2022-05-14: Do Not, My Friends
- Log: Do Not, My Friends
- Cast: Dr. Spartura, Ana Kambinda, Qivi, Ryoko Subaru, Yuliana Dispersal, Shelby Korts
- Where: Windcoll Hydrotreatment Plant (Balic, West Africa)
- Date:2022-05-14
- Summary: The war-tense nation of Balic, located in the northern portions of Africa, has many problems. One of these problems, the Emotional Front of Balic, is making its move. In defense of their advocacy of 'universal sympathy' (which doesn't really go well with their periodic small-scale terrorist attacks) they are assaulting a locally-critical water treatment plant that is keeping the desert tolerable for its residents and some marginal agricultural stakeholders.
The team consists of some rehabilitated Wanzers and -- something else.
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
BALIC - UPLANDS
The African republic of Balic is not one of the more affluent or better-off locations in the Federation. It has a port, and that's the big thing going for it; there are cities; there are some historical monuments; and there is, of course, war, a half-frozen interior war which has sufficient complexity that the Federation has seen no call to settle the matter. In some ways it is a glimpse of the underbelly, here, less than a thousand kilometers from Dakar.
But there are some benefits to the place. A lack of resource growth has kept it from ever taking off, but in an earlier era, perhaps a better era, before anyone knew the name "Zeon," a public works project constructed a great manufacturing zone in a plateau which would catch the humid winds from the westward coast and focus them, condensing them to provide fresh water and allow parts of the desert to, if not quite bloom, then to grow.
Of course, there is a problem with such things... and that problem is centralization.
NOW - WINDCOLL HYDROTREATMENT PLANT
The plateau where the plant is located is not normally damp. It is now - humid from the breaching of dozens of pipelines which do, should, convey clean water from this central point to places through Balic; that should, do, bring wastewater into the great pits to be cleansed by sun and life and chemistry to be potable again, renewed by what the wind brings.
This process doesn't usually involve wanzers.
"This is the Emotional Front commander speaking!" comes a radio transmission from one of the quartet of rehabilitated Wanzers approaching the central administration and control plant - a building which DOES have concrete walls around it, because those were easy for the Zentraedi workers who built this place nearly forty years ago to build and they kept out the goats and the riff-raff - "We are once again asking you to put down your arms and -"
FOOM! A counterblast from one of the two defense units within! A second one! "Shit! Shit! S-saltinne you have to-"
"Fine," comes a reply from their aerial escort -- which fires a single magenta beam -- a wanzer explodes. The sole remaining defender swears loudly in clear, and falls silent.
"Thank God." "No, there's one left." "Saltinne how come you didn't--"
"I told you," comes the transmission from the aerial escort, "and I told you like, five hundred times here that this is the plan, we have to keep me here because I'm the counterforce asset, man. I don't know how many more times I can tell you this. Look, we won, didn't we?"
"Akabe got downed! And Cyril -- he's -- I don't know if he's gonna make it!"
The aerial escort turns, casting a shadow in the stark sunlight towards the complaining Wanzer.
"-- Don't--"
"Guys! Guys!" comes the Emotional Front field commander (actually, the autonomous acephalic thought-leader coordinating and determining battlefield consensus, but that's not, uh, easy to summarize yet.) "Guyyyys. We won! We just have to get in there! You guys have the stream gear, right?"
A couple of heavy machine gun bursts from the attackers test out the facility parking lot.
"We make the demands - then when these dogs don't get them going we sabotage every part of the machine plant - then we get out of here!" concludes the Emotional Front's field commander. "Just like we rehearsed."
The invaders move - cautiously - into the plant parking lot. Their oversight --
-- which, to visual analysis resembles a reconstructed ORX-005 Gaplant painted in classical Titans black-and-gold with a prominent Emotional Front logo on the arm binders, carrying some off-spec but obviously functional beam rifle. (The Emotional Front logo is a roundel, black, with a red heart on the upper left and a stylized brain on the lower right. Heart over brain.)
The Gaplant is a pretty tough MS... but that must be the centerpiece of their forces!
<Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
"Why would someone attack Balic," Ana mutters as she buckles herself into the cockpit.
Running back and forth across the northwestern half of the continent is her modus operandi these days, largely courtesy of various landships. Off in the distance, the craft comes into view - a low, heavily-gunned landship with two forward prongs. The Giant Fork-class landship Neiterkob stands off at extreme range. Bombarding a hydrotreatment plant seems like a bad idea.
Ana's sand-coloured Gustav Karl moves up onto the deck and launches with a boom of thrust that kicks up a billow of sand. The big machine rockets forward as she lays on the thrust, spooling her weapons up even as she takes stock of the situation.
Wanzers. Gaplant. Not ZAFT? Huh.
What becomes more obvious the closer she gets is that there is not normally free-running water here beyond that sucked up from the Atlantic. She bunches her shoulders and leans forward with a bleak scowl. "They cut the water lines," she hisses through her teeth. In an area so arid and infertile as the Sahara, water management facilities are a requirement of life.
A few wanzers have taken off from the Neiterkob, but it's up to Ana to lead on. She taps a comline open, focusing on an allied band aimed at the facility.
"Munsha'at Baliq, hadna an-naqib Kambinda," she begins, in a Maghrebi dialect of Arabic she really hopes the locals will understand but any eavesdropping attackers won't.
Not that the message is anything special. 'Baliq facility, this is Captain Kambinda, OAC Forces. Assistance inbound from the east. Keep under cover and barricade any entrances you can.'
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
It's an unusual thing for Qivi to be way the hell out here. Her stomping ground is more out towards Huffman Island, or maybe Japan; she knows OCU and Britannian territory a whole lot better than she knows Africa.
But she's part of the Shuffle Alliance now. Sometimes the Shuffle Alliance has to deal with small terrorist organizations in ways the Federation can't, or won't. (Sometimes the Shuffle Alliance has to talk with terrorist organizations too, but Qivi would be the first to admit that she fucked that up pretty bad the once and you should probably get someone else to do it.)
More critically, some members of the Shuffle Alliance - most definitely including Qivi - are meddling occasional vigilantes, and while she might have just let an attack against a Federation base go because troops would deal with that, she is not prepared to let an attack on a civilian water treatment just happen.
So rather than keep her distance and make contact with one of the local non-Federation resistance groups (one third Federation militia, one third Fed-distrusting OAC loyalists, one third anti-ZAFT-invasion warriors), which is what she was supposed to be doing, Qivi paced the attackers in a transport truck. And now that the attackers are well and truly attackers...
A wanzer takes the field. This one isn't coloured like an OAC unit, or for that matter any Federation standard camo; it's green and black, with a distinctive painted symbol of a bull head, snorting smoke, surrounded by seven rainbow jewels in a ring around it. One shoulder mounts a machine gun, the other has a Zaku-style shoulder shield with that symbol painted on it, and it's holding a shotgun and some sort of heavy spiked knuckle weight in its hands. The hand and arm holding the knuckle weight is larger and heavier than the other, which is lighter and more agile.
It is also approaching significantly faster than most Blizzaias, however modified, can run, because it is using a combination of running (as its wheeled roller boost doesn't work very well on sand) and firing a back-mounted thruster array like a jetpack for enormously long jumps.
Qivi doesn't bother hailing. She's approaching at top speed and holding weapons. She figures that's enough of a warning.
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
In the hangar control room, the lead mechanic sips his coffee while reading from a magazine. "Oh I see I see. This might be useful for my next generation of Lily-"
A display of Ryoko's face appears right in his as she yells, "ARE WE IN RANGE YET?"
While it startles him, he only loses a few drops of coffee which he brushes off of himself and glances at his instruments. "I told you before. No. Your Gravity Wave Antenna won't quite reach from the plant yet at Nadesico's current speed." "Well stop slacking off and count me down!"
Uribatake just goes back to his magazine, kicks his feet up and turns the page. "I don't need to count anything down and I'm not slacking. You just don't understand my method." "BASTARD! This distress call is serious! We can't afford to waste any time-" Uribatake interrupts her. "Right. Now you're in range." With his nose buried in his magazine he waves vaguely in her direction. "Go ahead and deploy now - you're wasting time."
He promptly shuts off the screen just in time to avoid an expletive fueled response and the rude gesture that follows. Instead he eyes the page he's looking at calmly, "Hmmm. Now with increased killing power... yes I think I will order some while we're planet side."
The Aestivalis dressed to the nines in its Aerial frame catapults out of the Nadesico, thrusters blazing bright as it skims over the port through the Balic, beelining for the plateau and opens her own comms, "Ryoko Subaru of the Nadesico, Aestivalis Forward Unit, is currently flying within Baliq Air Space. Responding to distress call."
Suddenly pushing the Aestivalis to move faster without any discernible movement over the control globe, merely the glow on the back of her hand as she adds, thinking of the Uribatake's smug face, "And more than ready to engage on arrival... if necessary."
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
The Nega Force cut a worldwide profile, in terms of their movements; they're sent to all sorts of places, to offer Federation support. (There are, of course, also... other... activities which occupy them, frequently with regards to other countries' internal squabbles. Never mind all that.) This means the Captain Yuliana Dispersal just happens to be in Balic, when her Second Lieutenant, Parminder Chaudhri, tells her about an interesting distress signal he's picking up.
"Well," Yuliana says, brightly, "it's a good thing we brought our kit, isn't it? Letda, tell the others to take over operations here; I'm going to clean this up."
Lieutenant -- or 'Letda', slang for second lieutenant in Yuliana's neck of the REA -- Chaudhri doesn't even look up from his laptop. "Alone?"
"It's politics," Yuliana shrugs, strapping her helmet on. "We can't send a whole squad in to solve another country's problems impromptu. Not without... you know."
Questions. He knows!
"Sure, Captain," Parminder agrees, mildly, as he keeps typing.
