The Goddess let out a little squeak as the black fox bopped her head. Her eyes had closed involuntarily, and when she opened them again, Miyuki was gently, gently scolding her.

"M... maybe."

She found herself smiling, herself, as Miyuki soothed her concerns. She was relieved, at first, though her smile faded as Miyuki touched on her absence from history. She took a measured breath as Miyuki reflected on her current power. She listened.

"Miyuki... yes, I understand."

She smiled, the other leaned forward and Yumeiko stayed in those golden eyes, though the periphery of her vision refused to let her off without a tinge of red on her cheeks.

There was much she wanted to say, but before she could, she'd gotten a flick to the forehead. Another squeak from the goddess, this one a bit deeper, more of a groan.

She caught the hand that had flicked her, not aggressively but tenderly, and brought it to her chest, her head lowered. "Yes, I understand."

Yumeiko raised her head, warmth meeting Miyuki's gaze. She looked around the room, looked a little perturbed by something she saw or didn't see, and then looked directly at the nearest visible vein of aevon. Her smile resumed and her attention returned to Miyuki. "Come." She stepped back slowly, holding Miyuki's hand in one and reaching for the vein of blue with the other. Power swelled and suddenly they were in the center of a different room. Above them, a clear dome separated them from the sky; below them, a bed of the blue crystal covered in a soft, glowing moss.

Above them, the Earth hung distant and ruined and still beautiful. The once green and brown and colorful landscapes had been marred by swaths of grey ruin, but yet those swaths had begun to break apart. In orbit, a ring turned gently as they grew slowly closer to it.

The golden fox moved Miyuki's hand aside so she could step close and embrace her. The light of the room swelled gently, and little motes of light rose from the moss beneath their feet, swirling around them as she nestled into Miyuki's warm, soft form.

"Thank you, Miyuki."

Then the black fox would feel it. Like a stream just beginning to flow, like a path forming slowly in the forest, something began to shape. To flow to her.

Power.

From Yumeiko.

"_{You little minx...}"

Yumeko was nuzzling Miyuki's hand gently, placed against the blonde'. Miyuki looked to the side, averting her face - for some reason... Before, suddenly, Yumeko led her to one of the glowy, shiny, crystal thingies on the wall.

"E-Eh!!? Ehhh!?"

Suddenly... They were somewhere else.

Miyuki looked around. Apparently not used to instantaneous teleportation. And certainly not to a place like... This...! Wherever... This... Wa... Wait... What the heck was that!? She gawked out at the little blue, green... But also grey... marble that floated in thd distance... With a strange... Ring... Circle... Halo... Around it? Wait! She remembered that place! That was home! She recalled having caught a glance of it back when she was brought aboard the ship for the first time.T hough, it had been a very brief gla--

"Myuh~?"

Suddenly, a certain cozy, spoiled little goddess was embracing and nuzzling into her. ... This girl... Miyuki couldn't help but let out a small sigh, but still smile... Gently placing a hand on the smaller fox's head and gently giving her some tender headpats. It was... Nice... A pleasant little distr--- Holy crap what the hellw as going on!?

Motes of light started to dance around them and... Something... Strange.. Weird... Unfamiliar... Was starting to... Enter her? Invade? Eat? No... It was more like... A trickle that turned into a flow... Like the start of a summer drizzle that then turned into a relentless monsoon. But it wasn't... Unpleasant... it felt... Warm.. And somehow... Invigorating? Emboldening? Enriching?

Whatever it was... It was strange, but she didn't dislike it. So, having calmed down from her initial surprise, the dark fox just stood there, and gave the littler fox a hug back, letting whatever it was the golden one was doing, keep doing.

The little stream did not become more than that - a stream. An animal trail. A beginning. But it was certainly something.

Yumeiko gave a little shiver, a pleasant one, and her head nuzzled gently into the hand that pat her before lifting from the warmth in front of her.

"Do you... feel that..?" Her eyes focused and lifted to Miyuki's. "Like, you're... we're..."

It was profound and difficult to explain, but it seemed like Miyuki had reacted to a similar sensation. The black fox could feel the distant echo of her elation, from down the forest trail.

"Miyuki," the goddess began, but her attention was caught. Her face lifted to the station they approached, her expression hardening just so.

"Right. The mission."

Her smile turned back to Miyuki, then she turned away, stepping slightly aside to open their posture to face the station.

"So. I'll start from the top, shall I?"

"The night sky, as you like to put it. It's the same place as the day sky. The humans began calling it 'Space', and it is a place filled with Void. Inhospitable, but humans are quite stubborn. They made great metal ships to carry them up and away into the stars, great beasts that would carry their wind to breathe and their flame to cook and warm themselves, the water they would need to drink and the earth to purify it all. A little bit like this very ship, but more like the military deck they'd just left. As you remember, this crystal did not exist. They did it all with knowledge of how to manipulate the materials of the universe."

"They built large facilities like that one, to support their operations here, in space. Leaving a planet is no small feat, and structures like that helped humanity reach ever further." A hologram of the station in question appeared in front of them, turning slowly. Part of the station cut away, to reveal the interior room plans deck by deck. "This old station has been up here, untouched, for centuries. The enemy was here, in orbit, waiting for us. The fleet suspects strongly that the station will have a Scourge presence aboard, and I happen to agree."

