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*'''Log: A Beacon of Tragedy or Hope''' *'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Alto Saotome]], [[Character :: Sheryl Nome]], [[Character :: Tabizan Tilgez]], [[Character :: Rose Tritten]], [[Character :: Kaiju Navi]] *'''Where:''' *'''OOC - IC Date:''' 12 April 0100 *'''Summary''': ''SAL is on the hunt once more for Vajra nests. They come across one, finding them already hatched. However, after destroying the newly born Vajra, their mother isn't quite happy with the SAL team.'' ---- KTS: Rose Tritten has deployed in ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior. <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed. <poem> Alto pulls the trigger on his flight stick, the YF-29 Sentinel doing the same for the quantum beam gunpod in its hands. The beam of golden light tinged with blue lances out of the weapon, ripping through the body of a Vajra Mobile Soldier and then melting through several of the metal walls behind it. It's a good thing this half-finished colony is abandoned, or else Alto would be on the line for some property damage. Not that he really cares either way. Defeating the Vajra is the important thing. The mission to clear this abandoned space colony of Vajra has been proceeding for some time already. The initial assault was a little hazardous, as despite the recent technological breakthroughs in the war against the Vajra, the one thing they still have going for them is strength in numbers. But now that the first waves of the creatures were destroyed, the mission has shifted into the cleanup phase. The team has split up to explore the dark, empty corridors and warehouses of the partially built colony's industrial sector. Alto himself is currently directing his Sentinel in Battroid mode through one of those corridors. He comes to a cross intersection. His system is reporting no movement or other signs of hostiles... But he catches a glimpse of a sinister form out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turns his machine to face down that corridor, firing off another shot from his gunpod. The beam sweeps down the corridor, lighting it up briefly for a moment and revealing... Nothing. Alto squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, before checking again. The sweeping light from the Sentinel's head isn't showing anything... Another shadow in the corner of his eye. Alto turns to face the next corridor, firing off another shot. And another round of nothing. He murmurs to himself, "Trick of the light..." What is not a trick though is when his system does start to pick up on movement that cannot be connected to any of his allies. A lot of it. And it's coming from a nearby warehouse. Starting to walk in that direction, Alto radios to the others, &lt;"I'm detecting significant movement in my area. It could be a nest. All units converge on grid point 55B."&gt; </poem> KTS: Tabizan Tilgez has deployed in Queadluun-Vargal. KTS: Alto Saotome has deployed in YF-29 Sentinel. <Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed. <poem> And as this mission to clear this abandoned space colony of Vajra has been going on for some time, so too has Sheryl's performance aboard the main SAL ship, broadcast to all. Her soulful vibrato comes to a close on ''Fairy'', and she holds that last note, that last pose, for a moment longer; then, as there's a lull in the fighting and the cameras are momentarily off of her, she slumps over and gasps for breath. Her long, strawberry blonde tresses tumble over her shoulders, and her costume, currently a sleeveless dress with petal-like skirts and chiffon cinched around her hips and bodice to form long, gossamer wings, clings to her curves as it sinks with her. In reality, it's a holo-suit projecting it, along with the shining pale green clovers dotted through her hair, but that's just part of the stage magic of the Galactic Fairy. A stage hand hurries over to offer her a water bottle; Sheryl initially waves it off without thinking, but then immediately straightens up and goes, "No, wait," and accepts it after all. She cracks open the cap and knocks back three quarters of it in one go. Then she sighs in something close to contentment as she stands up straight to lean her head back and splash the rest on her face and neck. She trades the now-empty bottle for a hand towel, with which she dries herself off. She breaks into a few brief coughs, covering her mouth with the hand towel, then discreetly wipes her lips. Her make-up with waterproof. She's not worried about that. "Are you all right, Miss Sheryl?" the stage hand asks, worried. She gives them a melancholy smile and folds the towel up without looking at what she knows is in it. "A drop of water went down the back of my throat, that's all," she lies, handing it back. "Toss that out for me? And--thanks for all your hard work. I can keep going as long as I have to now because of you." "Oh--no, n-not at all, Miss Sheryl," the stage hand stammers, though their broad, brilliant smile betrays them. "Knock 'em dead out there!" Sheryl laughs faintly as they bow and rush away. "That's the idea," she murmurs, fluffing her hair and turning towards holo-screens transmitting Alto's approach towards the industrial warehouse--and the audio transmission of his warning about the movement in his area. Her grip tightens on her golden microphone as she steels herself. They're just mopping up the last of the Vajra now. Just one more number, and she can head back to her quarters to rest. She'll smile dazzlingly until then, like the professional she is. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Tabizan Tilgez has posed. <poem> Sheryl isn't the only idol here... for some definitions of 'idol'. It's Sheryl's job to provide music to fight the Vajra with; it's Tabizan Tilgrez's job to keep morale high, to provide a rallying point for those fighting, to generally make the soldiers feel like they're being noticed and listened to and that they're getting the support they need - and to join the battle herself with flash and panache. To generally be a standardbearer, not a commander. So there's a brilliantly painted purple and gold unit on the field. If you took the curved, nearly organic shapes of a Queadluun-Rau's arms and legs, but gave it more human-like proportions between torso and leg, flared hip plates supporting ZAFT-made extensional arrestors, and a slimmed-down arrangement of back thrusters, it might look something like the Queadluun-Vargal. It's also armed a little differently, with a composite sword and a flared bracer on its left arm that supports an internal plasma emitter. The impact cannons on the torso are pure Queadluun, though, as is the free-flowing, natural way she moves it in space. She's &#42;very&#42; good in low and no-gravity situations. Tabby has been moving between combat squads, providing support both with firepower and with her drive and morale. This is &#42;her&#42; job; this is &#42;her&#42; performance, even if she's not so musically inclined as Sheryl. And she's between squads when the message from Alto comes in. "You heard him!" she echoes, only keeping some of her excitement out of her voice. Performance, remember... "Squad, let's meet up at these rendezvous points - " She starts pinging a couple locations on the map, assembling the squad to back Alto up while she fires her own thrusters, using bounding leaps rather than really taking off the floor long-term or just walking. On-field coordination is also part of her job. (Her job is very busy, sometimes.) </poem> <Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed. <poem> A short lance of beam energy rips long the length of the colony, ripping through a small host of Mobile Warriors, as Sushila's ZAKU Gunner slides back into formation with the rest of the Tritten team. Sheryl's song has come to an end as the trio dance their ZAKUs through the shattered wreckage of what was once intended to be a solar panel array. So far their scopes have been clear after that last volley, but the monoeyes track back and forth looking for targets. "Killing the bugs has gotten a lot easier." Sushila says, breaking the silence. Rose murmured an affirmative response. She didn't know why but something felt...off. As her camera scanned back and forth she noticed Aspyn's monoeye was locked onto the main SAL ship, where Sheryl was broadcasting from. "Is something wrong Aspyn?" Rose asked, her ZAKU Blaze sliding closer to the axe toting Slash type. "Sheryl sounded..." Aspyn replied, her thumb tapping on her ZAKU's control stick anxiously. "...strained...at the end there. I hope she's okay." Sushila's Gunner closed in on the other side of Rose, its monoeye focusing over. "She's been singing for a couple hours now...any one would have problems going for that long." Sushila added. "I dunno, she also kinda sounds...worried, y'know?" Aspyn said, her voice betraying worry over the radio. "Well, she's probably just worried about Alto." Rose said, shrugging in her cockpit. On cue, his voice came up over the comms. "Tritten Team is on the way Saotome! Come on girls!" Rose ordered. The three ZAKU thrusters roared to life, and the trio screamed through the void to grid point 55B. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed. <poem> The Song of the Fairy ends and Alto's cockpit goes quiet again. He can still feel the pressure of the emotional act within him, the mysterious system glowing with a quiet thrum in the cockpit behind him. The 'Fairy Tale' system is still not ready to activate yet, which is why they're still hunting down the remaining Vajra in the area. Until it's ready, they need to do this the old fashioned way. Besides, they can't just leave any nests behind to hatch into more Vajra that will then continue the process of infesting the Earth Sphere. It's a laborious effort, but someone's got to do it. And Alto is not against killing the Vajra despite the current plans to pacify them... It's the least they deserve for all the destruction and death they've wrought. The others join up with Alto just outside the doors to the warehouse. The readings of movement inside are still quite active and everyone is seeing them, so it's definitely not an illusion this time. Alto stows his gunpod on the leg of his machine and then walks up to the set of doors leading into the large open space. The colony doesn't have power so he's going to have to force them open. The Sentinel jams its fingers into the gap between the doors and its head turns to look at the other units, &lt;"Ready, on three. One... Two... Three!"&gt; The Sentinel pulls one of the large doors open, providing access for the others to move into the dark warehouse. Alto moves his unit in after the others, gunpod back in his hands again. The Sentinel's head quickly turns in multiple directions, the built-in spotlight sweeping around and lighting up parts of the large room. Several clusters of eggs can be seen nestled into corners or amidst empty cargo containers. Clear evidence of this being another nest. However, unlike a couple of the other nests they've already destroyed today, there's an ominous note to the eggs. They're all broken open. Alto frowns... From the darkness, numerous clusters of trio shining red orbs begin to glow. Hundreds of them. There's a slight sense of panic rising inside Alto as he looks across his screens, noting that they appear to have been surrounded. Have they walked into a trap!? The Sentinel sweeps its spotlight towards one of those collections of orbs and the sight it shines on... ... Is a collection of small, green, furry creatures. Barely the size of a ferret, little green noodle-like limbs poking out of their bodies. Their two eyes reflect the shine of the light, along with the gem embedded in their foreheads. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/macross/images/1/1c/CuteAi.jpg Some of their little heads twitch to the side, peering up at the large machines with an air of innocent curiosity. Alto frowns. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed. <poem> Aspyn isn't wrong, and neither is Rose; Sheryl ''is'' worried about Alto. But, well... it's complicated. So many things are. Sheryl's glad that the Tritten Team and Tabizan are out there with him, at least; she's seen Rose and her friends in action quite a few times and knows they're skilled, and she only knows Tabizan by reputation but she seems like she's got a good head on her shoulders. She watches the viewscreens with lips fixed like the Northern Star as the five of them head deeper into the colony in pursuit of the Vajra. Alto's Sentinel pulls the doors open, and each of them head inside until they find--eggs. Broken, hatched eggs. Sheryl suppresses a gasp at the implications of this; are they about to get swarmed?! ...They sort of do. And by creatures that Sheryl recognizes. "What--aren't those..." She trails off, mindful of where she is right now. Those are the same as that little creature Ranka secretly kept for a pet. Alto never told her the specifics of Ranka's flight, including how Ai-kun figured in, but... her eyes are widening from the implications of their presence. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Tabizan Tilgez has posed. <poem> Tabby has been called a lot of things and described a lot of ways, but 'has a good head on her shoulders' is... Well, not &#42;wrong&#42;, precisely. If she didn't keep her head she wouldn't be able to perform in combat, a notoriously stressful and chaotic situation. But it's usually not the go-to. Still, on the battlefield... at least it means she's watching out for her allies? The Queadluun-Vargal raises one hand as the Tritten team shows up, half in greeting and half to indicate she's going to fall in with them - she bounces around the battlefield a lot, so having her assist a squad isn't unusual at all. And all of them are backing up Alto, too... "I'll cover you!" she sends, when Alto moves to force the door. This mostly consists of standing there because Tabizan is tracking with the impact cannons, but the Vargal's hand with the bracer-shield is shimmering with energy as she charges something there, though she doesn't fire. The doors open. Nothing attacks. Tabizan remains covering the entrance for a few moments so Tritten Team can take the lead, then steps in with Alto. The ball of plasma in her left hand creates a bit of a crazy shadow situation, but the more normal spotlight evens it out a lot, and - Huh. What &#42;are&#42; those...? Tabby doesn't know what they are, but she knows the only thing that should be in here (well, 'should') is Vajra. She raises the left hand of the Vargal, the plasma dancing between fingers... ...but she doesn't immediately fire. Tabizan shifts in her cockpit, glancing over toward Alto in a way that makes the head of the Vargal turn slightly. "So, what's your call? You're the expert," she says, though every instinct and all her training suggests she should burn it and worry about it later, if at all. But there's a reason they hired Alto. He ought to know more about this. Right? Maybe this &#42;does&#42; count as having a good head on her shoulders. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed. <poem> Upon the Sentinel ripping open the warehouse door, the trio immediately leap into action over the VF. They touch down in a standard formation, and survey the room. Their own spotlights sweep the containers and their ominous residents. "Saotome, it's full of eggs...empty ones." Rose radios, trying to keep her calm. "Oh science no, there's thousands of them!" Aspyn calls out. "Maybe it's all the ones we've been killing so far..." Sushila adds, sweeping her beam rifle around the room. "They grow to the big ones really fast right?" Then the eyes begin to appear. So many, too many. "Saotome... should we be shooting now or calling in capital weapons on the colony?" Rose calls out. But then, their true form appears... Oh ''no'', Rose thinks, but doesn't say aloud. This ''can't'' be them. It ''can't'' because... "OH MY SCIENCE, THEY'RE ADORABLLLLLLLLLLLLE!!!!" Aspyn squeels over the radio. DAMMIT. "These ''cannot'' be baby Vajra." Sushila sighs. "Of course not silly, how could something so cute grow up to be something so icky and nasty and mean!!!" Aspyn squeels again, her ZAKU Warrior quivering in excitement. "Rose can we-" "NO! Captain Astarte would-" Rose cut Aspyn off. "You don't know that! We could keep one a secret!" Aspyn pleaded. "Aspyn, we have a direct channel to the One Fine Day, she's listening right now!" Sushila hissed. "Aww...." Aspyn sighed. Rose's ZAKU turned to the red and white Variable Fighter, her face appearing in a video link on Alto's HUD. "Saotome...are we gonna..." </poem> <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed. <poem> The Sentinel nods back to the Queadluun-Vargal at the notice of cover. Alto doesn't quite known Tabizan as well as the Tritten team, but she seems reliable enough. It's good to have reliable teammates. &lt;"... Stage one Vajra. Their larval forms."