They still have a job to do, after all.
---
The Windcoll Hydrotreatment Plant... is going to get one more wanzer visiting, as it happens. The Tiandong 3 is a customary REA unit, and this one has a teal paint job, with bright green highlights. The Annihilation Custom -- Yuliana's personal unit. Its flamethrower has a bayonet attached; it's also fielding a hand-axe, and a chaff launcher mounted behind its shoulder shield.
"Minovsky's Woman, responding on site," Yuliana reports, as much for the benefit of her allies than her enemies.
This open transmission is especially for the Emotional Front, though, as the Tiandong closes in: "Unknown wanzers, disarm and stand down. This is a Federation order authorised by Captain Yuliana Dispersal. I repeat: disarm and stand down."
Inside her machine, as she presses her clutch forward, Yuliana has the most impressive pout in the universe. If looks could talk, hers would say: please don't stand down. Make this interesting, I dare you.
... but her looks can't talk, inside a bulky wanzer. And her heart can't talk, either: no matter how sensitive one's heart is, there is not a scrap of emotional information pouring out of the Tiandong whatsoever. No intent, be it killing or merciful. Nothing.
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
Africa's a little out of her usual operating theatre, but Shelby Korts has been a reliable cover-person for the Shuffle Alliance: Where they actually need her, she will be there. In this case, the job takes her as far as Libya: While essentially a milk run, there was some worry about defense and security along the way.
On the long way back through the route to the African elevator, her cover does not last too horribly long: Problems in Balic? Shrugging her way back into the top half of her pilot suit before zipping it up, she's out the window of the truck and climbing under the tarp of the massive load on the flatbed. No time to think about eating the leftovers, now.
The Shuffle agent's machine is eye-catching and nowhere near subtle: A knockout pink and blackest-black version of a machine from the era of Char's Neo-Zeon: The Jagd Doga. This one, notably, does not have the trimmings and marks of the Sleeves, utilizing verniers and thrusters to make massive leaps and landskimming hovers across the terrain until she's close enough to pick up contacts-- and to start feeling things as her potent Newtype mind starts picking up other things as well.
Flicking down her helmet visor and bringing her weapons online, Shelby Korts sucks in a breath as she starts to focus.
With a crackle of radio static, she announces: "This unit is on-site for aiding in defense."
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
Ana receives a reply. "Oh, God is great," comes the reply: "This is the assistant works manager and I am watching this shit right now, our defense team is breaking down and I don't know if -- Listen! Captain! There's a flying suit with them, not just Wanzers! You need to watch out - Oh God it sees me -"
Floating near the admin building, the Gaplant pivots slightly and shoots one of the offices. The beam rifle is adjustable - it's 'low power' - which mostly means that the office is destroyed but the internal fire suppression in the building kicks on (there's plenty of water right here, after all!) and nobody unplanned dies.
"Hey! What the hell, man!" comes the response from the Emotional Front field commander. "Don't waste your caps when there isn't even a pig on the scene yet!"
The pilot in the Gaplant laughs, strangely. "Spy, man. Look, I know you were in the Forces, but you REALLY gotta relax... I know what I'm doing!"
"Tch!" the Field Commander replies.
Qivi shoots past a shot-up Wanzer that's clearly powered down, not least because it doesn't have a right leg. The pilot peeks out of the hatch afterwards, and he clicks something on the emergency radio, but it's signal-only and so his word will be, at best, an ironic counter-announcement of her approach.
An aerial unit is coming in, although the team's air oversight is this 'Saltinne' guy in his Gaplant. The Mobile Armor comes to light on top of the now-shot up office building, straddling the air in an aggressive sort of way as it does, and scanning the horizon.
They're given an order--
The Front commander says, "Ah!! It's the Feds!!" There is a rustle of paper.
(The Gaplant spots the Aesti... and something else. The dazzle-pink of the Jagd-Doga. The pilot frowns to himself, though he has, so far, only spoken through sound.)
"AHEM:"
("OK," the Gaplant's pilot murmurs to himself. "Alright, then. This really is gonna bring them out, huh.")
"ATTENTION DOGS OF THE FEDERATION! We, the Emotional Front of Balic, have seized this resource with the same passion and heat with which we have reached out to seize our dreams -- but unlike our dreams, it was within our grasp! Federation policy has denied us something far more important than so-called political or economic freedom; we have been denied absolute and unfettered EMOTIONAL freedom! As per the writings of Zeon zum Deikum, humanity must evolve into a new type of being in order to survive and expand in space, and due to the intolerable offenses of the Federation government, we have been denied the opportunity to expand EMOTIONALLY, as per the theorizations of Armand Splendowskiy--"
(Armand Splendowskiy was a psychotherapist who blogged a lot and went from 'emotional support advice' in 0080 to 'passionate AEUG advocate' to 'passionate Titans advocate' to 'Second Impact Truther' before finally passing away from a chronic disease. His estate receives royalties from several textbooks he wrote, elaborating on hierarchy-of-needs theory, which were drafted well before he totally went bananas.)
(The Gaplant raises its beam rifle and steps backwards.)
"-- these offenses include but are in no way LIMITED to: the institution of mandatory SCHOOLING! The institution of PARKING FEES! The institution of legal restrictions on the use of combustion fuel vehicles in space colonies--"
("While he's reading his speech you probably want to get eyes out," the Gaplant pilot says. Ice calm.)
"-- the fact that it is possible to BLOCK or IGNORE individuals on social channels WITHOUT due process, DENYING us all our RIGHT to--"
SHRIEK! SHRIEK! Two Beam shots, one towards the Aesti and the other the Jagd Doga in close succession, JUST as the Gaplant steps off the back of the building! Briefly hidden by civilians it can land in another crouch and then kick up its thrusters, pivoting with an abrupt, tooth-shakingly- sharp turn to accelerate out towards the parking lot:
"-- ACCESS to the FRUITS of our GAMING -- what in God's name are you doing Saltinne!?" The speech derails as the Gaplant surges, first towards the incoming OAC forces who are treated to a sudden gift of BURNING HOT FUEL, at which point the Gaplant does another of those pilot-murdering turns and jerks in the other direction, a beam saber coming out to slash sideways at the other approaching Wanzers! At the end of it all, it rises upwards, as
"hahaHAHAHAHAHAHA IT'S JUST LIKE I WAS ALWAYS HERE!!" cackles the Gaplant's pilot. "Faster than I EVER GOD DAMN WAS!"
"... Wait - they're already here!? Evasive formation, battle pals!!"
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Shelby Korts with Gaplant-PZ Rifle Shot! KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Ryoko Subaru with Gaplant-PZ Rifle Shot! KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Ana Kambinda with Gaplant Flamethrower Spray! KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Yuliana Dispersal with Gaplant Beam Saber Strike! KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Qivi with Gaplant Beam Saber Strike! KTS: Ana Kambinda blocks Dr. Spartura's Gaplant Flamethrower Spray, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Ryoko Subaru blocks Dr. Spartura's Gaplant-PZ Rifle Shot, taking 2380 damage! KTS: Shelby Korts's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Dr. Spartura's Gaplant-PZ Rifle Shot, taking 720 damage! KTS: Qivi fails to Parry Dr. Spartura's Gaplant Beam Saber Strike, taking 3075 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Qivi KTS: Yuliana Dispersal rushes into the attack! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to react to Dr. Spartura's Gaplant Beam Saber Strike, taking 3280 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Yuliana Dispersal KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
Hostile wanzers weren't unexpected. The green and black one is. Ana glances to the side, spots the flash of colour and the bull head, and blinks, starting a little. She's seen that unit before. "Is that...."
The appearance of the Tiandong 3 is met with a different sort of surprise. Ana scowls and presses her lips together in a firm line.
What the hell are they doing here?
The Jagd Doga - she has to stop herself from swinging in that direction, only doing so because it's on the same comline as her and doesn't have Zeon markings. Scavengers aren't unheard of, after all. Still tense, she nods and taps her headset again. "Acknowledged. Who're you with, Pinkie?"
Before she can get another remark off, the assistant manager's voice comes through. "Reading you!" she answers quickly, lapsing back into that dialect. Her delivery's a little choppy and accented, but she's managing. The flying mobile suit -
She widens her eyes. "Take cover!" she exclaims.
Too late.
Ana clicks her teeth together and scowls up at the Gaplant, drawing a slow breath that causes her shoulders and back to clench visibly. It's all she can do to keep from shouting something vile. The urge only rises when the Gaplant pilot starts going on at length. She listens for a moment before dialing down the volume and focusing on her approach.
An approach which must now come through a blaze of hot fuel fire. Ana rolls the Gustav Karl A3's shoulder forward. The flexible shield flips into place, displaying the chocobo-headed silhouette enameled on it. Fire spews over the big mobile suit, washing over the shield and scorching its edges before bleeding past to billow across cameras and limbs. The thrusters briefly flicker and stutter before a safety release triggers, sending a plume of smoke out from somewhere between the thrust nozzles.
The A3 bears it. It's built for extreme temperatures. Fire is more serious, but Ana charges through it, accelerating as she goes.
"Are you literally trying to kill an entire country of thirst so you can say gamer words on Spacebook," she yells in frustration over an open line as she bears down on the Gaplant, boosting up with a high thruster-powered leap. She won't be able to get close enough to touch it - not with its speed - but she can get close enough to sweep her beam shotcannon upwards and attempt to blast its underside several times. She's trying to knock out a thruster and force it to low altitude.
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Dr. Spartura with Heavy Beam Shotcannon Blast Fire! KTS: Ana Kambinda anchors Dr. Spartura, forcing her into close range. KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Ana Kambinda's Heavy Beam Shotcannon Blast Fire, taking 2960 damage! KTS: Ana Kambinda has engaged Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"Minovsky's Woman huh?"