"There are several docking bays on the station." The hologram swung around to display a highlighted docking bay. A hologram of Yumeiko's ship appeared, then, and zoomed on the hangar in the bottom deck. "We have a dropship that will take you and the away team. The rest of the fleet will be launching teams, as well."

"Working together with the other fleet teams, it will be your task to clear the station of any hostile presence. An engineer will be sent with your team to deal with station systems."

Yumeiko sighed that she was through it, thought over what she'd presented for a moment and nodded, satisfied, before casting a warm gaze to the black fox.

"Questions?"

She felt... Something... Yes... But it was hard to put into words. Or perhaps, words just weren't enough to describe or explain it... However...

"_{Awww.... Already...?}"

Miyuki said nothing at all as Yumeko pulled away and took up a stance some short distance away. Then, the dark fox listened as she began her exposition of the endless night sky, which was SPACE, her lavishing the humans with praise for their inventions, and then, finally, bringing up the enemy.

The enemy.

Of whom Miyuki knew nothing. Not even what they looked like.

The golden fox displayed a magic, floating picture. Which looked just like the thing they were approaching. It swirved and flipped and swung around, according to the blonde's will. Rather interesting... Miyuki definitely didn't want to try and play with it or anything... But it was quite useful in showing a... Rudimentary layout and giving a basic visual overview of the place they were going to. A hangar... Was... Just a big room? Right? no, wait, it was that place where they'd been earlier... With the smaller flying machines.

After her brief presentation, Yumeko asked if there were any questions. Miyuki sighed, put her hands on her hips and gave the Goddess a bit of a side-eye with a slight compliment of puffed up, grumpy cheeks.

"... You still haven't told me what these enemies are like, you know?" She glared out at the station, and then eventually resumed a normal posture, turning back to Yumeko. "What do they look like? What can they do? Do you know how they think or how they act? Think? Feel? Do they use tools and equipment like the humans, or do they come with... Natural... Abilities?"

She was about to go face something she'd never seen before. And she was expected to, most likely, exterminate it if she came face to face with it. So, the more she knew about what she was actually going up against, the better.

---

Miyuki wanted to know about the enemy.

"Yes, of course. The enemy."

The dreadful enemy.

"We don't know much about them. They don't respond with anything intelligible, they don't seem to have any sort of intelligence beyond their engineering capability. They don't coordinate, they don't communicate, they seem to only care about destroying, and building things to destroy with."

The holograms of the ship and the station disappeared in a swirl, and the swirl remained for a moment, "they're vicious."

The swirl settled into an image. The shrine, when it was still earthbound. The view picked up from watching the end of a broom, to see birds taking off in the distance. Something boomed. The view turned back, to see crystal growths across the shrine. Yumeiko's hand was held out, and three clumps of aevon flew toward her and began to orbit around her. Then, she moved cautiously toward the front of the shrine grounds.

A terrible roar of tortured flesh and metal announced the horrendous sight that burst from the tree line. The legs of an old walker tank were bound together by bone socketed into mechanical cylinders and muscle squeezing capacitors together to complete circuits and force the abomination to move. In the center of its mass, an exposed brain was being splashed with some obscene mixture of liquid, wires and chips protruding haphazardly.

The abbomination saw her and raised a cannon toward her without hesitation. One of the crystal chunks surrounding her shot out a laser before it could complete its aim, the cannon was blasted wide and a shot was fired into the base of the Torii gate.

Two more laser blasts were fired. The beast raised its other arm to block shots to vital parts of itself. A third shot took the arm off.

"This was an enemy I encountered before I ever took the shrine into the sky."

The battle continued, the monster closed and trashed the gate. The cannon got a shot off at her. The three crystal shards flew in front of her and a blue barrier raised, but shattered before the blast, the shards flying away behind her. Her cry of pain played from the - recording? memory? - punctuated her hand gripping her shoulder. New crystal formations gathered in front of her, spun, and unleashed a larger laser blast that tore through the behemoth's defenses, and it fell. The image showed her shoulder, and a piece of shrapnel from a wound.

The video presentation ended, the image dissipating into a swirl once more.

"They're tough. Tenacious. Reasonless."

"Hmm..." Miyuki pondered as she watched the moving pictures. What a curious being...

"It reminds me of some of the aberrations those western alchemists used to create back in the day... Albeit far more elaborate and advanced..." Miyuki mused, placing a cupped hand under her own chin and gently rubbing it with one finger.

"Do they all come in that particular size? Or are they all anomalous in appearance, size and capabilities?" She asked, turning away from the floating, holographic recording and looking over at YUmeko inquistively.

"Something like that." Yumeiko nodded softly, grim for the rememberance of the horror that was the Scourge. "They come in various sizes. Each Scourge is different; an amalgam of whatever parts and bodies it deemed useful for its purpose. The can be as large as a starship. At that point, however, it's a problem for the fleet or myself, not you."

Yumeiko gripped the shoulder that had been injured in the memory. She nestled herself into the larger fox again. "The enemies on the station shouldn't be as large or armored as that, but the Scourge are an unpredictable thing. I say that, but I can imagine an enemy unit might sacrifice everything just to wield a big gun we didn't think would be possible."

The golden fox slid her arms around the other again. "Be sure you come back." From that warm comfort, Yumeiko's face lifted to see the other, to hear that she would.

