2023-08-18: Scorched Earth
- Log: Scorched Earth
- Cast: Martha Vist Carbine, Alberto Vist, Riddhe Marcenas, Jana Cektru, Akane Shinjo, Lina Lombardi, Liam 7-020, Sousuke Sagara, Christina MacKenzie
- Where: Cheyenne, Wyoming - Britannian Union
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-08-18
- Summary: Martha Vist Carbine makes a dire decision to resolve the Laplace conflict once and for all. As Kai Shiden tips off various individuals about her plan, forces deploy to try and stop her from firing Gryps II at Magallanica. Will it be enough?
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Mind telling me what this is all about?"
"Why, the future, of course. Our future."
The two couldn't be more opposite, the middle-aged Empress of the Moon in her immaculate business dress across from the young Lion of the Marcenas family in a suit that felt ill-fitting in the eyes of Vist Carbine. And yet despite their differences, something still bound them as they sat here together, in Ronan's old office.
"I had lunch with your sister Cynthia recently, a charming young woman. She made it clear to me that she has no intention of being an obstacle to your- ascension, as the head of the Marcenas family. In fact, she has every intention of supporting you - as do I. The Marcenas family legacy must be upheld."
"Must it really?" Riddhe replied back, bitterness in his voice, "They're already talking about all the good they accomplished before his body had even grown cold."
Tipping back her glass of Sherry, Martha replied with a simple, "Those fools at the Assembly will understand before long how much they miss a man like him at the helm. Let them exult over their paltry gains. Before long they'll be darkening my doorstep, begging for my salvation, when they finally understand what bending the knee to a man like Delling Rembran will cost them."
With a smile, Martha offered, "You'll show them all in the end." Before he can even process that thought, she continues, "Your father never had the chance to tell you, did he?" "Tell me what?" Riddhe sat up, staring at her, "A story - of the magic that binds our two houses together."
-=-=-
The backdrop of the video transmission has the vaguely sterile appearance of a hospital bed. The man sitting up in bed may not immediately be recognizable to everyone as the Pulitzer Prize winning Freelance Journalist, Kai Shiden. In part because of his half-healed injuries on his face, bruises and welts. A hard collar wrapped around his neck.
In the background the monotonous beeping of a monitor could be heard, as lines trailed off of his arms in a tangled mess. His voice held a raspy quality, like his throat was swollen. Some medically trained personnel might guess, correctly, that he was recently extubated.
"Ladies and gentleman. I know I'm not utilizing 'normal channels' but I'm afraid there's been some developments while I was... indisposed that require haste in your decision making and response."
A video call between 3G, Mithril, and even various other figures, such as the leader of G-Hound.
"As we speak the Three Ships Alliance is currently en route to Magallanica, which was revealed to one Banagher Links as the final Coodinate of the La+ program. The Sleeves are moving to intercept to claim the box for themselves. However, thats only a little background information on the real reason Im calling
Theres an almost tired look in the mans eyes as his tone shifts to one of almost cynical whimsy.
Martha Vist Carbine has made a deal with the Federation brass for the firing of... Gryps-2, the Titans own sequel to Gihren Zabis Solar Ray system. Yes, please hold onto your outrage for a moment, it still exists, and its very much operational. It was rebuilt while the Federation was reorganizing its military. All very hush hush of course, the optics of knowing such a thing still exists would be bad."
The man struggles for a moment as a grimace spasms across his face, apparently his pain control was inadequate, but perhaps that was by his own design so that he could contact his sources - and them, with a clear head.
"Currently, my sources say she is en route to a military base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with every intention of activating it and making this her 'final solution' to the Laplace Incident. By incinerating the Sleeves, the Three Ships' Alliance, and the Box itself all at once. Quite a tidy resolution for her and the Federation officials in bed with her, dont you think?"
He pauses, as if to allow that to settle in, relaxing back against the pillow of his hospital bed, and all mirth vanishes from his tone.
"Telling you this is all I can do. I'm only an investigative reporter now, and there are people I do give a damn about who are currently in that line of fire, oblivious about whats coming for them. So what I want to know right now is whether this is enough... for you to make the decision to act? For you to make the gamble that the Federation will side with you, after the dust settles?"
His eyes then look at the screen, quite judgmental in the look he gives all of them.
"Or do I need to make more calls until I find someone who will?"
-=-=-
It had been a sullen car ride, Alberto with his elbow on one frame, and Riddhe on the other the whole time. Only Martha was animated, on the phone basically the entire trip. Ankshas flew overhead, running escort as they crossed the bridge to the Cheyenne military base.
As the limousine slid to a stop, Riddhe contemplated the brief case hed found in his fathers hidden safe before getting out. Soldiers saluted him. Everything about this felt wrong, made him feel uncomfortable in his own skin as men in black suits began to flank them to the high speed elevator underground.
As the doors slid open, he could hear the chatter of Federation control, the beating heart of the military now that JOSH-A had been annihilated. So many people at their consoles working to orient the Earthsphere around the current crisis.
Generals stood when Riddhe, Martha, and Alberto entered the control room, as she asked. "What is the Ra Mari II's current position?" The General with a dark complexion and a beard answered her immediately, "It's engaging a Neo-Zeon ship in the vicinity of Industrial 7. The General Revil is currently en route for intercept."
"So soon? My, given how Captain Danbeaf dramatized his prior battle, I'd have expected it to be out of commission until the end of the year... I suppose it's fitting at least that he be there for the coming bitter divorce between the Federation and Neo-Zeon."
Riddhe stood behind Martha, a hand surreptitiously clinched at his side over how casually she spoke of that 'marriage' whereas Alberto had his fingertips up against the glass as he watched the explosions of a satellite livefeed, like a child watching a particularly upsetting fireworks show.
Martha turned her head long enough to regard Riddhe. "Mister Marcenas. Did you hear that? There's no doubt at all that Laplace's Box is hidden within Industrial 7's Magallanica. Given that both Neo-Zeon and Anti-Federation insurrectionists are both on site, you know what must be done."
Riddhe's expression was, frustrated, angry, grief-stricken. "How could they..." He knew some of the people on the Ra Mari, this isn't exactly a happy thing for him to confront their complicity in trying to tear the Federation down.
"You have a clear line of fire, Sir." The same General prompted Riddhe. "We are ready for your order." Again Riddhe felt uncomfortable for their deference, hes an Ensign, and certainly not an elected official. Why are they treating him like hes his father simply because of the Empress clout?
Riddhe looked sidelong at Martha, in resentment, instead of at the man, "Disposing of the evidence and the witnesses at the same time?" Martha tipped her chin, smiling, "More like wiping the slate clean. The new box between our families will be the truth that cost the Federation it's Colony Builder."
As she looks at the screen, "A small price to pay don't you think? All of them would watch the world you seek to protect burn to ash."
Riddhe was silent, as his eyes glanced to the briefcase he found in his fathers safe again, in silent contemplation.
-=-=-
The military base in Cheyenne is carved out of a mountainside, a semi-circular valley within a mountain, it's only open side facing a bridge over a nearby lake into a well regulated turn off a highway. There is natural camouflage everywhere, in the form of tall Evergreen trees, which are utilized by the base defense complement as camouflage.
This base defense consists of a half dozen mobile suits strategically placed around the base with no patrols, all of which are Zeta Plus A1 - suits which despite being based on the Zeta are anything but obsolete, dangerous aerial opponents with their wing binders. They are powered up, but ultimately, inert. Just as they are every single guard shift, of every single day.
Within, a Corporal reaches up to a plastic shopping bag he's hung up in his cockpit, the kind one might get at a local convenience store. Grasping a bag of potato chips, he popped it open, grabbing a chip out and munching on it, one by one.
Every so often he wipes the crumbs off his pilot suit.
He's not really watching the base entrance, which consists of multiple layers of reinforced blast doors which are now down with the VIPs inside. What's there even to see?
Instead his mind is entirely focused on jamming to the music he has playing from his cell phone. Which has an adapter that lets him charge from his console. Technically not base regs but...
Who cares? This is a boring job, where nothing ever happens.
(OOC Note: Your task this round is to respond to Kais call if you deem it appropriate for your character to, and take out the bases exterior mobile suit defenses by stealth. I recommend not trying to get ahead of the round by round challenges. This will be done entirely by freeform.)
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
By some standards, this is not Jana's problem. By some standards, Dr. Cektru indeed should stay well out of it. The governace of humans should be left to humans. And yet...
She is not some passive observer, not today. She is one of those who has been asked for help, and so long as she does not go it alone, it's not only fine but right to support those humans who would make their world better. So it is that Jana Cektru agreed to come here, when Kai Shiden asked. A weapon on such a scale...