&gt; Alto finishes the sentence that Sheryl starts, though not in the way that she was going to, confirming for the three on the Tritten team, and everyone else, the true nature of these creatures. &lt;"We don't know much about their biology... They do seem to grow quickly, so they aren't seen very often. But there's also... Evidence, that it may not happen for a long time."&gt; The sight of the creatures causes Alto's thoughts to naturally drift back to all the times he'd spent with Ranka. And those times that her strange pet, Ai-kun, was with her. Seemingly always causing trouble, attacking Alto's paper air planes, smacking Alto in the face with its tail... All that time, they had one of them in their lives. For all Alto knows, it was relaying everything it saw back to the rest of its kind! Alto grips his controls a little tighter as anger begins to swell within him. Even those peaceful moments, his memories of Ranka... The Vajra are tainting them too! The growing intensity of those emotions seems to stir the strange system behind Alto, its green glow brightening just a little. The rest of the squad is turning to him for advice... For the order to fire. It seems like Alto might be hesitating, as he doesn't answer immediately. His thoughts continue to drift as recalls the night of Ranka's flight from the Frontier. From him. He recalls the Vajra that showed up then, how Ranka stood between his gun and the creature. How she tried to convince him that the thing was innocent... Alto frowns, repeating the same words he said back then, &lt;"They're a hivemind. They're all guilty.""&gt; Alto presses his finger on the trigger. Hatches in the Sentinel's frame snap open, revealing the array of micro-missiles beneath. The small missiles start to blast outwards, swarming through the warehouse space to streak into the midst of the numerous little creatures. As they detonate, they briefly small form small rifts in space, engulfing the broken eggs, the warehouse floors and walls, the little Vajra creatures... Before the rifts vanish, leaving nothing behind as if erasing them from space. Alto turns, starting to unleash another wave against the next group. The small, vulnerable creatures clearly unable to fight back. It seems this is the order. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Tabizan Tilgez has posed. <poem> "You can't just take a cute alien home," Tabizan responds to Aspyn. She &#42;almost&#42; says something else but, well. They're still in the field; this is still a performance. It's unprofessional. So she doesn't. Honestly, this is the response Tabizan expected, and the one she would have gone with had Alto not been here - but she was told to defer to the experts. It's fortunate, then, that the expert agrees with her on this. She doesn't have the personal connection he does - she just wants to keep the PLANTs safe, and by extension everywhere else that SAL is responsible for defending. "Right," she agrees. Then, to the Trittens: "It's necessary. You want to keep the PLANTs safe, right? Well, they're not going to be safe with a nest of these guys sticking around! I know it's hard, but it's a soldier's duty... just remember you're not alone, we're all fighting with you." But the Vargal is first and foremost a dueling unit. She doesn't have an easy way to clean up the whole field - not like Alto's missiles. Even her plasma bombs aren't that expansive. "I'll stay on guard," she transmits, boosting up a little higher to get a better overview of the area. Since they are a hive-mind, their attack against the Vajra larvae means it's quite likely that any or all of the surviving &#42;bigger&#42; Vajra are immediately going to show up to deal with it. And when they do, Tabizan will be ready for it. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed. <poem> Tabizan is good at keeping her fellow soldiers motivated and thus alive! As far as Sheryl's concerned, that counts as having a good head on her shoulders. Especially when compared to someone like Aspyn. (Sorry, Aspyn.) Sheryl has to bite back a grimace at Aspyn's squealing over how cute the Vajra babies are. They are, in her defense, objectively adorable. But they're also Vajra. Alto confirms this, and while she keeps it off her face, she can't help but be angry that he didn't tell her this before. At the same time, she kind of understands. She sees that growing glow, too, and she takes in a deep breath that squares her slender shoulders as Alto gives that order. She can't say she feels good about this. But she suspects Alto's the same way. If he's going to commit to this, then she'll be right there with him. She nods to Elmo to one side, and he gives her a grimace but also a thumbs up as he queues up the next song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fazGZtQ5GJg (''Northern Cross'') Electric guitars strum out an intense melody, and backlight floods the stage behind Sheryl, reducing her costume to motes of light in an instant. In their wake, she's clad in a purple bodice and a lavender skirt, matching gloves and stockings with high heels, golden pins in her hair. She T-poses, her body forming the shadow of a cross against the intense light, and arches her body until a single bell intones, and she snaps her microphone to her lips. "I can no longer remember the start of this journey "Before I realized, I was already here..." </poem> <Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed. <poem> Rose watches as Alto unleashes hell on the small Vajra. She turns her ZAKU away, and levels her beam machine gun on the teeming and fleeing aliens... her finger twitches on the trigger of her control stick, but when she tries to pull it she keeps stopping herself. The Vajra are a threat. They're a threat to all human life, not only in space but also on earth... ...but are they? She thinks back to Blue Cosmos assault against the PLANTs. All of them, armed with nuclear missiles thought the exact same about Coordinator babies, and were willing to incinerate those irreplaceable, innocent lives in atomic hellfire so that they wouldn't grow up to become a threat to Naturals. Fighting adults is one thing but... ...These are babies... Tabizan's coaxing causes Rose to grind her teeth...she's right, in order for the PLANTs to be safe, the Vajra must die... but then she conveniently finds an excuse to not pull the trigger herself. A familiar lance of beam energy shatters half the warehouse. Sushila found her nerve. But Rose's ZAKU monoeye levels over to Aspyn's still machine. Her beam gatlings are leveled, but motionless. Attack us. Rose thinks. Stop us. Where are the big Vajra, the actual monsters, the actual threats? They're not actually intelligent right? They're animals. Her camera spots a small group of the larvae cowering under a smashed container. This isn't a fight. A fight is fair. Her targeting pip levels on it. She can see their fear... </poem> <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed. <poem> Sheryl's song plays as dimension rifts and beams of light mark the warehouse interior, the little Vajra creatures disintegrated or in one way or another. Judging by the ease and speed of which the nest is being destroyed, those of the Tritten team could easily hesitate long enough... Until the waves of missiles from the Sentinel finally stop as the need to keep firing passes. Tabizan had taken to being on overwatch. Aspyn and Rose reluctant to fire. But it seems that Alto and Sushila were enough to do the job. The nest... The Vajra larva... Are destroyed. This is confirmed as signs of movement in the large warehouse have vanished from their readings. Alto lets out the breath he had been holding. It needed to be done... Then, as if Tabizan had foreseen it, a new source of movement appears on everyone's sensors. Not from within the warehouse though, but beneath it. Beneath them. Further inside the colony's infrastructure. It's a very large signal too. It's not just the sensors either, soon those standing on the warehouse floor will begin to feel vibrations running up their machines. Alto tenses again as something is coming... And it's only in the last few moments that he finally realises what based upon the sensors, he shouts, &lt;"SCATTER!"