She would then look back at the station. "It's time." The golden fox would take Miyuki's hand and guide her to the edge of the room, where a staircase led down to the shrine cavity. From there, it was just a matter of working their way through the ship and down to the military deck, through the elevator. The room before the airlock was another equipment room, not unlike the arsenal and equipment room before the range and training room. This one, however, had a row of space suits, though they were all designed for humans.

Yumeiko took a breath, "right. The suits." She turned to Miyuki, looked at the gathered soldiers, and then pushed Miyuki back into the elevator. The doors closed behind them.

"Excuse me." Her cheeks tinged as she made eye contact with the black fox. She laid her hands tenderly on Miyuki's shoulders, and - in the same way she'd dressed her in stockings and those nice sandals - she changed her into a combat space suit. The cloth, the space around her just went thp and she was in a space suit. A flourish of fox fire adjusted the suit where needed, which was in a few places. Like her tails. A helmet was held in her hand, which she held up for Miyuki.

She would then open the doors again. The wall of weapons available here was more forcused on warfare - there were no sasumato. The guns were mostly energy bolters and laser pulse rifles, not the metal throwers Miyuki had seen in the other room.

The helmet would provide a HUD. As the other soldiers put on their helmets, a status display for each of them would appear, along with their names and rank. An indicator would connect the HUD item with the person in the room. Sergeant Stratya stood by the airlock, awaiting the readiness of her team.

"The sergeant will be in charge of coordinating the team. Do cooperate with her."

"So... They can have any appearance, and attach or use anything... And will sacrifice each other to destroy whatever they're trying to destroy. Great..."

The sardonic tone in Miyuki's voice was so thick you could slice it with a knife. Her expression wasn't much better either. The whole'Oh boy... I get to try and kill a goliath with a butter knife! Lucky me~!' type of sarcastic face...

And then Yumeko came over and wanted some attention. The bigger fox let out a sigh and gave the little blonde a soft hug.

"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's coming back alive." She said.

Which was true. After all! She'd been... Gone... From existence, for a while, but managed to return! How many other beings could claim the same? Not even the real Gods, that's for sure!

Then it was time to go. And into anelevator they went.

... And then...

"Uhm, Yum--Aaghffpht!?!"

The sensation of having what you're wearing... uh... Disappear and then be replaced by something else, without you remvoing, unbuttoning, unzipping or slipping out of anything waw... Bizarre... And, Miyuki was pretty certain she did not enjoy the sensation. And what the...

"... Really...? This...?"

She looked... Incredibly unamused by the new outfit she was wearing... Fortunately, the doors to where the other soldiers had been hadn't reopened, so they were spared the complete and total face of disapproval and bedgruding acceptance that was on the dark fox's face as she studied her new... Ensemble...

A suit. A Full-body, all-enncompassing, total-coverage suit. Of some.. Strange... Unfamiliar material taht Miyuki couldn't for the life of her place. And then she was given a helmet. Great! More coverage...

She sighed and took the head-thingy... And put it on her head. It was... Umcomfortable...

"... My ears..." She whined softly inside the head-prison.

Then the elevator doors opened, and they returned to where the rest of this 'Away Team' was. Waearing the helm did have some perks, admittedly, even if it was... Restrictive... The noirette could see the names, status and even little titles, or were those 'rankings', of the various other humans in the group. There was alos a lot of weapons again. A lot of unfamiliar weapons... Miyuki felt a strong urge to smack the silly blonde in the back of the head for this.

If she was going to use these weapons when going outside, why had they practiced with the other, metal-spitting weapons earlier!? While she said nothing, there was a clear grumbling noise coming from inside of that black fox's helmet. After a bit of this, the dark haired woman strolled over and looked at the selection of things on the wall... And... Well, she had no basis for what thing did what.... So, she picked one at random. Having absolutely no idea what it did or how it operated, aside form, pull tiny finger-thing to make noise and hopefully unleash DEATH wherever pointed.

Then Yumeko added her comment about the Sarge-ant... or... Surge-ant? Being in charge and coordinating the effort. Fair enough. It wouldn't make much sense for someone none of the crew or warriors knew to suddenly waltz in and take command of things. Miyuki looked over the golden one.

"I can play nice." She said. Looking then over to the Surge-Ant and her cohorts, giving them a slight nod.

"We have not observed any special abilities. As far as we can tell, they cannot do anything supernatural."

Yumeiko thought Miyuki might not have been a fan, but it was necessary. "I know, I'm sorry. You'll be in a place that I cannot guarantee is sealed against the Void. You'll need a full space suit." She gave Miyuki the must apologetic frown, nearly whimpering for her complaint. "Your ears," she groaned empathetically, "here." She reached up, and foxfire touched the helmet, growing space around her ears. There was enough space for them to swivel. "Would you rather them uncovered? They'll be more exposed, but you'd be able to hear better. Ah, but then it won't be sealed." She pouted that it wouldn't work. "How else can I make it more comfortable? I'll ask Vortex about a better design."

For the weapons, Miyuki would receive - at first - a technical readout of the weapons she looked at. Then, a little chibi Yumeiko would appear in her HUD and frame-skip to each readout, grabbing it and going to the side of the HUD. She'd eat them, and then give a simpler explanation of each weapon - shoots here, hold here, don't hold here. Don't look down this. That cartridge goes here, like this. Things would highlight in her vision, gently, with colors to indicate which part is the part that goes first and things like that.