"Foolish," Jana murmurs to herself, shaking her head. But they have a base.
Now she sits on the bridge of the Salamis Kai-class cruiser 'Hermes', the research ship that NERV put at her disposal. To look at it the purple battleship is much like any other of its class, its IFFs marking it as not only a NERV ship but one that rarely sees combat.
She reaches out with her senses, towards the suits. They are distracted, clearly. The man with the chips probably doesn't even notice when she reads his mind.
"Hmph," Jana says. "Sloppy." Her first officer lifts an eyebrow at her. "Don't worry about it," the woman says with a smile.
But that's getting ahead of matters a little. What the base will probably miss is:
Abrubtly a battleship has just dropped straight from space down above the base. It already starts to deploy--
Probes? Yes, probes, for the forest.
"Be careful," she advises those deploying from her ship. "...But they aren't expecting you."
"We'll be stopping to smell the flowers."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Alexis simply appears when Martha does. He doesn't enter with her -- indeed, he barely seems to enter at all. She is here, and a moment later, he too is here, as if her presence simply allowed for his.
(It does.)
He seems utterly unworried, despite being a person of interest in numerous ongoing NERV investigations... well, what's one more on the pile for the Vist Foundation, really? He's hardly interested in the results of this struggle. These lives are petty to him, with lives unlimited.
... but... he's not really doing anything. He seems content to observe. He doesn't even say anything.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Wow. That's definitely Kai Shiden, hero of the One Year War, and he definitely looks like hell. ... Akane's not going to say that to his face, though -- not least of all when he's taking a big risk bringing this intelligence to as many people as he is.
This one actually falls to Akane; she's part of Intelligence now and that actually does come with some responsibility to, well, handle intel. That it's a little personal for her... well, that's okay.
"... I'll go," Akane had said, despite the fact that she's more than a little nervous about it. 3G needs boots on the ground here -- and as nervous as Akane is to be boots on the ground, this is really Intelligence's remit more than it is anyone else's. The fact that it falls to her, the second most junior member of the organization, is a little nerve wracking.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
... This isn't a GaoFighGar problem. Too noisy, too loud. She needs to leave this intervention to Lina, she thinks...
... which means she's here in an M353A4 Bloodhound. It's a very good thing that she learned how to drive while Rikka was recovering, even if she's still, as far as she's concerned, a bad driver. Parked just inside its comms range, Akane checks its sonar one last time.
"I'm confirming six targets within sonar range," Akane says, doing her best to remain level. "I'm sending along everything I've got!"
The Bloodhound will remain parked until things are handled. Akane can't drive it and operate the sonar at the same time, and she's here alone.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina stares at the screen after Kai's call ends. She was definitely aware of the Vist Foundation, who in the Sphere wasn't in some way, but...Gryps? That was a pretty big leap from art trading and stockholding. A leap she didn't like. This was the rot behind the Federation she had felt for years. The rot that would deny a girl the knowledge of whether her father was dead or alive. She pounds her fist against the screen, clenching so hard that her nails dug into her palm.
"Shinjo, this is Lombardi. I'm going with you."
Just within comms range, Lina sits in the open cockpit of a Nightmare Plus in Gerwalk mode, hidden as well as she can and surveying the base through a scope. This wasn't her Nightmare from G-Hound, mind, but she had requested one from NERV on standby, and despite it not being painted her trademark green yet, she had decided this would probably be a better fit for an approach than the Ichinana.
"I read that, Akane. I'm heading in. Keep an eye on my signal."
She pulls out a pistol, checking that it's ready to fire before tucking it into her jacket, Lina having decided to eschew her 3G uniform for this outing to not stand out. Six mobile suits to take out. She figured that she and Akane had been far from the only ones to answer the call, so it was probably better to just focus on one for now. She hops out of the cockpit, hitting the ground with a roll and moving through the trees, heading to the closest Zeta Plus A1 she can see.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam does not use his NERV-issue radio while operating undercover for obvious security reasons. Most of the time, he's able to pass it off as a simple vacation do-not-disturb, but after Crucible kidnapped him, security has been tighter. Liam returned to the Ra Mari II in the wounded Liath Macha only to find a well-meaning message from one of his security detail: Was he in Tsutsujidai?
Liam worked with comms to bounce the signal, but they will know if he's not actually there when they check in. His usual shuttle transport was able to ship him over in record time, but when he got there, his radio went off again. The last time Liam saw an alert of this priority level was when Sahaquiel was preparing to drop itself on Tokyo-3. Dread twists his stomach as he listens to Kai Shiden's transmission. It gets worse with every sentence.
Liam has no way to warn the Three Ships Alliance without compromising himself. And if they stop now, Full Frontal will retrieve the Box, and everything in it, and the whole Earth Sphere will be at his mercy. He was just about to call the shuttle for an even faster deployment when an unlikely savior showed up: the Hermes, on a routine mission to ensure Tsutsujiai was in its proper place, and nothing horrible was about to happen.
(Put a pin in that one. It's going to change very soon.)
Regrettably, there's no time to reunite with one of the few scientists Liam likes, and trusts--the moment the Hermes is in atmo, Liam suits up in a heavier, rad-shielded flightsuit, clambers into the cockpit, and bounces Kai's video to someone he hopes will pick up. He owes Chris. This is less treasonous than alerting the Three Ships.
They have their own war to fight up there. His place is down here.
"<I hear you, Akane.>" An Ichinana with the insignia of Trimestigos Squadron inches towards the lip of the launch bay as the Hermes plummets towards its objective. The data Akane transmits lights up Liam's screen with a comprehensive picture of the ground. "<Six tangos, confirmed.>"
Liam's Ichinana leaps clear. Its Mazin Blade ejects into its hand, and Liam drives it down in a sweeping, two-handed strike as he plunges towards another of the updated Zetas. The blade is massive, and precisely-aimed to chop the machine's saber arm clean off. A lightning-fast follow-up should relieve it of the other arm as well.
"Rust Squall," Liam hisses under his breath, as the Ichinana turns and blasts a second Zeta Plus A1 full in the chest with a ferocious, armor-stripping wind.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
3G's leadership team are all running around like headless chickens, but when Kai Shiden puts in a call, you answer.
Guy's busy. Yang and Akamatsu are in the Main Order Room to answer the call. Akane's response is accepting; Akamatsu slams a fist into his desk. "DAMN it!" he thunders. "Those two-faced jackals have been building the very stuff they want us to smash up!"
"Or paying us to build," Yang notes, placidly. "In the end, this kind of weapon isn't so different from the Goldion Crusher in terms of destructive power, nor in terms of authorization requirements. In their eyes, what's the difference?"
Akamatsu simmers with a sneer, but grumps back in his seat. Yang turns to Akane, and nods. "Agreed. We'll need on-site governance. We'll send some support from Mobile Division, but Volfogg and Porcauto are on other operations, so..."
Lombardi speaks up. "Works," Shigeru grunts.
"And as for the inside," Yang says, and half-turns to the third seat at the command bench.
Urchin Prickle has already stood up, rolling a muscled shoulder. He's not the slab of a man that Geki Hyuuma is...but he's still a military man, fit and strong, and with action calling, he manages to inhabit the role more than usual. "I'll lead a tactical team," he says. "Countin' on ya, ladies."
---*---
Meanwhile, in another section of that call, a balding man in a tan uniform rubs a hand through his close-cropped hair. "I believe a few of our folks would love a chance to help you out with that problem," Admiral Jerome Borda grunts. "I'll notify TDD-1 to send a few of hers."
---*----
A Zeta Plus A1 sits idly, the pilot's hands removed from the controls.
"Sloppy," an unseen threat hisses. "AL, combat power.""
<<ECS drop in three seconds.>>
And then there's a loud PFFT and a WHIRRRR as an air canister fires a tow rope at incredible speed from VERY close by, lashing out and wrapping entirely around the Zeta's chest and YANKING it downward. Uncontrolled, the unattended autobalancers can't compensate for such explosive strength. The Zeta is YANKED off its balance and tumbles onto its chest. That's the point a machine seems to melt out of the surroundings, holographic camouflage fading to reveal a machine that is normally a stark white and navy blue, painted a dull olive to blend in with the more grunt-level machines being deployed.
Arbalest levels its shotcannon at the Zeta's head, and plants a foot on it to let AL transmit through the physical connection.
"Get out," Sousuke Sagara says, flatly.
