2023-09-20: Nobody Knows All Their 'Options'
- Cast: Yurika Misumaru, Murasaki El-Amari
- Where: United Emirates of Orb
- Date: U.C. 0097 09 20
- Summary: Murasaki arrives to a Nadesico in chaos! (so the usual Nadesico)
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Preparing for interstellar travel isn't easy! It's not like this is something Yurika's done before, after all! Part of her is still back and forth on the whole prospect, but the excitement wins out over the frustration of packing and supplying the Nadesico's hold for everything needed!
...the frustration might be returning as soon as Yurika steps into the hangars and finds herself in the midst of an intensely heated debate.
IN THE BLUE CORNER:
One team of Nergal engineers is haggling about what a set of enormous blue exo-armor for an Aestivalis frame. Arguing passionately with: "This Lunar Frame is the go-to equipment for unknown environments, and we're GOING to be in the unknown here! It's all about stopping power and versatility on an operation like this!"
IN THE RED CORNER:
Another team of engineers is busily testing mounting points for a bulkier and more segmented set of black and red armoring - it doesn't take up as much space, but somehow seems more like a complicated arrangement on the whole. Their staff is blustering about: "No no no. When it comes to vast and probably interplanetary combat our Sarena frame has to be what they bring along. The Vajra aren't joking around and this has output more like a fully armored Variable Fighter than a...what. What's that Lunar frame going to do, turn an Aesti into a mediocre Mobile Suit? Ridiculous!"
A dizzy-eyed Yurika tries to step in and ask "what in the world is HAPPENING here-?" but the moment she does:
"Captain! You're just the one we were looking for. The Lunar Frame's the more proven experimental fit for our expedition - get these crackpots out of here!"
"Captain! See the light of reason! Look at the much better performance we get for a much smaller loadout on our Sarena!"
"Come on Captain, that thing barely has any room for actual weaponry! Please get real!"
"Captain, you've got to give us a chance to prove ourselves!"
Yurika is soon buried alive in overzealous engineers, a hand reaching upwards with a big, loud, "Someone save meeeeeeeeee!!!!!"
<Pose Tracker> Murasaki El-Amari has posed.
Murasaki had only landed on the Nadesico a few days ago with the pair of Astray standard frame pilots under her command. When she had been asked by Princess Cagalli to be her eyes and ears in the Three Ship Alliance, she was expecting a clean cut military ship that she was used to.
Oh how wrong she was. How very, very wrong.
She had been expecting catcalls from the male members of the crew. A few well timed judo throws had seen that come to an end. And she'd be the first to admit, the overwhelming numbers of women on the ship was much more to her preference. But they were...
Well they were interesting to say the least.
Not the least of which was the Captain. Who Murasaki had spotted as the unwitting arbitrator of an intense debate between the two primary frame mechanics on the ship.
Red vs Blue, the great and endless debate.
Murasaki, seeing that the captain was clearly about to be split in half elected to step in and attempt to save her. And to see how Nergal Heavy Industries had been progressing on suit design, her own curiosity getting the better of her.
"If I may?" Murasaki said, walking up to the two groups. "I of course am a new arrival, but I can sense this debate has been raging for some time? Perhaps a neutral party is what's needed?"
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Murasaki's arrival breaks up the heated throng, depositing Yurika in a Yurika-shaped heap on the floor, with a big 'ouchie' and a rub of her hip when she lands. Disoriented and dizzy, she looks up at Murasaki and thoughtlessly blubs out, "Aaaaah my savior, yes yes you're right! ...We need someone without skin in this game, with an objective view of tactics and needed deployment strategies, to settle this dispute!"
The lead engineer on Team Lunar pushes his glasses up onto his face, closing his eyes in reason. "Yes. You're absolutely right. Someone who will be assessing our projects not by passion, but by objective strategic foresight."
The chief of Team Sarena re-ties her ponytail, hand at her chin. "Yeah. Someone who hasn't poured their heart and soul into what could be Nergal's future."
"<Someone like Captain Yurika!>" they both exclaim at the same time, lunging at each other for control of the precious Yurika of Objectivity.