There were items like two handheld railguns, two over-the-shoulder beam cannons, and one plasma launcher. It was a little different than the one on the firing range. That one was a prototype, each cartridge was one shot. This one held an aevon battery cell with several charges worth, and was generally more efficient.

There were also a row of... just hilts and poles and shafts. It looked like a row of weapons, except the metal, the blades and other actual weapon heads, had been replaced with a small node of aevon.

"Ok. The sergeant is a good woman. Good in a fight, too. She won't slow you down."

The sergeant's equipment was different, both her suit and her rifle. The gem she had been wearing as a necklace was slotted into a part of her suit around her chest, chibi-Yumeiko explained, which is covered by that bit, there. It's very important that remains protected. It's powering her weapon and suit.

Actually, there is one more of that kind of rifle, chibi-Yumeiko would point out. It's there, that one high up.

She thought for a moment.

I think you can power it, actually. We can power it.

As her helmet was altered, the dakr fox let out an audible, relieved sigh. It was still cramped and constritctive, but at least her ears didn't feel like they were being smushed anymore.

Then, a little mini-Yumeko appeared infront of her eyes. Miyuki blinked at the tiny, adorable creature that was now walking and talking right infront of her... But... Nobody else seemed to be able to see her? Was this another part of the helmet's power? Like how it could show the names and titles of tee humans around her? Well,, reegardless of that...

"... So cute..." She said, as if she'd just seen the most squee-inducing puppy in existence.

She was... Broguht back from her momentary stupor though... As Tiny little Mini-Meko started expaining things. And showing things. And using collors to point what you could, couldn't and should or shouldn't do, touch or point where and when, with all the different things. It explained some stuff about the Sarge-Ant and her suit and rifle too.

And then made a point to direct Miyuki to the rifle that was waaaaay further up on the wall-rack. Apparently, there was something special about it... And they could... Power... it... Whatever that meant. Feeling compelled to obey the tiny Goddess in her vision, Miyuki returned the weapon she'd first picked - at random min - and then reached and, after a bit of tippy-toe'ing, managed to grab the one that Mini-Meko had pointed out and made a big fuss around.

"Alright, let's go with this one then." She said, looking the strange, one-of-a-kind (which was actually two-of-a-kind) rifle over as she held it, allowing Mini-Meko to explain how it worked and all that techno-mumbo-jumbo stuff.

The dark fox then looked over at actual, life-size Yumeko and nodded.

"I'll be sure to be a good girl and listen to her." She said, implying she'd be letting the human woman boss her around... For now...

Don't get distracted! Mini-meiko teased and winked with a grin.

The teammate readouts started to turn green, from blue, one by one.

As Miyuki plucked the laser rifle from the top rack, the veins of aevon that lines it pulsed softly with light. It reacted to her touch, synchronized with the power that flowed in her.

You like polearms, right? Grab one of those, too. They've got a core meant to hold and discharge mana repeatedly, so the regular soldiers can use them, too. Even if you end up liking the gun better, we can still make use of the core. Mini-meiko created a bar of blue, filled, on the side of the HUD.

"I'm sure she'll see that you're quite capable." Yumeiko smiled warmly, though her head lifted and turned, looking somewhere distant before she came back to that... beautiful fox in a very flattering futuristic space suit. Sleek armor plates complimented a body suit made of a micro-ring chainmail, over the air-tight suit that would keep Miyuki safe in any breached environments.

It stunned her for only a moment. "I have to go to the bridge." She looked toward the sergeant and nodded, before looking back to Miyuki. "I'll be waiting for you."

Yumeiko stepped back and touched the nearest exposed blue before - fwip - she was gone.

The last of the squadmate readings turned green. Supposing Miyuki was settled for her equipment, Chibi-meiko gave their own ready mark.

"A'rrigh', folks." The sergeant stepped forward from the alcove by the airlock door she'd posted up in, a thick Scottish accent dominataing her speech. "Time tae pile in! The fly boys will be guarrdin' our approach. Seems there's unkind activi'y on th' station."

In the hangar, pilots could be seen boarding military hardware. Lifts carried individuals to cockpits, and moving cranes overhead brought a ship, a little larger than a small yacht, with a hatch in the back to a platform immediately on the other side of the airlock. The ends of the wings, where engine pods might have been, had been replaced with a large chunk of aevon, each. Vines and roots held them firmly against the stubs where the nacelles had been broken off, growing from within the frame. The crystal seemed like it had begun to grow into the frame, in turn.

The sergeant pressed the button on the wall behind her, opening the door to the airlock chamber. "Seals up!"

I've got it. Chibi-Meiko would take care of the suit operations, while everyone else reached up a button somewhere around their helmet, then entered the airlock.

In we go. This room changes wind for void gradually so we don't cause a shock for putting one next to the other.

The sergeant's voice would then come over an audio system in the helmet, while the chamber depressurized, "we will advance as one squad thrrough th' docks, to th' in'errsection, where we will turn left and begin our searrch an' destroy rrou'e in coordination with th' rrest o' th' fleets teams. We nae ken th' detailed plans fer th' station, so while we searrch ferr any an' all signs o' Scourge infestion, we will be searrching for wha'everr migh' still pass as a contrrol rroom."

