestures to her fleet, the three ships splitting off on disparate courses to begin a search pattern.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     <...understood...> Evangeline radios back once an order is given. There is a short pause before she also radios <...Haguro has joined us...she is shadowing Fifth...in...a rowboat...intentions unclear...>

     Once that message is delivered, Evangeline alters course to do a high altitude flyby of Haguro. Not really threatening, just letting her know that she's been detected. Neuroi sensors don't miss much. <...hello Haguro...how are you..?> she radios on a public frequency.

     Evangeline continues on to one of the nearby little islands and from there to the next nearest, searching for signs of activity. But, as she flies she spares a moment to greet Kotone and Staren. <...hello Kotone...and Staren...thank you for joining us...it is always dangerous when the Abyssals are involved...>

Haguro has posed:
And then the Fifth starts to fan out. That's as much of a sign that the search for the missing people (or the cause of their missing-ness) has begun. Haguro waits a few moments before picking up an oar, although she pauses to look up when Evangeline blows her cover.

Well, no sense trying to be covert now. "Hello, Miss Evangeline. I'm doing alright... Er. Don't mind me, I'm just trying to..." She trails off, furrowing her brow in thought while trying to come up with an answer to that. "... It might be easier to find the culprit if they try to catch me loafing around."

Sure, she'll go with that. "Bait's needed to catch fish, and throwing too many lures around might just scare them off. Ehm.. How are things going with you and the rest of the fleet?" Haguro starts rowing lightly, but at a rather slow pace so as to be visibly straggling or, for anyone that doesn't notice the armored plates and turrets on her arms, someone unrelated to the crowd entirely.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa will continue to explore the island while her drones fan out, all her experience commanding scout planes really comes into play here and she's going to make the most of it as she directs her drones out.

<<Glad to help and hey I am a part of this fleet am I not?>> She grins at this and will check on her drones. <<Oh hey Haguro.>> It was good to see Haguro was off her little Abyssal bender that was quite the mess.

<<Staren? Shigure? Anything on your ends yet?>>

Staren has posed:
    <"An ambush? What intel did the survivor give us?"> At the request to split up, he puts his airspeed to use, pushing ahead of the others. <"Haguro, good to have you with us. Interesting idea; Do you think Abyssals could mistake you for human? I don't know if you guys have any kind of spiritual senses or something.">

    <"Nothing yet, Kotone.">

Shigure has posed:
    Kotone's drones would find... something, on the far side of the island they've been deployed to. It flags metallic wreckage, and if it can, marks it as 'recent' from general layout of the wreck. It's a large chunk, probably some kind of cargo craft. The front end, including the cockpit. Perhaps the black box is still there.

    Haguro, meanwhile, would find herself being shadowed. An I-class can be seen breaching surface occasionally, but oddly, it's not making aggressive moves, simply checking what the rowing boat is doing this far out to sea.

    Evangeline and Staren probably get the best, birds eye view of the area. There's wrecked aircraft all over the place. Some submerged in shallow water, some smashed into the sides of islands, a couple can be seen at the bottom of deeper portions of the local waters. Many have been obviously stripped of useful material, others have been left completely alone. Strange.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa finds something interesting she will now move out to check out the wreck she will remain cloaked as she goes so, the idea that the black box may be intact is going to get her attention. She will make for the wreck. Once she arrives if there's no issue she will move inside to seek out the black box, with the intention to recover it. If she can remote access the box she will do so, she'll also check for other intact systems or signs the fate of the crew as well.

<<I found a wreck it seems mostly intact I'm going to see if there's a black box.>>

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline nods lightly to Haguro's plan, apparently believing it. <"...good luck..."> she radios, then resumes her search. The wrecked aircraft start showing up on her sensors, and she reports each one and its state as stripped or not as she goes. <"...there are a lot of crashed aircraft...but...why would they only strip some..?"> she wonders over the radio as she continues flying. She tries to determine if they were all headed away from a particular direction or location based on their crashes, but that sort of thing isn't really her strong point. Maybe Staren will be able to?

     She heads down toward one of the planes that crashed on land, and tries to find its flight recorder to see if there is any information on what or who shot the plane down.

Haguro has posed:
<<"Mister Staren. Miss Kotone. Fifth. Um...">> Haguro fiddles with her hair clip idly, then continues rowing for a little while longer before pulling out a fishing rod. <<"Probably not, honestly. It's.. Um. There's too much stuff on me to mistake me for anyone else.">>

A chuckle later, and the Cruiser tosses a line out to sea from a rod that's definitely seen better days. It's probably not the most convincing gesture since she didn't even bother to bait the thing, but it's something to fill time in-between rowing her boat every now and then to keep it from just sitting there. The I-Class tailing her can see that Haguro flinches briefly when she spots it at first, then calms down when it shows no sign of attacking her and even offers it a friendly wave before turning back to her rod.

