2025-02-21: Once Upon A Time...
- Log: 2025-02-21 Once Upon A Time...
- Cast: Alto Saotome, Ranka Lee, Sheryl Nome, Leon Sakaki, Astarte Spalding-Monteiro, Rose Tritten, Aurora Dusk, Lucine Azul, Rin Naujakaite, Sagiri Sakurai, Liam O'Maol Chonaire, Shinji Kaminaga, Alouette Pommier, Lilium Valerie
- Where: Frontier Fleet
- OOC - IC Date: 14 February 0100
- Summary: Immediately after the events of of Love on Valentine's Day, a battle for the fate of the Macross Frontier ensues. Ranka's song is supposed to be able to stop the Vajra, but it isn't working. Who can possibly take her place?
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
The interior of the Frontier Fleet's 'Island One' has not fared well since the Vajra started swarming inside it. While their numbers have been reduced by the city's defense forces, the damage is quickly adding up, with whole city blocks turned into nothing but rubble. Still, the battle rages on as the Vajra Light Soldiers buzz through the colony ship's fake skies, Destroids stationed around the city's streets trying to deal with them.
However, the battle inside the large domed colony ship is better left to the Frontier Defense Forces. Because outside in space, a greater threat is assaulting the fleet's lines. Numerous Vajra Mobile and Heavy Soldiers are pushing through the fleet's assortment of warships and variable fighters. A veritable display of flashing lights and explosions.
One VF-171 Nightmare Plus belonging to the FDF rains down gunpod fire on a Mobile Soldier, only for the rounds to do little but knock a few chunks out of its adapted armor. The Nightmare pilot grunts in annoyance, <"How the hell are we supposed to kill these things!?"> He's not going to get an answer though, as the Vajra he fired on quickly curves around to head towards him. The guns in its body start spitting out rapid bursts of energy that quickly shred his VF to pieces before it explodes.
On the upper command deck of the Battle Frontier's bridge, Chief of Staff Leon Mishima sits in his chair. The admirals sitting beside him all look a little concerned at the large holographic display showing the quickly crumbling outer defense line. Mishima himself is a bit more reserved as he sits quietly, waiting.
Soon enough, an aide walks up to him and leans over, whispering into his ear. Mishima nods for a moment, before asking, "And the other matter?" There's some more whispering and Mishima frowns. He dismisses the aide and seems to ponder something for a moment, before standing and announcing to the entire bridge, "Attention. I've just been informed that President Glass has been confirmed as dead, killed along with his entire entourage by the Vajra."
There are numerous murmurs amidst the news of the death of the Frontier Fleet's commander-in-chief. But Mishima silences them as he continues, "As per chapter three, section forty one, I am taking over command as acting President. Given the current situation, I am authorizing the deployment of reaction weaponry. Target the largest concentrations of Vajra and notify all forces to evacuate the detonation zone."
An uncertain silence falls over the bridge at the new orders, all the bridge operators glancing at each other for a moment. Until one of the admirals at Mishima's side shouts, "What are you doing!? You heard the President!" With that confirmation, the operators begin to get to work.
"Loading missile tubes one through twenty four with reaction warheads-"
"Targeting Vajra clusters in grids 4A, 4B, 5G, 6G, 8N-"
"Signalling outer defense line to fall back to regroup point beta-"
"Missiles loaded, master arm on, syncing guidance control with long range sensors-"
"12S, 14D, 14F, 16L-"
"Valkyrie squads fifteen and seventeen are clear. Northampton cruiser 'Shade' is falling behind due to engine damage-"
"Missile guidance synced. Target priorities loaded. Ready to fire."
Mishima doesn't hesitate as he says, "Fire."
-=-=-=-=-
Upon orders to do so, Alto dropped Ranka and Sheryl off at one of the Battle Frontier's landing bays. Apparently a special stage has been set up within the huge battleship in order to facilitate Ranka's singing in support of the fight against the Vajra. Leaving the two in a place that he expects is one of the safest in this part of space, Alto dons his flight suit proper and flies his Messiah back out to join the battle.