As she finished her review of the briefing, the door behind her to the hangar, and the dropship, would open. The hatch was lowered and waiting for them.

The sergeant would lead the way from the airlock and stand aside while her squad boarded, giving them a final inspection. One man had grabbed a railgun, one a laser cannon, and a third the plasma launcher. The were marked on the HUD for their support weapons.

The sergeant would follow the the last soldier onto the dropship, the hatch closed behind her. Her eyes came to the rifle Miyuki had taken. "Oooh. Aye?"

The way it responded to Miyuki was similar to how the sergeant's glowed, and she seemed to have noticed.

"That's a good one, tha'. Punches harder than th' pulsers."

"Ready?"

Their boots magnetically attached to the dropship. Which is good, because then it dropped from the hangar cranes and out the hatch at the bottom. Screens mounted to the corners showed what was outside.

"_{An even littler minx...}" Miyuki said in response to the tiny, grinning, winking Mini-Meko.

After seeing YUmeko vanish into... Well.. Nothing, really... Miyuki was made aware that she should also bring a polearm, if she so chose, because even if they didn't use it for fighting, it could still be useful. Not really comprehending how a weapon could be useful if you didn't use it, the dark fox just shrugged and picked one of the melee weapons, with attached crystal-thingy, off the rack and added it to her harsenal.

A bunch of lights and symbols began to appear. Apparently indicating that the other members of this 'team' were ready to go. The woman who was leading them began to speak... And oh my... Tha sure was an... Accent...

Thankfully, while she hardly could understand everything that came outta the squad lead's mouth, the black haired fox at least got the gist of waht they were doing. The people in the flying machines were going to support them as they got close to this... Station... And once there, they'd all move in a certain way and direction, eliminating these 'Scourge' as they found them, while also keeping an eye out for something called a... Controller?

Well, she didn't need to worry or think about the finer details. Surely, the humans knew what they were looking for and could handle that part. She just needed to focus on keeping herself alive and come back in one piece. Everything else was secondary.

The door opened, and the humans all did something to ... or... with...? Their helmets... Miyuki, of course, had no idea what, and thus proceeded to follow after all of the others, into the gaping maw that led them to the chambers of the belly beyond. She was, in fact, the last one to enter this new space, and got a comment from the Sarge-Aant about the choice of shooty-stick she'd picked.

"It came heavily recommended." She replied to the woman, giving Mini-Meko a slight smile inside her own helmet.

Then... her boots went 'clonk' and she was now stuck to the flooooooooor...!? What the hells bells!? Nobody had informed her taht her boots were alive!!! Were they like the Mini-Meko!? But they didn't talk...! Then again, her feet were inside them, so maybe their mouths were full!? See! This is why she didn't like feet-things!

Miyuki was far too distressed about her potentially being eaten by her own magnetized boots to even care about the screens or whatever was going outside the ship - which she had not even noticed she was in yet. From the outside, it must've looked... Odd... As the dark fox seemed to be looking down at her own boots, and her tails sweeping and swishing erratically.

When Miyuki grabbed the polearm shaft, a little blip appeared beneath the blue bar.

It might make walking a little trickier, but it's better than floating away or getting tossed around. Mimi-meiko clutched a Miyuki plushie, apologetic as Miyuki examined her boots.

The shift in weight should surely catch her attention as the dropship, ah, dropped from the hangar bay.

If you pull your heel up first, it should be easy enough. Sorry for not telling you about this part. Would it have really prepared her, anyway?

The sergeant chuckled kindly and shuffled a bit, adjusting the rifle in her grip. Her boots thunked loudly as she adjusted her footing, one at a time."First time with th' boots?"

Outside, fighters dropped with the landing craft and flew in front of it, raising shields to repel incoming fire from the station ahead. The dropship rolled and bobbed as it flew.

Voices chattered over comms on the dropship radio, "fighters detected, inbound!"

"Sylph squadron, occupy those fighters. Sentinels, steady on course."

"Take them into the Aobashira's support fire."

Weapons fire could be seen outside, bright against the dark. The Scourge craft ranged from not much larger than a man to as large as the dropship.

"Gmrlhfpt..." Miyuki made... Noises... As Mini-Meko apologized. The dark fox couldn't help but feel like someone was intentionally not telling her about theese new things, just to see her reaction... But surely that wasn't the case, right? That'd be evil...

The Srge-Ant came walking over - somehow able to lift her feet - and asked a very obvious, very pointless question... Miyuki felt a strong urge to make a snark, ill-tempered response... But she'd promised to be a good girl, so a good girl she would be.

"... Yes... Among other things..." She replied, trying to figure out the secrets of the feet-things and how she coul--

"OoooOph~!?"

She amde a... Strange... Sound... As she somehow managed to deatch one of het feet from the floor, which caught ehr off-guard and sent her off-balance... making her almost pirouette, if it wasn't for the fact that her other leg was still stuck to the flooring like a fence-post... it looked... Silly... And she was thankful that nobody could see inside her helmet, because her cheeks were quite red and quite bright. She gave Mini-Meko a look that said: 'If you dare tell her about this, I'm going to eat you.'

Thankfully, she manged to regain her composure, and... With soem effort... Finally figure out the mechanics behind moving about... Hah! It... it wasn't so tricky! She... She just wasn't used to it, that's all! E-Everyone fumbles a bit when they're trying somehting new for the first time!

