2022-04-29: Behemoth Aftermath

Resource: 2022-04-29: Behemoth Aftermath
Subject: Nearly a week on, the world begins to understand what happened when Behemoth attacked.
Groups: Celestial Being,Amalgam,Black Knights,Shuffle Alliance,NERV
Date: U.C. 0096 04 29
Summary: A summary of the world's reactions to Behemoth, and what they plan to do from here.

PUBLIC:

It's almost a week since the catastrophic release of a massive Mobile Armor at the Port of Nagoya in Britannian Area 11 on Sunday, and residents are still left asking why.

Damage estimates are still climbing following the night of terror, during which a massive machine estimated at 40 meters in height erupted from the belly of a docked freighter and began stomping toward downtown. Thanks to the heroic intervention of Federation forces, including a surprise appearance by Mazinger Z, which had been thought mothballed for years, the behemoth machine was repelled before it could leave the harbor district. However, much of that region was all but leveled, and the Mobile Armor's attacks demolished buildings and smashed cars as far inland as the campus of Ashford Academy.

As of press time, nobody had come forward to claim responsibility for the attack, but the Viceroy's investigation team has indicated they believe this to be a brazen assault by the terrorist organization known as the Black Knights.

ENTHUSIASTS:

These news guys are hacks, there's no way that thing was a Mobile Armor. It wasn't even a Mobile Suit like the old Psyco Gundam. It was HUGE, but that thing had to be an ARM Slave! Somehow! And it had some crazy barrier! Mazinger Z shot a huge blast at it and it just bounced off!!

ALL FACTIONS:

The enemy machine, codenamed BEHEMOTH based on broadcasts from the pilot, was supported by units known to be associated with the Black Knights, as well as mercenary forces. They did not press the attack after Behemoth was defeated.

The defense was supported by several units that were not affiliated with the Federation. Several are known to be affiliated with the "Toy Box," a stealth submarine believed to be at the heart of a vigilante battlegroup called "Mithril" operating in the West Pacific.

Beyond conventional weaponry, the Behemoth appeared to be armed with an unknown energy projection system that prevented nearly all damage. Once this system was disabled the unit was easily felled by conventional weaponry. Its performance also decreased drastically for unclear reasons. Command is, in each faction's own way, deeply concerned about the damage should such a technology get into the hands of someone with more ambition than throwing a tantrum.

CELESTIAL BEING:

VEDA reports that the Behemoth was using an unknown technology it did not recognize. The machine should not have been able to even stand up with its apparent weight, and yet it seemed all but weightless at several points. VEDA believes this and the impenetrable shield are the same technology. Such a technology could lead to unimaginable disruption to the cause of peace.

This technology was also observed in one of the opposing units on-site, the white ARM Slave. This unit is likely associated with the international "army of justice" called Mithril.

Retrieval and study is desired.

This technology's destabilizing nature is dangerous. Ignorance is not acceptable. VEDA has judged that the Black Knights were unlikely particularly deeply involved with Behemoth's deployment. Mithril and its white ARM Slave are considered more prominent leads.

Armed Intervention on Mithril and any organization fielding such units is authorized.

AMALGAM:

Mr. Gold sends his regards. A fine job. As far as anyone knows, the Black Knights and A21 just hired a few mercenaries. The damage was less than expected, but the operational data on Behemoth and the Lambda Driver will more than make up for that, and anything that makes Britannians feel unsafe in their beds is good in Mr. Gold's book.

Mr. Gold is not overly forthcoming about What Was Even Going On Here, but in the course of gloating does let slip that he provided Behemoth to the revolutionary group A21 and had their pilot trained in the hopes of "shattering the grip of that Britannian harpy." He clearly didn't get that one but seems satisfied with terrorizing the populace.

Everyone who participated gets some fine champagne in their dead drop alongside the expected cash.

BLACK KNIGHTS:

Behemoth was brought to the table by a subgroup called A21. A21 was composed of remnants of several groups Cornelia smashed during her initial counterinsurgency campaign. The leader, the woman Seina, was one of the proteges of a prominent member of Blood of the Samurai, one of the more extreme groups Cornelia shattered.

The A21 base, the freighter George Clinton, was destroyed by Behemoth's emergence. Some few survivors have limped into Black Knights camps. Some are proud. Others are not. Several mention that they were hit hard even after Behemoth's emergence by what they SWEAR was a group headed by the Gundam Fighter Chibodee Crocket.

Seina is missing. Nobody left in A21 seems to have much direction; they'll be able to fold into the Black Knights' overall structure with ease.

As for Behemoth, the Mithril forces cut off its head and cockpit block and fled with it, so the pilot is now missing. Whatever secret system Behemoth held, it was destroyed in the process of fighting it.

Still, even if material gains were low, and Cornelia li Britannia continues to be tremendously alive, Nagoya is in chaos and that can be bent to your benefit. Just as A21 promised.

Were you used? Or is this an opportunity?

Maybe it's both?

SHUFFLE ALLIANCE:

Takuma's blood sample has been shipped off to R&D for analysis. It comes back positive for an experimental drug TI-971, which has been linked to Cyber Newtype and other human augmentation programs. It's used to force the brain into certain brainwave states associated with intense focus, but is known to cause issues with memory, hallucinations, and mood swings. All symptoms Takuma exhibited during the time the Shuffle Alliance knew him.

Mithril has taken custody of Behemoth's cockpit block for examination.

During the raid on the George Clinton led by Chibodee, the apparent leader of A21, Seina, was knocked into the ocean and has not been found. Commander Andrey Kalinin was recovered, severely injured but in stable condition.

Takuma Kugayama entered his final rest en route back from the combat area. Autopsy suggests a combination of injuries sustained during the fighting and his body and mind simply being damaged beyond repair by TI-971. [OOC: A scene flashing back to this event will be scheduled in the next week or two once the stars align a little more.]

Shuffle Intelligence eventually gets enough for a dossier on Takuma: Age 16, resident of Area 11 who ended up involved with some of the resistance factions through family connections, particularly Blood of the Samurai. In the last several months he began experiencing erratic mood swings, suggesting his exposure to TI-971 had begun. Shortly after these began, Takuma's sister turned up dead, and Takuma himself disappeared from the public eye, presumably into an A21 warren.

NERV:

Given their expertise in technology that doesn't make any dang sense, Behemoth's remains have been remanded to NERV. STORAGE issues a report that Behemoth appears to have been an Earth-technology ARM Slave, so massively armored it should not have been able to operate properly. Local research guru Yuka Ohta is, quote, "not really feeling it," because other than being completely inexplicable why it ever worked at all it seems to be made from Earth technology and not even from the future or an alternate dimension or *anything*, frowny face.

There does appear to have been several unknown technologies. One was destroyed, apparently during the fighting. That device is hooked up via direct connection to the cockpit, but whoever was fighting this thing made off with the cockpit, so WHATEVER was going on there, there's no real analysis to be made.

The 'impenetrable' force field is alarming, but there did appear to be several breaches during the fighting. Yuka's initial analysis is that these gaps were either in locations or via means the pilot would have had trouble seeing, suggesting the field was somehow linked to the pilot's perceptions. This suggests several tactical approaches should a similar unit appear again.

Currently 3G's joint best guess for a perpetrator is Bionet, but the seemingly political goal of causing chaos in Nagoya isn't really Bionet's style.

BIONET:

Bionet had nothing to do with any of this but would like to order 26 of the big stompy force field man please.