The talk of the wreck being found has Haguro furrowing her brow somewhat, but she'll leave the investigation of that matter to Kotone and Evangeline. When they head off to check on said wreck, Haguro looks over to face the I-class more directly and pats the side of her rowboat. "Hello there. Are you alone out here?"

She's not confident the thing can even talk, but it doesn't hurt to appear non-aggressive for now.

Staren has posed:
    The Star Hawk hovers high over the beach, mapping the coastline. Staren scans over the area, searching for active electric power sources, radio transmissions, powerful magic, or dimensional disturbances (you never know, maybe this is a tiny bermuda triangle type thing.)

Shigure has posed:
    Staren's scans would report nothing out of the ordinary. No supernatural or supertechnological reason all these aircraft would crash in this location. A few of the more intact wrecks do show signs of battle damage though, scorch marks, and stryations of flak explosions on the fuselage... The Star Hawk would also start reporting being lit up by radar.

    Kotone gains access to the cockpit, and fonds the black box easily enough. Interfacing with it and accessing the final recording, would reveal that the craft came under fire, attempted to send a distress call, but couldn't get through, due to some kind of interference. The pilot ditched the craft as best he could, but was then promptly set upon by, something... and then the recording abruptly stops.

    Evangeline, much like Kotone, would find a black box, and if accessed, tells an eerily similar story. 'Mayday, Mayday, we are taking surface flak fire. Defense matrix is failing, request assistance.... why isn't anyone responding. Mayday! Mayda---' Someone, or something, has been actively shooting down aircraft in the area.

    Shigure, meanwhile, is investigating one of the local islands... and finally responds to Staren's question. <"Not much, I'm afraid, the pilot was very badly traumatized, and his flight recorder had some odd distortions and data corruption. Land of Curry teams are working on recovering the data, but it's slow going."> she replies.

    Haguro gets an odd look from the I-class... it chatters softly, clacking the horrorteeth in its mouth briefly, before approaching closer. It's an Elite, from the red glow to its eye, but doesn't seem all that interested in adding Haguro back too the Abyss... it doesn't come close enough to touch, but does circle Haguro's rowboat idly, as it it's taken up an escort pattern.

Staren has posed:
    <"Oop, we got radar!"> Staren dives low over the surface/trees, and tries to make his way towards where the radar source was and surprise it.

    Land of Curry? What?

    <"I'm gonna try to get eyes on it. Sharing data over tacnet now."> Do any of the shipgirls have the technology to even use that? At least Kotone and Evangeline's tablet do, if she has it.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline records the information from the recorder, then relays the recording across the radio. <"...someone attacked them...and may have jammed their radio..."> she says before taking to the sky once more. She hears Staren's warning of radar and starts flying low to the water and pulls up Staren's tacnet. <"...heading to join you, Staren...I should be able to help locate the radar source..."> she reports as she heads that way.

     As she passes near Haguro again, she radios to Haguro, <"...are you alright...?"> The abyssal doesn't seem to be attacking, but one can never be too careful around them.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa finds no trace of the crew, but she does get the data, she will download a copy of the black box, to her own memory, while she moves to recover the original and push it into her matter manipulator storage With that handled she will contact the others.

<<I got a black box from the wreck I found, I'll be on my way out now.>>

She will say this as she moves to exit the wreck.

Haguro has posed:
In the past, even seeing those horrorteeth from a distance on the more common blue-eyed I-class would be reason enough for Haguro to ready her turrets. Now? Well, she's still a little anxious around the thing and it shows, but she keeps her turrets firmly in the standby position as she keeps her hands on that fishing rod. She hasn't gotten any bites yet, but that's not really unexpected.

What is unexpected is that the I-class starts to circle around her rowboat without biting or shooting anything. It's both amusing and moderately unnerving to the Cruiser, but she can't help but feel a little less worried as the seconds pass without getting charged at.

<<"I'm alright. Have you found anyone from the missing craft yet?">> Haguro glances over once in the direction of the wreckage, then starts turning her boat to start drifting away from it. The investigators will need time to search, and she's content to lead this I-class away just in case it might be a scout or something. Rummaging around in her pack that's still on the boat, she pulls out a busted armor plate and a chunk of old jerky. She lobs both of them into the water, the former near the I-class and the latter in the path of her boat.