He's just in time to watch as the Battle Frontier unleashes its barrage of reaction missiles. They streak out towards the parts of space where most of the Vajra continue to 'swim' deeper towards the Frontier Fleet, passing by the scattered wreckage of the numerous VFs and warships that they have already destroyed.
The missiles quickly reach their target locations, exploding with incredible force and briefly generating the miniature suns that the weapons are known for. The vast majority of Vajra appear to be caught up in the explosions.
However, as the bright lights of the detonations begin to subside, most of those Vajra caught in the blast radius fly out of them, still quite intact, though glowing from the intense heat the weapons generate. The outer layers of their shells crumble to pieces, breaking and trailing off behind them as they fly, revealing new and barely scorched layers beneath.
Alto grips his controls a little tighter at the sight. It seems they've adapted to reaction weapons too... All told, Alto estimates that only about a tenth of the Vajra were destroyed by the detonations.
Fear grips Alto's heart at the thought of how powerful the Vajra are getting. And how powerless he is now in comparison. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before he-before they all lose to the Vajra. Why did it come to this? What did they do to deserve this? They were just trying to find a new home among the stars. All he wanted was to fly in an endless sky...
Images of Sheryl and Ranka flash through Alto's mind.
No. He can't back down now. He's not going to let either of them die at the hands of the Vajra.
Alto pushes his throttle forward, the engines of his Messiah burning brighter as he rapidly accelerates through space towards where the Vajra have started to engage the fleet's next line of defense. If his missiles don't work, then he'll use his guns. If they don't work, he'll use his knife. If that doesn't work, he'll just tear the Vajra to pieces. Whatever it takes.
KTS: Aurora Dusk has deployed in VF-171 Nightmare Plus <Fighter Mode>. KTS: EN Barrier activated! <Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
"... All I have to do is sing."
I couldn't do it
And now because I couldn't
People were already trying to usher her away, to get into a suit, but she kept dragging her heels, as she kept watching, watching...
"... Alto." Ranka thinks of earlier today, and whispers, "I'm not sure it'd be good luck to even tell him good luck." After all, she asked a whole crowd to wish herself luck, as she tried to confess her feelings to him.
Why did she even agree to this? She told herself it was for Sheryl, for Alto, but seeing them together... after not understanding why Sheryl had left for so long and she fell apart.
As they're moved along, Ranka is moved towards a changing room, given the location of the stage, she'll need to wear a suit, and any outfit will be holographic. A guard puts up a hand and steps in front of Sheryl at that point.
"Miss Nome, right? We're going to have to ask you to wait-"
Ranka echoes that same word to him, "Wait." And he seems surprised, "... I know I can't do this if she's anywhere else." The man seems torn on what to do, but eventually he lets Sheryl by too rather than diverting her.
They give her a few minutes to change into a normal suit, monitors in the locker room showing the reaction missiles firing, and...
She's got it on now, sans the helmet, as she finishes sealing it up over the zipper in the back, there's a single hair ribbon behind her head, but even now there are the tell tale signs of Alto's necklace, the one he made for her, fastened around her neck and dipping inside the suit.
"... I want to hear everything later." She tells Sheryl, smile subdued, "The rest can wait for now, but... I'm... glad you're here."
Her hand brings up the necklace for a moment as she watches the missiles fly and... braces herself, as if instinctually understanding how she might feel next, even if her mind hasn't comprehended cause and effect.
Nothing.
The monitors light up like fireworks, glare shielded from the true brightness, and Ranka doesn't feel that gnawing sensation in her gut. With a blink of her red eyes in surprise, she looks at the monitor, and sees the truth.
"Even that...?" Ranka understands the true horror now, how even their most powerful weapon doesn't function. Well... second most powerful. Their most powerful was...
... Ranka's arms fall to her sides for a long moment, like the world is closing in on her, the necklace falling in place outside of the suit, dangling in the low gravity.
She doesn't say it, but as her eyes cloud over, it's almost like Sheryl knows what she's thinking again.
I hate this
It's as they leave, that Brera is waiting in place of another detail, "Brera!" Ranka says in surprise, "I can't believe you got here so quickly. I thought... It was... your day off." Brera's eyes look over Ranka, in a way by which Sheryl might recognize he's doing a discreet scan of her, but not doing the same of Sheryl after.
