Faith, Hope, and Intimacy

The final caption from my poll. Interest was fairly steady, as long as I posted regularly and often, which I couldn't always do. It got a lot more attention than my previous polls though, with 95 unique responses at the end.


All in all, I think the poll was a success, even if it was a bit long and occasionally scarce on interest. I'm not sure yet if I'll do this again with a new set of caption ideas or not. At the very least, I'm in no shortage of caption ideas.

Speaking of polls, my two-year anniversary poll has gotten much less attention, with only 5 responses so far. I would greatly appreciate it if you could fill it out if you haven't already.

Anyway, I should get to talking about the caption. It's been a work in progress for a long time, going through several ideas before this one finally stuck.

First she was a tactical officer who used her god powers to supercharge the ship's guns to match or outdo what the Wave Motion Gun was capable of. Then she ran the ship entirely by herself, sorta like Balok. Both of those didn't work in part because the uniforms seen here were only worn by the Yamato crew. The standard United Nations Cosmo Force uniform was different--sorta like how Star Trek Discovery had the Enterprise crew in a different, more TOS-y uniform. Moreover, she was only wearing two gold (originally silver) bars, which indicates a lieutenant junior grade. Then she was a Q-like being who arrived to harass the Yamato crew. Then she finally became a shapeshifted manifestation of a mysterious character I had previously introduced with minimal fanfare or explanation. I have Akane to thank for giving me that idea. For those of you who are curious about that, you can read more about her on F-List.

The image I used is fanart of Tomoko Nagai (apparently an original character) from Space Battleship Yamato 2199, by Tatsunami Youtoku on Pixiv (second and third images). Interestingly enough, the pictures there say (or at least Google Translate claims they say) Nagai serves as a counselor, which is not unlike what I relegated her to for the purposes of my caption (a non-standard form of counsel to be sure, but a welcome one). Furthermore, she was enlisted for some sort of "special mission", despite the husband she left behind on Earth. Given that she's in a tight micro bikini (which reveals seven tally marks over her womb) as this is revealed, it's pretty easy to guess what this "special mission" entails.

From what we see in the series, there aren't any white uniforms like Tomoko's in the show (worn by women, mind you--most of the men's uniforms are primarily white). So I took color samples from the show's character sheets and make it congruent with the show. Furthermore, the rank insignia on the shoulders and the belt buckle should be the same color--gold for commissioned officers and silver for non-coms.

All persons depicted are fictitious, not owned by me (With one exception. Tomoko Nagai is owned by Tatsunami Youtoku and Space Battleship Yamato 2199 is owned by by Leiji Matsumoto, Yoshinobu Nishizaki, AIC, and Xebec, but Reina Delta is my original character), and above the age of 18 (Tomoko is literally stated to be 45 in her bio). I make no money through this image.

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TRANSCRIPT:
Universe 625-27-12029 is highly intriguing.  Humanity is on its last legs.  This vessel, the Yamato, is its last resort.  It was sent on a suicide mission to the Large Magellanic Cloud in hopes of retrieving Iscandarian technology that can restore their dying planet.  The original intent of this vessel was to evacuate survivors of the Gamilas war.  Given these dire circumstances, I would expect evacuation to be an easier feat than acquiring advanced technology from an unknown benefactor in another galaxy.
This seems to be a recurring theme in humanity: faith in something potentially nebulous or even non-existent.  Hope drives these creatures to ends far beyond what would be logical.
It will be a long time until I fully understand all aspects of them.  It might even be a futile venture for someone like me, but I can't help but feel compelled to study any iteration of my creators  that I encounter.
One thing is certain, I have become quite adept in matters of human intimacy and sexual recreation.  This contributed greatly to the form I assumed upon boarding the ship.  The human mind is easy to read and manipulate.  I am the form that the majority of the ship's crew desires sexually, whether they're conscious of it or not.  Further, no one aboard will remember me once I depart, resulting in no lasting changes to the original sequence of events.
Speaking of human intimacy, I see a pair of stressed junior officers from the operations division.  I believe I am more than capable of... boosting their morale.
I have heard that Lieutenant Niimi has used comparable methods to my own to improve ship morale; perhaps I should consult with her later....