Might as well see if she can get some actual bites out here.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
<<Negative, the final log had them ditching. Then something got them and then it cut out I'm afraid.>>

Shigure has posed:
    Staren's shift to approach the radar source soon earns him a sight. A young woman, alabaster white, reclining almost lazily in a 'throne' made of horror mouths with giant cannons sprouting from them. All the barrels pointed at the Star Hawk and tracking its movements. "Oh my, you're more fun than that fast little bug that got away... you came to find me~." she says in a laconic tone, almost like she's bored.

    Evangeline gets one of the turret's attention when she approaches. "More of you~. If I had known the Fleet Daughters had so many little pets, I'd have brought my flotilla with me."

    Haguro's little 'friend', chitters, its jaw jabbering and emitting that 'Abyssal Static' before he looks up at the black-haired cruiser, then dives under the surface. Unfortunately for the cruiser, there doesn't seem to be any fish nearby, likely scared off by the Abyssals, or the mutitude of loud, painful explosions that occursed subsurface when certain craft hit water.

    As for the crew, there's no sign of any of them. No clothes left behind, no bodies. Nothing. It's like they vanished into thin air once their craft hit the ground.

Staren has posed:
    There's someone here. It's clearly one of the abyssal leaders. Maybe he could 1v1 her, but he can always come BACK even more prepared and it's important to make sure the others know.

    Staren stops, puts his shield in front of him protectively for a split second as he considers, then the plane-with-arms-and-legs does half of a backflip and takes off back the way it came, arms and legs folding under the body as it rolls upright, pouring on the speed.

    Staren transmits the short video clip of the abyssal to the others. <"I think we found what's been shooting down planes here.">

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has finished gathering what data she can, she knows the one behind this seem to be nabbing people and she's going on. Then comes Staren's warning she's upping the pace she's moving at, while she fans out her drones to get what footage they can, she's willing to lose the drones if she has to she's not sickling about to fight a she's making to get to a pickup point now.

<<Keep us informed id you could send me a feed if you got anything it would help Staren. Eva? Haguro? What's up on your ends?>>

Haguro has posed:
That actually worked. Haguro lets out an amused little giggle at watching the toothy beast dive in after that chunk of steel, not too worried about her jerky going to waste. She can't sit around and lounge with the I-class forever, after all.

... Well, she could, but she's not going to. The Cruiser did come to investigate the disappearance of those air and sea craft along with their crew, and she can't get distracted for too long. Taking hold of her boat's oars once more, she start rowing towards the source of the transmissions she's been receiving from the other Elites. <<"Everything's still quiet over here. The I-class isn't a threat. I'll be joining you shortly.">>

About ten seconds later, she's off the boat and skating there instead. No wonder humans worked so hard to develop proper engines. She slows down somewhat as the Abyssal on her throne of turrets comes into view, but keeps her arms loose at her sides as she drifts along steadily to get close enough to actually speak/not have to yell too loudly.

"Excuse me! Are you...? Hm." No, that's not the right way to ask a question. She raises her hand in a light wave at first while purposely making sure her turret is visibly not doing a thing, then slows to a stop. Her arms are still held loose at her sides, and there's almost a strange sort of carefree swagger to her posture.

It's almost like she's trying to channel someone cooler than her. "Your last quarry. Did you hunt them for necessity or sport?"

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     No sign of any pilots or crew members is troubling to Evangeline, but not too surprising given that the hostile abyssals seek to destroy humanity...much like her own people.

     When they spot the princess abyssal, Evangeline watches Staren pull back before she proceeds forward. She floats down until she is level with the princess, though she keeps a healthy distance between them. She just floats there for a few moments, unmoving. Or, at least seeming to be unmoving. But soon a live broadcast of what she is seeing and hearing is picked up by anyone who is able to do so. Finally, her broadcasted voice can be heard coming from the watch on her arm. "...greetings...I am Evangeline...please surrender so that we do not have to destroy you...and tell us what happened to the pilots and crew members of the lost aircraft and ship..."

     The little Neuroi doesn't raise her arms or charge her weapons yet. But she does radio a protected message to her allies. <"...abyssal encountered...no shots fired yet...but she mentioned a 'bug' that got away...">

Shigure has posed:
    "Was it something I said?" Asks the Princess with a roll of her eyes as Staren turns and burns. She makes a gesture, and her guns all light up, firing supersonic rounds of flak, splashing the area around the retreating Star Hawk with black smoke clouds of shrapnel. "Run run run little bug. There is nowhere to hide from my sight."

