WELCOME TO THE KDS-KIRISHIMA MAINFRAME
>>> query “etsuko.oshiro”…standby, file opening
>>>warning: inconsistencies, this document was flagged for formal review on March 1, 819 A.S.
ETSUKO OSHIRO
Rank: Commander
Nationality: Kusari
Year of Birth: 780 A.S.
Place of Birth: Planet Junyo, Shikoku
Assignment: Executive Officer (XO)
Date of Assignment: October 14, 816 A.S.
Qualifications: top 10% of class, Kusari Naval Academy; Imperial Medal, Conquest of Stokes Smelter; Aide of Shogun Edo, Bretonia.
Biography: Born on Planet Junyo, Commander Oshiro is a member of a well-respected family involved in Samura Heavy Industries, heavy contributors to the overthrow of the Imperail Kusari family. As a young child Oshiro attended military school under the wishes of his parents, spending much of his time away from home in Hiroshima aboard Matsue Base. He showed an extreme dislike for Naval Warfare and instead left for two years to study professional violin on New Tokyo, while continuing his studies in tactical combat with private instructors. He returned to the Naval Academy and graduated shortly with flying colors. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, he personally lead the Imperial Marines as they boarded Stokes Smelter and cleared the Station of the Bretonian Armed Forces. However, he was taken hostage and carried to Planet Leeds, later being exchanged for a hostage that the KAF had taken. His experience in battle lead to his assigning to Shogun Edo’s personal detail, advising him on strategy in Bretonia during the short lived conflict with Gallia. Preceding the overthrow of the Emporer, he was reassigned to the Komainu-class Battlecruiser KDS-Kirishima, where he has played a pivotal role in the testing of its flagship jumpdrive.
THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN FLAGGED FOR FORMAL REVIEW
Annotation 1: “While Commander Oshiro appears more than capable, his background seems less than concrete, it is clear his parents are very wealthy, but they have long since emigrated to Liberty, and can no longer be contacted. Similarly, there is no trace of any family history beyond his nuclear family, but often times the nobles attempted to cloud their connections. I chalk this up to typical aristocratic snobiness.”
-Taisho Hiro
WELCOME TO THE KDS-KIRISHIMA MAINFRAME
>>>query “emilia.ashigara”
>>>please wait….. opening personnel files
>>>warning: this is a private file, currently restricted by the executive officer of this vessel, and accessible to only senior officers! Contact X.O. Oshiro for access.
>>>identification accepted.... opening file
EMILIA ASHIGARU
Rank: Lieutenant
Nationality: Kusari, Bretonian
Year of Birth: 786 A.S.
Place of Birth: Freeport 6, Tau-29
Assignment: Head of Engineering
Date of Assignment: October 21, 816 A.S.
Qualifications: Masters in Astronautical and Transdimensional Engineering, Shasta Orbital Skyhook School of Engineering; fluent in Bretonian; trusted expert on multidimensional and super luminal travel. Worked on the first research team to develop the first jumpdrive.
Most Recent Evaluation: Emilia Ashigaru was born on Freport 6 to a Bretonian mother and Kusarian Father. Her parents were expatriates living with Zoners on the Freeport, a group with which Ashigaru identifies. After completing basic flight school, she went to study economics on New Tokyo, while her parents went on to work on Freeport 7. At the school, she met the older Commander Oshiro, who was studying classical violin, who inspired her to join the Kusari Naval Forces. However, their close relationship was shattered by the news of her parents’ deaths on Freeport 7 in 801 A.S. She left to join friends of hers in Baffin, where she studied engineering, graduating top of her class, contributing the jumpdrive project. She was recruited into the Kusari Naval Forces, and served as Head of research and Development at Kansai Research and Develpoment and Liaison to the Emperor’s Office, and was then recruited following the establishment of the Republic, handpicked by Oshiro to assist in the operating of the new ship and its flagship jumpdrive. He trusts her as strong and loyal to country. She retains ties to the Zoners of Baffin and distant family on Planet Leeds, who are now missing and assumed dead in the Invasion. This family complication has put her up for a scheduled psychological analysis to determine fitness for duty.