Ryoko's only heard of the REA pilot in passing. Some strange rumors of being an anti-Newtype Ace. Well that's not a problem for her, she thinks bitterly.
A more pronounced reaction to her 'allies' as she flies overhead is the Jagd Doga on the ground mid-air. The Aestivalis thrusts back and pivots in mid-air to hover in place for her cockpit to zoom in her visual on the machine as it leaps and land skims on the approach. Seeing the lack of trimmings and the marks of the Sleeves... the Aestivalis turns without comment and flies on to try and leave the sight in her vapor trails. The emotional cadence of the pilot within it in this moment is... not conflicted in the sense of aggression.
It feels more like shame and regret.
Once near the plateau, she slows down and ascends to get a better look at what she's dealing with. However the Emotional Front of Balic starts its speech. Ryoko at first seems to listen, brows lifting in surprise as they invoke Zeon zum Deikum. However as they drawl into conspiracy theorists - and onward and onward into more and more nonsensical perceived slights of the Federation... Ryoko's eyebrow twitches, she gets a facial tic, a vein bulges on her forehead. And eventually she can't take it anymore.
"Shut UP ALREADY!"
Ana's warning of 'Take Cover' comes a moment too late for her. Before she can say anything else, the trigger happy Gaplant sends up twin shots from the beam rifle. Ryoko honestly didn't expect that one to come mid-speech, so she's not even trying to evade. Instead she raises her distortion field which blunts the worst impact as the Aesti briefly vanishes in the bright light of its impact. When it comes into view again it's already flying in a strafing run overhead. One of its missile pods unloading a salvo of rockets that arc inward towards the massive Gaplant.
"You think that petty list of grievances amounts to OPPRESSION? You're just a bunch of spoiled brats in toys!"
KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Dr. Spartura with Aesti Missile Salvo! KTS: Dr. Spartura blocks Ryoko Subaru's Aesti Missile Salvo, taking 2000 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
The Emotional Front of Balic begins explaining their creed.
"A..ahahaha...AHAHAHAHAHAHA--" Comes a cackle, from the Tiandong, before its radio abruptly cuts. There is absolute silence from the wanzer -- emotionally and audially -- as the speech goes on.
(Inside her cockpit, Yuliana is still laughing.)
Tragically, she is laughing so hard that when the Gaplant charges her, it manages to get a good slash in. Her radio clicks back on. "hahah...aha... okay. Okay," Yuliana takes a DEEP BREATH, like the kinds you learn in a particular kind of therapy. "Okay, anyway, you're firing on civilian construction and occupying encampments unrelated to war, and that's assaulting a Federation officer. Weapons hot."
The wanzer tromps in below the Gaplant -- it can hardly be described as slow, either, despite the boxiness of its design -- and tosses its hand-axe, towards it.
There's a wire, connecting the weapon back to the Tiandong. And if it connects, it stretches TIGHT, before the whole thing starts collapsing back inwards. Either the Tiandong will get dragged up to the Gaplant, or the Gaplant will get dragged down to the Tiandong. Does it really matter which?
"If you wanted to be ground under heel, you really just had to ask," she says, and her grin is audible. "Shall I give you something real to complain about?"
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Dr. Spartura with MULS-P Hookshot Entangle!
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Federation operatives make themselves known - along with Shelby, who Qivi doesn't need to be introduced to. They might not have come to Africa for the same reason, but they're both here now and they're both dealing with it. That seems right.
Oh, Qivi thinks to herself. Actual crazies. She doesn't have to deal with them much; the brand of crazy she generally runs into is not the kind to do mad manifestos in the parking lot. Still...
"You can shut up now," Qivi interrupts on local broadcast, loud enough to momentarily drown out the speaking Emotional Front member - she's halfway to shouting. "Nobody cares about your piece of shit philosophy and nobody'd be listening to you if you didn't have a gun. You're just a thug, and while that's what they call me too, at least I know enough to know that I'm going to have to kick your ass!" By the end she is shouting, full-on.
But that other voice comes as a surprise. As Qivi rises up in her seat, body tensing, she hears Ana's voice and is momentarily taken aback. Here? Now? It's almost enough to throw her off her game for a moment, but by now she's already got her emotions up and she's not going to calm down immediately.
The Gaplant banks in sharply. Too sharply; Qivi wouldn't have wanted to take a turn that sharp, though admittedly she also doesn't drive a machine that fast so she generally doesn't have to. She brings the fist up, and the spiked knuckles catch the Gaplant's wrist between the spikes. The idea is to keep the beam saber from cutting too deeply into the relatively small wanzer (compared to a Gaplant, it's tiny).
It sort of works. The blade cuts into Sarangay's flank, and Qivi cannot free her arm immediately for a strike. Fortunately, she has another hand holding a shotgun and she fires it at near point-blank, unloading an entire cluster of shot at close range. "Come on down here and stay here!"
KTS: Qivi targets Dr. Spartura with Covet V300 Boost Shot! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal anchors Dr. Spartura, forcing her into close range. KTS: Dr. Spartura blocks Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Hookshot Entangle, taking 2550 damage! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has engaged Dr. Spartura KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 38. KTS: Dr. Spartura blocks Qivi's Covet V300 Boost Shot, taking 3240 damage! KTS: Qivi has engaged Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
'Who're you with, Pinkie?'
"I..."
Shelby hesitates, and does not immediately answer. She's busy getting a feel for the battlefield: Not just the physical terrain, but the mental one, as well. Rumbling emotions are there; from the Gaplant to the other Wanzer-- Qivi-- to an odd feeling of shame and regret, but ... familiar? And also a strange feeling from the direction of Yuliana, a distortion that causes her head to slant and one eye to lid halfway-- she flinches, like something struck her psychically. "Hngh--"
The former Zeonic pilot's attention lifts to the shots fired; the Jagd Doga making a leap into the air and presenting it's shield to take the bolt head-on. Beam coating helps diffuse the blast across the surface, but as she takes it head-on the arm and shoulder of the presented side scorch and sear from the wash of the energy.
Shelby's weight shifts in the seat as she speaks with a firm tone of voice: "Funnels!"
The six canister remotes detach from the shoulders of the Jagd Doga, swirling in the air before they start streaking forward in formation. Each carries a bit of course correction in Earth's gravity; tips and tilts and small bursts of movement to help keep them moving and relatively steady in-atmo-- and they start taking pot shots when there's openings in the Gaplant's defense!
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts targets Dr. Spartura with Jagd Doga Funnels Basic Formation! KTS: Dr. Spartura successfully avoids Shelby Korts's Jagd Doga Funnels Basic Formation
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
"What?! No!! -- I mean!!" the commander answers Ana: "This is dirty debating tactics, Federation witch! We live here too!! But the threat of thirst of the body is the only way to make any of you take notice!! What about the thirst of the SOUL? Of the HEART?!? HUH!?" The commander wanzer, meanwhile, does a pretty passable K-turn; the skill level at work here is not that high.
The Gaplant, meanwhile, is fast -- but it seems to be styling, and it pays for it. The beam shotgun slams upwards, a thruster flaring out. The machine lurches and then comes down: THAT guy answers Ana: "Hah! Aggressive. These guys have a lot of heart, don't they?"
The Gaplant has prominent shield-binders on its forearms - and one pivots around, the Gaplant twisting slightly to take the assault there. The Logo of the Emotional Front is badly marred, and a near miss made the pilot "tch!" in response.
"You gotta go easy on the kids," the Gaplant's pilot says. (Though the voices on the comms sounded like young men, not children. Not seasoned intellectuals, that's for sure.) He sounds calm, eerily calm, almost pathologically calm, at least now that he's not cackling; but there's a certain underlying edge to everything he's saying. "After all, children are our future, aren't they? I think they live here, even; at least, most of them."
The Tiandong latches onto the landed Gaplant, like King Kong bedevilled by-- well, the size imbalance isn't that drastic; a smaller ape. Another Shield Binder gets held up, and the awkward positioning means that the Gaplant can't bring the binder round - shot smashes into its oddly helmet-like head.
(At this point Shelby can get a read on the enemy forces, however approximate. The fellows in the wanzers are legitimately angry -- but they're also scared. Fragile... there isn't a deep bench of morale here. They might back up this guy, but they're in over their heads.)
(But the Gaplant's pilot... something's strange with them. It's like there's about thirty percent of the person simply ABSENT, but the resulting person-shaped object has some sort of deep-rooted malice. It's a tight root mesh - not in full flower - but it's there. Rage. Anger. Resentment. Smugness. Wait, why smugness?)
"Kinda tight..." the Gaplant's pilot says. The entangled Shield Binder is held up as Yuliana approaches -- and then with a sudden and audible surge of power, the Gaplant TWISTS backwards, aiming to swing the Wanzer upwards by its own connecting cable in an abrupt overhead arc!! Notably-- THROUGH the approaching funnels!! Beam shots pepper the ground around it, but the Gaplant continues onwards...
The anchor line is still held. It's turning faster than Gaplants should, even if you'd allow for replacing with modern-spec parts. This can't be good for the pilot. Right? What is not good for the others nearby is that the pilot is intent on using it to swing towards the two closest to it -- Qivi and Ana's wanzers in a low arc -- before bringing up the beam saber and cutting at the line, thrusters firing as it rises upwards, correcting for the damage as fusion fuel screams!
"God it's all so CLEAR! Let me try to explain this in NORMAL talk so you can all GET it, just to cut these guys a break!" the Gaplant's pilot says. "What they're saying is -- they don't FEEL free. And if they don't FEEL free, the reality's irrelevant! I like 'em!"
"Why?!" the Gaplant's pilot says as the Mobile Suit does another of those pilot-squashing turns to rush the Jagd Doga, swinging the beam saber in a five-sweep combination aiming to carve it into so much scrap in a single shocking offensive, the black and gold colors on the machine perhaps unpleasantly retro.