There is naught but a dotted line where Yurika once was. Instead, the captain's slipped by and pulled Murasaki by the arm to hide behind a cargo container, gasping breathlessly, hands on her knees. "Gaaaaah...give me a breeeeeeaaaak...y-you probably shouldn't try to persuade Nergal techs, that just makes things worse, usually...ah. Ah! ...Who are you again? Ah, sorry if that sounds insensitive and you've - no you said you're a new arrival. I'm. Obviously the captain! Yurika Misumaru, V, and all that!" The usual big forceful V-sign is substituted by a slower, more exhausted brief raising of her hand.
<Pose Tracker> Murasaki El-Amari has posed.
Murasaki giggles. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that Captain. I'm LtJG El-Amari, your Orb Government...liason, I suppose is the polite way of putting it."
Murasaki peered out behind the container at the techs, still in a massive furball as they try to fight each other for the attention of their now absconded Captain.
"I will say this, Nergal certainly hires passonate mechanics...maybe too passonate. Wow, she's...she's really giving his right kidney the buisness."
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
"A direct liaison from Orb...hmhm, I guess that makes sense, but I also wonder...hm. I mean, our ship is gearing up for a long-haul trip way beyond the Solar System..." Yurika stands upright, finally, and gives Murasaki that big, wide, baleful stare of hers. Somehow innocent and analytical all at once.
"...Hm, does the state have bad vibes about what we're doing? I see, I see. I guess it's a pretty sudden situation to come up, since the Gallia-IV expedition doesn't really benefit Orb much at all. So they'd just as much wanna make sure we actually make it back rather than getting lost in deep space, ahaha!~"
Peeking around the corner above Murasaki's head, Yurika winces and eeks and yikes with each racuous rumble and hail of fists and - "Aaaa there's passionate and there's getting out of hand, this is getting ridiculous! Hm. Hm! Before I go out there and give them the what-for for causing so many problems ... uhhhh. You seem like a piloty type, right? Maybe? I might be wildly assuming. Uhhh. Between that big stiff-looking Lunar Frame and the Sarena's...'pile of boosters you barely cling onto' vibe, which one is like...a good idea? Really, it's dangerous at this stage to pile a totally new tech onto our repair staff, so I kind of didn't want to throw a wrench into their plans, but I also agree the Aestis might have trouble out there as they are, with such unknown conditions..."
<Pose Tracker> Murasaki El-Amari has posed.
"Well, I don't like to brag but know my way around a Mobile Suit, yes."%5Murasaki put a pondering finger up to her lips.%5 "To be quite honest, I prefer a faster machine to one that has bulk. The Astrays we brought along have a much lighter Foam Metal armour system. Not nearly as capable as Phase-Shift mind you, but it gives it an edge on most Earth Federation and ZAFT Mobile Suits in terms of mobility at the cost of durability. But of course, these are clearly a pair of very high performance machines...I suppose the best thing to do would be find a way for both machines to work together, one supporting the other, making up for each others weaknesses..."
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
"Well, it'd be one thing to have extensive trial periods and testing one after the other..." Yurika muses to Murasaki, "But the problem is that we're leaving way too soon, and this is so not the right place to be having this argument, nor is it right to spring these on us...so really, it all comes down to the only important thing on short notice!"
The captain clicks her tongue, stepping around Murasaki to finally face the crowd, raising her arms and yelling out, "~ENOUGH ALREADYYYYYY!!!~", which finally gets the quarreling engineers to quiet down for a spell. Clearing her throat - then coughing to herself - Yurika huffs out, "Alright, none of this matters at all if you can't deliver me the most important thing - which is!"
"...How many do each of you have, right now, and do you have documentation for our actual on-board engineers?"
Team Lunar's project lead, currently holding a junior engineer by the collar against the ground, suddenly springs to his feet, arms behind his back like he wasn't just in fisticuffs. "While all of them are not entirely complete, we have five of our Lunar Frames available, and largely missing bulk expenses, such as exterior armor cladding and other material less important to the testing project. We could train your crew easily on the nuances too - it's actually something pretty compatible with the Aestivalis's existing operating system."