&gt; The engines in the Sentinel's feet kick in, thrusting up away from the floor. Tabizan may have prepared herself for the Vajra reinforcements... ... But she was probably not ready for what comes. A massive arm, ending in a set of claws large enough to easily grasp any unit here entirely, smashes upwards through the floor of the warehouse. It's quickly followed by an even larger mass that rises behind it, breaking through and continuing upwards towards the surface of the colony interior above. If the squad isn't fast enough, they'll be caught in the emergence of this thing, smashed through colony debris as it gives way to the giant form. The destruction does eventually subside, though by this point everyone will likely have been forced outside into space proper again. Floating just beyond the incomplete surface of the colony's interior, Alto moves a hand to hold his helmet as he recovers from the sudden impacts and flurry of maneuvers to avoid getting smashed by debris. He then turns his machine around, back towards the colony surface. And the thing he had feared can be seen unraveling itself. A massive insectoid creature, four large wings on its back, several long, spindly limbs. A massive lower abdomen, ending in an incredibly long tail tipped with an ominous-almost flower bud shaped-tip. As it stretches out to its full height, the thing is almost two kilometers in length. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/macross/images/6/69/Vajrasemiqueen.jpg A Vajra Semi-Queen. The Semi-Queen's large head turns upwards, eyes staring menacingly at the squad of mobile weapons and the few support ships beyond. &lt;"Shit!"&gt; Alto is clearly not enthusiastic about this situation, recalling the last-and only-time he's ever fought one of these. Maybe they should retreat? Alto is about to give the order- But then stops. No... They can't keep losing. They're finally gaining ground is this damn war. If they run now, things will just continue to get worse. He's not going to let that happen! The Sentinel raises its gunpod, pulling the trigger. The golden beam tinged in blue blasts out of the weapon, streaking across space towards the Vajra Semi-Queen. But it is stopped early, splashing against a barrier of purple light that appears around the large creature. Alto grunts, &lt;"A fold distortion barrier... We'll need to break through it first!"&gt; He definitely seems intent on fighting. </poem> KTS: Kaiju Navi has deployed in Vajra Semi-Queen. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Kaiju Navi has deployed as a Boss for 3 opponents. KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Kaiju Navi has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Alto Saotome with Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Rose Tritten with Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Tabizan Tilgez with Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush! KTS: Alto Saotome engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush! KTS: Alto Saotome's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Alto Saotome successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush, taking 0 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome targets Kaiju Navi with HPB-01A Heavy Quantum Beam Gun Pod Aimed Shot! KTS: Sheryl Nome is now subpiloting for Alto Saotome. KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Alto Saotome's HPB-01A Heavy Quantum Beam Gun Pod Aimed Shot! KTS: Kaiju Navi's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi moderately guards Alto Saotome's HPB-01A Heavy Quantum Beam Gun Pod Aimed Shot, taking 3825 damage! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Tabizan Tilgez poorly reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush, taking 5100 damage! <Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed. <poem> It's hard to kill something that looks so cute and defenseless, isn't it? But if you turn it around, they're bugs--or close enough to it. It would be like feeling bad about exterminating maggots. Does it only bad as long as they aren't disgusting? Sheryl fortunately doesn't have to grapple with those same issues Rose is; she can let Tabby do her best to reassure her as she follows orders. All ''Sheryl'' has to do is sing, even as the larvae are burned to a crisp. Even as a truly ''massive'' Vajra shows up in response to shuck open up the colony like a clamshell. There's reason to fear for Alto and the others, and she pours that anxiety into passion, to heat up her voice and protect him and Tabby and Rose and Sushila and Aspyn with her song. "As the seasons wore away, those who sense the invisible infrared rays become lost "I will probably lose them, "These feelings that I risk my life for. "I loved as if I were fighting to survive. "I spent all my time building my dream. "I wanted to land on that star. "I wanted to fly in your skyyyyy!" </poem> KTS: Rose Tritten engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush! KTS: Best Defense! Rose Tritten successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Crush, taking 0 damage! KTS: Sheryl Nome targets Alto Saotome, Rose Tritten, and Tabizan Tilgez with Coordinate! KTS: Sheryl Nome's Fairy-9 activates Valor! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez accepts Sheryl Nome's Coordinate! KTS: Sheryl Nome coordinates maneuvers, raising Tabizan Tilgez's Piloting! KTS: Best Defense! Tabizan Tilgez successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Coordinate, taking 0 damage! KTS: Rose Tritten accepts Sheryl Nome's Coordinate! KTS: Sheryl Nome coordinates maneuvers, raising Rose Tritten's Piloting! KTS: Best Defense! Rose Tritten successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Coordinate, taking 0 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome accepts Sheryl Nome's Coordinate! KTS: Sheryl Nome coordinates maneuvers, raising Alto Saotome's Piloting! KTS: Best Defense! Alto Saotome successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Coordinate, taking 0 damage! KTS: Rose Tritten has activated the Strike Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Tabizan Tilgez has posed. <poem> It's not that Tabizan was entirely avoiding taking responsibility for the decision. She did help, a little; she discharged her plasma thrower (literally; she throws an explosive sphere of the stuff) but that's not going to take out a very large area. Not like missiles. Note to self, she thinks to herself: get missiles. It's kind of a shame that a Queadluun-derived unit doesn't even carry them... maybe she could mount them to her backpack, or start carrying a launcher? Tabby doesn't feel the vibrations when she's in the air, but she sure notices something. A flicker of movement, a moment of understanding - "Break, break!" she echoes Alto, leaping and firing the thrusters as she reorients, planting the Vargal's feet against the &#42;ceiling&#42; and bracing there as the warehouse - the whole colony - starts to come apart around them. Tabizan isn't caught by the claw. She's caught by a shattered chunk of floor, smashing against the leg, but the Vargal survives impact; she kicks off the ceiling, using weightlessness to her advantage as she half-floats, half-glides for the second before thrusters fire. That thing is &#42;big&#42;. She hates feeling small and the massive form of the Semi-Queen is doing that in spades. "You want to fight it?" She doesn't sound disbelieving. If anything, she sounds impressed. "We'll show everybody what we can do, then!" As the guitar starts, Tabby rockets 'up', clearing some space and moving further along the Semi-Queen's body. She's not retreating. She's just getting into position to fire the chest-mounted cannons on the Vargal, staggering her shots so that one of the two cannons is always firing as she aims higher up the body, working towards the head. Even if it's behind a barrier, the bright strobing flashes probably aren't real good for its eyesight, she figures. </poem> KTS: Tabizan Tilgez targets Kaiju Navi with BC-21 Mega Impact Cannon Staggered Shot! <Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed. <poem> Rose almost utters a silent thank you once the shooting stops. Her eyes go up to Sushila's face on the monitor, her helmeted head tilted to the side, looking away... ashamed. Then all hell breaks loose. The ZAKUs scatter, but the debris throw Rose around in her cockpit, as she narrowly avoids being smashed or flattened by flying metal, claws and other debris. "ASPYN! SHUSHILA!" Rose calls out, back in the void but in a safe spot behind a piece of colony debris. "Where are you?!" Her ZAKU peers out from behind the debris and sees a distant and familiar lance of blue light slice into the tail of the Demi-Queen as it slashed, followed up by a twin stream of green tracers. Rose kicked off from the debris, her Blaze Wizard pack's thrusters roaring to life. In a trailing blue arc she maneuvered through the debris belt at high speed, cycling the weapon select on her joystick to her missile pods. The racks slid open, and as Sheryl's song once more danced in Rose's ear, she unleashed a mighty barrage of them. </poem> KTS: Rose Tritten targets Kaiju Navi with AGM138 "Firebee" Guided Missile Barrage! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Tabizan Tilgez's BC-21 Mega Impact Cannon Staggered Shot! KTS: Kaiju Navi's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully guards Tabizan Tilgez's BC-21 Mega Impact Cannon Staggered Shot, taking 2550 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to engage Guard against Rose Tritten's AGM138 "Firebee" Guided Missile Barrage! KTS: Kaiju Navi's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Rose Tritten's AGM138 "Firebee" Guided Missile Barrage, taking 3293 damage! <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed. <poem> Alto can feel Sheryl's song flowing into him as he continues to fire repeated shots from his beam gunpod into the the barrier surrounding the Vajra Semi-Queen. Judging by his words to the rest, it seems the barrier can be worn down. As evidenced by the fact that they have actually managed to kill one of these before. Of course back then they had the support of the Macross Quarter, Nadesico and like a dozen people. Now it's just the five of them. The capital ships are providing some support fire when they can, but they have to be cautious about how close they get to the colony, lest they get caught in the growing debris field. This limits their firing angles. And the Vajra Semi-Queen likely has the firepower to do some serious damage to them if it gets the chance... A chance which it seems to take now as its head turns in the direction of the vessel that Sheryl is on. It's supposed to be able to hear her too, right? If she's like Ranka... But the Vajra Semi-Queen does not seem intent on listening, one of its large arms raising to point towards the vessel. The bio-cannons within unleash a bolt of golden light, which streaks out towards the capital ship- -The Sentinel flies into the path of the shot in GERWALK mode, shield raised and pinpoint barrier glowing brightly. The energy splashes over the barrier, which can't entirely absorb the blast as the Sentinel behind it takes some damage. But Alto quickly recovers, saying, &lt;"Leave her alone, you damn monster. I'm the one fighting you!"&gt; Not that it really matters, it can't understand him anyway. The others do not avoid the ire of the Vajra mother though, as the Tritten team are firing at it with their weapons. Rose's Zaku sweeps in, missiles blasting outwards and exploding against the barrier towards the creature's back. It doesn't need to turn around to return the attack though, as its large tail sweeps through space, curling slightly and rapidly coming around to try and smash into the team. Meanwhile, Tabizan's machine rises up, energy cannon shots blasting into the barrier near the creature's head. They seem to annoy it as its large head turns away slightly. But a small turret on that head spins around, aiming up towards Tabizan and starting to unleash a barrage of bio-bullets in rapid fire. As the battle plays out, Alto grows increasingly more worried... This is one hell of a foe they're up against. Are they going to be enough? He asks, &lt;"Do any of you have any bright ideas? Cause I'm not sure we have the firepower to kill this thing..."&gt; </poem> KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Alto Saotome with Vajra Swarm Bio-Cannon Blast! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Rose Tritten with Vajra Semi-Queen Tail Swipe! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Tabizan Tilgez with Vajra Swarm Bio-Machine Guns! KTS: Alto Saotome fails to react to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Swarm Bio-Cannon Blast! KTS: Alto Saotome's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Alto Saotome successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Swarm Bio-Cannon Blast, taking 3690 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome targets Kaiju Navi with HPB-01A Heavy Quantum Beam Gun Pod Shatter Shot! KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to engage guard against Alto Saotome's HPB-01A Heavy Quantum Beam Gun Pod Shatter Shot! KTS: Kaiju Navi's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi moderately reacts to Alto Saotome's HPB-01A Heavy Quantum Beam Gun Pod Shatter Shot, taking 3344 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome rattles Kaiju Navi, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Tabizan Tilgez engages block against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Swarm Bio-Machine Guns! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Tabizan Tilgez successfully blocks Kaiju Navi's Vajra Swarm Bio-Machine Guns, taking 1271 damage! KTS: Rose Tritten fails to engage Evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Tail Swipe! KTS: Rose Tritten moderately reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Tail Swipe, taking 3690 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi repulses Rose Tritten, preventing it from Charging the next attack! KTS: Kaiju Navi rattles Rose Tritten, making its next maneuvers more difficult. <Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed. <poem> With a Vajra that immense--easily able to crack open a colony and therefore easily able to smash the ship she's on--Sheryl can't help but be afraid as its attention turns towards it. Towards ''her'', she instinctually understands. At the same time, though, this is a target that's much easier to be angry at for all of them. The ends of her lips curve up as Alto flies in to her defense. As afraid as she is for ''him'', her heart overflows with love for him as he protects her. "Wouldn't someone please caress my empty contours? "Pushed on by the beating in my chest, these words of love rolled out of my mouth. "But no one answers them, and I don't know what to do." She crosses the air before her, left to right, up to down, left to right, up to down, then fiercely ''up''. Sheryl is into Tabizan's fearlessness--how she can look at the Semi-Queen and go 'you want to fight THAT? okay!'--and that helps bolster her own spirits in turn. Perhaps she can then pay that forward to Rose and her teammates as they scatter and have to fight separately for a time--to help them find each other, and thus find the way forward. "Chosen by destiny, the Northern Star is burning bright. "Though it snatched you away from me into the sooty darkness, "You continued to smile so gracefully. I loved that part of you." Even if Alto might not have ''any'' idea how to take an enemy like this down with the forces they've got. </poem> KTS: Sheryl Nome targets Alto Saotome, Tabizan Tilgez, and Rose Tritten with Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome's Fairy-9 activates Valor! KTS: Rose Tritten accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Rose Tritten's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Rose Tritten successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome's Here Is The Warm Sea activates! KTS: Alto Saotome accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Alto Saotome's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Alto Saotome successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Tabizan Tilgez's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Tabizan Tilgez successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Sheryl Nome's Fairy-9 activates Wall! KTS: Sheryl Nome's Fairy-9 activates Trick! <Pose Tracker> Tabizan Tilgez has posed. <poem> Tabizan takes advantage of her slightly 'raised' position - inasmuch as that's a term you can use in 3D space with no clear down - to point out, for Rose, at least the last place she saw a signal from either of the others. She can't really do much more while she's engaging this Vajra. Because, like Alto says, they need a bright idea. "I was hoping to mark it for the capital ships," is Tabizan's reply, "but that means breaking through its barrier, if we can, doesn't it? We're the ones with the tuned weaponry! So it's up to us to do our part." The words aren't anything unexpected, perhaps - a little stereotypical - but Tabizan is still playing her role. It's better than her honest response; she can feel her heart beating in her chest, a little tremor as she wants to grin and shoot it and not stop. The bio-grown bullets actually don't work as well on the Vargal as the Vajra might hope. She uses her shield to protect the torso of the Vargal, and others impact on exposed limbs with flickers and flashes of the colouration, as if the paint job was discolouring for a moment. It's a variable Phase Shift system, deflecting physical impact, but she doesn't expect the