"I'll tell you," he says. "Because we're all just CHASING THOSE HIGHS, aren't we? Hahahahaha!! Living, screwing, eating, fighting, all of it is just chasing those, trying to force the lumps of MEAT inside of us to squirt the right juice. We're all JUNKIES who can't ADMIT it - we just got SUBTLE TASTES!"
"Hey! Zippy!" the Gaplant says, the beam rifle coming up. "Slow down so I can pop you-- hnf -- damn thing's faster than it ought to be -- c'mon c'mon c'mon come YES" Three shots in rapid succession towards the red machine. "That's what you GET for putting that color on your machine. Show some RESPECT."
KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Yuliana Dispersal with Newtonian Bounce Back! KTS: Dr._Spartura Changes attack to Ana Kambinda and Qivi with Arc Striker. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Dr. Spartura rattles Ana Kambinda, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Ana Kambinda fails to parry Dr. Spartura's Arc Striker, taking 1650 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Ana Kambinda KTS: Dr. Spartura has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Shelby Korts with Gaplant Beam Saber Combo! KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Ryoko Subaru with Gaplant-PZ Rifle Rapid Fire! KTS: Qivi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Dr. Spartura rattles Qivi, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Qivi fails to Parry Dr. Spartura's Arc Striker, taking 2420 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Dr. Spartura's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Dr. Spartura's My Vision is Augmented activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Qivi KTS: [Mirage] Yuliana Dispersal's Avoid20 activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal blocks Dr. Spartura's Newtonian Bounce Back, taking 0 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura repulses Yuliana Dispersal, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Ryoko Subaru successfully Evades Dr. Spartura's Gaplant-PZ Rifle Rapid Fire KTS: Shelby Korts's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Dr. Spartura's Gaplant Beam Saber Combo, taking 2150 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Shelby Korts
<Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
There's a literal cackle. Ana breathes a frustrated stream out of one corner of her mouth. "Merda."
Another voice comes over the line, somewhat more welcome but no less surprising. With a blink, ana glances back towards the green and black Wanzer. "Qivi!" she calls out. "What're you--"
She can't inquire further because she's being accused of DEBATE LORDING. Ana opens her mouth slightly before snapping it closed. Down comes the Gaplant nevertheless, and Ana pivots with a ripple of thrust to round and face the machine. Her shoulder shield flips forward, covering up the pair of enormous Gatling guns beneath it. "A lot more children are going to die thirsty because of what you're doing here," she answers shortly. "If they're really from here, they'd know Africa's been through enough. We don't need this right now!"
With Yuliana anchoring the Gaplant, things get a little easier. the Gustav Karl hits the ground on one knee, shoulder still braced forward. She widens her eyes as Yuliana's swung at her, bracing to try and deflect the worst of the Tiandong's mass. The other machine clatters against the flexible shield, driving the Gustav Karl back and tilting it to one hip, forcing Ana to catch herself with her rifle butt on the ground. The move keeps her from following up the attack quickly, and she grimaces as an alert light winks at her - the impact pulled something loose in one of the A3's knees.
"This pilot's not terrible," she mutters before boosting the machine back to a one-knee base, then booming forward with a rumble of verniers and thrusters. Qivi's close enough to her that Ana makes a point of maneuvering around her, cognizant of the significant size advantage the tall and brawny mobile suit has over Qivi's rugged but tiny machine. Kicking a friend wouldn't be good.
"There's an answer for chasing highs that doesn't hurt anyone but you," she growls into the radio. "It's called maconha. Tell your friends to go roll some up and stop venting at everyone else!"
As she closes the range again, she jerks her controls and suddenly changes direction. Thruster wake kicks up clouds of sand and dust as she whips out to one side of the Gaplant, shotcannon blazing with a flurry of rapid shots as she empties a sizable percentage of the E-cap into the space she assumes the faster machine is going. She's trying to keep it at no further away than the mid-range.
She quickly flips to another comm output. "I didn't think you were still in Africa!" That's for Qivi.
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Dr. Spartura with Heavy Beam Shotcannon Slam Fire! KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Ana Kambinda's Heavy Beam Shotcannon Slam Fire, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Ana Kambinda has engaged Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
The pilot suddenly causes Ryoko to actually sit up and listen, perhaps because he's better than she expected given what the rest are espousing. As the Jagd Doga launches her funnels though, Ryoko has her Aesti swerve around to get out of their airspace.
Flipping back on the comms, she gives that pilot a message. "Hey. 'Leapfrog.' Looks like I've got your back today up here since we're the only two who can catch air. That's just how it's gotta be until this is over. No questions asked alright?" Perhaps she noticed that the Jagd Doga pilot didn't answer to who she's with earlier.
Their 'philosophy' is already giving her a headache. "I'll show you Zippy." Ryoko suddenly pushes herself, and there's a cybernetic glow amongst a twisting gauge. The Aesti jukes side to side avoiding each shot of the beam rifle, as she ascends then twists to the side to avoid the shot of the barrage. "You want exclusive rights to red? All yours! You're about to be RED ALL OVER if you don't cut this shit right now!"
Arcing around to its flanks, the Aesti raises it's Rapid Rifle and simply starts shooting, in three shot bursts as she tries to perforate the armor of the much larger Gaplant. "So what are you saying morons - you don't feel free, so it doesn't matter if you acually are or not, you're just gonna threaten a bunch of people until you FEEL that way?"
Switching up her angle each time in the air, she keeps peppering it with armor piercing projectile fire, "Dumbasses! Reality just came knocking at your door - and it doesn't give a damn about your feelings!"
KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Dr. Spartura with Semi-Rapid Rifle!
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
"I wasn't in Africa," Qivi shoots back, wrong-footed by having Ana - someone she met in a completely different context - calling her up in combat. It's enough to dull her anger, at least for a moment, so she doesn't take it out on the Emotional Front all at once. "Look, let's chat after this, but right now I've got someone to deal with."
She flips back to a more general channel: "Well I'll tell you what this attack is doing: it's making me REALLY GODDAMN UPSET with you assholes. What do you think you're doing? If you want some emotion, well, you got it!" Qivi lets her voice raise again. Fighting while angry works for her. "So I assume I'm perfectly free to put my fist through your robot!"
Qivi is mostly addressing the Emotional Front because, frankly, she is uncomfortable with a lot of Federation scrutiny (not that they haven't seen Sarangay before) and doesn't really want to chat with most of them. Plus, one of them is giving her some bad vibes. Qivi may not be spectacularly sensitive, but sometimes you don't have to be.
Qivi fires Sarangay's thrusters in an attempt to maneuver toward the Emotional Front wanzers. The heavy machine gun mounted to Sarangay's shoulder fires a short burst at them before the Gaplant swings in, catching her by surprise. Her attempts to ward off the arcing kick are met with failure, and the comparatively large Gaplant literally picks the six-meter Blizzaia off the ground, dragging it through the air for a good few dozen meters as Qivi pulls hard on the thrusters.
The jetpack saves Qivi, and she ends up kicked into the air. With limited flight time, Qivi doesn't exactly have the whole skies available to her, but she uses the thrusters to fly closer to the facility, toward the Emotional Front wanzers; while doing it, the heavy machine gun on Sarangay's shoulder takes aim at the Gaplant, tracking it through the air and firing short, repeated bursts in an attempt to deny it the sky. "Fast bastard," she grunts, more to herself than anyone else. Then, louder: "Yeah, well this lump of meat's ready to kick your ass if she's gotta!"
KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi targets Dr. Spartura with Pews M21 Auto-Shot!
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
The wanzers... are those pilots even really in for this? Are they in over their head or something? But the pilot of the Gaplant is the one that causes her to wonder and worry more: Why is there just a hole? Is he -- was he someone from a lab? His voice carries--
-- and the combat zone gets a little uncomfortably tight for Shelby as suddenly the Gaplant makes moves on her, pulling back before arcing toward her at high speeds. In a move far too practiced, the Jagd Doga's ankle thrusters fire and the weight shifts, helping it steady itself for the incoming assault. Strikes at vital areas rip across the shield rather than the hull, the beam saber leaving glowing gashes across the surface of the roundshield-- and some tearing at the lower leg and digging a gash in the skirting through Shelby's rapid maneuvers.
'Hey. 'Leapfrog.
Shelby's head slants to look straight at the waveform for the incoming comms display. "I-- W-Wait." A pause, then her head snaps forward. "Is that-- N-Nevermind. Right!!"
Her piloting seems to be textbook Zeon, but there's some personal flourishes to her moves. It's ... definitely there. Shelby's brow scrunches as she shifts footing again to recover; her machine may not be much for actually staying the air for an extended period of time, but her grounded footsies game is strong. While Ryoko starts attacking from one side-- and while the Gaplant's attention is turned toward the Aesti-- she makes one clear statement to the pilot:
"Don't turn your attention away from me."
The four ports in the shield flare, scattering shots rattling off in rapid succession at the Mobile Suit at point-blank range before she leans into her footing again!
KTS: Dr. Spartura blocks Qivi's Pews M21 Auto-Shot, taking 5500 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Qivi's Unbreakable activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts targets Dr. Spartura with Shield Scattershot! KTS: Dr. Spartura blocks Shelby Korts's Shield Scattershot, taking 4092 damage! KTS: Shelby Korts has engaged Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
A Tiandong 3 is pretty small, all told, but apparently its pilot is absolutely fearless. Just like the Gaplant's pilot, apparently. "Ha!" Yuliana barks, as she gets swung around by her very own wire. One would think this is terrible for her health, except -- hands a blur at the controls, she's adjusting the internal tilt and her wanzer's bearing in something close to real time.
Not quite real time, though -- she's a normal human, with normal human limitations. Which means that when she makes her landing, it might still disrupt the pilots she's been thrown into. (Getting too close to her involves a terrible sense of silence, for that brief moment they're together.) But she lands on her feet, the legs of the wanzer bending down low. Her handaxe whistles back to her, a second later.
