In theory, every single member of YoRHa was equipped for command responsibilities. Programmed to be able to effectively run a squad in the event of the leader's death, able to be rotated into a any necessary position should their personality model turn out to have unexpected applications. Admittedly, a squad full of personality type six would probably be much less effective in combat than the standard series one and two deployments, but the new YoRHa models could all do whatever was required.
The Commander was better still, a veteran soldier with centuries of survival on Earth to her credit, one of the greatest leaders the Resistance had ever produced.
And last of all, Yonah. Yonah, who…
Who was trying not to have a nervous breakdown as the flight unit rattled for Earth.
She should have thought this through better. She should have planned longer. She shouldn't have been born. Made. Whatever! This wasn't the kind of thing that someone should have as her first command.
She tried to collect her thoughts. They were tracking YoRHa unit A2's last known location. That wasn't so bad. A2 was conducting a sustained war on the Machines, and she'd refused all contact. You had that from the resistance, right? Just people trying to do the same thing, from their own angles. Probably just a misunderstanding
Yonah tried not to think about how many YoRHa androids had been destroyed thanks to those misunderstandings.
Executioners, scanners, defenders, battle units… if it had weapons, it had been aimed at A2. And nothing had come back in one piece. Even the executioners weren't lasting long enough to report back, and executioners were the best YoRHa had produced.
But Yonah knew A2, knew her little sister. She could find a way through.
Nothing to worry about.
Except the machines, the planet, the moose, the boars, the unknown terrors of the old world, the boars, and the boars.
Jackass had stories about boars.
"Are you alright?"
1D's face filled Yonah's screen and shoved out boars to fill her thoughts.
"I'm fine!"
"You don't need to worry. The League of Assemblymen designed your transport pod themselves. If anyone knows how to safely move humans down to Earth, it's another human, right?"
As the only human alive, Yonah had her doubts.
"I… that's reassuring, but it's not what I was worried about. I'm not used to command."
1D's smile was almost passable. Almost. For all number one practiced, even 2E managed to read more human when it came to smiles.
"Don't worry. This isn't much of a command. If there's a question, you can leave the decisions on the finer points of deployment to one of the YoRHa squad members with relevant experience. The Commander wouldn't risk sending you without adequate protection."
Of course she wouldn't. Not when she'd barely agreed to it in the first place.
Every single living soul in YoRHa was expendable, of course. Yonah was just a little less expendable than the rest.
"...What did she say your assignment was?"
"Whatever you needed of us. Your safety is our highest priority."
In other words, White was treating things with the usual mission security, and anyone who died would die without knowing why.
Another smile from Yonah, three times as fake as anything 1D had ever tried, but not even a tenth as obvious.
"I'll try not to do anything too dangerous, then."
"There isn't much reason to worry. Your safety and the completion of this mission is more important to YoRHa than a few hours of memories."
Memories of 15H's flashed before Yonah's eyes. Not as she was on the bunker right now. 15H of an hour no-one but Yonah and her mother remembered, with a hole in her head spilling onto the floor.
"I'd… still rather not put anyone at risk. It's… what is that?"
Something hummed. Then the ship rattled. And there was a brief burst of noise that Yonah had never heard outside a nightmare before she saw 1D kill outside channels.
"...Nothing. Mission proceeding as scheduled."
"As scheduled."
"It will proceed more efficiently without further communications."
And the screen was gone before Yonah could pull rank and get some answers. Not that she needed to ask to have a good guess.
The machines weren't as stupid as anyone liked to think. Or at least they weren't stupid in the useful ways. They'd probably mapped out likely YoRHa attack routes a long time ago. Now they had an obvious target, they were pulling the trap shut.
And someone died because Yonah thought this whole stupid mess was a good idea. She (well, probably she, judging from the voice. They did have a scanner along.) probably wouldn't be alone in that.
And there was nothing Yonah could do except hope that the mission crew would hit the ground close enough to intact for the rest of her stupid plan to fall apart on its own merits.
The pod rattled.