WELCOME TO THE KDS-KIRISHIMA MAINFRAME
>>>query “securitycam3”
>>>dd/mm/yyy: 20/09/817
>>>hr/min: 22:31
>>>warning: surveillance data is private! Formal request must be made of high command to receive permission
>>>opening video log…
From the overhead surveillance camera, Commander Etsuko Oshiro could be seen in his quarters, bent slightly over his desk, head in hands. From infrared and bio scans, it is determined he is crying, weeping uncontrollably in fact. On the desk rests an overturned picture. The sensors on the camera detect he is crying and adjust angle and detect what reads on his computer screen.
>>> warning: speculative material. reading accuracy not 100%
In this glorious year, 817 AS, the oppression of Kusari and her people by the Emperors and Shoguns has closed, a chapter of our history that shall soon fade into distant memory! The honorable officers of the Kusari State Police and the Naval Forces have seized the government in conjunction with the Kusari Democratic Alliance, and have declared the Kusari Republic in New Tokyo. Emperor Kogen was killed as a coward, having attempted to flee with his corrupt advisors instead of honorably facing trial for his crimes against the Kusari people. Jiyū banzai! Long live the Kusari Republic!”
<<<end analysis>>>
On the screen are graphic pictures detailing the Kempetai assault on the emperor, another picture of his dead body flashes up, sending a shiver down Oshiro’s spine. He mutters under his breath something undistinguishable under current analysis, but later revealed to be “gomeifuku wo inorimasu, my cousin and my friend.” A soft whoosh can be heard, and the camera slides its mechanical eye to view the doorway. Lieutenant Emilia Ashigaru enters in a faded green jumpsuit, her long black hair tied into a bun atop her head. Her slender figure blocks out the camera’s view for a moment, returning to normal as she crossed to stand beside Oshiro. Without a word she draws a single grease stained hand from her pocket and rests it lightly on Oshiro’s shoulder.
“They are celebrating in the Officer’s lounge, the Captain requests your presence. The men start to wonder about you’re loyalties to the Republic.”
Her voice does not echo in the enclosed space, dying away in the palpable misery.
“Our leaders are dead. My broth… my loyalties are torn. How can you so soon follow a decision that will doom your family? How long do you think until Gallia destroys Bretonia, until you family perishes like …like…”
"Some resist, some of the Battleships in the Taus and Leeds have fled, they call themselves 'the Ronin.' They do not see that the Empire is finished."
A shout of “Long live the Republic” can be heard from far away. Oshiro hides his weeping face, turning toward the porthole to space, empty as void that has just formed inside of him. Emilia crosses to the bed, seemingly unaffected, and sits down quietly on the pristine sheets, staring for a long time at the hard, metal ground. The Emperor and his family were dead, and so too had something died between them. The war was over.
>>>WELCOME TO THE KDS-KIRISHIMA
>>>query”hans.fujioka”
>>>request confirmed. opening personnel file
HANS FUJIOKA
Rank: Captain, KAF
Nationality: Sigmas, Rheinland
Date of Birth: 791 A.S.
Place of Birth: Gas Miner Naha, Sigma-13
Assignment: Commanding Officer, Marines
Qualifications: Hero of Stokes Mining Station; Commended Security Personnel, GMG; Leader of the boarding party that capture the HMS-Gibraltar.
Biography: Captain Fujioka was born in 790 A.S. to a single, Rheinlander mother, a scientist for the Gas Miners Guild. At the age of 16, he dropped out of school to join the GMG Paramilitary Force. He earned commendations here for his service against the Corsairs, but was ultimately dissatisfied with the discipline in the Force. When his mother moved back to Rheinland, he had nothing to hold him in the Sigmas, so he pulled strings and entered the Kusari Naval Forces, and served for 2 years before the outbreak of the Kusari-Bretonia Conflict, rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant amazingly quickly from his first post as Gunnery Sergeant, regarded as a strategic talent. He led the boarding of the HMS-Gibraltar, capturing the destroyer with only a battle transport and a fighter wing. After a promotion to Lieutenant, he personally led 1000 men in the capture of Stokes Mining Station, capturing it in a mere 3 hours. He was noticed by Commander Oshiro at the Battle of Stokes and handpicked to lead the company of marines aboard the KDS-Kirishima, a ship designed to accurately jump next to enemy craft and board almost instantly.
