Scene #6365: Ocean Patrol

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Nagato	Everyone had their orders for the night. It was a small patrol out in an unexplored area of the Atlantic Ocean. Nagato had enough fuel for herself, and, knowing at least /one/ of her members didn't need any of the sort... she took extra. "It's just a simple patrol for the night. Evangeline take sky patrol. Yamakawa, I do hope you brought a search light." there's one on Nagato's shoulder, it flares to life and lights up the way ahead. "We're going to just have some time for ourselves here, we shouldn't be expecting anything major. But be prepared just in case." she comments, in the voice of an order. "I trust everyone is doing well this evening?"
Evangeline	<"...understood..."> comes Evangeline's soft voice over the others' radios as she steadily rises to recon altitude. With her natural radar and night-vision, and infrared detection, she should be able to see any surface contacts far before they are in range to attack. And might at least detect subsurface contacts in time to warn of an attack. The little Neuroi dims her running lights, making it very hard to see her against the night sky. "...I just returned from an information gathering mission...we uncovered an old murder conspiracy and ended up arresting several elderly humans..." She is quiet a moment. "...but other than that...I am doing well...the enemy Neuroi of my world have been quiet..."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa was happy for a chance to get in her rigging and go out for a sail a patrol with Nagato and Evangeline. She skate along and Kotone does indeed ahve one herself. "I agree better to be ready and not need it right Admiral?" She skates along the water thinking for a moment. "Sounds rough form what I heard. Still it's part of the job right? Little people get steped on right? At least this isn't the chaos of the old days, right?"
Nagato	Fortunately this has been an 'uneventful' time. "Information gathering mission? Murder conspiracy?" she shakes her head, "Well, never the less, we'll keep going here. We have some more work to do before we head back to base." Nagato shines the Searchlight here and there, "Okay, this sector is clear." she comments, "Let's head north, shouldn't be too long to get to the next check point for patrol." There's a minor pause, then she hmms, "Enemy Neuroi? You mean there's Neuroi that aren't like you?"
Evangeline	Evangeline is quiet a long moment at that question. "...you...did not know...Admiral..?" she says softly over the radios. She is quiet another long moment after that. "...there are s-..." Whatever she was going to say is interrupted by a metallic screech not unlike the ones Evangeline sometimes makes. Except much louder. Evangeline stops dead in the air. "...enemy detected...it must have been jamming me..." she radios. Far off in the darkness, red lights start to appear. Nagato might recognize the positioning...like the barrels of a battlecruiser. Except they are floating in the air. And there is a ring of glowing red hexagons around where one could assume the hull is. But, in the darkness those red panels are all that can be seen. "...take evasive actions..." Evangeline manages before beams of the sinister red energy Evangeline herself uses start lancing out and vectoring toward Nagato, Kotone, and Evangeline. Luckily at this distance even a Neuroi has trouble targetting accurately. After the shots that send geysers of water shooting dozens of feet into the air, there is another screech. It sounds very angry.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa will launch a scout plane to go ahead of the trio as she goes along the water. "I have been thinking about some overhauls to my Shell lately." Kotone gets cut off by the warning from Eveangeline, moves quicklly as she avoiding the inbound attacks. Kotone keeps mogintg now and she's already moving to get fighters in teh air. "Looks like this quiet night just got noisy!" "Fighters deploying, Admiral?! Orders?" She owed Evangeline some choice salvage for a snack later once this fight was over for that warning too.
Nagato	"Mmm?" the screech catches her ears and immediately, Nagato's guns spark to life. Nagato knows Evangeline's noises at least... this wasn't Evangeline. "Battlecruiser? Enemy ship?" she mutters, "Attacking in night battle?!" there's a quick look towards Kotone and the planes in the air, "Never thought I'd see our planes in night battle... Evasive action, strafe the enemy battlecruiser." Nagato doesn't dodge, the beam strikes to her left and covers her in a geyser of water. The searchlight is focused towards the enemy in the distance to light it up... the red hexagon pattern is familiar... "Evangeline. Is this one of yours?" she questions, guns elevating and then... the tell tale sign of a battleship cannon's fire, complete with the waves that come from the air pressure. Ten armor piercing shells just arc out and fly towards the 'battlecruiser', let's see what that does.
