To: Lady Touku Hakkera
From: Captain Matsuda Ichika, IKN Kiyohime
Subject: Scorpion Beta-Lambda
Hakkera-sama,
I write to you today as, despite only a few short encounters, you happen to have gained my respect. You may not know this already but I was not born of exceptionally high social status. I was catered for but never to the extent of even a minor noble; to see one such as yourself going out of your way to be approachable to all is something I find noteworthy. Nevertheless, as you already know, we recently cleared the Nomad thrall known as Scorpion Beta-Lambda from the Honshu system, chasing it to Sigma-21 where it lured us to fight within the corona of the system's star; a tactic that proved fatal for the weaker hull of what appeared to be roughly a gunboat-sized vessel.
Of greater interest to me, however, is what the thrall had to say prior to its destruction. Its communications were cryptic and it seemed to have difficulty "translating", however it seemed intent on "warning" us of something regarding Shimamori-san. Exactly what, I cannot say, and there is every chance it was a simple, feeble attempt at manipulation to save its own life. Nonetheless, I thought it worth forwarding our communications logs. Perhaps you can spot something it may be referring to that slipped by me as you seemed to have some familiarity with the parties involved. It is my sincere hope that you manage to glean at least some kind of information, whatever it may be, from its cryptic communications, which I have taken the liberty of attaching after we caught it by the Honshu gate in Sigma-21. Stay safe, Hakkera-sama.
In the Name of the Emperor,
Matsuda Ichika, Captain of the Imperial Kusari Navy.
'Takeda'-class Destroyer IKN Kiyohime
[19.07.2022 23:06:00] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: For one who wished to be struck down, you have been awfully evasive.
[19.07.2022 23:06:27] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~You seem to be under his control...~
[19.07.2022 23:06:33] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: And who is "his"?
[19.07.2022 23:06:44] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Shimamori decieves you...~
[19.07.2022 23:06:56] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Her underling told me everything...~
[19.07.2022 23:07:03] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Believe me, I have been made aware of plenty of deception lately. To what do you refer?
[19.07.2022 23:07:04] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~She told me the truth...~
[19.07.2022 23:07:17] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Calm~
[19.07.2022 23:07:26] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: [a warming wave of heat is sent to the vessel]
[19.07.2022 23:07:46] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Our temperature is just fine as it is. Kindly leave it alone.
[19.07.2022 23:07:58] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Now what is this deception you speak of
[19.07.2022 23:08:03] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Yours listen?~
[19.07.2022 23:08:21] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Speak clearly. I have no patience for this cryptic speak.
[19.07.2022 23:08:43] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Ours just translate what can~
[19.07.2022 23:08:49] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Translation, difficulty...~
[19.07.2022 23:08:58] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Yet we do make the effort for you~
[19.07.2022 23:09:18] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: A simple answer would suffice. What do you believe is deceptive, and who is the source of said deception?
[19.07.2022 23:09:32] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~I will contact the great share, perhaps they can find a better way...~
[19.07.2022 23:09:47] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~I do not believe~
[19.07.2022 23:09:51] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~I have been around~
[19.07.2022 23:09:55] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Oh hell no, you are not contacting more of your "kind" to come here. Gunnery, charge pulse cannons, this thing is not
[19.07.2022 23:10:00] IKN-Kiyohime: luring an invasion force or whatever it plans here.
[19.07.2022 23:10:04] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Calm~
[19.07.2022 23:10:07] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Calm~
[19.07.2022 23:10:30] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: You would be wise to speak quickly. You have thirty seconds to provide a reason not to fire.
[19.07.2022 23:10:37] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Yours defile ours waters. Our wish not anger~
[19.07.2022 23:10:53] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Ours seek not to fullfil demands. Yours are the only missing out~
[19.07.2022 23:10:58] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: Ah!
[19.07.2022 23:11:02] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~I have come to warn you..~
[19.07.2022 23:11:03] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: Here it is the thing.
[19.07.2022 23:11:11] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: I cannot say I have interest in your manipulations/
[19.07.2022 23:11:19] Scorpion.Beta-Lambda: ~Mmm... you mindshare brings darklings from across...~
[19.07.2022 23:11:29] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: Whatever it is, that thing belong to death.
[19.07.2022 23:11:32] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Gunnery, pulses read as charged. Send this thing back to its accursed share.
[19.07.2022 23:11:51] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: I will give you a help.
[19.07.2022 23:11:56] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Do not.
[19.07.2022 23:12:19] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: Sorry but that thing needs to die.
[19.07.2022 23:12:29] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: Weapons hot.
[19.07.2022 23:13:01] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Corsair, disengage, let us fight honourably.
[19.07.2022 23:13:22] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: Ergh... fine...
[19.07.2022 23:14:57] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: This cabron is using the star.
[19.07.2022 23:15:11] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: So be it. Its integrity will fail long before ours.
[19.07.2022 23:16:05] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: He's running.
[19.07.2022 23:16:37] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Now do us both a favour and die already.
[19.07.2022 23:16:54] Death: Scorpion.Beta-Lambda was put out of action by IKN-Kiyohime (Gun).
[19.07.2022 23:17:02] Preparing to cloak...
[19.07.2022 23:17:19] IKN-Kiyohime: Matsuda: Good.. the yokai is gone..
[19.07.2022 23:17:22] Cloaking device on
[19.07.2022 23:17:39] Nina.Rodriguez[TBH]: Good then.
Maybe the life of the nobility in your colony may be different. Hakkera is indeed among wealthiest among Kusarians but with all entitlements and privileges inherent from the title, we are also expected to work: if not for the state and wellbeing of Honshu… then for the people who do. My first job as an adult was Clan Hakkera’s chief treasurer: ensuring that our family outlives the infant Republic who stripped both land and rights from us. Now as the new Governor, I follow the example of the previous Lord of Honshu who did not see regular citizens as beneath him. Did you know he was good friends with Edison Trent, hero of the 800 AS war?
I hope it is not a concentrated attack on Honshu’s mobility to gain a foothold in Kusari as they did twenty nine years ago. The first Nomad of the day spoke of… if you can call it like that as they certainly do not use radios or lasers for ship-to-ship communication as we do. It talked about blood: I can only guess whether it implies bloodline, murder or both; Nomad was also heavily focused on driving forward the idea that I am a Child of a Killer. It attempted to escape immediately upon my arrival and grew increasingly frustrated at its inability to make a quick escape. It vanished into thin mist in the end, with all of Honshu’s defenders' disruptors running dry on munitions.
I cannot piece much sense of your prey’s attempts at communicating and whether it had any connection to the dreadnought from before. Perhaps it was personalised to Shimamori and it was only your courageous stand at star’s corona that prevented it from delivering its poison to Marquess ears. Should they threaten the serenity of Honshu again, I will make necessary calls to units far more knowledgeable on Nomad threat then I am.
With utmost respect, GOVERNOR OF HONSHŪ,
はっけら 冬子
Hakkera Tōko