    Kotone's drones catch some glimpses of the Princess, before they're summarily swatted by the AA screen. It's inhuman in how fast the lighter weapons track as they pop out of the larger symbiote turrets, tracer fire raking the Drones seconds after they're detected.

    As Haguro approaches, the Princess visibly tenses up. She wasn't counting on a Heavy Cruiser... but she doesn't let the tension enter her voice. "Samar didn't need me, so I got bored." is the noncommital reply, a hand lifting and a shoulder rolling in a lazy shrug. "There a problem with a little sport? The surface dwellers won't miss a few dozen cargo planes."

    Evangeline's little display gets a turret aimed at her directly, its maw jabbering and clacking teeth at the littlest Neuroi. "Surrender? You and your little band of playmates think you can defeat me? I thought you had some intelligence." she scoffs, then sits up straighter, shifting her weight a little and then stands up, picking the symbiote up as it rearranges into a backpack rig with her turrets on it. "You're starting to bore me now. We'll meet again." The Abyssal then starts to skate backwards, before her turrets open their maws and start to spew a thick smoke to cover her retreat.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa drone feeds turn to static as they are shot down they are little more than flying cameras and just are done there's not even wreckage as the heat from the tracers is enough to wipe them out. Koone having lost her feed, but not before she got an image of the Princess at the very least. She's going to summon some more heavy ordinance from her matter manipulator when the Princes turns tail and runs, she can see through the smoke by shifting visual spectrums but even with that, it's not a good situation to be taking a pot shot for the moment a waste of ammo she thinks.

<<If she's gone I could use a lift if no one minds. I got a bad feeling we're going to see her again sooner rather than later.>>

Haguro has posed:
Haguro actually feels somewhat emboldened by the Princess' tension at her existence. Did her reputation really spread that far that quickly? No, no, there has to be some other explanation for it. She can't quite think of it just yet, but whatever the case is, she still feels good enough about it to simply point at the Princess like some sort of hot-blooded protagonist.

"There is. If you hunt what you need, then I have no reason to fight you. But!" Now she's getting into it. That pointed finger becomes an open palm as Haguro gestures behind herself towards land (somewhere in the distance). "If you use these waters as a playground to kill mindlessly and spoil like the humans that made us, then you'll be treated just like them!"

That delivery could use some work. And the lines. Still, the threat is pretty clear! Haguro doesn't chase after the Princess as she goes, nor do her turrets raise in the slightest. The Cruiser simply crosses her arms over chest and stares right into the smoke.

Not that she can actually see into the smoke or anything, but the Princess doesn't need to know that.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Really as soon as Evangeline has reported she has to report again. <"...correction...shots fired...">

     Of course, by now there is really no need for her to even say so. When she herself is not actually fired upon, Evangeline tilts her head in curiousity. "...you will not escape so easily..." she says, then takes off into the smoke. With her suite of sensors, she should be able to track the princess even in this smokescreen, but one never knows when dealing with abyssals. And if the princess dives Evangeline won't be able to follow anyway.

     If she -is- able to track the princess, Evangeline relays the position to her allies. <"...I am attempting to pursue...">

Staren has posed:
    A few hits won't take down the Star Hawk, but it gives Staren some useful information about how long he can expect to last in the open air against this enemy.

    He already finds himself pondering anti-flak armor designs... no, now's not the time!

    If Evangeline is successfully able to track the abyssal, Staren re-engages -- flying in low under the radar, then transforming to humanoid mode and attacking with the railgun once he gets close.

    If Evangeline can't track her, though, once it's clear the princess is retreating and the others are safe, Staren relaxes, slowing down and transforming again to stand on the island while taking stock of how everyone's doing. Seems the abyssal didn't want a big fight this time...

Shigure has posed:
    Its a valliant attempt, but much to noone's surprise, the Abyssal dives once she's covered by the smoke. The area seems to 'lift' slightly, as if the whole world were holding its breath while the Abyssal was there.

    Shigure calls all points to the rendezvous, she looks pensive following all the reports in. "This is about as bad as I feared... we shall keep a close eye on national reports. Any other sightings will have to be met with full force of arms." she sweeps her gaze across those present. "Thank you, all. I will keep in touch."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline follows the princess until the point where she dives, then the neuroi turns back to meet up with the others. <"...I don't think she was expecting a full scout deployment..."> she radios to the others as she heads toward the rendezvous. <"...she said she did all of this...simply because she was bored...and that no one would miss a few planes or ships...>