Evangeline	The heavy shells impact and their is a definite pained screech, along with a shower of familiar pink-ish powder followed by the equally familiar silver lines that form around a wound when a Neuroi is regenerating. The search lights hit it, and a hexagonal pattern of jet black metallic plates is revealed. It is not really a battlecruiser, at least not of human design. It looks more like a modern submarine as far as its overall shape, but it has gun emplacements on top like a battlecruiser. The red hexagons are part of the overall hexagonal pattern, and they are glowing brightly enough that even without the lights Nagato and Kotone would probably be able to see it. "...no...not one of mine...but it is a Neuroi..." Evangeline responds. "...I can explain later...we must destroy it before it reaches land..." Without hesitation, even though it is a Neuroi like her, Evangeline's own beams charge up and she unleashes her Breaker Beam. It rakes along the side and blows off a large portion of the enemy ship's hull. But, the silver lines like paper burning in reverse return, and the huge furrow in the hull steadily disappears. "...we must find the core...only a core hit will destroy it..." Evangeline advises. "...it is a large red crystal...but it could be anywhere in the enemy's body..."
Kotone Yamakawa	"Don't have much choice its either that or I get to be nothing more than a moving target!" Kotone notes as she starts to check out the enemy unit. "Looks like a sub and a warship got smashed together!" SHe notes and Kotone will be keeping on the move as her planes dive and open fire on the Neuroi. Dive bombers make their attack runs falling on the enemy and letting their payloads go but it's very likely some if not quite a few might go up. Night fighting was not exactly a good thing for the Zero and its generation of fighters. Still, Kotone is directing them and it helps. "Given how you like to snack on things, Eva? I take it don't get into close combat with that one?!" Given Kotone is mostly inorganic material she doesn't want to risk becoming Neuroi chow. Also got it to shoot the core." She keeps moving now and will aim to draw her bow and let lose several more shaft that become more planes she's wisely only sent out a portion of her planes rather than rushing all at once. She also keeps tabs on both Eva and Nagato as they hit far harder than she does and would be more key to bringing this thing down with their firepower.
Nagato	Nagato nnngs a bit. It's regenerating? Or something. "Large red crystal..." she remarks, "Okay. Looks like we just have to rip the ship apart like an Abyssal!" she orders out, as another blast of ten shells arc out from her guns towards the Neuroi Ship. "Damnit, why now..." she breaks off, heading left. "Yamakawa, head right, torpedo it, drop bombs. Make sure it doesn't get a chance to fix its damage! Have your fighters pelt it with their machine guns." Nagato looks up towards Evangeline... "Evangeline, keep up with the lasers, focus on its tower. Most ships have the controls there, logic dictates its core should be there!" the loud sound of reloading echoes over the waves as Nagato moves in closer to pelt it with her secondaries, "Priority is Evangeline's order, do not let it hit land!"