Perhaps he is respecting her wishes in that sense. "... I'm always on standby." As he puts a hand on her shoulder, and begins to lead her away.
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
The situation is grave. You can tell because Sheryl's been quiet. Ever since Alto took off with her and Ranka in the backseat of his Messiah--ever since Sheryl spotted those Federation workers with L Q and F 9 on their lips, there's been a creeping sense of dread within her.
It's certainly not paranoia. It's inevitable that Sheryl and Ranka will run into Ranka's manager and bodyguard--the two people Sheryl wants to see the least right now.
She's at least sent a message to Rin and Sagiri to let them know where she is and that she's okay, but there isn't much time to talk. There's no opportunity to after Alto drops her and Ranka off, changes into a flight suit, and takes off again. There's barely any opportunity before she and Ranka are nearly separated, kept together only because Ranka insists.
"Ranka..." Sheryl murmurs, blue eyes troubled. She doesn't protest either, though, and strides past the guard.
She changes too, albeit not into a holographic suit. Just a normal suit. Just in case.
She looks over at Ranka as she finishes changing, tucking her necklace under her suit. Sheryl's lips purse in concern.
"...It isn't going to work out with Alto and me, you know," she says, deciding to cut straight to the chance. "When you saw us kissing, that was me kissing him goodbye." She smiles bittersweetly as she tucks her hair under her collar and affixes her helmet. "...That's all."
Any more conversation they might have on the topic is interrupted by the flash and burn of missiles on the monitors. Sheryl looks up with Ranka at them, frowning at the back-and-forth. It's obvious even as an amateur to combat that the odds are sorely against them. Their people keep dying faster than the Vajra do. Even the strongest weapons they've got aren't enough...
'Second' strongest. Sheryl looks over at Ranka as her arms fall limp. She's no Newtype, as far as she knows, but it's easy to tell what she must be thinking.
"..."
But there isn't time to linger there either. They leave--and Brera and Grace are here.
Sheryl sucks in a sharp breath, the sound masked by Ranka calling Brera's name. Her jaw clenches when she spots that shift in Brera's eyes--even if he's not scanning her, she can tell he's scanning Ranka, and she doesn't like that any better. (If Brera's not scanning Sheryl out of respect for her wishes, Sheryl isn't clocking that at all just now.) Fear translates to boldness, and she steps towards him, ready to get in between him and Ranka.
"Brera--" she starts.
A hand grips her shoulder.
Sheryl snaps a stare over at Grace, heart racing.
"Sheryl! Oh, thank goodness!" Grace simpers. She has the good 'grace' to sound startled by her arrival, but her eyes are a little too wise, her lips a little too sardonic. "You had me so worried, going off all on your own without even a word." She leans in close. That grip that before felt so motherly before now feels vice-like. "What am I ever going to do with you..." she whispers, low and next to her ear.
Heart racing, Sheryl smacks her hand away. "Don't touch me," she hisses, likewise keeping her voice low even as she squares off against her. "How dare you?"
But as much as she'd like to pick a fight here, Brera's already leading Ranka away, and the battle is at a fever pitch outside. Sheryl glares at Grace, who only smiles back; then she hurries to join everyone else as they head to the stage.
Grace strides calmly after her, like nothing had ever changed.
KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has deployed in Ultraman. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Kaiju Navi has deployed as a Boss for 9 opponents. KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire has deployed in Type-4 Akashima 'Balor'. KTS: EN Barrier activated!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
"Siegfried 1, tally on bandit. Engaging."
Those are the only words out of Leon's mouth as the YF-25 Prophecy streaks through space, engines cutting tiny trails of fire across the blackness as its variable wings pull back from the speed.
There's so much destruction around him, so much death. For just a second, he is no longer flying a YF-25 on the Macross Frontier, he is flying a smoking VF-171 Nightmare Plus in Sephira's atmosphere, the sky glowing a crimson red from orbital bombardment. Leon shakes his head, and the illusion disappears. There's someone back there who needs protecting. Even if his hands are shaking, even if his mind is blurring, he can protect her.
He can do that much.