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Kai Shiden, a name with a pedigree not limited to his heroism in the One Year War of her younger days. Christina MacKenzie was no stranger to his name, and if Kai Shiden had barely survived with this information, how could she stand by?
If Banagher, York and Rezza, if the gallant crew of the Ra Mari II were in the line of fire, how could she stand by?
If the people of Magallanica have no choice but to face destruction or salvation at the hands of the apathetic elite, how could she stand by?
Chris closed the video, and tapped back to the message from Liam, staring at it for long seconds before deciding on a reply.
[VERTEX] engineer-or-far: i'll be there
The Tristan stood, distinctive and proud, an unmistakable knight; the flowerbulb of its GN Tau system caught the light in its spiraled grooves, and its crest was that of a Federation Gundam, a distinction with lineage back to the One Year War, back to her own war with the Alex and with Bernie. Kai Shiden survived to share this warning, but he was made of stubborn stuff. She couldn't endanger anyone else in the process... Couldn't lead them back to her. She had to find another way.
Luckily, she'd dealt in war salvage for a long time, and she knew some friends who had some aging overstock.
=-=-=-=-=
The Zeta Plusses were grainy through the telescoping sight. Pixelated, barely recognizable for their shapes. She was really pushing it with this level of tech, but... it would be the hardest thing to trace under these conditions.
Of all times to be thankful she was on Earth already. It hadn't been easy, and she'd been raked over the coals for the rush-job commerce, but it looked like she'd made it there in time. She wasn't sure who else would show up, but the sparks hadn't yet been flying as she'd set up shop, and she knew Liam wouldn't forward her something so groundbreaking if he hadn't already decided to come.
The dark colors of the prone RGM-79 Sniper II were difficult to distinguish from the shadetrees of the hillside, at this distance, and the rifle loaded with clay rounds was even less discernable. But damn it, why couldn't she have gotten a higher grade lens! Or at least an encrypted comm system. She couldn't do it alone, but she hoped she wouldn't have to wait too much longer. Best to make her shots count.
It wasn't as long as it felt like, until the blitz began. It wasn't until a ship fell clean out of the blue sky that she felt the thrum of her pulse in her finger against the trigger. It wasn't until the Ichinanas fell like acorns that she exhaled, seeing the deadly fruit close in to Cheyenne base. It wasn't until she saw a flash of light that she pulled the trigger.
It wasn't until the high caliber clay round had crossed the multi-klick gap with a delayed sonic wave, that it flared into a tangling, immobilizing glob, transferring enough kinetic energy to her target to really rattle someone's coffee out of their grip.
It wasn't until it was over that she grimly nodded, and started wondering how long it would take to join the impromptu force!
Christina MacKenzie (Chris) has paged Leina Ashta with, 'banagher Hm, 38 minutes, above target but stll better than my average!'
Christina MacKenzie (Chris) has paged Leina Ashta with, 'I forgot the equals sign again, sorry!'
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
When Alexis appears, the General looks right at him, as his aide starts to murmur at him. Base control down below likewise glance up every so often at the control room. Supervisors eyeing him with a sort of suspicion, or worry. But...
... noone leaves their post. Perhaps the most verbal anyone gets is- "What is that THING doing here in one of the most secure bases in the Federation?" Riddhe, who glares at him, whether he's familiar or not with the details. Martha simply sideeyes him, "Relax, Alexis is a trusted confidante."
"A trusted confidante?" Riddhe echoes in disbelief before his tone shifts into skepticism, "Next you'll be telling me my father had went out to dinner for business with him every other Saturday." Martha smiles, as she tells him nonchalantly, "You'd be surprised at the company Ronan kept when he was out of the public view."
Perhaps strangely, Alberto doesn't react to Alexis - or this conversation, instead retreating to the other side of the room, hunching down in a corner, a hand clutched against the side of his head, "... Puru One... Leina you're...?" Muttering to himself, he knelt down, hand sliding down the wall, "... alive? Fighting...? Why? After everything..."
Despite himself, he rambled, his mind elsewhere. Noone in the room paying him any mind as if he were too insignificant, too pathetic, "... what am I seeing... are you showing me this?"
In the end, the man's breakdown is a quiet thing, in a room full of weighty military matters.
-=-=-
It's a simple thing, six pings on Sonar, transmitted to the other mobile suits. Right as Jana's ship makes Earthfall. All the Zeta pluses look up - well most of them. Several don't. One because Lina's popped the hatch of another and the pilot slowly puts his hands up, facing the barrel of a gun.
Thoughts are briefly entertained about hitting the controls long enough to shake her off, but ultimately discarded. A bullet can move faster after all, much faster.
"Nice hair. Hit your twenties and decided ten years wasn't long enough for a rebellious phase?"
Another become a sniper round takes the head of his suit clean off, the delayed sonic wave rattling the suit enough that the man inside was unconscious instantly, even before it hit the ground.
Meanwhile, another suit, the man with the chips is mid crunch, when suddenly he startles up, hands hitting the controls, as he begins to turn the Zeta Plus A1 and-
The tow cables suddenly yank it down flat on his face, the contents of his shopping bag flying everywhere as his cockpit becomes a wastebin for all of his snacks. The man doesn't understand why his controls aren't responding, so he yelps into the comms, "<Mayday! Mayday! W-We're... we're under attack! Controls are scrambled! Controls are->" Pity he doesn't realize that his transmission never even made it out.
When he sees the much smaller Arbalest melt into view, shotcannon at its head... Sousuke might be glad he didn't enter the cockpit. Because there's suddenly the scent of urine in the cockpit. The hatch opens, and the man crawls out, a difficult thing to do trying to keep his hands up at all times.
"Got kids, got kids man! Please-!"
Another has his Zeta Plus literally rusted out from under him by the Ichinana's Rust Hurricane, as his mobile suit starts to disintegrate, he pops the hatch, and stumbles out, making the leap towards the ground rather than risk staying within as his world literally crumbles around him. He impacts with a cry of pain...
... that man will likely be in traction tonight, but he is, for all intents and purposes alive.
Ultimately, none of these men even know what's going on below, the sort of decisions being made that shape the Earthsphere. The atrocities committed from afar, by individuals in control rooms. They're just here to make a living.
-=-=-
Despite their efforts, all it took was the base cameras to start picking up a visual, for it to begin be put on monitors below. "We're under attack!?" Riddhe asks, as Martha calmly asks the General, "The base is already on lockdown, correct?" "Yes ma'am. And we're deep down enough that even a MIDAS would have difficulty penetrating and disrupting our operations."
Martha's gaze flicks at the visuals, "That's not a concern. We're dealing with terrorists." Riddhe points at a visual of a tactical team forming up near the base doors, "How can you be sure!? That's clearly a NERV ship! And that Bloodhound and Ichinana? They're pinging NERV IFFs." Whereas Martha taps a key, to move over to a visual of the Arbalest holding a Zeta Plus at gunpoint. "Because that is an experimental Arm Slave used by the paramilitary organization Mithril."
She then smiles, it's not exactly a nice smile, "Which I recently had reclassified as an Earthside arm of Celestial Being, given their recent joint operations. All very hush hush, not something we released to their news agencies."
Martha Vist Carbine turns on the base intercomms, as the loudspeakers built into the mountainside begin to play, "-attention, NERV forces. I am giving you a singular chance to stand down before you are painted with the same broad brush as terrorist forces from Mithril, and Celestial Being and charged with treason against the Federation. Reinforcements from the Britannian Military are already en route..."
Before she then focuses on the image of the Arbalest anew, "... and bombers are standing by, to wipe your insignificant base in the Pacific off the map, test my patience with your shenanigans at your peril."
Flipping off the intercom, Riddhe eyes her, "You do understand how that sounds, right?" She gives him an amused look, "Who cares how it sounds?"
Snapping her fingers, several personnel come to jot down orders, and put in to make the call for reinforcements happen, and to put bombers on standby. Naturally, that will take time to organize both things but...
... they don't know that. "In the meanwhile, let's get the real reason we're here over with." Without much fanfare, Martha moves forward, producing hers from her business suit pocket, placing it into a console with two card slots, and turning it as it lights up. An image of Gryps II appears on screen, inert, but ready to charge the moment it receives the other card.
Riddhe just stares at it, then at Martha. One of the military men in the room clears his throat, as if to prompt him with the idea of 'we're waiting.'
-=-=-
The base blast doors loom before them. Solid steel, several meters thick, just as impenetrable as the ones at Jaburo. It's built into the mountain side. Get through them...
... and there are more, probably at least a dozen to get to the inner base. But is that really much of an obstacle to people like you?