"Pretty slick moves," she compliments the Gaplant, hair all scattered over her face as she advances on it again. "Okay, buddy, I'll grant I hate you less than the brats you've adopted. But you've come out of one war or another with your blood set to boiling -- straight out of space, I wager, given your complaints with the aerial units." Ryoko's red Aestivalis, she means. "So now you're grinding your axe against normal citizens! You think sourcing your little play date locally absolves you from --" the wanzer gestures, vaguely, with its flamethrower, towards the water plant.
"Your idiot children don't seem to comprehend that they're shooting themselves in the foot. What gives your sensitive souls the right to crush the lives of everyone else here underfoot?" Yuliana -- actually sounds legitimately angry, at this, for all she had a striking reaction to the Emotional Front's ethos. She turns, to the Emotional Front wanzers. "Do you think your aims are so much more important than your neighbour's lives, just because you think you have so much more insight?!"
(There's an interesting contrast, to be made, here, between Yuliana's criticism of Newtypes and her own clandestine activities. As ever, she does not comment on her projection.)
Pound, pound, LEAP, the Tiandong 3 jumps into the air and brings its flamethrower about, the wanzer's other hand coming around to grasp at the Gaplant as she releases a gout of flame straight into its side. It's the sort of attack which won't cook anything important -- it wasn't meant to. Rather, it's designed to heat up that defensive flank, and she drops her grip and falls back down once she's shoved her bayonet in to heat things up.
"Disable the Gaplant," she transmits, a little more together, "and the rest of the forces will be easy to gather up."
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Dr. Spartura with Achilles' Flame! KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to evade Yuliana Dispersal's Achilles' Flame, taking 3580 damage! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has engaged Dr. Spartura KTS: Yuliana Dispersal begins a Formation attack! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
This tight in, scoring hits on the Gaplant isn't hard -- but it's clearly been reinforced. Beam laminates? Extra layers of armor? It's hard to tell. The blows hit home and the machine jerks as energy is conveyed into physical motion but it's not nearly as bad as perhaps it ought to be. "Hnf," the pilot answers. "But they don't WANT to go smoke whatever the hell you're talking about."
"They want, YOU - the GENERAL you," the Gaplant's pilot continues, "just to get that out of the WAY - to hear them, to FEEL what THEY feel. You WANT them to CHANGE that want, like, can you see how this works?!" (Shelby can intuit that he's messing around on this part; playing with ideas.)
"You know who else had a red suit, don't you, Zippy?" the Gaplant's pilot cuts towards Ryoko as the Mobile Suit kicks into the air. "Yeah. That's right. You shouldn't paint any of that shit red - out of RESPECT." (This one, he means, even if he's kidding-not-kidding about it.) The rapid rifle fire comes faster than he expects; the Shield Binder is swung around but there's already been a half-dozen pockmarking hits scored before then.
"Reality," he says.
"So the reality is just whoever is the strongest can decide? Heh heh heh," the Gaplant's pilot continues. "You'd think that, but there's something you're not accounting for when you say that, Zippy: Luck. Dumb, stupid, MORON luck. That's the real answer."
"All the strength in the world doesn't matter if --" Qivi is speaking, which seems to distract Mr. Gaplant as well as put him in the position of needing to block DOUBLE MACHINE GUN FIRE. The Gaplant's arm binders swing backwards as he grunts; Mobile Suit nerds might be asking at this point, why doesn't he kick it into the 'waverider' mode and get some range?
Answer: He can't. But that one may not be obvious until the gun cameras are recorded. "If you can't overcome THIS kind of--"
Shots come in. They spang off of the front of the Gaplant and off of the barrel of its beam rifle, which has been being held rather close to the Mobile Suit's body to get the benefit of the Shield Binders' reinforcement. The outer material of the weapon is pitted - not good for maintenance but not a dealbreaker EXCEPT
That it is then IGNITED -
And the pilot of the Gaplant lets out a "YEAAGH!" before hurling it away, before the remaining e-cap material erupts in a POUF of compressed megaparticles in the middle of the air! "YOU SEE?? That's exactly what I mean!"
"All of your damn dreams can turn to trash in a moment of god damn random chance!! So why are you all bothering with any of this!? Why SHOULDN'T you just do whatever you want?!" The Gaplant's reactor shifts into an additional, previously unsuspected compression state...
SOMEWHERE NOT THAT FAR AWAY
Inside of a stratospheric (but descending) light transport carrier, fresh from having dropped off contraband and now tasked with being on site in this area for a particular reason, painted in layers upon layers of radar-absorbent materials and sparkling with stringed yehudi lights to reduce visual impact in the clean desert sky, someone has been listening in.
Dr. Dorothy Spartura has a headset on - and she presses her hand to the side, tilting her head as she hears something from the audio feed inside of the Gaplant. She flicks two switches.
AT WINDCOLL, THOUGH:
And pivots around 180 degrees to flit towards Yuliana, aiming to smash the entire flat surface of the Shield Binder against her hopping Wanzer like an enormous metal bug! After this thrusters howl - it really is a howling, not at all the dignified little attitude adjustments you see in a space battle, the fat nozzles of rebored thrusters on the already over-cranked Gaplant model smashing it through the African air towards the Jagd Doga!
To the Jagd Doga there is a snarl and a smashing swing of the beam saber, but it keeps going afterwards. Twisting to face Qivi and performing another of these atrocious accelerations, leading out with one foot -- big mouth on this guy to put shade on the Red Comet when he's aiming to kick someone, and the Gaplant's leg agrees by throwing sparks either way.
He does not seem to care. "HyahhH!!!" The Shield Binders are brought together and slammed downwards, the Gaplant somersaulting in the air and then tucking up low as it smashes downwards, aiming to use the defensive platforms as offensive tools. The target is Ana; one of them cracks in either case, shedding panels of ceramic and revealing an underlying boning of what is, inferentially, lunar titanium or something similarly absurd given that it isn't bending. Yet.
After a round of thrashing here, the Gaplant straightens up. Turns. Orients itself on the Aestivalis. Raises up the Shield Binders to press them together...
And shrieks forwards again, vaulting into the sky. The goal is a collision course as the pilot begins to laugh again. It's not joyous; it's more of a nervous reflex, someone who laughs instead of crying under stress.
"and ALL of this" he says as he closes the distance
"is over a GOD DAMN-- Water filter -- on a planet that's COVERED in it!"
Ryoko isn't quite out of the woods if she darts out of the way because she is now being chased by the Gaplant, one way or another.
KTS: Dr. Spartura has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Dr. Spartura targets Qivi, Ana Kambinda, Shelby Korts, Yuliana Dispersal, and Ryoko Subaru with Yellow Line Rhapsody. KTS: Dr. Spartura has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Ryoko Subaru KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Ana Kambinda fails to parry Dr. Spartura's Yellow Line Rhapsody, taking 3520 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Ana Kambinda KTS: Qivi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Qivi blocks Dr. Spartura's Yellow Line Rhapsody, taking 2200 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Qivi KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Ryoko Subaru fails to Parry Dr. Spartura's Yellow Line Rhapsody, taking 4320 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Ryoko Subaru KTS: Shelby Korts's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Dr. Spartura's Yellow Line Rhapsody, taking 2200 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Shelby Korts KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal blocks Dr. Spartura's Yellow Line Rhapsody, taking 5940 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Dr. Spartura's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Dr. Spartura's My Vision is Augmented activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Dr. Spartura has engaged Yuliana Dispersal
<Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
"Right," Ana answers Qivi with a short nod. "Let's take care of these bastards first."
She has to say it over a considerable amount of talking. Ana's trying to follow the Gaplant pilot's monologue, but she's losing track of it as she divides her focus between absorbing motive rants and maneuvering her mobile suit. Biting a corner of her lower lip, she grunts and fans out to one side to give Qivi as much space as she needs, hoping very much not to punt her in mid-battle.
"I'm bothering with this because there are people in Balic who are counting on water to live, you absolute fucking corno," she finally vents.
Her sensors blink. She squints at the Gaplant. "Que porra," she begins, before the machine cranks in at them. Specifically her, swinging shields in ways she wasn't expecting. With a click of teeth, she braces and swings her shotcannon out to try and catch the brunt of the smash, hoping to at least blunt the impact.
She can't quite get it; there is a loud crash as the Gaplant smashes its shields into the Gustav Karl. The burly mobile suit staggers back, losing its balance and crashing violently against the remnants of an outbuilding. The shotcannon survives but is jarred out of her grip, landing in the building wreckage with the barrel sticking out. Armour crumples on impact, triggering more structural damage and overheat warnings.
With a hiss through her teeth, Ana snatches up the shotcannon and begins pulling the A3 back to its feet. "It's not that simple, asshole!" she shouts, hunched angrily forward in her seat. "This is the fucking Sahara! Do you see fresh water around here?! How do you think Baliqis live without filtering the goddamn salt out of their drinking water?!"
The shotcannon is shouldered in favour of spooling up her heavy cannons. The twin guns spool up, exposed as she angles her shield to reveal the weapons. Ana charges out to one side, curving to try and flank the Gaplant as it pursues Ryoko. Squinting, she plots out the deflection in her head. The computer isn't much help here against something that can move that erratically.
"There!" she barks as she opens up. The booming "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT" of the twin cannons blazes across the desert, recoil blown off the heavy guns in fiery clouds as she vomits a stream of lead across the Gaplant's flight path. "This isn't ideological!" she shouts over the earsplitting gunfire.
"This is called praxis, you literal brainlet!"
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Dr. Spartura with Twin Gatling Cannon Saturation!