"Fox 3." Leon lets loose a burst of gunpod spray. Stupid, not equipping supers. Stupid, stupid stupid. Although, it doesn't seem like the missiles of the others are doing much anyway...
KTS: Leon Sakaki targets Kaiju Navi with Gatling Shot!
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
As XO Juno Xiao helped Captain Astarte Spalding into her seat, the captain quietly cursed. It felt like they couldn't get a single assignment anymore without running into these...
"...Goddamned bugs!" She slams her fist against the armrest of the captain's chair as the ship vibrates to life, undocking from the Frontier and making distance to join the battle outside. "Get the Trittens and everyone else that can pilot a suit out there! Battle stations!"
"Roger!" Every voice on the bridge shouts out at once as the entire crew begins to scramble.
"They're grouped together. Fire cannons into the swarm!" She points out towards the swarm of Vajra, as the tactical officer engages the beam cannons, firing off a shot.
KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro targets Kaiju Navi with 120cm High Energy Beam Cannon Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
While everyone else from the One Fine Day went shoreside, to partake in music, merrymaking, and owing to the date, romance, a few remained behind on the ship itself. Each had their own reasons. A partner they were staying loyal to back at home, general introvertedness...
Sushila however, hated Valentines Day.
When your entire family and all the friends you ever knew were wiped out in an unprovoked nuclear attack, the day of love and romance didn't hold much of its lustre. Rose and Aspyn, though eager to partake in merriment and poor decisions (mostly Aspyn with the bad decisions), of course remained behind with their friend out of solidarity. The trio sat in the pilot's common room of the One Fine Day. Rose was picking away at her latest smutbook acquisition, Asypn wasn't letting the sad atmosphere distract her from humming along with the live feed of the concert twintails bounced over her earbuds, and Sushila sat sighing and huddled under a blanket, having gone the whole day without having her breakdown, which her friends were very proud of her for.
Rose looked up from her tablet out the window, at the wide expanse of the Frontier Fleet, sparkling and twinkling in all its majesty.
"Oh my science, are you like, for real?!" Aspyn growled, drawing Rose's attention.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked, as Sushila let out another whimpery sniffle from under her blanket.
"My feed to the concert is all brokey!" Aspyn whined, shaking her phone in a futile attempt to will percussive maintenance from a distance. "Ranka was just about to start her next so-"
The ditzy melee warrior's jaw dropped as she stared out the window. Rose turned to see what had gotten Aspyn's attention, and her jaw clenched as she saw the teetering swarm of Vajra flying around the colony.
"Oh no." Rose could only whisper. "WE HAVE TO LAUNCH! NOW!"
The sudden burst of activity from her friends drew Sushila out from her be-blanketed sushi roll of depression, her bloodshot eyes going wide as she saw the colony was under attack. The trio scrambled over the sofas and rushed through the corridors of the One Fine Day, sprinting under the artificial gravity to the ready room where their pilot suits waited. It wasn't long after they left the common room that the red alert lights began to light the corridors a sinister red and the alert alarm rang. Out of casual clothes, into pilot suits, and another dead sprint to the hangar that only the enhanced physical capabilities of Coordinators could make with only a bit of panting. As they reach the hangar they can feel the ship start to move, and the artificial gravity give way, allowing them to simply hop up and push off from the railing towards their waiting ZAKU Warriors. Cockpit hatches closed, the scramble jump-start sequence carried out at lightning speed. Rose is first in the catapult, and first fired out into the void. Her ZAKU warrior spirals around the length and width of the One Fine Day, making a point to signal as she screams past the glass of the bridge. In the void, the trio starts the old familiar task of fighting bugs.
KTS: Rose Tritten targets Kaiju Navi with MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle Burst! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Leon Sakaki's Gatling Shot! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully guards Leon Sakaki's Gatling Shot, taking 2175 damage! <Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"Come on, this way!" Aurora leads a no longer totally panicking Lilium down a cramped shelter hallway. Sheltering may be fine for some people, but as a soldier, Aurora knows the safest place to be in situations like this is inside a cockpit, where you can fight back. Being caught while unable to defend yourself is basically the same as death. She doesn't want Lilium to die, so she's leading Lilium to try and find a suitable vehicle. This is definitely a sensible decision and not inspired solely by Aurora's urge to fight instead of sitting in a shelter all day.