Watching the screens around them in the chamber now, for the first time, Miyuki said absolutely nothing, as she watched the strange... Surreal... Bizarre scenes... Flying things. Of various shaapes and sizes, shooting beams of light, bolts of crackling energies, and fire and explosions... All in complete silence... like some sort of horrible deaf dream.. It was.. Eerie... To a being who had lived their entire life on a planet where sounds could be heard, and everything awas, in some measure, bound by the laws of gravity - unless they used magic or wings... This was... Peculiar... To watch.

IThe dark fox was almost transfixed on the sight. Seeming to have forgotten all about her earlier stumbles and flailing. Her tails had calmed, and were now moving in a much calmer, more deliberate way.

"I thought the purpose of this expedition was to learn whether or not the enemy was hiding in this place... it seems, we didn't have to look very hard to find them." Miyuki mused aloud, though to nobody in particular.

Mini-Meiko looked aside innocently.

The sergeant watched Miyuki adjust to the equipment quietly, with just the slightest turn of the head at the squadron to keep them in line.

No snickering.

Mini-Meiko smiled softly, her tails wagging behind her. You're so quick to pick these things up, Miyuki.

As the black fox became transfixed by the battle outside, Stratya looked for a moment, too. They'd only seen this kind of thing once, not so long ago.

We had assumed all orbital flight capabilities of the Scourge had been exhausted. Mini-Meiko frowned thoughtfully. Was this second wave sleeping? ... waiting...?

"Valkyrie dropship, Sentinel escorts are breaking formation. Landing is hot, prepare for combat."

The craft accelerated toward a hangar bay and swung around, finding the squad a corner with cover and steady ground to emerge into. The hatch hissed and prepared to open.

"You 'eard th' man, weapons hot! If it's feckin' ugly, shoot it!"

The hull of the dropship sounded with weapons fire from a top turret as the hatch opened. Shots with remarkably poor accuracy hailed the craft, but the dropship had shields that would protect them until they left its cover.

Beam weapons traced across those shields, testing their power. Weak but plentiful pulse rifles harried it.

Of course they've been into the armory.

In addition to the ranged weaponry, there were plenty of shambling masses that had only found the means by which to bludgeon or cut or tear something apart. The blue beam of the dropship turret lashed out for just a few seconds at a time, slicing through two or three encroaching horrors each time before it had to cool down.

The squad advanced out quickly. They'd been forced to watch the fleet fight the orbital forces of the first wave, and now they saw the chance to make the enemy pay. The pulse rifle soldiers advanced out first and found cover while they harried the ranged enemies they could find, laying down suppressing fire.

"Take out tha' beam!"

The man with the laser cannon took a knee after exiting and found where that enemy beam was coming from, returning fire.

The sergeant fired while she advanced, shouldering her weapon and aiming quickly with each new target. She focused on the Scourge closing in on them for melee. While the pulse rifles seemed to disrupt them with an.. amount of damage, the sergeants rifle seemed to shoot some kind of energy bolt in bursts that hit the abominations with a punch, making them flinch back.

"... Hey..." An unamused Miyuki glared with the deadest of eyes at the little Mini-Meko as she whistled innocently, trying to feign her complete involvement in these matters. ... She would be punished later.

A voice called out, but it wasn't a voice belonging to anyone in the chamber of the tiny vessel (by comparison to the shrine ship, mind) they were on, but rather, seemed to come from somewhere else. Apparently, their 'guardians' were breaking their formation in anticipation of the team's imminent arrival at the destination. Miyuki let out a puff of air, and her hands gripped the strange shooty-thing in tighter.

So... This was it... her debut return to bloodshed... High above the skies of her home and everything she'd known... The irony... Back down there, on the land, she'd tried for so long to avoid this sort of thing, having grown tired of it after countless centuries... And now, here she was... A glorious return to form.

The ship shuddered and and swiveled. The rear door oepend. A blue, translucent barrier was before them, immediately being pelted by beams of light and bolts of energy. Their own carriage blasted back, returning the enemies aggression. The Sarge-Ant barked orders to disembark, adn twarriors under command obeyed, trundling out and seeking cover from the enemy attacks.

As she'd been the last to board back on the Shrine Ship, Miyuki was also the last to leave the dropship. Yet unlike the humans who rushed for protection and safety behind solid barriers or boxes, crates, conveniently placed chest-high walls and pillars or scaffolding, the dark fox seemed to almost be... Leisurely strolling...

At least as long as she was within the baarier of their transport. She watched the squad lead order her troops to focus fire on the enemy who was trying to shoo them with beams, and a trooper responded by beginning to blast his own weapon in the general direction. Though, it didn't seem like he was hitting, given that the enemy attacks were not ceasing.

The Sarge-Ant herself was also attacking, focusing on the shambling, horrific, uintelligble abominations who were seemingly shambling towards them with hooks, blades, hammer-hands and ... Was that a chainsaw...? Really... These things looked more like they belonged in some B-rated movie or something... Like, really? Shambling? Had they seen a zombie once and thought:'HEy! That looks like a good tactic, let's copy that!'...?

The dark fox sighed in exasperation.

"Well then, little one. Lend me your help, would you?" Miyuki said, looking at Mini-Meko with a smile and half-closed eyes, eemingly not at all perturbed by the possibility that she could - at any moment - have a laser bore a hole straight through her body.

