Space Battleship Tsukihime

[Deleted]

The Tsukihime's newest mission had been assigned: Test the newly-created Akiyama Engine, a device that allowed faster-then-light travel on an even higher level then had previously been used.

Little did they know what was about to happen.

---

The vast expanse of endless space was not an unfamiliar sight for the girl. Amaya had previously been to space, of course, in somewhat smaller ships. But this... this was the best of them all. For the Tsukihime was fitted with the most glorious weapon she had ever laid her eyes on. In a word, it was simply amazing. Ever since she had first became the ship's Chief Weapons Officer, she had been fascinated by the huge cannon that took up more then half the ship's length. At the moment, she was positioned near the base of the weapon. Around her were other weapons officers, lower-ranking gunners, working at consoles and overseeing things.

And firing it, well... it was incredible. Of course, today wasn't the day for firing theTsukihime's Artemis-Class Wave Motion Gun. Today was a test for a very different piece of technology. Amaya stretched, holding her console up. At the moment, it was monitoring the status of the Artemis cannon, to ensure that the newly-fitted Akiyama Engine wasn't somehow interfering with the enormous weapon. The console's screen was mostly blue, with an image of the Tsukihime displayed upon it. The portion of it that related to the Artemis cannon was illuminated and green, at the moment, which was a very good sign. If it went to yellow, there was a problem. Orange, things were pretty dangerous. Red... well, she hoped to never see the Artemis cannon's systems turn red. But it was green, at the moment. Even still, Amaya hesitated as she tapped the screen and brought up her communications program.

It wasn't because she was nervous about the ship, it was more because she didn't want to be awkward while talking to the Captain. She always got awkward communicating over the ship's communications system. It was worse with the Captain of the ship..., and even worse when they talked in person. Possibly because of the Captain's unusual choice of dress. Most people on the ship were uniformed, the Captain... well, she was a unique case. This was due to the fact that she had to, well... swap her limbs around a lot, and a regular uniform made that too difficult.

Thinking about the Captain's unusual dress style, Amaya faintly blushed before shaking her head. She needed to focus. Triggering the communications system, she spoke.

"All weapons systems are green, Captain. The Akiyama Engine hasn't interfered with the Artemis cannon," she reported. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Do you want me to come up to the bridge for the final stage? I mean, um, if you need me... i-if you don't need me, that's fine, but, um... just in case you think lead officers should be present, or, um..."

And she'd started rambling.

---

Guinevere was in heaven.

She'd got to touch it! And install it(well, finish installing it)! It was so new and big and awesome and flashy and it made this nice humming sound when it was properly powered and it was just awesome! Guinevere had even helped attach it beside the original Akiyama Engine, the previous model. While it wasn't nearly as important, well, it was always good to keep it around just in case. The robotic engineer girl rubbed her hands together eagerly. Before her, there stood the bulbous shapes that were the ship's FTL drives, humming in unison. And it was just awesome!

However, she couldn't be in this room when they started. When they were active, the conditions were rather... terrifyingly harsh in this room and Guinevere had no desire to be in it. Swiftly, she left through and automatic door and headed up to the the window that overlooked the FTL drives. They were so awesome and this was going to be awesome! Of course, she had to check in with her creator...

She trigger her comm systems.

"Captain! Everything checks out, do you want me up at the bridge or to stay here and watch all the awesome stuff that's going to happen?!"

[Roxas]

Humming a pleasant melody to herself, the head cook of the Tsukihime busied herself in the ship's kitchen, making sure there wasn't a single missing food item for their little mission. Her expression, movement and general attitude exuded great joy as she inspected her section. Lily took great pride in her skills, after all. Why wouldn't she? Given her family's background, she considered it a miracle to even work on a ship on like this. And while Lily didn't like to elevate herself... well... compared to the likes of her brother, father, grandfather - hell, every ancestor with the last half-century, she was a godsend.

...Maybe it had something to do with not being a captain or a pilot?

Meh, as if that mattered! Her investigations finished, the cheery young woman wandered over to the nearest communication system, opening a channel to the ship's captain.

"All's fine in the kitchen, captain!" Lily reported dutifully and brightly.

[Falkon]

Wolfgang sat at his desk, watching the security systems aboard the Tsukihime. His team had all reported the ship secure, and Wolfgang's office was in order, a stack of finished reports in the corner, no malfunctioning security systems, and the weapons rack was perfectly organized. Wolfgang couldn't be happier.

"No problems to report, Captain." He said, after triggering his comm system, "All areas secure."

With nothing needing to be done for the time being(unless he was needed on the bridge, of course), Wolfgang opened his computer, and began reading a lecture on alien encryption techniques, keeping an eye on the security systems as he did so.

[EldritchMermaid]

Meanwhile, in the pilots' ready room down on Deck 48, Hikari had fallen asleep. She seemed to do this a lot during downtime. At least when she wasn't in the simulators or in the mess hall. It did leave a lot of the squadron wondering why she didn't save it for when she was in her quarters.