Yonah tried not to think about why. It wasn't too long to Earth, really. Under an hour, even going slow to keep the fragile little human intact. She knew those numbers like her textbooks, like her own hand, the little smile that her mother (...that Commander White) didn't think anyone noticed when Yonah made a stupid little joke. The numbers were drilled too tight to ever forget.
She just also knew how fear felt, how the tension drew seconds into hours and minutes into days. She was in a floating coffin, with her family dying outside, and no way to save them, or even to know their chances until they all fell to Earth.
Yonah tried to focus on mission objectives. On plans, and the things she might be able to change.
The things she could change if she survived to reach Earth.
She tried to bring up images of contact with Resistance cells and the little speeches she could make. Of fieldcraft and the best ways to track someone who didn't want to be tracked. Of the balance to maintain with a Scanner before he found too much and had to be taken out.
But instead, she was images of her shuttle consumed in flames, of the screaming deaths of every soldier on the mission, of hideous failure that couldn't even be acknowledged, for fear of destroying the hope she represented.
She wished she'd studied Raphael more, and Bosch less.
The pod rattled.
Yonah wished she had something to pray to.
The pod heated up.
Yonah started praying, even in the absence of a target.
Number 1 answered.
"Atmospheric entry. Nothing to worry about."
Yonah jumped on the opening.
"Commander White has given me full authority over this mission. I will not receive incomplete information. Situation report. Now."
1D's face twitched, coming closer to fear than it normally managed. If Yonah had to guess, she'd say the eyes beneath the blindfold weren't looking at her.
"The mission force is acting at reduced strength. Units 8B and 4S are still reporting."
"4S, 8B, and you. That's…"
Yonah took a breath. Let it out. They'd made backups. They'd made backups, and this wasn't her fault.
"Units 38E, 19H, 13B, and 64D are no longer reporting. I assume this means they're confirmed destroyed?"
"Yes."
"Enemy fire. How did they know?"
"Unknown. Machine life forms are incapable of any large scale tactical planning."
Yonah bit her tongue. Stick to the party line. As far as it goes, at least.
"I would prefer to have known we were operating at less than half strength as soon as possible."
"It seemed ill-advised to allow you to suffer emotional distress."
"I'm not exactly feeling calm now! Please say we have a secure landing site."
Yonah paused.
"Please tell me the truth. Preferably, the truth includes the fact we have a stable landing site, but I'll work better if I know what I'm dealing with."
"We have a secure landing site."
"Thank you. ...As you were."
It sounded professional, right? Yonah really hoped it sounded professional. Commanding. Like she had any idea what she was doing, and not at all like she was about to break down laughing or sobbing in the knowledge that there were only going to be three androids on a mission that she'd already worried was suicidal with seven.
She tried to collect her thoughts. Deal with what you have, instead of what you'd like to have.
1D, 4S, 8B. A scanner, a defender, and an offensive combat model. The exact minimum she'd thought she could have succeeded with, when everything seemed much more likely to work than it did now.
She almost wished things had gone a little worse. That she could just call everything off with a clean conscience, hide on Earth until she could ride back home. But she had enough to go forward with the mission, and that meant she owed it to everyone to see it through, to actually provide some of the hope they already gave her.
She'd say she hoped that YoRHa could forgive her for the dead, but they would. That was, in a way, the worst part. She'd be forgiven for every sin, because she was human, while people like Devola and Popola would never be given grace even in perfection, because they weren't.
Stupid, stupid world. Almost made you wonder why you were trying to save it.
The pod rattled again. Yonah saw 1D's face.
"We're…"
Then she didn't see anything except the dark.
When the world came back, it was bright, but fuzzy. A splash of red was in front of her eyes.
The part of Yonah's mind that was able to focus at all thought that was almost fitting. Mankind was always meant to die in its home.
"I don't understand how you can be so calm!"
That was 4S. For a moment, Yonah wondered what had him so worried. For a moment, she forgot about herself.
It was a little better that way. It meant she didn't notice the pain.