Finally leaving the safety of the dropship's protective shield, Miyuki moved - now with actual urgency. She strayed from the collection of human soldiers though, as bunching up in one locaiton would only make the enemy be able to focus their attacks on one spot - and potentially overwhelm them. And seeing as they, the humans and herself, were the attacking force here, they needed to minimize the defensive advantage that the 'home team' had, by attacking from different angles and splitting up their numbers.

Thus, Miyuki took cover on the opposite side from her fellow teammates. Opting to use a large, rusty-looking box of metal, taht was taller than Miyuki was. She'd lean out from behind it, aim her rifle at some of the approaching, shambling melee-combatants, and for the first time in Fox History, squeezed the trigger and fired off whatever projectile her rifle would launch, at an exttra-terrestrial creature aboard a space station.

If it hit, as she was aiming for center-mass of one of the front-most critters, she would continue to aim for the others in that immediate area. Relying on mini-Meko to help her use this HUD-thing to its fullest, and also to warn her about when the ranged-wielding enemies shifted or changed their attack patterns.

For now, the pew-pews went pew-pew!

Crossing the hangar, widening their position, was not simple. The pulsing lasers from down range identified her silhouette quickly and began to target her. The suit she wore deflected most hits, and those hits it did not deflect would deplete that blue bar in her HUD. It recharged slowly, and there was a filled, blue pip underneath it that had appeared when she picked up the weapon pole.

The sergeant saw tails making their way across the hangar and turned to issue orders with hand motions to the squad.

Three squad members became more prominent on Miyuki's squad report; the plasma launcher guy and two riflemen. The riflemen would support and cover Miyuki as she moved to widen their front.

Firing the weapon she held in her hands wasn't so different from the ass ult rifle she used back on the firing range. Except, unlike the sergeant's rifle, and that particular weapon, Miyuki's fired only one shot at a time, not a triplet. Same punch per bolt, just not as many.

"Above!" The sergeant turned her rifle upwards, firing on oozing masses that had been creeping along the ceiling.

The magboots were about the only thing giving them a unified sense of up and down, however - the hangar was bereft of gravity. The shambling masses seemed to move with much the same restriction as the allied forces - one foot always on the ground.

Then they started to take advantage of the zero-gravity. The shambling masses closing for melee start to jump from the floor to the ceiling as they advanced, making their movements much faster. Now that they'd separated a threat from the group, they were closing on Miyuki!

The sergeant tried to lay down suppressing fire, but her position was not unassailed.

Too many. Naginata, right?

The polearm would wait for Miyuki's touch before the aevon node on the end would project a hardlight naginata blade, glimmering, blue, and sharp as light.

Chii-Meiko would pay sharp attention to Miyuki's movements. She would need to be on top of managing her magnetic boots, or Miyuki's combat flow might get disrupted.

The sergeant offered covering fire, a few bolts impacting targets closing on Miyuki, but she had to worry about herself, too. She took a sword hilt in hand from her bandolier and a longsword of azure hardlight sliced through an enemy closing on her from above.

Beams and blast swere flying on by and seemed never-ending. A few made contact with the fox, but she barely even felt a thing... Which probably had something to do with that blue bar that shrunk every time the strange enemy landed a blow... But, thankfully, it seemed to be slowly recovering and rising back up on its own withoutt her having to do anything. Which was a good thing, because Miyuki was a bit preoccupied with wandering, shuffling, murderous space mutants at the moment.

She observed the Sarge-Ant's weapon, and how despite them having the same item, the other woman's seemed to be firing more shots than Miyuki's. Which, you know, was totally fine! She was new to this! You couldn't just expect her to know all the whys and hows and caviats on how to make the most of something she'd barely even used once!

Speaking of the Sarge-Ant, she called out to for their team to pay attention above themselves. At first, Miyuki had imagined this was due to flying or hovering opponents.

But nope.

It was slimes. Goopy, flabby, moist slimes. Slowly slugging their way along the ceiling... Gross... Miyuki felt an unquenchable urge to eliminate these horrible things before anything else. And so she too proceeded to shoot - one shot at a time - at these goopy gross grotesques.

That is, until the shambling, slowly moving enemies started doing soemthing bizarre... They started bouncing about... Jumping from the floor, up and onto the ceiling, and then back down again. Using the lack of gravity to zip and up down in a pattern that made them very annoying to blast apart. It seemed they were more than just mindless monsters. Or, whoever was controlling them, had at least figured out that slwoly shambling forward into oncoming laser and plasma barrages was a tactically unsound strategy.

The drk fox's display also lit up, and made note of three of her teammates, making them more prominently notable on Miyuki's HUD. Alas, the dakr fox did not really understand why this was important or what their increased presence actually meant, and thus, promptly ignored it for now.

Instead, she paid more heed to the approaching, bouncing, zipping shuffle-scuttlers. Who were now getting far too close for comfort. Swapping the energy-based rfifle in her hands for the polearm she'd plucked up earlier, the busty black haired babe unbound the brilliant beam-blade of the badass battle-tool. It was very shiny~

As the frst of the critters came at her, lunging with a pair of claw-like.. Claws... The dark fox made a sweeping swing with the energy-naginata. It was... Not perfect. While the blade did connect and slice the opponent, the arc was too wide and the swing too slow... F And the recovery took too long... Fighting in a place with zero gravity was... Cumbersome... She'd have to adapt to this quickly though, because more enemies were incoming.

still, if she could hold her position at the big metal box, and make the suffle-jumpers come to her, that would at least buy the humans time to focus on the ranged attackers further back. So for now, this was the plan - keep slicing and dicing these cretins as they came at her. Until such a time that either her position became compromised or until the Sarge-Ant gave new orders.