Vajra to understand exactly what it is or how it works; it's not something they haven't seen before, though, given how many elite-use ZAFT units use some sort of Phase Shift. "So let's break through!" Tabizan suddenly accelerates. Both of the extensional arrestors - hip-mounted pincers on cables - launch out, spreading the cable wide as they try to clamp onto the Vajra, scrabbling against the shield. But they don't do any damage at all, just hang on. If they get a grip, though, Tabizan immediately reels &#42;herself&#42; in toward them, firing her thrusters en route to accelerate even faster. The G-forces press her back in her seat with a familiar dull ache as she snaps downward, foot-first, once again aiming at the face of the Semi-Queen! On impact - if she manages impact - the entire leg of the Vargal flexes slightly, the purple on the unit dulling and the gold brightening to the point that the only thing visible at any distance is the pattern of shining gold, a traced pattern across the entire unit as the Phase Shift armour runs full force to absorb the incredible impact of a hyperspeed Queadluun-Vargal impacting heel-first. Tabizan springs off, disengaging the arrestors and bounding back into space, giving a little twirl as the gold glitters all over the unit. No wonder she's got the job she does - even in a situation like this, her combat is photogenic. </poem> KTS: Tabizan Tilgez has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Tabizan Tilgez targets Kaiju Navi with EEQ7R-V Extensional Arrestor Wire-Guided Kick! <Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed. <poem> The blow only manages to nick the foot of Rose's ZAKU Warrior, but the size and velocity is enough to send her spinning violently into a drifting colony panel. Rose tries to regain herself, but her vision is blurry. Sushila and Aspyn scream through the debris field and stop her spinning. "I'm starting to regret firing into that particular nest." Sushila says, as Rose shakes her head. "I knew it was a bad idea, they were too cute!" Aspyn adds. The trio's ZAKUs scream upwards as a piece of debris cuts through the spot they once occupied. "Yeah how about that one, is that one too cute?" Sushila asked, glaring at Aspyn up on her monitor. "I don't think I want to keep that one as a pet." Aspyn sighed. Alto's request for ideas cut the levity short. "I don't know, I'd think we need a nuke or something to take that out but I'm pretty certain we don't have anything like that!" Rose grimaced. This was bad, really bad. "Come on, we gotta try and get into a better position for an attack on that thing's head!" The three ZAKUs screamed forward, dancing through the debris field once more. They had to get closer for a better attack, following Tabizan in, but as they screamed forwards, it was just getting more and more dangerous. </poem> KTS: Rose Tritten targets Kaiju Navi with MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle Barrage! KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to engage Guard against Tabizan Tilgez's EEQ7R-V Extensional Arrestor Wire-Guided Kick! KTS: Kaiju Navi's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Tabizan Tilgez's EEQ7R-V Extensional Arrestor Wire-Guided Kick, taking 3750 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Rose Tritten's MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle Barrage! KTS: Kaiju Navi's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully guards Rose Tritten's MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle Barrage, taking 3000 damage! <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed. <poem> Alto is starting to feel Sheryl's song inside his soul, as while its effects on the others are mostly a boost to their morale... The strange connection between him, Sheryl, and the systems in his Sentinel create a more tangible benefit. The Sentinel begins to glow with the same green light it showed during its debut. The machine transforms into fighter mode, starting to rush the Semi-Queen, its speeds and manoeuvrability increasing as Alto deftly weaves in between bio-cannon shots, green trailing behind it. Tabizan suggests Hit It Harder. Which she does manage to pull off, as she grapples in to the Semi-Queen's head and gives it a strong kick. Still, the Semi-Queen is a big mother, and delivering a massive hit to its head... Doesn't actually do as much as one might expect, or have hoped. Though it does ease up the bio-machine gun fire that Tabizan is under. Sushila admits to rethinking her actions, but Alto replies, &lt;"What others options were there? Leave them? That's another few hundred Vajra we'd need to deal with in the future. Take them away? I doubt the Semi-Queen would have liked that any more..."&gt; Rose suggests nukes. Which would indeed have been nice. Alto might have to suggest the deployment of Reaction Weapons on future missions. But no one expected to require such devastating weaponry on a mission like this... Alto watches as the Tritten team weave their way through the colony debris, avoiding a particularly large piece in order to find a firing angle and unleash a barrage of beam fire against the Semi-Queen's barrier. The glow of the defensive shield isn't as strong as it was at the beginning, but breaking through that is still going to be the first step. Judging by Tabizan's impact, they don't have the physical mass to inflict much harm on such a large creature... ... Physical mass... Something big... Alto's eyes go wide, &lt;"The debris!"&gt; Alto looks to the large piece that the Tritten team had avoided. It's solid, heavy, long... And having been torn off the colony, the end is quite jagged and sharp. The size is a problem... But if the four of them combine their thruster power... Alto highlights the piece of debris on the squad's joined systems, &lt;"Let's use this. I'll distract the Semi-Queen, you four get into position and get that thing up to speed!"&gt; The Sentinel banks, flying straight in towards the Semi-Queen at its head. It starts to spiral around the large creature, the turret built into the frame on its back rising up and turning to face the Vajra. It starts repeatedly firing blasts at the Semi-Queen, which tries to retaliate by swiping towards the Sentinel with claws wreathed in energy. It does the trick though, as the Semi-Queen is focused on Alto. Tabizan and the Tritten team unfortunately aren't going to have a completely smooth time handling the large piece of debris though, as there appear to still be some of the smaller Vajra around. A squad of several Mobile Soldiers 'swim' out from within the colony, rapidly approaching the other four and unleashing a barrage of bio-missiles at them. They'll have to do this under fire. </poem> KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Alto Saotome with Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Quantum Swipe! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Tabizan Tilgez and Rose Tritten with Vajra Swarm Bio-Missile Barrage! KTS: Alto Saotome engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Quantum Swipe! KTS: Alto Saotome successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Semi-Queen Claws Quantum Swipe, taking 4590 damage! KTS: Alto Saotome targets Kaiju Navi with M25 Twin MDE Beam Cannon Rapid Fire! KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to engage Guard against Alto Saotome's M25 Twin MDE Beam Cannon Rapid Fire! KTS: Kaiju Navi's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Kaiju Navi poorly reacts to Alto Saotome's M25 Twin MDE Beam Cannon Rapid Fire, taking 4464 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alto Saotome's The Twinkle Of A Tearful Planet activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Alto Saotome anchors Kaiju Navi, preventing it from Evading the next attack! KTS: Alto Saotome rattles Kaiju Navi, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Tabizan Tilgez engages guard against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Swarm Bio-Missile Barrage! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Tabizan Tilgez poorly guards Kaiju Navi's Vajra Swarm Bio-Missile Barrage, taking 3744 damage! KTS: Rose Tritten has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rose Tritten has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rose Tritten engages intercept against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Swarm Bio-Missile Barrage! KTS: Critical Hit! Rose Tritten poorly reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Swarm Bio-Missile Barrage, taking 4922 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Kaiju Navi's Ace Attacker activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Kaiju Navi's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle! <Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed. <poem> The Fairy Tale System... Even as Sheryl continues to perform as the decisive background music of this battle, empowering Tabizan and Team Tritten, she ''feels'' it as it activates. It's as Alto thinks: there's a bond between them that just doesn't exist between her and... anyone else, really. Sheryl will continue to count on Tabby and Rose to put their all into this fight, but in the end, her eyes are for Alto. "If you are gone, then there's no meaning left to life. "I don't care if everyone disappeared. "If my love is gone, then I have no more use for my heart. "This world can just disappear." But that doesn't mean she doesn't care about them at all, either. It's hard not to when they're all doing whatever they can against the Vajra Semi-Queen. Tabby declares they should break through, while Rose reunites with her teammates who stop her spinning. Sheryl taps her heel to the beat as she sings for them as much as Alto and all of humanity, whirling into her dance in an ''absolutely necessary'' flourish. "I was always in pain. "I would risk my life for that first time we met. "I dreamt as if I were struggling to breathe. "I reached my hands out blindly. "I wanted to listen to your heartbeat. "I wanted to build a rainbow with you-oo-ooh..." Alto realizes that the debris is the key to dealing with an enemy this big and decides to play distraction while the others fight. Sheryl's heart pounds painfully, and she converts that pain into passion, stretching out a hand as if in beseechment, as if to point out the enemy they must all destroy. More and more Vajra might be swimming out towards them, but Sheryl won't let them hurt the others--not on her life. "Wouldn't someone please embrace me tightly with daybreak's sentimentality. "Tears of love that scatter as they are repelled by orbits of dreams will do. "Their painful flow is just fine for me. "Called back by destiny, the Northern Star is crying. "If I have to survive in this labyrinth anyway, "I want to die loving you to my last breath!" </poem> KTS: Sheryl Nome targets Kaiju Navi with Goad! KTS: Sheryl Nome's Fairy-9 activates Valor! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Sheryl Nome's Goad! KTS: Sheryl Nome goads Kaiju Navi, reducing its Intuition drastically. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Goad, taking 0 damage! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez's Strut Your Stuff activates! KTS: Tabizan Tilgez has activated the Trick Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Tabizan Tilgez has posed. <poem> In her defense, the number of times Tabizan has fought something on this scale is one. This one. She doesn't have any experience to draw upon. She was hoping that pinpoint impact would break through the barrier and that 'pinpoint' might be a little generous when talking about something that big. Unfortunately, it isn't, though the impact is satisfying nonetheless. Tabizan does not slow down afterwards, riding the acceleration; she turned it all into upward velocity, whiplashing held in check by the construction of the Vargal, and she doesn't slow down, taking a high arcing flight path away from and then down the length of the Semi-Queen. It's the kind of acceleration and sudden change in angle that would knock out a Natural... but though she's Natural in one way, Meltrandi can handle that kind of velocity too. Alto highlights something, and her eyes brighten. "That's perfect!" Tabizan fights down her desire to continue the fight personally, directly (what's her sword going to do on &#42;that&#42;?) and reorients her mad flight toward the debris. It looks like she's going to overshoot it for a moment and pass completely beneath, but that's what the extensional arrestors are good for; Tabizan snags it, slingshots herself entirely around the debris and ends up on top of it in a crouch, the arrestors still dug in for added grip. She could get used to fighting along with the music, though. If Tabizan has a flaw in battle, it's that she gets a little &#42;too&#42; into it, the stereotypical Zentredi combat focus; she always feels so &#42;alive&#42; when she's fighting, and amped up in a way she only gets in a few situations. Normally she uses her role as a shield against it, but this is both keeping her energized and keeping her on task, even if she doesn't have the connection Alto does. "I've probably got the most powerful single set of thrusters," Tabizan says to the Tritten team, "so I'll push along with you, but one of you has to steer! I'll do it too, of course, but one of us has to be in charge of the last-ditch maneuvering..." And once the others are in place, Tabizan does fire her thrusters. All of them; the big back-mounted ones, the slightly smaller ones at waist and hip and the back of her legs. She feels the Vargal try to take off, but fail because it's locked in place between the arrestors and the foot clamps, a steady tension as she accelerates while trying to push the huge chunk of debris along. Even when missiles rain down around her, she stays in place, lifting her shield arm from the debris to hold it up in front of her and do her best. It helps, but after a few moments of that she stands up a little straighter, the upper torso-mounted cannons both shining as she fires the complete charge of Minovsky particles, an enormous beam that explodes missiles and clears a straight line from her to the Queen. Hopefully it's enough to give them some smooth sailing! She's not going to jump off until the last moment... </poem> KTS: Tabizan Tilgez has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Tabizan Tilgez has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Tabizan Tilgez targets Kaiju Navi with BC-21 Mega Impact Cannon Full Blast! KTS: Rose Tritten has activated the Strike Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed. <poem> Rose spins to catch what piece of debris Alto was referring to, only to be engulfed by the bio missiles detonating around her, searing and melting parts of the ZAKU's armour. Regaining her senses, Rose orders the trio to the debris. Once more, the ZAKUs evade towards the large piece of debris, planting themselves against it. "We're only gonna have one shot at this, so we all need to activate our thrusters as one, okay?!" Rose ordered over the radio, turning to launch the remainder of her missiles at the approaching mobile warriors. "Can we even aim this thing?" Sushila asked as Tabizan's Queadluun-Vargal lands and takes position. "You leave that to me, just go at full thrust on my mark!" Rose ordered. "Three...two...one...GO!" Rose shouted, and the four sets of thrusters burst off as one, the hulking mass starting to lurch forward, gradually picking up speed. Rose darted from end to end, putting her Blaze pack at emergency burst to nudge the trajectory as needed, the alarms blaring and flashing as her thrusters redlined, her body whipping in her seat from the harsh and repeated impacts. "BREAK OFF! GO!" Rose ordered, as the debris closed in for the final hundreds of meters... </poem> KTS: Rose Tritten targets Kaiju Navi with Anti-Ship Formation Alpha! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Tabizan Tilgez's BC-21 Mega Impact Cannon Full Blast! KTS: Kaiju Navi's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Tabizan Tilgez's BC-21 Mega Impact Cannon Full Blast, taking 3750 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Rose Tritten's Anti-Ship Formation Alpha! KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Rose Tritten's Anti-Ship Formation Alpha, taking 5750 damage! KTS: Rose Tritten bypasses Kaiju Navi, preventing it from Guarding the next attack! <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed. <poem> Additional smaller Vajra are starting to make their way out of the colony now, starting to head towards the four as they prepare the debris. Under normal circumstances, Tabizan and the Trittens could handle these Mobile Soldiers. But as it stands, they have their hands very full. And so, Sheryl pours herself into her song, the affect of which is amplified by the system in Alto's Sentinel. The Semi-Queen does not seem to like it, judging by how it reacts, multiple arms flailing as the invasive distortion overwhelms the local Vajra network. The small Vajra equally find themselves overwhelmed, suddenly becoming disoriented as Tabizan's beam rushes over some of them, blasting them away and leaving the others to fly around haphazardly. The four are into position. The path is clear. Their thrusters ignite, starting to move the large piece of debris forward. For all the mass and power that the Vajra Semi-Queen appears to have, the one thing it lacks the most is speed. These creatures typically do not move much on their own, nesting themselves into asteroids or other such large objects and manipulating gravity to move those instead. This makes it an easy target for Rose to guide their makeshift weapon into. The large piece of debris picks up more and more speed until finally, the girls all break away. Inertia carries the weapon on, the point rapidly reaching where the Semi-Queen's fold distortion barrier appears to reach to. The weakened barrier lights up briefly, before the heavy mass tears through it. The debris rapidly reaches the Semi-Queen's body proper, the point driving its way into the thick body and continuing all the way through until finally coming out the either side and smashing into the colony's surface, where it drives in a little more to embed itself before finally stopping. The Semi-Queen seems to wreathe as the large object now pierces through her body, the liquid substance that one could assume to be blood flowing from both ends of the wound. Those watching may imagine that had this happened inside atmosphere, the Semi-Queen may be crying out in pain. But in space, there is only silence as the Vajra's thrashing to try and get free of the large spike slows. Until finally, the creature is still. As Sheryl's song reaches its end, and the local network loses the focus of the node that is the Semi-Queen, the 'Fairy Tale' system fully activates. The green pulse of light washes outwards from the Sentinel, rapidly spreading out over the local space. All the Vajra that still live in the area stop, becoming passive. Until they all turn, starting to swim away, roughly back in the direction of the Frontier Fleet's location in a different orbit. Alto himself breathes a sigh of relief, though then winces at the pounding headache that is now assault his brain. It's a small price to pay though, as he manages to get out a little wearily, &lt;"Good work... All of you."&gt; Not moments after Alto had spoken those words, do their systems report a sudden surge in fold energy coming from the Semi-Queen. Is it still alive!? Is the battle not over!? Space rapidly distorts for a moment as the fold energy bursts, rushing up and away from the Semi-Queen. It blasts past the Alto's Sentinel. Past Tabizan's Queadluun-Vargal. Past the ZAKUs of the Tritten team. Even past the support vessels, as it heads off into deep space... It doesn't look like it was aimed at anything. Or even what the purpose was. Perhaps this is just what happens when something as powerful as a Semi-Queen dies? The last one did so during some rather chaotic moments, so Alto isn't sure whether it did or didn't happen then either. Which is why he voices, &lt;"What... Was that?"&gt; </poem> <Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed. <poem> It's practically a racial trait for Meltrandi to get "too" into battle, and it's become embedded in their deculture to appreciate music. A match made in Heaven, really. So too is the coordination Tabby demonstrates with Alto and Team Tritten. They all work together to push that debris towards the Semi-Queen and engage their thrusters to give it as much speed and momentum as possible, Rose handling the trajectory to make sure it strikes dead-on. Sheryl watches even as she sings, blue eyes fiery. "And it will begin, "The finale I will risk my life for. "I loved as if I were fighting to survive. "I kicked on dreams until they were crumpled. "I wanted to end on that star. "I wanted to bloom in your sky-yy-yyy!" Alto and the others break away from the debris "missile," clearing away from its back. The "missile" itself has only one path forward, and the Semi-Queen is simply too big to avoid it. Maybe if she could have folded away in time, she could've had a chance--but perhaps Sheryl's song kept her lingering where she shouldn't have. To keep her right where they all wanted her. "Wouldn't someone please caress my empty contours? "The motions of time have erased away "The words of love that could not be saved. "So please, give me your answer one more time. "Chosen by destiny, the Northern Star is burning bright. "Though it snatched you away from me into the sooty darkness, "You continued to smile so gracefully. I loved that part of you." And so it pierces through her, shot through the heart. That moment of triumph surges through Sheryl, perhaps through Alto, definitely through the Fairy Tale System, until green light surges out through the battlefield and pacifies the remaining Vajra. That's it. They've done it. "Though it snatched you away from me into the sooty darkness, "You continued to smile so gracefully. I loved that part of you." It's so tempting, as her vibrato warbles those last notes, to simply collapse. Certainly the back of her throat itches with all the singing she's done tonight--with more than just tension and exhaustion. But Sheryl is a professional. She'll keep standing 'til the end, until it's finally time for her to exeunt the stage. And so she smiles for Alto and the others too, her image and voice projecting into whatever transmission tools they have in their units. "Good? How about ''amazing''! That'll be one for the history books!" God, her throat hurts so much. She's on the verge of another coughing fit, she knows it. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Semi-Queen's strange death throes give her an excuse. "...But I'll shower you with praise another time~" she lilts, grip tightening on her microphone. "How about you get back to base safely first, before anything else weird happens? Until next time~" She won't linger long after. She needs to go ''now''. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Tabizan Tilgez has posed. <poem> As promised, Tabizan rides the giant shard of debris in probably a little too long, giving it that last burst of acceleration and last-second angle adjustment before she kicks off, slamming every thruster she has into overdrive (more than they already were). It's a struggle just to breathe through it, with all the weight pressing her down. But she makes it away before impact, and she throttles down afterwards. She's still moving pretty fast, but she's not pulling stunts that make her feel like her spine is about to break, or distort her vision. She blinks rapidly to bring it back to normal, lacking the ability to rub her eyes through her helmet. And it hits - hits directly. Tabizan bites back a whoop of success as the Vajra become passive, 'Fairy Tale' doing its job. She instead steadies her breathing so she can sound more normal when she speaks next, catching her breath. But the secondary burst of spatial distortion changes what she's about to say: "Watch out!" Tabizan has no idea what it is any more than Alto does. She thinks it is, perhaps, some sort of venting; if it was a MS she'd think that, perhaps, the engine went haywire and broke its containment field, discharging a rush of Minovsky particles. Except for fold energy. But the Semi-Queen is - was - alive, so... It didn't hit any of them, anyway. She can let the eggheads worry about it. "That was great, all of you! We really pulled off a miracle out there..." A pause, and then she adds, for Sheryl, "And I mean you too." It isn't as if they were competing in any way in that; they're so different focuses that Tabizan didn't feel threatened in her position and she's pretty sure Sheryl wouldn't either, even if she was inclined to that. "...Base sounds like a very good idea, since we've pretty much confirmed the area clear. Everybody check in, and if you need an escort, we can arrange it! - God, I want a shower - " She wasn't intending to broadcast that last bit, and cuts out a moment later. </poem> <Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed. <poem> The trio of ZAKUs watch as the Demi-Queen...dies? Or at least goes as far away from the Earth Sphere as possible. Good. In the cockpit of her ZAKU, Rose leans back and rests in her seat, another bug hunt complete. But something still troubles her... Alto's rage. It was... unusual...and scary. Rose has a bit of a smirk overhearing Tabizan's demand for a shower...that does sound pretty good right about now. "Come on girls...let's go home." Rose orders, and the Trio of ZAKUs limp back towards the One Fine Day. </poem> [[Category:Logs]] [[Category:Phase 2]] [[Category:Phase 2, Turn 2]]