Team Sarena's lead, on the other hand, is a little less confident, her hair ties having long since come undone. "...ah. We only have the one, Captain, since we didn't wanna move forward and invest too much until we proved our project's viability!"
"...Well, that sorta does it, huh? I mean, we leave for Gallia-IV in like three weeks, we don't have a whole lot of time, and it's already a stretch to train our staff about an entirely new Aestivalis equipment..." Yurika claps her hand and settles the argument with a clear, "...Uribatakeeeeeee please PLEASE get in here and deal with this guy for me I can't believe you all even let these people in here!"
<Pose Tracker> Murasaki El-Amari has posed.
Murasaki follows out from behind the crates, rather impressed at the kind of command that Yurika can muster when she needs to. Of course, she was very impressed at the two machines, putting a glance over to her modest Mass production type Astray. Not that she was jealous. Not at all.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Clapping her hands together, Yurika finally has her hands free of the Great Mecha Debate, deflating lightly, turning back to Murasaki. "...Guh, I just realized that must've been a terrible first impression there. It's always like this whenever anyone needs to stop by the Nadesico! Aaaaa, like some terrible curse...!"
Sitting upon a smaller toolbox, adjusting her hat, the captain pays only a small mind to her own mechanics finally getting these hooligans in shape, chin in her hands as she assesses Murasaki a little more carefully. "...So! I am the one who makes sure things stay in one piece on this ship. Uhm. Any big questions or information you had to deliver? Are you just here for a brief assignment, or are you actually tagging along for our expedition?"
<Pose Tracker> Murasaki El-Amari has posed.
Murasaki folds her arms as she stands before Yurika.%5 "That's a very good question. As far as I had known...and I suppose, by extension, the Orb Government knew, the Three Ships Alliance was staying in the Earth Sphere...but an expedition outside the solar system has certainly peaked my interest. I suppose the first real question would be...why?"
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
"Eh? Eeeeh, wait, did we totally forget to make sure Orb government itself was in the-" Yurika suddenly clutches her head in agonized frustration, kicking her legs this way and that. "Oooooogh, I'm going to have a word with Mr. Prospector. SMS itself had a whole presentation and I assumed from how confident and forward they were that a lot of the blanks were filled in on all the different - - - "
Pinching her nose, Yurika takes a long, deep breath. "...well uhhhhm. We're taking an expedition to deal with the Vajra problem! There's a research station on Gallia-IV that had mysterious happenings and we're taking a big Fold leap to get there! It's the Nadesico and the Shakuyaku getting escorted by the Macross Quarter and hopefully it doesn't take too long!"
Tapping her nose once, Yurika does concede, "But between you and me, I'm not assuming it goes that smoothly, so I'm kinda preparing for the worst, including protocols for if one of our ships goes down. ...Ms. Fressange seems confident that if the Macross itself is bust, the Nadesico could probably kinda fuel a Fold Drive, but..."
<Pose Tracker> Murasaki El-Amari has posed.
Murasaki leaned in to Yurika.
"Between you and me Captain, I'm here on behalf of Princess Cagalli moreso than the rest of the Orb Government. They have a tendency to leave her out of many briefings to the Chief Representative, on account of her...well let's call it 'adventurous tendencies'...not that I do a particularly good job of discouraging her."
Murasaki stood back up.
"That being said, you've certainly got my attention. I'll ask her if she needs me more here, or with her."
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
"It's probably a heck of a lot to ask to suddenly announce that we're zooming off to parts unknown...Given that there's a lot of shady stuff happening on the horizon, I can imagine if Cagalli doesn't wanna send people out of here...hmhmhm." Heel clanging against the toolbox's drawers, Yurika thinks about the somewhat distant power structures of Orb - despite everything, she's never met very many of them!
"Well, obviously, nothing binding about that, and a lot of the crew are making their decisions as we speak! But do let me know if you do plan on going, since I can make sure you're slotted in and have a place to go! And, ah. That you won't be really lonely separated from people you know! It's my job to keep morale up around here!~"
<Pose Tracker> Murasaki El-Amari has posed.
Murasaki smiled. "I'll hold you to that, Captain." and off she walked.