Evangeline	"...yes...any sort of contact with an enemy Neuroi is highly ill-advised..." Evangeline reports for Kotone. "...we can try...but Neuroi...we try not to keep our cores in obvious places unless it is well protected...it is more likely to be in the center of the hull..." Evangeline radios to the others. Still, she aims a breaker beam at the tower...and between the bombers, Nagato's shells, and Evangeline's beam, the tower shatters like glass. It seems they were both right to an extent. With a metallic screech a bright red glow is revealed at the base of where the command tower was a moment ago. Apparently the core was not actually in the tower, but just beneath it. The destroyed tower gives the Neuroi a chance to roll, putting its thick hull between the Hikari force and its core, and meaning they have to hit it hard at least once more. It has to bank off from its course toward land to keep its core protected, and as it does -all- of those red hexagons along its hull are visible facing the small fleet. All of them light up...but rather than attacking everyone this time it focuses on Evangeline! What seems like hundreds of beams lance out and vector toward Evangeline, and while she does her best to avoid them her shield takes dozens of hits and finally one punches through, piercing right through the middle of her torso...and revealing a similar rosey-red glow from the upper area of the hole in Evangeline. She lets out a pained metallic screech and holds her arms in front of the hole, only able to fire weakly with her leg beams for the moment.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone is skating along on the water. While making use of her planes more as a distraction than the intention to get the core, so long as she can give it more and more targets to worry about it should help in making an opening for Evangeline and Nagato to get the kill. What matters in her mind as this being is stopped. She almost thought a thing and chides herself for that given Evangeline. This does not stop her from aiding in going after the core when it's exposed, dive bombers go in even the fighter some get caught by the leg beams but the rest make their attack runs. The plan she had is gone but does it matter? No so long as it's taken down and no one in the fleet ends up sinking in the depths.
Nagato	Nagato's lining up for another go at the Neuroi ship, the glow catching her eyes. Nagato's eyes wander a bit as the NEuroi starts to move away from land and... hopefully away from the small scout fleet that's currently kicking its face in... if it had one. "I think I have a shot at it." she gets ready, turrets elevate... red light brightens up the night sky and Nagato braces, expecting at least one if not many lasers to hit her. Then the metallic screech is heard... and this one is from her own Neuroi. "Evangeline!" Nagato loses her shot chance and moves to sail under Evangeline's body, "It's okay, land on me, recover and get ready. I'll let the armor of the Big Seven protect you." Regardless on what Evangeline does, Nagato moves to try and and line up for another shot, "Yamakawa. Keep it busy while I protect Evangeline for repair." secondaries light up to keep pelting the Neuroi ship, she wants that thing dead... "Why did this thing attack you of all things, Evangeline.... "
Evangeline	Evangeline floats unsteadily down to Nagato and lands. Actually lands. She touches down and hangs on to Nagato as she focuses her regeneration to close up that hole in her torso. When Nagato asks why the thing is attacking Evangeline, the little Neuroi doesn't answer right away. It is an uncomfortable silence. Instead, Nagato feels a pulse of energy from where Evangeline is in contact with her. "...if you are going to defend me...I will also defend you..." she says, and Nagato suddenly finds that her fit-out and her clothing have taken on the hexagonal appearance of the Neuroi, and any hits she has taken up to this point start to regenerate just like a Neuroi. "...use the Neuroi beams...they should punch through better than your shells..." Nagato has several of those red hexagons on her now, and at least a few of her guns may have converted into laser canons of a Neuroi. Evangeline doesn't stop there though. With the hole in her torso mostly closed now, she raises an arm and aims at the enemy before firing a slightly smaller breaker beam. It punches into the enemy Neuroi and explodes, leaving a crater in the underside of the Neuroi opposite where the tower was above. The enemy Neuroi can't afford to ignore those aircraft any longer. Pockmarked with bomb and bullet holes despite its regen, it fires smaller, faster beams to try and take out the aircraft. And still spares some larger shots for Kotone and Nagato, and even seems to scream at them in anger. Finally, after her shot, Evangeline speaks up again. "...Admiral...I am...a defector from the Neuroi..."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa gets her orders and does not need to be told her planes will keep assailing the Neuroi that's attacking them. She skates about trying to dodge fire and Kotone acts as Evangeline does some mods to Nagato's rigging and she keeps the planes coming doing her damnest to keep the enemy Neuroi buys more planes are lost but several more remain a few are firing and Kotone takes a glancing hit as she can't take forever she holds her side and tries to keep moving. he does not complain she grits her teeth and focuses as she actually makes a rush for the Neuroi and directing her planet. Keep the fire on her give them an opening...and her remaining planes mass attack the hostile Neuroi. Guns, bombs and torpedoes are let lose upon it,
Nagato	With Evangeline finally landed on her, Nagato makes her move. She starts to sail back to the open side as Evangeline's lasers and Kotone's bombs work their stuff on it. "It's my job to protect my Fleet." she replies to Evangeline, but that pulse of energy causes her to halt slightly, the Neuroi patterning on her outfit and armament... "Evangeline?" she questions, then shakes her head, questions can wait. The red panels start to glow along with the Neuroi-zed cannons. Red beams of energy streak off the red panels on her form towards the enemy Neuroi, taking sharp angles to reach and punch right through the armor as the cannons move to aim... "Breaker Beam." thicker lasers shoot out from the triple barreled cannons straight towards the core, if it can reach, or straight into the broadside of the ship, hoping to punch through and through the other side of the ship... Nagato does visibly pause once more... "Defector?" ... her aircraft, her friend, her partner... a defector from them? "You... used to do what that thing is doing unprovoked?" she questions before firing off more lasers at the thing.