(OOC Note: Your goal this round is to penetrate to the elevator shaft in the inner base. Don't go further than the elevator though, but if you want to no sell these sealed doors with your tac teams and joint resources, have at it!)
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
Jana regards the scene on video as she hears the ultimatums they have to offer. Martha Vist palsy over the mountainside...
"What's that?" she asks, as if having trouble hearing. "I'm afraid the system must be having some difficulty. We'll continue gathering samples from the local flora for our research."
The Britannian military... Jana considers, for a moment, and makes a gesture, the viewscreen turning off. She rises from her seat. "You have the conn," she tells her XO, and reaches into a pocket of her labcoat.
She can feel the weight of a silvery pistol there. She does not pull it out yet.
-=-=-
"...Yes," Dr. Cektru says, "I'll be infiltrating on foot. I'm aware of the position I'm putting you all in here, but..."
"No, Doctor. We're here because we think it's the right thing to do."
"..."
"we'll handle the Britannians, if they come. Just focus on stopping them."
"...Good luck," Jana says, and reaches into a secret locker to pull something out, a small set of devices with strange gears on them. "The Tector Gear control system..."
"It's what's necessary."
-=-=-
A woman in white and blue walks on foot towards the blast doors, in white boots, a blue armored jumpsuit, and a labcoat. She walks swiftly, with purpose. Dr. Cektru knows why she is here. She taps her ear, where she has a worn radio. "Operatives infiltrating the base."
"I have a way in. I'll be relying on the rest of you to do something about all this once we're there."
The alien scientist steps up until she reaches one of the walls, and pulls a small, black device--it looks like a mechanical gear--to set on the wall of the installation.
It lights up suddenly, whirring in place and brilliantly shining. "Tector Gear mechanism. Identifying technology... Identifying... Identifying..."
"Subversion initiated."
Jana looks down at a console on her wrist, eyeing it thoughtfully, and taps a few things into its keys. "Tector Gear." Her voice suddenly modulates as the device acts with her, "Activate!"
With a brilliant noise, the doors start to open, as easily as if given the order from inside.
They will no longer close.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina clicks her tongue at the snide remark and pistol whips the pilot into unconsciousness. "It's natural, testa di cazzo!" Dropping back down onto terra firma, she holdsters her pistol and raises her scope towards the blast doors.
Martha's voice echoes through the air, all high and mighty just as Lina would have expected. Sounds like her comrades had decided to bring out bigger guns than her. Charged with treason? Wouldn't be the first time for 3G. If she got caught, she could just deny involvement, though. Would that be better or worse? Cripes.
Her sights move toward the woman approaching the door. "Those blast doors have to be several meters thick! What the hell is some science teacher gonna..." The doors open. "...nevermind." She tucks her scope away and pulls the pistol back out, keeping it at the ready as she runs in to head towards the elevator shaft.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
"<Tagging wounded personnel for recovery, Hermes,>" Liam says, marking the fallen pilot's position for the pickup teams. A quick scan notes the rest of the machines are no longer in fighting shape. "<Recommend cas-evac ASAP.>" Who knows how hot things are going to get out here? That's... Lombardi over there, probably, and that's absolutely Sousuke in his cloaking Arm Slave, and that's probably Chris with the clay bazooka.
And then Martha Vist Carbine opens her mouth. That must be her. He recognizes her from G-Hound's raid on the Photon Power Labs, with Puru-1--with Leina--leading the charge. He very deliberately turns off the Ichinana's radio before snarling, in Irish: "Go to hell."
The Ichinana kneels. Its boarding ladder ejects, and its cockpit hatch pops open. Liam slides down, combat boots crunching in the soil. He did not pack light for this one--in addition to the service rifle, he has a sidearm, a knife, flashbangs, and whatever suitable oddments he could scrounge from the Hermes' weapons lockers. Light gleams off his visor as he rushes after Jana.
"Doctor Cektru, what--" He reaches out a hand, but stops and stares at the gear device.
The doors open. Awe flickers in Liam's eyes as he turns to look at Jana, but he doesn't linger long. "Taking point," he says, as he moves onward, quickly but carefully, to the elevator.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Alexis's teal panels light up for a moment in a pleasant(?) smile toward Riddhe. "Oh, don't mind me," he offers, jovially. "I'm simply here to review some intelligence while we wait for things to develop. If you'd be so kind as to bring up the battle between the Three Ships Alliance and the Sleeves in late June, please?"
He glances toward Alberto momentarily, though the only comment he offers on the matter is a faint, "Mm."
Sure enough -- one way or another, he does indeed get the opportunity to review that on one of the monitors. As one of Martha's guests, he has a lot of latitude here in a way he wouldn't if he had shown up in any other context.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Akane brings the sonar truck forward once it seems as though the base defenses have been compromised and the doors opened; she's performing a more 'Mobile Corps'-like form of monitoring for this step, but... well, she's at least most of the way trained in that, too. That's not the worst thing in the world.
When she reaches the elevator, she powers down the hover truck -- well, other than the comms, anyway.
"Treason, huh," Akane says. She takes a breath, centers herself, and then decides:
"You know what? I've been designated a major threat by the Federation before. I think you need to really consider who you're up against," she announces over the Hover Truck's loudspeakers. Bringing a hand up to her dark hair, she adds, "Oh, and by the way, sake's only like two percent of the OCU's alcohol consumption. Not only is it weird to offer a teenager that, but you're kinda racist."
... Yes, after getting off the Garuda, Akane looked that up, precisely because 'was this kinda racist?' was gnawing at her when she was sitting alone in Aya. She's been sitting on that one for months.
Sometimes the definition of 'courage' includes 'being kind of petty at the wrong time.'
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Arbalest jerks its head to the side, signaling for the man to get clear, then pops a slug into the head just to make sure nobody suddenly gets ideas. "Uruz-7, one down."
Then: The world's nicest lady. "So much for changing the paint job," Sousuke mutters as he is called out Literally Immediately.
<<It is possible Operator Leina Ashta's leaked intelligence included the location of the facility, Sergeant.>>
Sousuke's teeth grind in his head, his jaw slowly setting. The pleading man gets no further thought. "Our orders are to proceed," is what he says, and marches onward.
There are presumably some Mithril PRT here. You don't see them because they're in other peoples' uniforms, it's a neat super-illegal trick they do.
The blast doors are of more concern to Sousuke. "This... ..." He draws in a slow breath. He should be able to do this. With the kind of things he knows it can do now, this should be no problem. This...
He focuses his will on the tip of the barrel Break through. Blast it open. Punch through!
He fires!
A single shell bursts down toward the first blast door, a blazing pellet!
it smashes to atoms against totally unyielding alloys.
Sousuke's teeth grind. He does nothing more but wait until Dr. Cektru moves in to open the doors. But before that:
---*---
"Well that's a hell of a pickle," Urchin Prickle mutters. The rest of his team is already securing wounded. He pulls up his monitor. "Remember, folks, GGG's been branded traitors before, and the brain donors who made it happen are the ones who aren't doing their jobs anymore. This is what we're here to stop. Don't let some trumped up witch get you doubting your courage."
He steps up to the blast doors. "That, though, you can worry about," he says, whistling. "We'd need a Neuronoid to melt those, I think."
Ping!
"Oh. Handy," he says, and motions to his team. "Move! Move! Move! We got a lot of ground to cover! Yamatsumi, how's that backup coming?"
<<WE HAVE ARRIVED!>> comes an echoing thunder. Followed by: "SYMMETRICAL...DOOOOOOOOCKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!"
In the sky, a flash of light and darkness, whirling colors clashing and combining! And then, she falls to the earth, ringed in remotes that circle her like angels. "SEIRYUUJIN!!!" she roars, as light pours from her every seam.
SeiRyuuJin. The latest of the symmetrically docking Strongest Brave Robot Corps., created after the departure of GGG Green! Trained originally in GGG Germany, they were largely sent on rescue missions that did not require her components to work together, and so the world has never before seen this combining goddess until now! Which means...nobody can be ready for what she can do!!!
Her Protect shield remotes whirl into a position to guard the entire front of the cavern. "Enter swiftly, friends!" she barks. "Let Carbine's dogs break against SeiRyuuJin's steel! I shall hold them as long as you require!"
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
A green and black GM II in mottled patterning finishes long-jumping to the base, and pulls out an MS-sized utility knife; under normal conditions, it would be a dangerously obsolete unit to bring to a fight, much less against some aerial-superiority A1s. But combat power isn't decided by machine nor pilot alone. Kneeling next to its beheaded victim, the GM wastes no time sliding the blade between the armor plates, to prize open the Zeta+'s cockpit hatch. As the figure inside rappels down, it slaps a Medi-flare onto the fallen Zeta. It's not as much as she'd like to do, but there are more lives at stake than one Feddie day-shifter.