[Rain]

"Infirmary is stocked and empty. Try and keep it that way," Lucille reported, closing the connection and returning to filling out a form for all the supplies. Eugh, paperwork... just how OCD was the guy in charge of supplies? So much paper...

---

Morgan grinned at the console in front of her as the various regions of the ship turned green. For once, she was piloting like a normal person: arms and legs were synthetic flesh rather than harsh steel, and she was sat in a brilliant chair at the back of the bridge. Ahead, a vast expanse of stars with no obstacles.

"All systems good to go. Guin, keep an eye on the engine," the cyborg said as she picked up a key from beside her. This was the whole reason she was in the chair: she needed to use this to authorise the use of the Akiyama Engine.

She inserted the clear plastic--actually a highly-advanced data storage medium with a cryptographic key for protection vastly more overkill than anything but the main cannon--halfway into the slot, then took a deep breath. "On the count of three. One... two... three!"

The key was turned.

[Deleted]

The signal went to Guinevere, and Guinevere tapped out a signal of her won excitedly, the console formerly locked down until it received the signal from the bridge.

The hum from the Akiyama Engine grew in volume, as several lights along the side of it grew brighter.

All at once, the ship lurched. Anyone positioned by any windows on the ship would notice that the stars appeared to have vanished, nothing but complete inky blackness, a sea of endless midnight outside the ship. The Tsukihime hurtled through space at speeds faster then light, faster then the previous Akiyama Engine had allowed, faster then any ship had ever moved before.

Guinevere pumped a fist in the air, and radioed the bridge.

"It's working! It's all smooth, and loud, but it sounds right, and there's nothing wrong, and it's just so awesome I can't believe it!"

---

Amaya folded her arms and looked away from the windows. The lack of stars when the ship was using FTL travel was always strange to her, but she relaxed. This were okay, things were going well, and this mission wasn't bad at all. Though she was kind of disappointed, in a way... after all, a safe mission like this meant that she had no chance of firing the Artemis Cannon, and that was just horrible!

Suddenly, the ship lurched again.

"... Eh...?"

---

Guinevere froze.

There was an ugly rattling coming from the new Akiyama Engine. That... wasn't right....

"I... uh... C-Captain, there's something wrong with the Akiyama Engine! I'm going to try and shut it down."

The robotic engineer frantically tapped at the console, but the Akiyama Engine didn't respond. The rattling grew in volume, and she sprinted down to the doorway. She pressed the release button, but it didn't respond. It was on lock down, to prevent anyone from entering the harsh conditions within the room beyond.

"I can't access the engine room!"

The ship rocked unnaturally. Everything was wrong, this was terrible, what had caused this?! It was properly installed, there was nothing wrong, how could this have happened?!

All at once, the stars reappeared. Everything stopped. Including the Akiyama engine.

[Rain]

"Everyone to the mess hall. I repeat, everyone to the mess hall," Morgan repeated, naming the first place that came to mind and was large enough to house the entirety of the crew (standing up, of course) and was intended for human habitation rather than brief forays in search of the beef required for the next day's meals. As soon as the loudspeakers were deactivated, the blue cyborg stood up and left the bridge for her destinationl.

On the way there, she ran into one of the few reliable--as in, capable of surviving dangerous situations--crew members in the form of an irritated medic. After all, if people were injured, shouldn't the chief medical officer have been on hand to treat their injuries?

[Roxas]

Smiling brightly after the ship's initial lurch, Lily silently praised the ship. That engine seemed to be doing its job quite well, and with skilled crew members like Guinevere overlooking it, there was no cause for worry. Not even with that second lurch that Lily was not expecting. Though she did wonder if that was something to be concerned about.

...Ah, the captain wanted everybody to meet in the mess hall. That... wasn't a good sign, was it?

What could have happened...? Lily wondered, concerned. The engine... had malfunctioned, hadn't it? Oh dear... well, it wasn't exactly catastrophic, as far as the cook knew. They hadn't blown up, for one. The captain would be able to sort this out, no problem!

Given her proximity to the mess hall, Lily was pretty much already there once the announcement had concluded, and waited for the rest of the crew, hands clasped lightly before her. She didn't show any sign of worry, since there wasn't any need to be... hopefully.

[Falkon]

Wolfgang gritted his teeth in annoyance. It was obvious that something had gone wrong, and it was apparently wrong enough that the Captain needed everyone together to hear about it.

Silently, he closed his computer, and grabbed a small handgun from the weapons rack to be on the safe side, before leaving his office, turning on whatever security systems the room had as he left.

---

Soon enough Wolfgang entered the mess hall, his signature lack of expression in place, and he waited for the rest of the crew and the captain's announcement.

[EldritchMermaid]

The jolt knocked Hikari out of her chair and woke her up.

"N-no, I wasn't sleeping, Captain..." She trailed off when she found she was alone after all. Then she heard the transmission, straightened her uniform, and headed off to the mess hall, not realising her hair was even more of a mess than normal.