Evangeline	Kotone does a good job of keeping the enemy Neuroi distracted, but many of her little planes pay the ultimate price for it. She herself is fired upon many times, explosions of water erupting all around her...and more dangerous explosions possibly erupting against her. Evangeline's shots punch into the Neuroi's armored body, but still the core isn't visible from this side. Then, Nagato proves why she is known as a battleship. A large number of those Breaker Beams lance out, turning the sky red with their power, and when they impact the enemy they burn away at it until there is a sudden shockwave of energy from the Neuroi. It screeches in anger and pain, and for a few moments its core is visible. It is a beautiful multi-faceted red crystal, probably bigger than Nagato, Kotone, and Evangeline put together. Those few moments pass, and the core starts to blur, then a deafening sound like shattering glass can be heard just before the beams are visible punching through completely. The hovering battlecruiser-sized Neuroi shudders, then splits in two along the huge hole Nagato left. The two ends hit the water, then shatter and steadily disintegrate into what looks like a blizzard of cherry blossom petals. They sparkle in the red light of Neuroi beams, then all goes dark as those beams end. Evangeline floats up from Nagato a short distance, leaving Nagato with her Neuroi coloration and weapons for the time being. "...not...me specifically...but my hive...yes..." She floats back down to face Nagato, then floats back so she can face both Kotone and Nagato. "I was created in the hopes that humans and Neuroi could learn not to hate each other...and that the destruction could stop...and that perhaps one day...we could live together...in harmony..." She is quiet a moment and her head tilts down. "...but...such a mission is forbidden by the Neuroi leadership...and if they ever tracked my hive down...then they would destroy it...and if my hive is destroyed so am I..."
Kotone Yamakawa	The explisions rain about her, a large number of her planes are lost. She moves avoiding getting hit again as she loses more fighters but it was not in vain, the hostile Neuroi. Still the efforts of Evangeline and Nagato is more than enough to blow the core the core away. She'll move to fall in once the thing is sunk and clearly no longer a threat. "So your hive wants to stop the war on your world and co exist, yet the other hives do not?" She frowns a bit at this bit of information.
Nagato	Nagato is, admittedly, stunned by this revelation as she comes to a complete halt. The Neuroi coloration of her guns and clothes remain for a while as she looks up towards Evangeline, there's a look upon the battleship's face... a look of trying to rationalize the information given to her. It comes off as a confused look upon the Admiral. "Is... it only /your/ hive... or just /you/" she questions, looking for a bit of clarification. "If it's just /you/... then we shall protect you from them. If it is just your hive, then we shall protect that hive. I assume the other hives are similar to your own... except for ..." she thinks... "The way your hive acts?" there's a pause, and a look, "Are ... do you have a chance to turn into one like them?"