Martha's voice rings out, and the GM's pilot keeps her counsel as she walks towards the hijacked blast doors. When Martha continues her haughty declarations, and a sonar truck booms with a familiar voice, a sidearm is cocked and unsafetied.
One of the many cam feeds suddenly cuts short.
There are plenty of other cameras and sensors, so there's no practical purpose for the bullet put through one of them, but the pilot doesn't linger outside any longer after her own spiteful outburst.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The man only expresses brief skepticism on his face to the idea Lina's hair is natural before it's lights out.
Akane's comment over the comms causes Martha to raise a single eyebrow deep within the base, as the dark-skinned General just, sideeyes her. There's awkward silence in the room for a few pregnant seconds, then-
"What absurd and baseless accusations. Acting as if I'd ever break bread with a terrorist like her."
However... Riddhe was glaring at her too, because he'd certainly heard the darker rumors surrounding Dakar. It's not long after that several of the security feeds wink out, cutting their ability to monitor what happens next.
~Not long after~
"This is all to protect the Federation's interests-" "Your interests!" Riddhe countered in interruption, and Martha conceded with one amendment, "'Our' interests - which I might remind you are synonymous with the Federation. There are times when you must sacrifice the few to protect the many." A small pause, and a smirk, "... Silly me, of course a military man like you already knows that."
Without hesitation, Riddhe pointed towards the Masked Figure of Alexis in the room, "I don't know how you can say that with that LOOK on your FACE while that THING is standing right over there!"
"Ah, youth." Martha made that comment like a sigh, "In time you'll come to understand that to protect this flawed system - it requires you to compromise certain- principles. You've seen the destruction wrought by Neo-Zeon now that they've slipped their leash - it's time to put them down for good, before they hurt anyone else."
Angrily tearing his gaze away, he fell into a brooding silence, even as he put the case atop a nearby table. Placing his thumb to a pad on it, he waited for it to scan his biometrics. Although he wasn't his father, the trace of ancestry within his DNA was enough. The case popped open.
Contemplating the sight of the elaborate card inside, nestled within the padding he looked towards the slot. Martha Vist Carbine simply prompted him further, "This is the measure of any great man, to make these kinds of hard decisions, your father knew that well."
Thinking of the pilots he met upon the Ra Mari, thinking of Audrey - no Mineva Lao Zabi, on all Akane said that seemed to confirm the darkest rumors of what Martha Vist Carbine had done he closes his eyes briefly, and then tells her, "Maybe... but even so... I am NOT my father. And this isn't protecting anything other than your own selfish interests!" As his hand moved as if to close the lid... and Martha's face changed to something cold and vicious.
"A pity." And then without even giving an order, two men in black restrained him from behind, each taking an arm. "If you're going to be a child, then you'll learn a child's lesson the hard way." Riddhe began to flail and struggle as security held him fast, "LET GO OF ME!" The General and his aids within the room gave each other discomfited looks, but said nothing to this.
Martha simply walked over and plucked the key card out of the case, turning over to the console. "You'll come to your senses once it sinks in what it would mean for the Marcenas family name to be dragged through the mud." "YOU COMPLETE AND TOTAL-!" Sputtering incoherently with rage, he felt contact against the back of his skull, as he dropped to his knees, stunned.
And that's the moment she heard two simple words, "Aunt Martha." Which cause her to turn at the unexpected sound of Alberto's voice, as he steps up to her, ponderously one step at a time, "I keep hearing you say things over and over that aren't like you- things like my father would say... about sacrificing the few for the many. That's why I sided with you, because you always told me that we should reject the logic of men." And in that moment, he grabs the lapels of her business suit, the smaller man getting in her face with a look of desperation. "So WHY are YOU doing THIS!? WHY?"
The Men in Black, occupied with restraining Riddhe, were startled by the idea of Alberto Vist accosting his Aunt, as they swiftly dropped Riddhe and shifted focus to restraining Alberto and pulling him off of her. "Let go of me! I know you heard her! That voice was unmistakable! All of them are up there! They're fighting for something better than this! They're rejecting the logic of men too! Isn't it in your interests to support them rather than SNUFF THEM OUT!?"
Staring at him for a long moment, her voice took on a sympathetic quality, understanding. "You're tired, Alberto. It's been a long day for you." Grasping a strand of her hair she flips it over her shoulder before, turning back to the console, "Don't worry, just like now - just like always." Sliding the key card in beside its twin, she gave it a decisive turn, "...I'll take care of the rest." With a tap of the red button, she adds, the words, "Execute."
It's at this moment, that someone comes up and murmurs to the General, who utters, "What!? On whose authority?" Martha gives him a grave look, "Something the matter?" "Ah, ma'am... base lockdown has been lifted." "By whom!?"
It's at that moment the elevator pings - to signify that it's opening.
-=-=-
After Jana overrides the doors, and efforts are made within to try and close them back (which fail) the base defenses within are practically non existent at this point, noone expected anyone to even come here, much less penetrate inside. There is a skeleton crew here at this Federation military base in part because of the simple fact that it is on Britannian Soil.
It was surely assumed that should anyone attack here, that a battalion of Knightmare Frames would be here before anyone could ever hope to penetrate the blast doors.
Some people within consider reaching for firearms, but that's dispelled when they see SEIRYUUJIN and just go 'Nope' and the hands go up as they'd much rather not be atomized by the remainder of the crew coming inside. They do in fact, assume on good faith that they are terrorists, and not Federation forces.
The elevator requires people to go within on foot, it's simply not large enough for a mobile suit or even an Arm Slave to get on board. The sublevels are deep down, but elevators are high speed, and not an especially long ride.
To those coming out of it, they'll instantly get a good view of the main room of dozens of people working at the beating heart of the Federation. However, what they're looking for is inside the control room, they'll see Riddhe on the ground, stunned and barely conscious, Alberto being held back by two Men in Black. Alexis Kerib reviewing footage of a battle...
... showing one Permanence Pasternak climbing out of her suit, a rocket launcher at the ready as she fires it. The Incoms on the Krake Zulu surround her, and with a single blast - she vanishes
But last, perhaps quietest of all is the fact that on the screen, a timer over a console with two turned keycards blips down its count.
278.59
Spying Akane, Alberto shouts at her as he strains against the men holding him, "AKANE! AKANE! Leina! Alouette! Guy! Doctor Mass! THEY'RE ALL UP THERE!"
Martha Vist Carbine glances at Alberto out of the corner of her eye, and for the first moment since she arrived today, she appears mildly concerned.
The viewscreen of Gryps II above the console shows plasmic particles starting to gather within it's chassis...
272.13
(OOC Note: The Men in Black have guns but aren't any real threat. Feel free to take them down without much trouble. The Federation soldiers don't interfere. Martha Vist Carbine is quite unarmed and not resisting.)
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
The Hermes will, indeed, take care of the wounded; Jana's XO will be in charge of that. But here on the ground...
The 'science teacher' is going to do something after all! Jana turns to wink at Lina, amused by her reaction, and then nods more seriously to Liam. "We all have our ways of helping. I'll be counting on you, too." A pause, as she looks to the team. "Violence isn't always the best solution." She takes back her Tector Gear now that the job is done, and secures it in a pocket.
Maybe Jana will ride along in the van with Akane. Maybe.
"She offered a teenager sake?" Jana says, with a disapproving note in her voice and a lifted eyebrow. But the arrival of SeiRyuuJin brings a smile to her face. "...It's good not to feel alone, in something like this, isn't it?"
-=-=-
Jana Cektru rides the elevator down, down, down. When the doors open, Jana seees Riddhe on the ground, Alberto held down, and--
"Alexis Kerib," Jana says immediately, narrowing her eyes at the Hyper Devil. She is in no way prepared to fight him, but the impulse strikes her all the same. SHe does not recognize the footage, does not feel its emotional impact just from seeing a glance at it. So instead, the timer--
"No!"
She sprints across the room, seemingly unafraid of the men with guns. Perhaps there's a reason for that. Maybe it's that she trusts Liam and the others.
Either way, she makes her print over to the console, and slaps another Gear against the keycard console. "Tector Gear," she says, "Activate!"
"Identifying technology..." A tinny voice rings out, "Identifying... Identifying..."
Jana reaches down with strength beyond her frame and pulls the aide at the console away, taking his seat and starting to tap away as her Gear does its work. "Identifying," the voice insists again,a nd then suddenly--
"Subversion complete," the voice announces.