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
The sudden comm chatter from the Jagd Doga has Ryoko's facial muscles tense up in sudden confusion at the perceived familiarity. She can't place them immediately, not with that much, yet... it's obvious that some things were coming home to roost. "Good enough for me." Is all she says of the Pilot's agreement. "Let's get the job done."
The Doga's piloting style is one that Ryoko seems to try to complement instinctively, though Ryoko's itself is not one that can be immediately placed. An Aestivalis just doesn't handle quite the same way. However sometimes there are subtle signs where... one could almost swear.
"It's got nothing to do with strength moron! It's all about cause and effect! You pull some crazy shit like this for selfish reasons - there's just gonna be consequences."
The longer this goes on though, the more unhinged the pilot sounds. More shame radiates off of Ryoko the further they go on. Though also overwhelming anger. "What you're doing RIGHT NOW isn't random chance! You are doing this to yourselves, you're not just ruining your lives but the lives of people around you!"
The shrieking pilot leaps in the sky, faster than she can accelerate the thrusters to avoid. And the Aestivalis' frame suddenly opens up over one of the legs. As she unsheathes a knife. It might seem ridiculous, the skinny little knife against the much larger Mobile Suit.
However her aim is to whip to the side at the last possible second and graze the knife off the binder to prevent a much worse hit. It doesn't pay off, it's much too massive. The Shield Binder smashes against the frame and the Aestivalis pilot's altitude drops precipitously. Righting itself before it would crash, she ascends just as quickly. Then jukes to one side to avoid Ana's line of fire and swings around its flanks to try and get behind where it can bring its shield binders to bear - and also to use it as a shield against any crossfire. "ACCEPT SOME RESPONSIBILITY DAMNIT!"
Suddenly the Aestivalis plunges the Immediate Knife again and again in an attempt to penetrate the armor, doing her best to rip up some of its components each time it plunges in, before the Aestivalis swings around for one final kick to push off of it and away from immediate retaliation.
KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Dr. Spartura with Somewhat Immediate Knife! KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Ana Kambinda's Twin Gatling Cannon Saturation, taking 4000 damage! KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Ryoko Subaru's Somewhat Immediate Knife, taking 4300 damage! KTS: Ryoko Subaru has engaged Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Qivi doesn't do philosophy.
Well, that's not actually true. She thinks about what she's doing, and why; she has pretty firm morals and strong opinions about what is right and wrong; she certainly has beliefs about the way the world is and the way it should be and how to get from Point A to Point B.
What she doesn't do is philosophical conversation, especially not this weird meandering, what's-even-real-maaaan kind. She grinds her teeth, though part of that is simply a response to being bounced around in her cockpit; can't bite your tongue if your jaws are already locked closed, after all.
Sarangay catches the kick on its heavy shield, and for all of its relatively small size the wanzer is built tough. That arm - not the Blizzaia L original but a replacement Zeroa limb from Huffman, picked specifically for its strength and durability - bends under the high-speed impact of a machine thrice the height of Sarangay... but it doesn't break. The joint doesn't pop, though it grinds a little when Qivi moves it afterwards.
"YOU drink salt water then," she says right back, before switching to a Shuffles channel. So just to Shelby (right now), Qivi transmits, "I'm going to dunk this guy, give me some backup fire if you have a chance - "
Sarangay moves again. Qivi lets the jetpack loose at full thrust, which isn't very good for the continuing use of the jetpack but works great for about thirty seconds; the wanzer lifts off the ground, rocketing after the Gaplant, as Qivi slams back in her seat. Five seconds of thrust, ten... at fifteen, Qivi raises the heavy arm with the spiked knuckle weight on it. At about twenty seconds, she realizes she is above the Gaplant for an instant and cuts the thrusters.
At twenty-five, she drives the spiked fist down and in with all her power, using all the momentum from her leap, flight and plummet, plus the full weight of Sarangay - it's small but it's heavier than it looks. The most she can hope for is to get a fist right through the Gaplant, but even if she does, she can't punch it again; she's already falling...
Qivi fires upwards, repeatedly, with the shotgun as she descends. She is trying not to hit Ryoko - honestly she's hoping that she jarred the Gaplant enough that they're not in proximity anymore, because she can't aim much better than she is.
She only stops firing when she'd have to reload, and instead uses the last bit of jetpack thrust to make her descent only bone-jarring instead of bone-breaking, the wanzer hitting a sand dune with enough force to make a visible crater and kick up an immense cloud of sand and smoke. Both wanzer legs are redlined, the warnings screaming both on her display and in her ears.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi targets Dr. Spartura with Covet V300 Double Assault! KTS: Dr. Spartura blocks Qivi's Covet V300 Double Assault, taking 1950 damage! KTS: Qivi has engaged Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
Mounted on the Jagd Doga's left arm, the little shield that could: Using the bulk of her rifle braced across the back of the shield, Shelby rocks backward as the slash digs in against the beam coating and rips a slash through the shell of the right arm. Rocking backward against the seat with a heavy smash against the padded chair, Shelby's legs shift and feet alternate position; her arms twist and pull back at the control sticks.
"This guy..." she murmurs to herself through a tightened jaw. Her head turns to glance over in Qivi's direction, briefly tweaking her comms to respond with the Shuffles line, "I'll do what I can for you!"
The Jagd Doga lulls backward with the 'force' of the passing strike, all thrusters firing as it tips back, then flips with a twisting motion to low-glide over the ground on a pursuit course. Staying somewhat close -- but not getting too far in, her eyes lift to check corners; Ana's position and Yuliana's what the hell is going on. Shifting the rifle around, the muzzle becomes more apparent: This isn't just a rifle, but a whole beam gatling rifle.
Ryoko's Aestivalis goes for a brutal blow, and that is when Shelby plants the feet of the knockout pink Zeonic machine. The barrels spin up--
"Freefiring!" she calls out, then pulls the trigger.
-- and then she starts firing, shot after shot, over and over, chattering and blazing on with beam shots that try to catch the Gaplant across the legs with sustained weapons fire!
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Shelby Korts targets Dr. Spartura with Beam Gatling Gun Constant Barrage!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Yuliana, in turn, turns her shoulder shield into the Shield Binder. He certainly does succeed at knocking her away, but she doesn't go down, either.
"Why shouldn't I?" The Tiandong reflects, as it lands on its feet. "It's a question which every ace asks themselves, at one point or another, I suppose. Past a certain level of skill and experience -- what binds you to propriety?"
She grins, in her cockpit. It is a wound carved over her face, just as her existence is a wound carved through the world. "You gotta find some principle purpose to guide you through the sky, baby, else you'll end up chasing cars. But if you want to know, I'll tell you... I believe in equality." The bottom drops out of the word, sinking down, down, to something deadly serious amidst all her light banter.
"Absolute equality."
She flicks a switch on her terminal, taking in the readings about the Gaplant's reactor. The Tiandong 3 manoeuvres below the Gaplant, again -- and the Minovsky Particle Chaff Launcher mounted on her shoulder angles up, to blast over the larger mech, in a shower of disruption to confuse its systems.
"And that means getting the right amount of water to everyone on Earth, you daft bastard," she adds, with a scowl. "What good does it do if it's flooding one place and fled from another?"
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Dr. Spartura with Point Blank Minovsky Particle Chaff Release! KTS: Dr. Spartura blocks Shelby Korts's Beam Gatling Gun Constant Barrage, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal enervates Dr. Spartura, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal rattles Dr. Spartura, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Yuliana Dispersal's Point Blank Minovsky Particle Chaff Release, taking 1860 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Black Hole activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Minovsky's Woman activates, causing Deject! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal repulses Dr. Spartura, forcing her to disengage.
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
"Maybe they should learn to cut down," the Gaplant's pilot wheezes to Ana. He seems to be breathing a little hard now; there's something about his microphone or other environment. "Maybe you shouldn't - HAVE people here. Heehehaah, listen to me, sounding like a spacenoid!"
The gunfire smashes into the side of the Gaplant. It seems to be using up what karma it had - or perhaps the armor plating had reinforcement which is being overwhelmed - or perhaps it's just that right now, chasing Ryoko like a maniac, it can be easily SEEN. Ana gets hits -- clear, direct hits. This pilot is at least no Newtype. Narrow focused. Not good.
Not good for Ryoko, either!! On impact, he says "YEAH!" to Ryoko, pivoting downwards-- until she power-brakes too! The blade is not, quite, able to cut through the reinforcing underlayer but it does DEFORM it, freshly blasted as so much of it is, pulling the shape out of true as the Gaplant brakes and pivots and -
"glghglhgghl!! bgbgglglghhlhlh!"
There are a few seconds of horrible sucking and gasping sounds into the open microphone before "hhhahhhh" and then, "WELL HELL WITH YOU, I DID" to Qivi as she ascends upwards. ("Paul," someone says, somewhere.) Her incoming barrage is blocked with the already-damaged binder and the bent frame is most of what's left after the Gaplant finally breaks off, the pilot snarling as he finally reaches some sort of exterior building - a machine shed, probably. He whirls round, braking with the feet of the Mobile Suit on the roof, throwing sheet metal aside...
The intact Shield Binder is thrown up as the hot-pink machine opens fire. It's getting pretty desperate for the Gaplant, even as its pilot ("Paul!") answers them, "Damn you--!! Even with this god damn rig I can't -- ghh -- if this wasn't --"
Minovsky-particle chaff fills the air. "I swear to God I'll kill--"
"P A U L L L L LllLlLLLLLLllLLLLllll" transmits someone, using what becomes extremely clearly an unencrypted microwave 2-point linkage system set to fan out mode.
But from where?
The transport dips down suddenly - kicking in a Minovsky Craft system that throws a lot of dust everywhere, and turning off its visual concealment rig. Paradoxically, it darkens; and becomes more visible at the same time.
The Gaplant pivots. "What?!"
"You're behind schedule!"
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
The hovering transport's rear cargo ramp moves down - room enough inside for a Mobile Suit, two if they're friendly or petite.