There was a lot of pain.
"I'm just reacting appropriately. You didn't say that about 1D."
8B. Voice level. Yonah's eyes still had the red in clear view, but it seemed to be forming a pattern. The shade didn't quite match blood, either. Not the real thing or the substitute in common use.
"1D wouldn't scream if she died. You're supposed to have more of a reaction."
"I've been in command. I know how to handle myself."
"You were shaking when we…"
Yonah decided to intervene, even if she didn't know the argument.
"Mrmphnm."
It wasn't much of a commander style statement.
The red blur turned away, and Yonah began to suspect it wasn't her blur. Not with the white under it. Not when the blur was making noises that weren't her noises.
"She's conscious. I think it's mostly shock. The transport cushioned her landing."
Another blur in the corner of Yonah's eyes was waving. The blur almost sounded like 4S.
"I read the Resistance's records on them. Do you know what happened the last time a couple of models in this series got their hands on a human?"
The blur that sounded like 8B was leaning back.
"I know that we lost our healer in the flight here because Command didn't know or didn't let us know we had anti-air coming. I know that these two are, according to that same Resistance, the only androids outside of YoRHa who know how humans tick. And I know that 1D, who is in command until Yonah is in shape to actually give orders again, requested their assistance. So, no. I don't know what happened last time. I also don't care. What I do know says we sit here as ordered and let the nice Resistance android do what we brought her to do."
Yonah tried to force her lips to form words. Something to show how at ease she was here. Something to keep her command from TEARING ITSELF APART before the machines could do it.
"Ow's 'nemone?"
Not good. But better than her last attempt.
"What?"
The red blur was looking like hair now. Hair around a face she mostly recognized from the back of the Resistance base on her last visit to Earth, always shirking away when she looked at it.
"How's Anemone?"
The face (Dev-something?) skewed.
"...She's doing as well as can be expected. How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three."
"...Good. Very good."
The red framed face looked over at 8B.
"She won't be in any shape to travel long distances, but we're out of the worst."
"She'll live?"
"As far as I can tell."
Yonah looked at the redhead's face. Devola(?) (No, the other one. Popola.) had the look of someone who might know something, but not the look of someone who believed it.
4S glared.
"Not that you'd keep her that way if we weren't watching you."
Yonah tried to flop her head to look at the scanner.
"She's just trying to help."
"I know what happened last time one of these things tried to help, ma'am. Don't let your guard down."
Yonah frowned.
"I won't. Because last time she and her sister had to fix the arm I wrecked when I did."
Well, they advised on it. The situation wasn't quite dire enough that the local androids would risk letting Devola and Popola anywhere near a human. But Yonah was fairly sure her arm would have healed much worse without their advice. And she was more sure she didn't need a fight on her hands.
Everyone stays calm. Everyone stays together. Everyone stays alive.
4S coughed.
"I understand, ma'am. If you're willing to trust them, you are in command. I just felt I should make sure you had all the information I could find. It's a Scanner's job, after all."
8B turned towards the scanner, with a glare as clear as she could manage under a blindfold.
"I've noticed. Is our commanding officer cleared to be moved?"
Popola didn't look sure, whatever she was about to say.
"I'm not sure it's safe yet. I…"
"It's not safe now. I'm not a scanner, but I've been on Earth enough to know when you're just waiting for an ambush. He can worry all he likes about your records. I'm worried that Machines are going to rush us over the ridge any second now. We need better cover."
4S shook his head.
"I'd have picked something up by now."
"Like you did when we were coming in? I thought you'd seen…"
8B's face faded into a grimace.
"Scanners."
"What do you have against Scanners? We've never even been on the same mission."
"Exactly."
Yonah tried to force herself up. 8B wasn't her favorite person in the world, but she she knew what she was doing, and she'd always had good instincts for pending disaster. The pain was probably more in her head than her legs.
After a moment, she had to stop. It turned out the pain was everywhere. It didn't feel like a break, and she didn't see nearly as much blood as she was afraid of, but moving was going to be a group activity in the best case scenario.