Well, maybe a little.
Getting to the hangars from where they are is difficult, but with Aurora's expertise, they do manage it. Sneaking into the attached changing room, Aurora quickly slips a flight suit over her regular clothing, and helps Lilium do the same.
Once in the hangar, Aurora spies a trainer Nightmare Plus that's been repurposed with real weapons. Perfect. However, as the two make their way towards it, a guard spots them. Less perfect.
"Hey, what are you two doing here?"
"Emergency sortie. That thing has real weapons, right?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Perfect." Aurora hustles Lilium towards the trainer Nightmare and into the cockpit.
"Stop! What the hell-"
Aurora herself leaps into the front seat and lowers the canopy, muffling the indignant cries of the guard who was about to stop her. As the Nightmare's engines power up, the deck crew, noticing the unplanned sortie, scramble out of the way. The semi-outdated by Aurora's standards fighter blitzes out from the open hangar doors. "Now, where's the fight..."
Finding the fight isn't very hard. Aurora just follows the lights in the void of space until she finds the defense line. There are already plenty of irregulars here. Who'd notice a stray Nightmare? Hands gripping the joystick, she waits until she sees the indicator and hears the missile lock tone, and then lets loose with a (pretty nice looking if she does say so herself) circus of missiles.
KTS: Aurora Dusk targets Kaiju Navi with Aircraft Missile Array Fire! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's 120cm High Energy Beam Cannon Burst! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully guards Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's 120cm High Energy Beam Cannon Burst, taking 2550 damage! <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Ranka told Lucine once in private, about Alto's true nature, of what hides behind his normally cool demeanor. Lucine agreed, happy that her own opinion of him was not merely just her own imagination, borne from a need to seem competent to at least one person outside the Nadesico main crew.
After all, Alto had deployed with Lucine on her first mission, and treated her the same as any other pilot. That stuck with her, even now, as the onslaught of Vajra bring back memories old and new.
< "Skull-4. Owl-2 here, with Hound-1, providing assistance." > She's older now, her quiet voice still commanding more confidence than the nervous teenager she was then. < "Hound-1, I'll go ahead and try to corral some Vajra towards you. Are you ready?" >
The Dianthus artfully weaves through the hoards, a magenta trail that is easy for Liam to follow as she fires a swarm of bullets, here and there, trying to keep the Vajra on her tail without falling prey to them.
They come, in more and more numbers, but all Lucine can do is continue fighting, that much more.
Each death feels like a tiny star snuffed out in the sky against her senses, but it falls to stop her. They cannot fail.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Kaiju Navi with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Barriage!
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
Rin Naujakaite sees, with her own eyes, the ferocity of reflex weapons. She swallows quietly.
Rin, located in close confinement in her Gespenst -- packed like sardines into one of the Carriax's bays, given that the downside of having a three-mech unit with one commander is that you can't actually get rid of the part where there are three of them -- breathes out, "Here we go." Magnetic clamps kick off.
To her right, Scorn flexes his head and shoves powerfully off into space. His wings spread slightly, but in a defensive hunch; you do not need wings to soar in space. Rancor goes after, with the push of his forward paws; Rin last, looking 'down' as she moves from the metal womb of the Carriax to space...
As she sees the Vajra...
Memories fidget at her.
FORTUNATELY: The "N-S" type autodroid (working title, check trademark office) does not experience fear, or memories, in the same way. Scorn, twirling in space, opens fire, darting beams of light aiming to pop Vajra sensory foreparts. The avian mechanoid experiences only contempt for the aliens, it seems.
KTS: Rin Naujakaite's Naujakaite Flying Circus has been disabled. KTS: Rin Naujakaite has deployed in Combat Proto Test Group Nauja. KTS: Kaiju Navi engages evade against Rose Tritten's MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle Burst! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Rose Tritten's MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle Burst, taking 1980 damage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite targets Kaiju Navi with Scorn - The Dark Bird of the Shadownight!
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
"I take back every terrible thing I've ever said about cockroaches. I didn't know how bad bugs could really get. That's my fault. I see that now."