The voice that had been saying 'Paul, Paul' turns out to not be God, but rather some smart-toned woman with an excessive air of casualness. "Look at this, sheesh. You guys were supposed to get here like five, ten minutes ahead of the Feds and fort up. You hit resistance on the way in?"
The Gaplant's pilot - Paul - blithers, before sweeping the more-intact Shield Binder. "Blame them!"
"Well, that's not a good attitude, but I understand you're under a lot of stress," the woman - DR. SPARTURA - continues.
"Federal Forces! I'm the truck picking our boy up from his big day out. Thanks for your promptness, and I think we've all learned a lot here today; so hold your fire for just ten seconds, and we'll get out of your hair."
Another voice cuts in - a transmission from the Emotional Front's team captain, who had, it seemed, opted to get the hell away in the light of the Gaplant's rampage. "Are you going to land and take us on?!" ("We've got two downed in the slope up, through the pipeline zone," offers another.)
"Hm?" Dr. Spartura answers them. Then, "Paul, I can tell you're dithering, so I'm going to respect whatever decision you make."
The Gaplant's optic jitters, the Mobile Suit's panoramic cameras trying mightily to react to a sudden shifting of focus in a torn attention-field from the pilot.
"We want to board!" "Yes, let us on!" chorus the Emotional Front wanzers. "What about OUR decisions?"
"What about them?" Spartura says.
SHIFT OF INITIATIVE! The team must respond to this change of situation...
(One of the Emotional Front's wanzers just busts out full speed for the main gate, presumably to get onto the access road and then... 'Not here.' This is a breakneck advance, and the other EF Wanzers don't join in.)
KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Ana Kambinda has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Ana Kambinda has posed.
'Maybe you shouldn't - HAVE people here.'
"They've been here for centuries, you ridiculous bedshitter!" Ana roars, rearing in her seat with a sudden surge of rage. "You think you can just walk in here and tell Baliqis they shouldn't live in their homeland?! You god-damned colonizer piece of--"
What follows is hard to translate unless you understand Umbundu. Suffice it to say it's a short but furious chain of vile expletives. Ana's no Newtype either, and her focus is now fully on dealing with the Gaplant pilot - the Wanzers escape her attention. She has backup to deal with those.
She maneuvers with a fury borne of anger and frustration - not for the first time. The Gustav Karl strafes to one side, guns reloading with a churning noise that sounds like the weapons clearing their throats mechanically. But there's no time to work up another firing solution, because there's something else on her radar now.
Something large. Something kicking up an enormous amount of dust. "Ghh!" Ana flinches away instinctively and blows her verniers from a standing position. The Gustav Karl's particle separators work overtime, blowing twin clouds of refined sand out to either side of the big machine's torso and calf intakes. They do their job - they keep the mobile suit's cooling systems from clogging up with garbage.
A new voice comes over the radio! The woman - DR. SPARTURA!
Ana grits her teeth. "You are aiding and abetting a terror attack," she snaps as she brings the Gustav Karl's heel down. "Your boy is under arrest for sabotaging vital infrastructure, and you're under arrest for being his damn getaway car. Now put down!"
The Gustav Karl rumbles forward through the sand wake kicked up by the transport, Gatling guns angling down as Ana presents her shield. A beam saber flashes to life in the machine's right hand. Thrusters aflame, she tries to close the range with the Gaplant as fast as her engines will carry her. Quickly she triangulates her angle, locking her sensors on a joint --
Ana snaps the beam saber out, once. She's aiming low, slashing at the middle of the Gaplant's thigh. It's a strike aimed to non-lethally sever the limb and immobilize the mobile suit.
"You're not running away from a fair-ass trial, pal," she states flatly.
KTS: Ana Kambinda targets Dr. Spartura with Beam Saber Combo! KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Ana Kambinda's Beam Saber Combo, taking 4770 damage! KTS: Ana Kambinda has engaged Dr. Spartura
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
Qivi's attempts not to hit her are appreciated, especially since she's in a position where Friendly Fire would be easy. However, she's used to operating with a team where the field of fire is centered on her. Thus she's trying to use the Gaplant as her own personal shield by staying at its back. As Shelby shouts 'Freefiring' Ryoko abruptly thrusts backwards to get her Aestivalis out of the way - avoiding the barrage with the same ease of trying to operate in a team.
The statement from Minovsky's Woman of there needing to be a principle purpose to guide you through the sky causes Ryoko to double take like wondering if she heard that right, then elicits a growl of frustration from the fiery pilot. "That is the LAST thing they need. Right now all they need to do is stop!"
The sudden transmission of the prolonged PAUL causes Ryoko to raise an eyebrow, as her Aestivalis tries to trace back the communication - it needn't have bothered though. The transport dipping down answers the question. The woman is one familiar to Ryoko... she familiarizes herself with Federation criminals for a reason.
"What is this!? You think you can fly in and treat this like some Wanzer Derby match they just lost?" The pilot of the Aestivalis suddenly just tenses up at the idea of them getting away... with no regrets whatsoever other than the fact they lost, "Stuff your offer, they'll never learn ANYTHING that way."
Abruptly the pilot of the Aestivalis thrusts far enough away to give her a little space, sheathing the knife back in the open compartment that opens in the aerial frame, as thought floods through the Nanomachines in her body. "Hey Paul! Ever encounter a Distortion Field before?" And raising the Distortion Field of the Aestivalis to full power from the constant supply of power the Aestivalis receives from the nearby Nadesico.
And then she charges straight at it with a single fist outstretched. "Know what happens when something gets caught between one and a hard place?"
The Distortion Field forming a wedge at her fist, energy crackling in at that singular point where the field is visible as the suit speeds towards it like a tiny comet. The Aestivalis tries to fly right into the Gaplant's head in an attempt to crush it in a single strike. Even as Ana's suit tries to take out one of its legs in a one two punch to try and disable the suit.
"WELL AT LEAST I KNOW YOU'LL LEARN ONE THING TODAY!"
KTS: Ryoko Subaru has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Ryoko Subaru targets Dr. Spartura with This Is Not the Gekigan Flare Shut The Hell Up!!
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
CRUNCH
The downside of using a wanzer in a manner it was absolutely not meant to be used is that... well, it's absolutely not meant to be used that way. Qivi is lucky she didn't buckle both Sarangay's legs under the force of that impact; as is the wanzer does manage to land on its feet, kicking up an immense cloud of sand and grit, but does not manage to stay there.
It falls onto its back... or starts to, before being stopped by its legs practically being embedded in the sand. Qivi spends an awkward few moments extracating herself from the pit the Sarangay created, which would be deadly in some situations. Certainly if she was alone.
Fortunately, this time she has fire support. Sometimes it's good to work on a team.
Sarangay stands up, head scanning the skies as a transport begins to descend, broadcasting a name all the way. It takes Qivi a long moment to put a name to the voice, and in fact she doesn't actually manage it: "Hey! You're that doctor from the sakura thing!" Qivi blurts out, even MORE surprised because normally her life doesn't intersect with the other parts of her life like this. "Wasn't that other guy, Paul, in a wheelchair then? Seems to be doing pretty well for himself!"
Qivi almost reflexively fires a short burst at the legs of the running EF wanzer, because it's a habit to do that in the arena. Qivi herself is paying more attention to the Gaplant and the transport though, and...
"Oh fuck this," Qivi says under her breath as Ana fires. "Ana! Backing you up!"
Ana cuts at the Gaplant, followed by Ryoko charging in. Qivi obligingly holds her fire, taking manual control of the shoulder machine gun. Her shots are to pen him in as much as anything else - stop him from moving, keeping him away from the transport. She tracks the bullets toward the transport afterwards to encourage it to not pick up anyone else.
KTS: Qivi has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Qivi targets Dr. Spartura with Pews M21 Manual Fire!
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
'Paul' is identified; the assault seems to suddenly come to a head, and one of the wanzers just up and runs off. Shelby frowns, checking her routes again; ally positions, the voices and swirling thoughts of those that seem familiar or those that call her on friendly channels, and levelling the gatling weapon on the transport before Dr. Spartura makes herself known.
Paul -- again, her mind drifts. 'Something's wrong with him,' she thinks to herself. And then her brow furrows, Shelby's fingers growing tighter on the control sticks.
The group seems intent on stopping them-- arresting them, rather than just shooting them down. The Newtype's eyes unfocus as she stares forward, reaching out to those seemingly-forgotten funnel canisters still jetting around the terrain; they too move in sweeping formations... but this time, they only hover-- they roll and bank and correct their positions to try to stay airborne in Earth's gravity-- without actually firing.
Even with the crackle of Minovsky interference messing with the transmission, the pink-haired young woman's voice is ... unhappy, and her question is very pointed toward the mysterious doctor. "... What did you do to him?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Men without purpose become tools for men who do," Minovsky's Woman answers the Aestivalis, without missing a beat. "Lock them away all you like, but until you convince them, they never stay stopped for long. My, don't tell me I have to explain rehabilitation to a dog of Nergal," she adds, a touch sly. "Shall I coach my explanation in cold, hard cash, instead?"
She doesn't, though. Even if she's sympathetic to that kind of bloodlust -- Yuliana is acting as an upstanding member of the Federation, right now. She doesn't dignify his desire to kill her with a response, which might be something of a mercy, because that's got to also be a crime.
But the chaff scrambles over him, and -- "Boom," Yuliana smirks, as that voice breaks through with the descending transport. "There it is." She didn't know precisely what it was, given those readings, but the transport doesn't fail to disappoint.
When a dog's chasing cars like this, there's always someone who let it out of the yard, Yuliana thinks. This time, it's... "And who are you, precisely?" The Tiandong 3 transmits, to Dr. Spartura.