"I think I can move a little. I just need some help."
Popola frowned.
"Some help."
"A little more help than that? It's not so bad. Really. 8B's right. We should reconnect with 1D, get some shelter, make plans. We've got a mission."
4S nodded.
"Yes ma'am. You can count on me."
8B shook her head.
"If you think it's still possible…"
Her hand snapped into the salute, with exaggerated enthusiasm.
"Glory to mankind!"
A pod hovered beside her, knitting a stretcher into existence from maso reactions.
"Recommendation: keep movement to a minimum."
Yonah looked at it. Funny. Shouldn't there have been two of the things? Her head flopped towards 8B.
"Pod?"
"Lost it in landing. We're lucky it didn't go worse. And, with all due respect, I think I got off lightly."
The pod swiveled to face 8B.
"Reprimand: Loss of a pod unit is still a violation of YoRHa protocol, and may result in…"
"If I had a choice, I would have done things differently. I didn't."
Yonah clenched her teeth. Keep control. Even if everything had decayed so much that the things that aren't supposed to have personalities are starting arguments, she had to keep control.
"We can discuss it later. Right now…"
Pain, agony, clench teeth harder…
"8B's right. We need to focus on getting somewhere relatively safe so we can actually start thinking again, before we have the machines on our backs."
And where maybe they'd have some painkillers. Devola was apparently better at distracting people from pain (she certainly seemed that way when Jackass's poor lab safety protocols and Yonah's own capacity for slipping up when working with machine parts ended in a broken arm), but it was an odds on bet she was with 1D right now, probably acting as a hostage to make sure Popola would do what she'd want to do anyway.
Yonah shook her head. If she bothered with worrying about all the lies, lies by omission, and horrible sacrifices she was building on, she'd spend her whole life in regret. YoRHa needed hope. No matter the cost.
No matter what that noise was over the nearest hill.
"We need to move."
Too slow. Too distracter, too human, too slow. The machines crested the hill. Yonah didn't bother to try for a count. There were more of them than she wanted to see.
8B drew her sword.
"Resistance android, keep the human safe and get her out of here. 4S, make sure she doesn't try anything, and keep trying to get in contact with the Commander. I'll keep them busy. Hopefully, 1D won't drag things out or get killed while we're waiting for her."
She paused.
"If our commanding officer doesn't object to running while we risk our lives buying her time?"
"No objections. Stay alive."
"No promises. Stay out of the way."
And after that, things blurred again.
If Yonah was the type to lie in her own favor, she might claim that it was the pain that kept her from following the combat, say that she was too distracted to follow her first view of the way fighting went closer to the front.
But she didn't lie in her favor. Instead, she was forced to soak in the shock.
For thousands of years, two armies had been thrust in the cauldron, continually experimenting to perfect the art of war. Every YoRHa android was the culmination of the killer's art, and the machines were an alien reply. R and K reproduction taken to the peak and thrown screaming at the Earth. And, from time to time, magic burst through all of them.
Not the little Maso effects she was used to, not some small and civilized poke at the fabric of reality that could almost pass for conventional science. This was magic proper, the art that made ancient humans burn each other to death on a mere rumor, that let them fight against acts of gods and survive. The art that lead them to their deaths almost as easily as it once promised them their survival.
Scraps of metal filled the air. And all Yonah could do was watch, a ten thousand year throwback brought back for sentiment into a world she could never hope to win herself.
Even Popola, first generation medic, threw up walls that Yonah couldn't have breached with artillery. She was their god, a symbol that would bring them victory, and she couldn't even hope to stand alongside the weakest and slowest weapons either side had produced. It was almost a joke, if it wasn't so terrifying. Yonah doubted any part of her was strong enough to stand this world for long.
At a certain point, even the fear broke. A flash of black moved through the waves of steel, and they were engulfed in fire. Sometimes fire broke out on its own as 4S waved his hands. None of the attacks would reach her as she moved away. None of her pain had any relation to the growing tide. And the part of Yonah's brain that reminded her how terrified she should be eventually gave up from exhaustion, leaving nothing but the chaos.