Firing her weapon consumed the bar, as well. Using the polearm stopped its recovery, but didn't deplete it.

Sorry about the fire rate. I can do the same burst fire as the sergeant, but the refire rate would be worse. Chii-Meiko bowed apologetically. I thought you'd like this better.

The average soldier's shielding proved to be much less durable than Miyuki's. The ones on her squad had small indicator bars each, matching the color of Miyuki's bar. When one of them took a shot from a lasgun flash, it would drain a significant portion of their bar. Firing a bolt from her rifle would drain about as much as taking a shot.

If Miyuki drained the bar completely, the pip beneath it would empty and then the bar would be full again.

Some of the slimes produced pulse emitters and kept their distance, pelting the team from two tiers.

"I've got to get out of here, shields are nearly down." The dropship lifted from the deck before it swooped out through the vacuum back into space, retreating toward the Aobashira - the shrine ship.

Two lobs of plasma chased after it.

Miyuki! I can manipulate the boots holding you down. There's no time to explain magnetism right now, just, Mini-Meiko gesticulated, searching for words before giving up, turning urgency to Miyuki instead of precision or knowledge, think at me! Treat me like your body, an extension of you! She'd learned how to use this equipment, before. Learned how to maneuver well and turn about. She'd done so under Earth's gravity, but it was still experience. She could adjust the strength and state of the magnetism and all sorts of nuanced controls that would allow Miyuki to dance, though she might have to deal with a small learning curve, first. They had enough energy for a few mistakes.

Her team's bars were depleting. Three lasguns were managing their perimeter, but it wouldn't last, the pressure was building. The melee units were closing in, metal jaws and arms and blades gnashing and gleaming in random distributions. The ranged units harried them from a distance, with heavier ranged support blasting them from the depth of the hangar bay, toward mission progress.

"Cannon! Sweep the enemies near!"

The man with the laser cannon began sweeping the enemies closer to their formations, instead of attempting to counter the unbothered beam coming from down range.

The sergeant motioned at another squad member, who brought his railgun to bear.

It would appear they were in a pickle.

The sliemy goobers on the ceiling were now producing their own weapons, and firing down upon the humans on the opposite side of where Miyukio was. From what the dark fox could tell of the display in her helmet, these humans were also losing their blue bar much faster than Miyuki was. Or perhaps they didn't have as much blue as she did? It... Really didn't matter.

The point was; This was not going well.

The Sarge-Ant called out orders again, and the other members of her team seemed to do what they could - but it just wasn't enough. The enemy down further in the hangar were still up and shooting, the slugs on the ceiling were shooting, and the shamblers were closing thd distance. And judging by the looks of it, if those shuffling jumpers came into melee with the human members of her team... Well, then Miyuki would probably be the team... or what was left of it.

Mini-Meko offered advice, but her assistance wasn't exactly what was the problem. Evne if she could adjust Miyuki's magnetic boots, they themselves weren't the issue. The problemw as getting used to swinging a melee weapon in a space where there was nothing to stop or slow your swing. Where if you over-extended, there was no entropic energy to slow it down - you just kept going. Learning how to handle a melee-fight in such conditions, during a real, live, sink or swim situation was... Perhaps not the optimal thing...

Still, any of the vrtically leaping shufflers that got close to Miyuki found themselves getting eviscerate well enough where they posed no more of a threat. Of course, Miyuki could slay every enemy that came her way, but that wouldn't win the battle. Instead, something had to be done.

"Little one, help me out." Miyuki stated to her Miniature aide. She looked over to the Sarge-Ant, and used the ... Speak-to-the-other-humans-function for the first time since they'd boarded the dropship. "I'm going to deal witht he slimes above. Make sure nobody fires upon them."

She didn't want to try and deal with the foes, noly to get blasted in the back because her allies weren't paying attention. Taking a deep breath, Miyuki then narrowed her eyes at the ceiling above... And promptly mimicked the shufflers. Kicking off, she sailed through the zero-G space of the hangar, and made a quick flip - thanks to her boots activating - as she approached the ceiling. Spiining around and 'landing' on the roof... upside down... Thouhgh, in a place with no gravity, there really wasn't any up or down...

Still.. She was up here now, and it was time to deal with those pesky globs of goo.

Using her accelerated speed here would be pointless. The limits of moving with the magnetic boots would nullify any acceleration to the point of pointlessness. Plus, she wasn't exactly keen on propelling herself forward at speeds that might see her smack into a wall and turn into a pancake. Instead, she just charged forward at the rate of movement that was natural. Which was still faster than any of the humans could move.

With her glowy, shiny, energy-bladed naginata, Miyuki dashed forward and began hewing and cleaving her into the globulate foes. making sure that she struck them so that, even if their goopy bodies could recover form the blow, the littlw projectile wepaopns they had produced were not so lucky. If the goops couldn't shoot, they wouldn't be much of an issue.. Hopefully...

That was the plan anyway.