She hits a switch, with the question. Her radio starts recording. She'll catch the vocal patterns and give them to her man, later, because she's sure she won't get a straight answer out of her. No major long-range weapons, she assesses, briefly -- going after the ship is pretty fruitless.
Letting her retrieve her ace is out of the question, though. Yuliana might not really care about rehabilitation, as much as she can act like she does, but she does care about cutting the head off this snake. This 'Paul' can answer for his crimes, which she already helpfully listed at the start of this.
"You're hesitating -- you must really be washed up!" She crows, as she crashes forward, bringing her hand-axe down -- right on the opposite leg to the one Ana's striking. "Take some responsibility for your kids, and come along with them!"
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Dr. Spartura with MULS-P Cleave Axe Revenge Strike!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal enervates Dr. Spartura, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Dr. Spartura fails to react to Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Cleave Axe Revenge Strike, taking 7860 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Black Hole activates, causing Jam L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Minovsky's Woman activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Dr. Spartura's Spartura Custom Edition has been disabled.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.
"Hmmmm, that's interesting," Dr. Spartura answers Ana thoughtfully, even as the Gaplant whirls round with its own beam saber -- but boy, is the angle bad, and the best Paul can muster with his cutting is to parry a strike that would have simply carved one of the Gaplant's arms CLEAN OFF.
This sends the Gaplant tottering. Whatever Titans-era AMBAC was within it is clearly struggling. It's lost chunks and has had a thruster array taken out (that happened early on!) -- it actually stumbles, which is just enough to mean that the Aesti's SUPER PUNCH avoids the head. It's humiliating, and it rips the remaining Shield Binder clean off, but it avoids a kill worthy of the Gundam Fight.
For now!
"Oh hi!" Dr. Spartura answers. "Can't really chat, but yes, I'm pleased with his progress! I don't think he's going to be able to show off right now,"
BAM, the fleeing EF Wanzer is shot in the legs and immediately goes chest-down, skidding out in a shower of sparks on the access road pavement as it screeches to a stop, the Emotional Front pilot screaming all the while!
Machine gun fire is boxing in the Gaplant, which is not looking all that well off at all. Paul is making more of those weird wet noises.
Yuliana smashes downwards, and the Gaplant's legs seem terminally compromised. There's a yellow crackle and then the Mobile Suit tenses up -- before slumping; it's too modern, unfortunately, to just explode, though that's probably for the best for the facility. Yuliana also tells her something.
"Mm hmm, you guys are about the same as I expected," Dr. Spartura answers her. The transport is already pulling forwards, its own main engines activating as the access hatch retracts. The Gaplant's last act is to reach towards it --
"I'm already in prison, aren't I? Paul, good luck--"
'What did you do to him?'
The transport doesn't stop moving - the optical camouflage system flicks on and it begins to bank to the side, neap of the earth flying highly indicated. Minovsky particle density is increasing in the area, and it is absolutely not going in the same direction as the Nadesico, nuh UH honey, that's not how they raise smart little kids up in Crime Space, that's for sure.
But Dr. Spartura keeps the line open for several seconds, before answering Shelby: "I gave him back what he lost, Pinky-pie. What he does with it is up to him."
And that, it seems, is that.
CUFF 'EM, KIM!
The Gaplant cannot render further effectual resistance. When the cockpit is breached, either by raw Mobile Suit force or by MPs from the Nadesico, they will find it is full of water -- the pilot is floating in an aquatic environment, using a breathing mask! That's innovative, and comfortable, too! This also means it's the first pilot to be arrested in swim trunks. Several waterproofed cybernetic connections were also involved.
This man, Paul Saltinne, is briefly extremely upset and then becomes surly but bare-bones cooperative, giving surrender and refusing to speak further while requesting legal council. He does provide identification numbers: a former Titan, he flew only two combat missions before his assigned ship was disabled in the Primeval War and partially destroyed. Paul barely survived in undamaged sectors, forced to desperate measures in the face of the water system's shortage; organ damage from extended dehydration and endocrine malignancies from space exposure led to chronic and severe issues. Federal veterans records report repeated complaints of "feeling wrong" and refusal of offered psychotherapy benefits -- even if, of course, these things aren't always that luxurious.
What he got instead, it seems, is CRIME - and a pair of some kind of super-kidneys which appear to be a cybernetic regulation and prosthetic endocrine system. Exact records are difficult to track down, but the surgical scars and their healing rate are consistent with them having been fully installed approximately eight weeks ago.
The Emotional Front Wanzers are easily disabled after a little cat-and-mouse: faced with a live and mostly-intact mech, the pilots lose heart and surrender. Mostly young men affiliated with Balic's small middle class, they whiled away their time after school in computer souks and were, by reports, radicalized. While they, too, seem to have been coached on their legal rights, the force commander gives up that they were given the wanzers by 'Franks from El Golea,' who apparently shipped them into a town garage in Balic. He was not surprised by this, as ongoing civil conflict in Balic brings in all kinds of bizarre machines, most of which get promptly destroyed. ("It's the circular economy, isn't it?")
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Yuliana breaks away from the Gaplant, once it's disabled -- "Bring him in," she tells Ana, which is probably technically delegation. This, too, is politics: Kambina is in an OAC-flagged machine, so even with her particular reputation, the Captain will leave her to open the can and get Paul out.
She occupies herself with herding up the rest of the wanzers, with a tirelessness and an edge of being somewhat-less-than-hinged which -- if nothing else -- helps see their wanzers brought to heel.
It's only once the battle is over that there's a rustle-clatter noise which might be particularly distinctive, to certain ears --
It's the sound of a pill bottle being opened. Gulp. (They're better dry.)
"You have the right to remain silent," Yuliana tells the Emotional Front, and she's much less emotional, now she's gotten her medication and the adrenaline's wearing off. "If you do not have legal counsel, it will be supplied to you." And so on, and so forth. Much more 'disarm and stand down', much less 'weapons hot' and everything which followed.
Give her credit: she does stick with this situation long enough to see the Is dotted and the Ts crossed. As much as she complains about paperwork, it's a necessary evil, at this level of operation.
And Yuliana is... particularly motivated to make sure these terrorists don't get off on a technicality.
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
The stumble of the Gaplant spoils her aim, as she sails right over, it's an embarrassing outcome, but just the reality of battle.
Ryoko's fingertips clinch the control globes harder at the condemnation of Minvosky's Woman... her statements hitting too close to home. They're not wholly correct in her case, but correct enough that she can offer no response save one. "Shut up the hell up." It's the last line of defense she always has. "You don't understand a damn thing."
It is eventually over... Ryoko doesn't even try to pursue. There's no good way to do it without killing. And while she has the stomach for that, she'd prefer not to tap into that side of her self if she doesn't have to. This is why she prefers fighting the Jovians.
There's no killing involved in it.
The Aestivalis hovers in place, focused on the Pink Jagd Doga for a moment. She considers asking for her name. However... she promised. No questions asked. It's better that way for both of them.
There's certainly some bittersweet feelings though... and a prevailing sense of relief. She may not recognize who she is, and why she recognized her... but she's glad she's doing well for herself. "Thanks for the assist - Leapfrog." Is all she eventually says over the comms.
And that's the moment that Megumi's face pops up in front of Ryoko. "Hiii~ Just got through the interference. It was really strong for a while there! Is it over?"
"Yeah. OAC forces might not mind an assist with opening up a particularly large tin can."
"The Captain says she'll send some back up out for that! Can you take the lead?"
Eventually she tears her eyes away from the Pink Jagd Doga, "Negative - my Aesti needs a check up after all that. Took a few lumps out there."
"Oh my! It didn't seem too bad on our end - we'll have to have Ruri-chan give our Aestivalis monitoring system system a thorough diagnostic - come on back right away. I'll let maintenance know you're coming."
"Copy."
Before she says over the comms. "Thought I heard an Ana? Ana right? I'm being recalled. The Nadesico will be sending out whatever the OAC needs for the mop up. Was a good fight all of you. Let's do it again sometime against a group that's a little less batshit. Aestivalis out!"
The Aestivalis leaves at a speed that's perhaps a bit faster than cruising.
-=-=-
"What did you do to my cute little Aesti this time SUBARU? ... Actually it doesn't look all that bad. Hey Subaru is this more of your histrionics?"
Despite being far across the hangar already. Uribatake catches a full soda can to the forehead which knocks him to the ground.
-=-=
As a courtesy the report on Paul comes to her later. Reading it while laying down in the privacy of her bunk.. she eventually lays it down on her abdomen.
"He was that desperate huh?" Her eyes slowly lid, and she lets out a prolonged sigh and says something she'd say nowhere else other than her bunk, "... Take care of yourself Paul."
<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.
'I gave him back what he lost,' she says.
The transport is already camoflagued before Shelby can say more -- or take a shot at it-- before it's gone. Frowning behind her visor, the young Newtype's body slackens a bit into her seat. The void is still present and nags at her mind, but it doesn't cause her to run away-- at least not yet.
With Qivi slipping off, and things settling down, her mind stops racing. She'll have to get out of here soon, but not before the Aestivalis... and the feelings that linger still from that pilot... return to her thoughts. Fingers slipping across the side of her helmet, there's a bit of silence before the visor clicks up and Shelby starts reaching across consoles to power down weapons -- and recall her Funnels. The damage isn't too bad, nothing permanently blown out. Anser's still going to be pissed, anyway.
Looking up from her console, her eyes fall on the waveform comms window.
"Until next time," Shelby says, watching Ryoko take off.
There's too many familiar voices in her life now. It's not just the noise. It's people she knows. She knew, even if in passing.
Opting to get going while the going is good, the once-Zeon pilot's thrusters brim with light before blaring to life, sending the machine leapfrogging again off into the distance-- never back the way she came, at least not directly. Jagged paths, looping around here and there, and just trying to make sure she doesn't get followed.
Too many damn ghosts of the past, for everyone.