"Tector Gear! Shut it down!"
"Complying..." the tinny voice comes again, as the Gear whirs and whirls and lights up--
The consoles go dark.
The countdown doesn't stop.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
"Yeah, color me impressed, Professor." Lina chuckles as she leans on the wall next to the elevator door, pistol raised and at the ready. "Just make sure that their violence isn't a solution for you."
As the elevator door opens, Lina pokes out from the side, gun pointed out. She takes a second to assess the scene:
-Rich old woman
-Rich not-as-old man
-Very much not-as-old Feddie soldier
-Horrible demon skeleton man
-Bunch of grunts.
No problem. Probably not the best idea to hit the first four, and Jana rushing forward forces her hand. The agents pulling out their guns are the biggest threat, and Lina takes aim, firing at their guns/gun hands, intending for them to drop the weapons with minimal injury.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam's hands curl into fists as the lift descends. Urchin's words echo in his mind, joined in counterpoint by Hephaestus'. This world is cruel, kid.
But don't let some trumped-up witch get you doubting your courage.
"Thank you," Liam says. His heart is still raw, but just like with Sahaquiel, the stakes have granted him horrible clarity. The lift slows. The destination panel lights up. Liam whips a flashbang off his belt, and says, simply: "Priming flash. Cover eyes and ears. Five." The world starts to slow around him. "Four. Three." The door starts to slide open.
Liam charges out of the elevator, shoulder-checking the armed guard he guessed would be there. (There's another, but Sousuke and GGG's team are right there.) "Two. One," he says, as the man slams into the railing. Liam HURLS the flashbang into the center of the control room. A brilliant light ignites on the point of impact, followed by a stunning BOOM of sound.
Liam keeps moving. Another guard--one wearing proper eye and ear protection, good on her--raises her gun and starts shooting from behind a reinforced display panel. She takes Jana in her sights--
CRUNCH
Liam's gauntleted fist slams through the display, and impacts with the soldier's helmet. There's still enough force in the blow to stun her for a moment, wherein Liam charges through what's left of the ruined screen, ripping her gun from her hands. He ejects the clip, throws it aside, and bears down on Martha like an avalanche.
"Martha Vist Carbine," Liam says. A second trooper looks at him, panicked; he can't shoot at Liam without risking hitting Martha. He reaches for a taser instead, and fires; the tines embed in Liam's shoulder, and a current follows moments later.
The cyborg's eyes roll to the side. He grabs the filament and pulls, dragging the unprepared soldier forward. A moment later, his fist slams into the man's face-shield in a shattering strike, dropping him like a stunned bird. "Murdering, blackmailing, torturing scum. You're under arrest. Turn that thing off."
Maybe she doesn't have to. The chaos Liam and the others are causing has bought Jana time to...
The countdown hasn't stopped, Liam realized. He glances at Martha, then at Alberto, then at...
Yeah. That's absolutely Alexis Kerib, and even though Liam's seen pictures, seeing him in real life, for the first time, is...
"You." His voice is no less venomous than when he spoke to Martha moments ago. Alexis is here, and watching Permanence die, and Liam's heart feels like it's trying to climb out of his throat in fear."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Long story. I'll point you at the report when we get back," Akane answers Jana, with a small sigh. "We were negotiating." ... Her head's a little bit back in that place, now. She has to shove it down, though -- has to swallow those feelings before they really, really get into her head.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"Hmmm? Ah, hello," Alexis offers Jana, teal panels once again lighting up in a smile. "Oh, rest assured, I have no plans of getting involved any time in the foreseeable future. I'm simply here to observe." He even scoots backward as people begin to rush in. "And -- ah, is that Akane-kun? It's really surprising to see you in the convoy, you know. I suppose the uniform does suit you, though."
Akane frowns. Of course he'd be here. ... Her gaze tracks briefly to the screen, and to Permanence Pasternak, and --
Her eyes widen for just a moment. She'd been -- she'd talked to her just before that battle, hadn't she? She couldn't --
Before she can obsess, Alberto snaps her back to reality. "Wh -- No!" She moves toward the console, and...
... no, she realizes -- this isn't something she can override. Not a system this complex -- even the attempt would risk collapsing her heart in on itself. Call it a kaiju's intuition.
"How do we stop it?" Akane asks Alberto, pleading for an answer as the countdown continues despite Jana's best efforts.
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Holstering her sidearm, Chris lingers in the open mainspace behind the blast doors, bracing her shield against her shoulder as guns rise, and relaxing as they fall with the Super AI's dynamic (and stylish) entrance.
Still, there's tension in the hall and though made of soldiers, maintenance crews, and a few white-coat types, uncertainty is the common thread across the base staff's expressions. There is shocked silence from most, leaning and whispers from others.
Two soldiers next to each other stare incredulously at their coworkers, then drop their eyes to the floor as the terrorists spread out.
Both suddenly snap their rifles up, and find a short-haired woman with her own gun already trained on them.
"Be my guest. Don't mind if you wanna pick a fight and eat shit, but it's not gonna be fucking pretty for you or your friends." The PRT soldiers fanning out took their aim as well, but wouldn't fire first without orders.
Before either party could pull a trigger, a riot shield cut off Sergeant Mao's line of sight. She bristled, and almost shoved the interloper out of the way, when the shield was removed and a helmeted person stood between both parties, both palms out and up.
"That was fun, let's all take a breather here. You two might be willing to die fighting. Let's not make the choice for everyone else," Chris called out, her back pressing against Mao's rifle barrel.
She's not thrilled but Mao reluctantly lowers her gun. It isn't until the two Federation soldiers also hesitate and drop their weapons, that Mao nods to the rest of the team. While they're coordinating the base staff to congregate in conference rooms and the cafeteria, she punches the interloper in the shoulder. "Hey, asshole, did you want a high-lead diet today? I saw their eyes, they were ready to shoot."
Chris laughs, only replying, "That's why I had to."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
"I'm going in," Sousuke announces, and Arbalest leans into its disembarkation procedure to let him out. "Don't let anyone in."
<<And I suppose I shouldn't talk to any strangers, either,>> AL jabs, and seals back up.
Sousuke...doesn't even grunt. He just fits on the helmet of his armored piloting suit and marches in along with the rest heading down the elevator. He leaves up top to the PRT team.
---*---
Liam and Sousuke bolt out at the same moment. Liam gets the first guard down; Sousuke gets the second. Mission parameters don't call for him to kill, so he gets the guy in a submission position and then bashes him unconscious with his gun. He throws his arm up, covering his eyes from the flashbang; the helmet has adequate protection. Then he rises, already producing a stun baton he sourced from a certain side project he occasionally tinkers with. He looks around for anyone else who wants to try their luck, a certain blank readiness in his eyes and a buzzing checked-outedness in his heart that might just spook someone off testing him.
Meanwhile, Urchin Prickle walks in, flanked by GGG operatives who charge in with guns that are only probably armed with stun rounds. "If I could have your attentionf or a moment!" he calls, and holds up an actual honest to gosh badge case with badge in it. "Name's Urchin Prickle," he calls loudly for all attending. "Tactical Advisor for GGG Blue, this here's my handsome face." He motions to the badge. "I know a few of you are currently doing some double-checking, and I really appreciate your commitment to looking up that I am, in fact, allowed to be here, and I do not, in fact, require a warrant to enter any Federation facility to arrest a known participant in Category A science crime."
He gives Martha the kind of polite smile that says he would smash her face in if he thought he'd get away with it.
"Doctor Long-li tells me he's been looking forward to meeting you, ma'am. Hands where I can see 'em so the nice man who just punched through plate armor can cuff you proper."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Upstairs, the base soldiers are forced to congregate within the cafeteria and conference rooms after meeting a one two combination of Mao and Chris. Mysteriously they're not facing much resistance. Odd that.
It's almost like they don't like this situation either, or perhaps they can take a hint from the Brass that are present.
Lina's shots knock two guns out of their head before she can fire. Whereas Liam knocks out someone aiming to shoot Jana, smashing through their helmet, and faceplate. Another man drops from the stun baton.
Uncovering her ears and eyes from the flashbang just in time to hear Liam's words, Martha answers, "On whose authority? Your own?" Martha speaks calmly to Liam with a sort of contempt, "You literally bed a rebel of the Three Ship's Alliance and you dare to presume you can arrest me? You insignificant brute, your NERV credentials haven't been worth the paper they've been printed on since their mutiny at Orb."