"They're getting closer!"
Oh. So they were.
Yonah forced herself to consider her options. None seemed to be any use. No point in yelling, then. At least the pain would stop. Cold comfort, but better than none.
Then something came crashing down in the middle of the horde. A shield.
The tide had been rolling, but now it all crashed against one small rock.
"Priority message incoming."
Yonah forced herself to look up. 1D's face was in front of her for the first time since the crash. She hadn't really expected to see it again. But her luck had been running a very odd line lately.
"The delay was unacceptable."
Yonah's shoulders felt like they were being ripped out of their sockets when she lifted them, making the casual shrug less reassuring than she meant it to.
"I'm alive. I think that means you came in time."
"That is not an excuse."
"If I die, I'll reprimand you. Does that make you feel any better?"
The face beneath the blindfold twitched as close as it came to a frown.
"It changes nothing."
Another face flashed from the pod. 8B.
"If you're done talking, the machines aren't done trying to kill us. We won't do any good getting away if they can still follow us."
4S completed the set.
"Don't worry, ma'am. The situation is well in hand now. "
8B's blindfold tilted.
"You've got an odd way of counting that. We still have machines alive. That's not in hand."
"They won't be soon enough."
"It's never soon enough. Keep your eye on the human. In case you've forgotten, her life's more valuable than any of ours."
The faces vanished, and Yonah looked over at the steel tide. Every second, it was smaller. She almost felt like it would be safe to close her eyes. A second with them closed, and the machines would all be gone.
Yonah blinked.
When her eyes opened, she was on another bed, in the Resistance camp.
Apparently, that was a little more than a blink.
Yonah's aches had subsided a little, at least. She turned to try to remember as much as she could in hopes of heading off any interservice conflict. And to keep from panicking at the obvious questions.
She looked over at the android on duty and struggled for a name. She knew the face. He'd been in the crowds. She just needed to collect her thoughts.
"Hey...Calcutta."
"Ma'am!"
Yonah still wasn't used to that look. Even YoRHa had enough family to it that things seldom fell into outright worship. Seldom reminded her of just how badly she was needed, for now.
She still didn't like it.
"Before you say anything, yes, I remembered your name. Yes, you matter, and I'm glad you're alive. Yes, I know how much that means to you. But right now I need to know how long I was out."
"Not long. An hour, maybe. We moved you away from the twins as soon as we could. I'm sorry..."
"Apologize to them. They were the ones who saved my life."
"It's the least they could do."
"It's what they did. And that matters more."
Yonah shook her head.
"But there are more urgent priorities. 8B, 4S, and 1D all arrived safely?"
"Yes ma'am."
"And they should be in combat ready condition?"
"As far as I could tell. None of them needed any obvious repairs."
"Good. You're dismissed. I'll be up as soon as I'm able."
"Of course."
The salute.
"Glory to Mankind."
Yonah did her best to return it. Her arm actually followed orders, which was a pleasant surprise.
"Glory to Mankind."
And then the man was gone, unaware of how blatantly he was wrong.
She was alive. Her team was alive. And they still had a chance. Which meant the mission was still going forward.
And because of that, she was fairly sure that none of the other three would be true soon enough.
(Author's notes: And so we come to the end again. Thanks for reading, feel free to comment on what worked and what didn't, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Probably coming to an end for this story soon. Honestly, I kind of assumed that I wouldn't need four chapters when I started writing. And before that, I was loosely planning to do a bunch of standalone shorts rather than keeping with Yonah like this. Considering how the settings of Taro Yoko games tend to go, I'm pretty sure that's not doing her a kindness.
At any rate, like the player said, "Generally speaking, things have gone about as far as they can possibly go, when things have gotten about as bad as they can reasonably get.", and there's still plenty of room to get worse. Hopefully it'll lead somewhere satisfying.
Until next time, take care, and remember that mackerels are a human only food.)