These are the wise words of Sagiri Sakurai, head manager of VTX Union's Special Section 3, spoken with no small gravity as she watches the swarm of intergalactic insectoids spill out from the seams of space from the (relative) safety of the Tyranado's two-seat cockpit -- a premise called into even more blatant question as she watches wholesale -reaction weapons- being deployed to largely futile effect. Her expression is the kind of blank-faced pallor one might expect from someone who has a Thing about bugs; behind her, Rami Amasaki's expression is a tighter, tenser affair, trying to keep the knowledge and fear of these creatures from leaking out to the surface.
"... Ma'am..." Rami begins with a tentative hitch to her tone.
"I know, Rami." Sagiri scratches her cheek as she watches the Variable Fighters deploying against the Vajra, largely in vain. "It's looking rough out there. Even reaction weapons don't seem to be putting much of a dent into these bastards. But... y'know? I'm not worried."
She looks back Rami's blinking way, and even as dismal as circumstances look -- that confident, devil-may-care smile of Sagiri's is an infectious thing.
"We've got my best team, my favorite co-pilot, and my precious part-timer all on our side today. There's no way we'll lose with that kind of stacked deck!"
Rami blinks, eyes widening, cheeks flushing. And then she gives a simple, certain nod. "Yes, ma'am!!"
<"Hah, alright! Tyranado -- deploying! Let's do this thing!">
And with that, the optics of the Tyranado flash green-blue as it detaches from the belly of the Carriax; it shoots off in contrails of sapphire as it punches into the battlefield headfirst, a blaze of firepower left in its wake.
<"Carriax!"> Sagiri calls out over direct communication with the (relatively) small ship keeping in close proximity. <"Can we get in contact with our VIP client? I'd be less bugged about the bugs if we can get confirmation she's safe!">
<"We're working on it, Sakurai,"> Hirosuke Amasaki's voice comes in from the other line, tense but calm. <"Her manager has been very -- insistent about keeping us on task.">
<"And very rude."> comes the threatening deadpan of Amies Ernest.
<"We'll get ahold of her. In the meantime, you, Rami and Rin need to make sure to come back to us in one piece. Understood?">
<"Aye aye, chief! You can count on us!">
<"Ma'am, you need to take this seriously,"> Meryl Spanner warns; there's worry edging into the fringes of her voice as she speaks. <"Every time we come up against these things, they're a little more resistant to the Carriax's weapons array, even when we tweak them to compensate. I don't think it's going to be much longer before they're completely immune to the Quark Drive. If even reaction weapons aren't working like they should anymore...">
<"I know, Meryl,"> Sagiri begins, assured as ever as the Tyranado weaves through hostile Vajra. <"But that's fine. We're not the tip of the spear here today; we're the bulwark. And no matter what--">
The Tyranado banks hard to the right; and as it does, it unholsters its Beam Bayonets, semi-automatic fire unleashing in a wide spiral around it in flashes of blue-green light over and over and over.
<"--we're gonna keep our precious client safe!">
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Sagiri Sakurai targets Kaiju Navi with Beam Bayonet Blast!
<Pose Tracker> Liam O'Maol Chonaire has posed.
God, there's so many of them.
The Balor rockets in at full burn, following the Dianthus at a distance. In its cockpit, Liam breathes through gritted teeth, thoughts swarming in his head like the Vajra outside. They've breached the Island. They're inside. How many people are still in there?
Light blossoms in the distance. Liam recognizes it, and his heart sinks, and another thought joins the chorus: Why aren't the reaction warheads working?
Lucine announces them. Liam, Hound-1, nods in his cockpit. "Ready," he says.
The Balor starts to slow. Its massive cannon arm sweeps up, and begins to charge. Its head angles towards the heart of the swarm, and the beam arrays in and around its optics ignite. A moment later, raw energy pours out as Liam sweeps the Balor's deadly gaze through the Vajra.
KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire targets Kaiju Navi with EL-334-A Optical Heat Ray - Target Acquisition! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire's Tactical Intelligence activates Focus! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages intercept against Aurora Dusk's Aircraft Missile Array Fire! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi poorly reacts to Aurora Dusk's Aircraft Missile Array Fire, taking 2250 damage! <Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
False stellar light erupts against the backdrop of eternity, and the night's inhabitants fear none of it. The screams of Mihoshi Academy's battered grounds are far away now, but other's are far closer.