She doesn't so much as move, or pretend to offer any resistance, or even showing the slightest hint of fear from him. In fact, it's uncomfortable, as if she were staring at Liam like some kind of attack dog, rather than a person. Rather instead, she looks upon Urchin Prickle, after his operatives have taken out the remaining security with what are probably stun rounds.
"That presumes that 3G's charter won't be revoked the moment that the Assembly hears about this. ... This time, it won't just be for show."
She speaks to them, but in the end, while she doesn't make things any easier for them. She doesn't resist either. She makes them go through all the uncomfortable motions of forcing them to take the actions to cuff her.
But in the end, she still acts as if the situation is entirely under control. That all it will take is one phone call and she'll be on top, yet again. However... as she's cuffed, she does make one final appeal to someone in the room.
"Alexis. Are you truly going to let this stand? I'm certain that we could come to some sort of arrangement..."
As Jana works her magic, her Tector Gear subverts the technology and then in one second - the entire Federation control room turns, off. The room is completely dark for a good three seconds of confusion by the people down below who had taken cover behind their consoles, before red tinted emergency beacons come on. Every console remains off...
... including the firing mechanism for the Colony Laser, crisis averted?
Except, tinted in crimson there is a singular countdown:
256.42
The timer continues. The moment the firing mechanism sent the signal and executed, it could no longer be stopped from here. There are failsafes to prevent it. Perhaps Jana could subvert if she were there, but could she make it to Gryps 2 in under five minutes?
Alberto just stares at Akane, expression freezing at the realization of the answer to the question, "I don't- I don't think we can! But you're an operator in 3G, surely you have a way to get the message to them in time! To tell them what's coming!"
Alberto has such hope on his face for a moment, but then it vanishes into this desperation as he searches Akane's face.
"Right?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Alexis looks at Martha for several long seconds while she's cuffed. Then he looks at Akane, and a thoughtful moment passes.
"You know, Mrs. Vist-Carbine, I think it'd be very boring to reject all the hard work that everyone's put into getting here. Besides -- the last time we talked, Akane-kun told me to get lost!" He remains perfectly still and passive as he appends, "Far be it from me to leave a request unacknowledged, even if it takes a little time."
He translates across the room, not quite walking and not quite floating -- takes the long way around -- and moves through the same entrance through which the interlopers arrived.
By the time they turn around, he's vanished.
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
Negotiating... "All right," Jana says, and doesn't push for the moment.
-=-=-
Alexis smiles. Jana doesn't. "I see," she says, as he mentions he is only here to observe, but then she's busy, and she has to rely on the fact that he's only here to observe. She doesn't get shot in the back, as it turns out, thanks to Liam and the others. She is at the console, working--
Martha is still talking. It grates on Jana, frustrates her as she finds that the consoles turn off, and... the countdown remains.
"There's some kind of failsafe," Jana says, shaking her head. "I can't shut it down from here now that the signal's been sent."
Their success in capturing her, if indeed they have, is... Not enough. Not to stop what could be happening. The people out there--
"No!" the scientist says again, in frustration, and turns to Mrs. Vist-Carbine. There is a cold glint in her eye as she does, thinking of what information she could likely pry from her that would save other lives. That would...
Jana's shoulders sink. No. It would be wrong. It would go against the hopes she has for this world.
"There's some kind of interference," she says. "My mind can't reach to where they are. If someone can get to them... It's not going to be me."
She turns, a worried look set on Sousuke in particular, but that wouldn't be it, would it?
She takes back her Tector Gear, and slides it into her pocket again. "...There's nothing more I can do here."
With Alexis gone... No, she doesn't even turn to look to see where he might have gone. She can tell he's not here.
The Doctor sighs.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina puts her gun away, hopefully for the last time today, and walks over to the console, watching the timer count down. Were they too late?
"If only we had someone up there to hit Gryps-2. We could try to contact Orbit Base, but I don't know if they'd have enough time...Shit!" She kicks at the console, shaking her now stinging foot a bit after.
She turns back and looks towards Akane. "No no no, Article 5, Paragraph 125! A GGG member must, no matter how dire the situation, never give up! Akane, the big guy's right! There's gotta be something we can do!"
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
This is hardly the first time Liam's been talked down to, but it still wounds. The fear boils in his gut, and it only gets worse as Martha mentions Lucine. The rage does not fade from Liam's face, but his eyes widen in surprise.
A thought flashes through his mind: Lucine holding him after they both had nightmares. How she told him she'd dreamed someone had stripped everything from her, left her a brain in a box. Like the B-Systems. How she wanted to live.
"Big words coming from a woman who hired Murasame," Liam growls. "and treats that--" His head jerks in Alexis' direction. Alexis, who hasn't appeared the slightest bit concerned, unless Liam's reading his behavior wrong. (How the hell is he supposed to read that death's-head of a mask? Or is that his face?) Liam trails off entirely, unsure of what to say.
Urchin speaks up, and Liam--
--pulls the handcuffs out. This may be worth nothing. She might walk out of wherever they take her on a technicality. But Liam snaps the cuffs in place, leaving Martha's hands bound at her back. "Looks like your BioNet friend didn't like you after all. It's time for you to face everyone you hurt."
But the timer's still ticking. Everyone up there is in danger. Alberto looks at Akane, and Liam follows his gaze. "Lombardi's right. We have to warn them, and if you--if there's anything--"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Alexis's departure is a relief, even if something about the way he says it makes Akane feel queasy. It has the feeling of another of Alexis's jokes she's not in on. She doesn't spare him any words.
Akane turns her attention to Lina. She purses her lips. Even if she can't give up -- what is she supposed to do from here? They were just fighting outside -- the Minovsky interference is too dense for traditional comms to get that kind of reach. Sure, they could use whatever laser assembly they have rigged up to signal the Colony Laser... but how would they get that to communicate with --
Akane nods to Lina, moving to the console. Brown-black hair shades to pink. Brown eyes shade to sunset red. And --
"Okay," Akane says, slamming her hand into the console; dark tentacles come out of it, embracing her hand. It's an unpleasant sensation -- worse, now, than it's ever been -- but she can't...
All she can do with this fairly narrow comms band is transmit to Orbit Base, 'Gryps 2 still active -- ~220 seconds to fire' as a simple text.
Sometimes, all you can do is cry for help.
But if it's something only you can do -- something you must do --
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke was BESIDE HIMSELF when Dakar saw 'Treasure Chest' and Akane Shinjo's actions. Furious at the revelation of Puru-1's identity.
He watches the guards, securing them with silent efficiency, and hardly even looks at Martha.
---*---
Martha threatens GGG as a whole. Urchin smiles. "Nah," he says, sweet as can be. "...'cuz that's my King of Braves you're trying to kill, right now," he says, watching as people scramble. There's a twitch on his forehead. God, what a horrible woman. "You'll need a way bigger gun than that."
"You'd better hope they stop it, anyway. You've lost, Martha Vist-Carbine. You lost the second you made pals with that walkin' tuning fork." ...was that a jab at alexis "If that laser goes off, and kills all those people..."
There's a sudden, brief, terrible scowl on his face. It takes monumental self control not to point out the simple truth. At that point...many people here will only have one thing left to lose: The opportunity to kill Martha Vist-Carbine.
Instead of saying that out loud, though, he turns around, composes himself, and eyes Shinjo. "...so that's how it works, eh?" he murmurs. "Sorry to ask that of you, young lady. Good work. We'll have to leave the rest to them."
He considers waiting down here. Where he's absolutely, completely certain this woman cannot escape. He... he...
He looks to Jana, who is also from NERV and more importantly who seems like a woman who isn't currently dealing with someone tapdancing on their anger issues. "Seems to me we've got mission complete down here. We can wait it out or get on our way. Your advice, Doctor?"
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Chris walks with the staff as they're contained, trying to win some good-cop rapport with some bad Dad Jokes. It doesn't so much ingratiate them to her so much as make her seem kind of harmless, which, I guess sort of achieves her goal?
She gives the PRT Sergeant a single grateful utterance before the elevator descends into...huh? There's an eerie feeling as though Something had just left the space she entered. Like she needed a shower, or like her hairs were standing on end.
The doors open to...dim red mayhem, and a countdown. What in the sphere is...
Martha is there. That's her face that's her face, that smug...that same disconcerned expression as when she showcased her control over Leina. She's the one who carved scars of doubt into the young woman's heart. Scars that will take so much longer to heal than they did to inflict. Even a single cruel word...
But even if words could hurt the woman, she dare not. She can't bring anything else down on Leina, can't risk even an iota of retribution. She'll have to trust the selfsame system Martha has been puppeteering for years.