WELCOME TO THE KDS-KIRISHIMA MAINFRAME
>>>query “securitycam21”
>>>dd/mm/yyy: 20/09/817
>>>hr/min: 23:00
>>>warning: surveillance data is private! Formal request must be made of high command to receive permission
>>>opening video log…
Commander Oshiro strode halfheartedly into the Officer’s lounge, tired beyond words. He forced a smile to his face, and walked to greet his Captain, Tatsuya Sasaki. The Captain was already half way through a good bottle of rice wine, his favorite alcoholic beverage. Oshiro was greeted by a massive hug, and a jubilant “today ends the tyranny, today ends the war against the Gallics! Tonight we drink musuko!” My son. Sasaki had called Oshiro his son, and that made his burden all the harder to bear. He loved Sasaki as a father and friend, he could not think of betraying the trust he created in his vows of service. Maybe to another captain, but not this one. For him, Oshiro would fight for the Republic, the traitors who had killed his cousin and his friends. So Oshiro sat on, with a placid smile on his face, an ironic glass of champagne untouched before him, a gift of the Gallic Government. He sat until he saw from the corner of the room Captain Fujioka, the Commanding Officer of the Marine Contingent, motion him over.
Etsuko quietly excused himself from the head officer’s table, and made his way across the cigar smoked room to the cramped table at the back, where the blond haired Hans sat with the rest of his Lieutenants. They were bent over and grim, starkly contrasting the merriment enveloping the rest of the room. Hans greeted Etsuko with a customary slap on the back and a “Guten Abend” even though he was only half Rheinlander. The following conversation ensued:
“Already ships leave to fight against the Republic. The war is not over.”
“They call themselves the Ronin, the Nagasaki has already declared its belligerence,” said another lieutenant. “The Hiei may leave too, Captain Honda has long been an outspoken critic of peace.”
Hans spoke quickly and quietly. “Right now, my men are positioned to storm the room, take back the ship for the Emperor. Emilia stands at the ready to jump the ship far away, to Leeds, or Newcastle. Bretonia would surely welcome us in their fight against the Gallic scum. We would have to kill Sasaki, or the men of the ship will rally to him.”
Oshiro gave a biting response. “I have lost too many friends today.”
“And how many more will die in Bretonia and the Taus, if we just give up?”
“I cannot kill the man I swore my vows to. Sasaki is as much a relative as Jien Kogen was. I cannot lose a father and a brother.”
“I can’t speak sense into you? Think of Emilia’s family. Without Kusari, they will surely die!”
“No.”
Hans fumed, but kept his mouth clapped shut. “Then I will respect your judgment. Taisho, tell the men to stand down.”
WELCOME TO THE KDS-KIRISHIMA MAINFRAME
>>>query “incoming transmissions: “emilia.ashigaru””
>>>there is <1> new message(s)
>>>sender id: bea clark
>>>star date: 12/8/820
>>>warning: sent to crewmember private account, it is against military law to release this document
>>>opening text message
Dear Emilia,
I bear bad news, the worst kind. The Gallics has pushed into this continent of Leeds. The civilian death toll has risen to close to 10 million. I worry about my sisters outspokenness against surrender. She is trying to rally a militia. But the Gallics can’t be stopped, and we are too poor to get off Planet.
Your Uncle is dead, he was gunned down in the street when looters attacked the house. The cleaning crews took his body. I can't even bury him.
.
My friend in the Gallic Council, Gustavo Voler le Chasseur can get me off the Planet, but your mother and father have gone too. They were arrested just yesterday, and the house is in ruins. I have to leave, or I fear I will be hurt, or worse. I’ve attached the missing persons report. It’s not hopeful. I have to assume the worst, even as I hope for the best.
I’m so so sorry,
WELCOME TO THE KDS-KIRISHIMA MAINFRAME
>>>unknown data intercepted!
>>>dd/mm/yyy: 12/09/820
>>>hr/min: 12:00
>>>warning: this data may be corrupted, or classified, read at your own discretion
>>>target ID: Tatsuya Sasaki
>>>redirecting to target ID: Etsuko Oshiro…
Sasaski-san,
We have learned troubling news; the Kempeitai has uncovered that the Emperor is still alive. You do need to be told how big of a problem this is. He is located aboard his Imperial Yacht, and is scheduled to move from his stronghold on Nagasaki to a hidden system somewhere near Tau 29. The Kempeitai need your ship as a boarding vessel to capture him. Your cloak and spyglass will make your vessel perfect to disrupt it in flight. A detachment of commandos is also being assigned to your ship. Do not attempt to interfere with their orders, which are classified, your detachment of marines is not to fraternize in any way. Here is the planned route of the Yacht, to be carried out on 14/01/20.