Evangeline	Evangeline watches the enemy Neuroi disintegrate and dissapate even as she nods lightly at Kotone. "...the majority of Neuroi hives wish to exterminate humans...though only the most powerful hives really know why...but there are more than simply my hive that have begun to question the war..." She turns to face Nagato again. "...the last hive that tried to make peaceful contact through a Neuroi like me was destroyed by one of the higher ranking hives...without warning or question...there might be more hives that are starting to question the war...but very few are willing to risk their lives for humans..." "...it is not just me...or just my hive...but my hive is the only one that has made contact...and I cannot contact my hive or it would be exposed..." Evangeline continues. "...my hive even has to continue sending other Neuroi against the humans to keep up the deception...low power Neuroi who have little chance of survival...but as long as a hive continues to exist it can recreate the Neuroi it sends out..."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa takes a moment to process things more as Nagato asks a very good questions. "Yet each hive is afraid to act as it would spell death for all of those who are a part of that hive. It seems something is going on at the top of your species but as you said we have no idea of why they are pressing this war, it can't be resources your kind could live in areas humans couldn't and not have to fight for any non biolotical material." 5R She seems lost in thought for a moment. "So some of your own hive are willing to die to protect the rest...."
Nagato	Nagato makes some room for Evangeline to land on her again, "And I take it they have no reason to tell you or any other hive." she frowns a bit... "Come, I think we should head on home to ruminate on this. Mayhaps... we can find a solution." a pause, "A solution that will benefit your kind and ours." There's a softer voice, "And maybe that of the Abyssals and us Kanmusu." she shakes her head a bit, looking at herself, "I didn't know you could do this, Evangeline. It... seems quite handy."
Evangeline	Evangeline looks Nagato over as Nagato mentions the Neuroi enhancements. "...I have never used it before...on a person..." she says, then reaches out and touches Nagato's shoulder. In a small flash of light and metallic shattering sound the black and red colorations and Neuroi enhancements disappear. "...I hope it was not uncomfortable...there shouldn't be any bad effects..." She looks to Kotone. "...yes...although...it is complicated...a Neuroi is a piece of the hive...it can be recreated using its memories even if it is destroyed...so even though they are dying...as long as the hive remains alive they are not really gone..."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa looks for a mment ot her two friends "That's a lot to process still it's not something yout people would enjoy having happen to them. Still it's better than them all doing." She looks to Nagato and Evangeline for a moment longer "That is one hell of a trick you did there, I wonder who else it might work for it's a very good ace in the hole." She's also holding her side at this point but seems fairly upbeat given the situation. "Just keep us better informed that you have a price on your head so to speak. You are our friend and fleetmate right?"
Nagato	The enhancements are gone and she gives a shake of her head, "No, it was... unique to say the least. Perhaps we can use this for tactical advantages later." there's another pause, "Assuming you're ok with it." she looks around, "I think we can call this a night. Everyone, back to base, we'll get some rest and do another patrol within the next week or two." With this, Nagato turns around. "Line ahead. If something decides to attack our Neuroi's hive, then we'll protect it. After all, as Admiral, I protect my own. That includes humans and allied Neuroi." there's a sigh, and a low whisper, "Haguro, I hope you're okay..." a quick shake of her head and she starts off, "It's an eventful night, we'll make note of it for records."
Evangeline	Evangeline notices Kotone holding her side and floats over to her. "...here..." she says quietly, then touches Kotone. There is a flash and a sound like a hammer hitting an anvil, and Kotone's clothes and rigging is changed just as Nagato's was a few moments ago. And Kotone finds that her injuries start to regenerate, just like when Evangeline is hit. She then floats back over to Nagato. "...We did tonight after all..." she says to Nagato's tactical advantage comment. "...if you think of a way to apply it...let me know..."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa lets out a gap as Evangline fuses with her for a moment and heals her injuries. "Thank you...." She smiles a bit at this. "We should return from the patrol at this rate I'm jsut about sadly out of planes. "Come one we should get moving we can talk more when we're home."