That's what Chris thinks first, anyway. She's gone to such trouble to conceal herself, but seeing that brown haired girl step to that console, changed, with that expression...
"Dark Hammer used the only power he had, to be a hero the way only he could," she mutters, trying to disguise her voice. It's the most encouragement she can offer Akane.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Martha does look briefly startled by Alexis' rejection, but then her expression runs cold. "Of course. Why did I expect any different from you? It is your very nature." She has no conception of the idea of holding a bond with anyone in her life, other than that of blood. And even the bonds of blood...
... disappoint. Betray. As they are doing right now with Alberto.
"What a foolish sentiment." She tells Liam, even as he cuffs her, giving him still that same contemptuous glance. Because the way she figures, she's still won. Gryps II will fire. The Box will be destroyed, the Three Ship's Alliance and Sleeves Annihilated. Puru One killed.
There won't be enough hard evidence in the aftermath for her to face any sort of accountability. And even if there was, the Federation will thank her for taking care of several problems at once for them.
She's certain of it.
"Think what you will." She tells Urchin Prickle in the wake of what he says, "And do try your hardest to prove that I had any intention of removing your King of Braves, I'm afraid you'll come up, quite short - given that this was a lawfully approved action by the Federation Assembly's Security Council to remove Neo-Zeon and insurrectionists. One might ask exactly what your King of Braves was doing there?" And indeed, there's a tiny smile, "What side can he be on, that does not make him a criminal?"
Still there is a moment when Jana holds her stare a little too long, and she breaks it, before watching Akane at the console, as dark tentacles form.
Alberto seems excited, "Yes yes! Maybe-!"
"A pointless gesture." Martha comments, enough that Alberto's expression wavers, as she tells Akane in no uncertain terms, "There's nothing you can do. You chose the wrong side, Akane." With a thin smile, she tut tuts her with a simple comment, "In the end, this is your fault."
And perhaps Martha truly believes this, that if not for Akane, this would be resolved. That her friends would be at home in their beds, recovering. That Permanence would be alive, and the Three Ship's Alliance would never have been in the line of fire, that Martha would have never felt the need to use Gryps 2.
"All because you chose a fantasy over reality, ... again."
But before they take her away, before then - she does look at the brooding young man, "Uruz-7 right?" She waits until she has his attention, and then- "Please deliver a message to your commanding officer for me." One might presume she's going to ask to make a deal of any sort, but instead, she does the worst possible thing.
"Tell your Commander, I'm looking forward to meeting her."
She plants a seed.
"I'd like to find out if she truly has her brother's eyes."
It's then that she passes by Chris, as she's led out in a modified perp walk by GGG that she stops, pauses, catches sight of an errant lock of red hair and green eyes.
She certainly knows that mug shot quite well, enough that the ill fitting disguise is perhaps... inadequate, "Ah the final insult - all of you pretending you have any legitimacy as you walk me past a known terrorist."
She does not name her, but perhaps it still might offer some discomfort to Chris all the same, that she was known well enough for Martha Vist Carbine to call her out as such.
Alberto of course cooperates willingly, and so will Riddhe once he's fully sensate again. Perhaps they've won today...
... but does it truly feel like a victory to anyone, yet?
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
Jana doesn't like it--that sensation she gets, when she tries to reach out towards the group in danger from that laser. A swirl of chaos, a terrible foreboding...
It worries her. It worries her deeply, and it makes it harder to act. But act she must.
"Try to stay calm," she counsels Liam. "She'll use your anger if she can. Be the person you want to be, not the person she expects of you."
Then she watches--Akane, who must not give up, says Lina... and Akane, who does not. She watches her shift, watches those tentacles appear. It feels unpleasant to be near, frankly.
"...Thank you," she says to Akane. "For doing what you can." She pauses, and then softly, "Are you all right?"
Then she looks to Martha, and narrows her eyes. "You are a vicious, spiteful human, and one day this world will put ideologies like yours in the garbage--where they belong. You delight in hurting others, don't you?"
"...Truly barbaric." Disgust colors her expression as she turns.
The Tactical Advisor of 3G is right in his assessment of Jana; she's calm, for all that she is dismayed. "I suggest we leave," Jana says. "With the prisoner. Immediately. ...There's nothing more we can do here. And where they are..."
"We'll have to believe in them, and hope."
"...Come." She looks to Martha once more, as she mentions a terrorist, and shakes her head. No. No, it does not feel like a victory, not for Jana.
But at least they didn't stand by.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
"I suppose there's nothing else to do for it on our end. We just have to count on the fates above." She steps up behind Akane and gently places a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "You did good, Akane. Don't listen to that porca vacca. Urchin, I left my Nightmare outside the base, make sure we don't leave it behind on extraction."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke's eyes flick up. BOY being called by name by a person he's never met sure is SO MUCH FUN. At least she's not acting like his friend.
SOMETHING happens in his head. She is heard and her message takes root. Her brother? Tessa's....what? But...
His eyes slide away. For all the grief this woman caused him...for all she made AL, and Leina, and Akane, and Rikka suffer...
His heart's just not in it.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam was so monofocused on securing the primary target that he didn't do much more than confirm Alberto was cooperating and that the Londo Bell Ensign was merely unconscious. He'll feel a little bad about that later.
Right now, he's taken by the sudden change coming over Akane. What he thought was (the removal of?) hair dye and contacts is... not. Those are absolutely tentacles coming out of her hand. Liam stares for a moment, eyes wide with awe and a little fear, before he turns his attention back to Martha.
"You," Liam snarls. How many on the Federation's Security Council thought Dublin wasn't worth defending? How many of them thought Char was worth negotiating with? The anger in him tightens--
Jana speaks up, then, and Liam takes a breath. What does he want to be? What does that matter if this horrid, vile woman has already killed Lucine, Eight, Guy, and everyone in and around Magellanica?
He wants to be...
He wants to be someone who hopes--not out of naivetie, but out of sincere belief that things can change, that they can make this better. And he wants Martha's victims to have their own agency in this process, just like he'd want it if it were Hephaestus in cuffs.
"Move," Liam says. He follows her out like he's her shadow.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"It's -- not pointless," Akane says, at strain. It's... never pointless to communicate. Akane has to tell herself that. Whatever happens -- she can't say she simply sat by and let it, though. Even though...
... no, she tells herself. This would have been crueler if she hadn't done her best to escape. Right? ... In the end, she can only make choices moment to moment, like any human. But --
-- Akane -- stops herself, as she feels that touch at her shoulder. It was already all she was going to do to get that message out, and she did -- and that's all. She asks, quietly, "Don't touch me," before adding to Jana, "I'm okay. I feel... kind of queasy, but... if we're going to get anything out, that's gonna be how and that's gonna be it."
She lets Liam handle Martha; for her own part, she moves back toward Urchin. She... doesn't feel safe, alone, and Urchin -- for all his being... all over the place -- is the one here she feels safest around.
She gives Alberto a look -- and it's with the flinchy body language of a scared kid. (After all: what else would she be?)
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
"...past a known terrorist."
No, that's--
Green eyes widen, and her oversized armor clacks slightly as her spine stiffens. The sticky feeling she felt on her way down is nothing compared to this. Mao's rifle would be welcome to replace the shiver up her back. Icicles hang from her fingertips. She's frozen, unable to turn around, or even glance to the woman's reflection. How could someone so physically overpowered still have such a menacing, invincible bearing?
Once her body returns to her control, her first move is to step away from the people she knows, towards helping organize Alberto, towards helping evac Riddhe. Chris doesn't know them by their faces, so she keeps close to them, as a barrier, finding a reason to turn away when Akane looks in Alberto's direction.
It's only when she's leaning over Riddhe's form that she glances around, trying to see who caught Martha's remark, trying to see if anyone is keeping a closer eye on her than they did on the way in. It's not exactly a fruitful scan--she feels eyes all around her, despite being the least interesting person in the room.
Her body almost refuses to lock itself in an elevator with so many people that could put two and two together. Uncharacteristically, she's not even aware of the fact or the depth of Akane's distress.
("Known? Known, who knows? She knows, clearly...Who else? Maybe it's--No, she has too much power to bluff. I'll have to sink that GM Sniper. Move the Tristan. Shit.")
But worse than the thought of being found out, is the insidious power of Martha's discretion.
("Why didn't she...Why didn't she say it properly?")
There's only one reason someone like Martha does anything--somehow, it turns things to her advantage.
("Is she... keeping me as a bargaining chip...?")
She'd just found a reason to make that house a home. Was she going to have to leave it already?