SSSP has set up a new field base. All are alive and well, quickly going over data acquired from Frontier's military leaders. The last few seconds were shock enough ("Reaction weapons!?" "This is the time...") and then grim besides ("They've already adapted even to that," Yumi Funaberi says, and sips deeply from a coffee cup with an icon of a cartoon devil.) Hiroko Asami stomps in, without her 'buddy', earning a silent look from Tamura, at the head of their square. "He stayed behind to work on evacuations. I guess he didn't learn his lesson from that giant," she mutters, and sits.
Kimio Tamura grunts an affirmative, then taps his laptop keys. "Asami, see if OCU's arsenal has anything semi-conventional we haven't tried yet. Funaberi, this is your chance to get all the data you could ask for. See if any of the dragon siblings are available, as well. I don't think Goldymarg will work in a field this wide, but we could use TenRyuuJin."
Affirmatives are followed soon by their third coworker, Akihisa Taki, leaning in to squint. "Wait...this data...it's here!? He's here!"
*
A bright silver form brimming with stellar light resolves silently into view, fists out in a flat-bodied flight pose. His head is a neutral mask, his eyes a blazing light; bright red patterns adorn his body. An ultraman, like others who have defended this world...but not like them, too. His chest is unadorned by any Color Timer, and his back is flat, without an Ultra's dorsal ridge.
He sends no signal. He makes not a sound. He simply draws near the swarm and strikes, swinging his arm back over his head before releasing a pure-white buzzsaw, white as starlight, and slicing through all that may impede it.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
In large part thanks to the effort of Sho and the others in her immediate vicinity, Alouette managed to make it out of the Frontier City massacre unscathed. Sure, tonight's date was totally ruined, but considering what they saw in there... it could have been so much worse. Alouette finds she doesn't even have time to catch her breath before considering what to do next - and there's just as much Vajra outside the city as there were inside.
Without a unit of her own to deploy in, the next best thing Alouette could do is link up with the SSSP's base - left relatively unharmed by the Vajra attack. She knows 3G Red would vouch for them - and that's enough for her - even if she hates having to turn her back on directly intervening.
"Alouette Pommier of 3G Blue," She introduces herself briskly, and immediately puts herself into work on parsing some of the data. "I'd ask how the situation is... but I already know it's not good." She frowns at what she sees from eyeshot alone - if they can even adapt to reaction weapons, then anything could be on the table. "If we had enough data on their atomic makeup, we could give Disc X a try," Alouette considers, "But taking into account their adaptability... even that should probably remain a last resort." It seems like there's another song even more effective against the Vajra... but how is Ranka holding up?
Alouette recognizes plenty of the defenders - but that Ultraman is a new one. Keeping her focus on her work, she doesn't comment. But maybe it's a good sign when a mysterious new hero appears out of thin air, though.
KTS: Shinji Kaminaga targets Kaiju Navi with Ultra Slash! KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to engage Charge against Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Barriage! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Barriage, taking 1704 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EL-334-A Optical Heat Ray - Target Acquisition! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Force Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully guards Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EL-334-A Optical Heat Ray - Target Acquisition, taking 1425 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Sagiri Sakurai's Beam Bayonet Blast! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi moderately guards Sagiri Sakurai's Beam Bayonet Blast, taking 1275 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Rin Naujakaite's Scorn - The Dark Bird of the Shadownight! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Kaiju Navi poorly guards Rin Naujakaite's Scorn - The Dark Bird of the Shadownight, taking 2375 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rin Naujakaite's Sugar Animated Systemic Schemer activates, causing Designate L1! KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to engage evade against Shinji Kaminaga's Ultra Slash! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Force Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi poorly reacts to Shinji Kaminaga's Ultra Slash, taking 2800 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
The YF-25 Prophecy is not out of place on this battlefield, amidst the flurry of VFs defending the Frontier Fleet. Unfortunately its weapons are just about as effective too as Leon opens fire on a Mobile Soldier. The initial barrage is about just as effective as the doomed Nightmare, chipping away at the Vajra's tough armor. But with persistence-ie more bullets-Leon is eventually able to break through that armor and into the Vajra proper, killing it.
With that one death though, four more Mobile Soldiers sweep in from above, the beam guns in their bodies spitting out bolts of light at the Prophecy. Their weapons still as deadly as always. And with so many of them, they could very well overwhelm Leon.
But thankfully the One Fine Day intercedes on his behalf, the warship's cannons sending their beams lancing out across space. They impact two of the Mobile Soldiers closing on Leon, the capital ship grade weapons proving more effective with their strength as they melt them, leaving the Prophecy to just have to deal with two.
The One Fine Day is not left in peace though as a Heavy Soldier turns its head in that direction. It spins around and starts flying towards the ZAFT ship. A squad of Mobile Soldiers form up around it.
The trio of Mobile Suit pilots that fly off the vessel start to rain down beam fire on the approaching Vajra. The Mobile Soldiers rush ahead of the Heavy, weaving around in front of it to try and throw off their aim. Several of the bolts still land, scorching across Vajra armor. One takes several shots, before it is finally killed. But the others are still closing. A few break away from the Heavy, rushing the Tritten team in an attempt to ram them from multiple angles.
Meanwhile the Heavy Soldier with its remaining Mobile Soldier guards are still approaching the One Fine Day. The large bio-cannon on the Heavy's back glows before unleashing a heavy bolt of golden light towards the One Fine Day. The shot opens the way for the Mobile Soldiers to advance, starting to rush forward.
But they are intercepted by missile fire streaking in from a stolen Nightmare Plus. The Mobile Soldiers quickly scatter, unleashing their own bio-micromissiles in an attempt to intercept. Explosions rock the emptiness of space as the two opposite barrages meet. Some of Aurora's missiles make it through to detonate around the Mobile Soldiers, managing to inflict some damage on them. But likewise several of the missiles fired by the Vajra streak in towards Aurora's Nightmare.
As Lucine radios, Alto feels a little more relieved as he replies, <"Lucine, Liam. Glad to have you here. This isn't going to be easy...">
This proves true as Lucine fires into the swarm, clipping several Mobile Soldiers with her shots. Which just seems to anger them, if that's possible for a hive mind. At the very least the result is that they turn, starting to rush her. Maybe this is her plan?
Sure enough, the Vajra charging in towards Lucine are suddenly met by the large beam that sweeps out from Liam's cannon. It passes over the charging swarm, finishing off several that had taken shots from Lucine. A few make it through though, their beam guns firing bursts of light towards Lucine. Meanwhile, Liam's intervention draws the attention of a Heavy Soldier, which quickly rushes his machine. It rapidly closes in, attempting to slam into him and grab hold with its sharp claws.
In another part of this furball, VFX sends its own units out. It would not do well for their client to die today, especially given who it is. It would look very bad in the news!
The shots from Rin and Sagiri blast into a swarm of Vajra that had been harassing a heavily damaged warship of the Frontier Defense Fleet. It seems to draw attention away from the vessel, which gives it thanks before trying to start limping back towards the rear lines. Judging by the speed, it seems its engines are damaged.
Of course the problem with drawing attention away from one thing is that attention is now on you. The Vajra Mobile Soldiers swim towards the two, spinning around as they unleash a barrage of micromissiles that rapidly spread out, looking to catch the two in a wide-area barrage.
An Ultra joins the fight! The large alien is one that the Vajra don't have much experience with, but even so it seems the weapons he uses aren't as dissimilar to others they have already adapted to as the buzzsaw of light sweeps into the midst of a swarm of Vajra. They try to get clear but it's too fast, ripping into several of the creatures and tearing through one entirely. The Mobile Soldiers quickly try to rush the larger Ultra and swarm him by clinging and start to claw away at him.
-=-=-=-=-
The Battle Frontier's bridge is still abuzz after the failure of the reaction warheads. Especially as the next defense line is taking serious losses.
"The 'Gertrude' and 'Callaway' have been destroyed!"
"Valkyrie losses are mounting, we've lost a third of our squads..."
"For every one of them we kill, they kill three of ours. We can't sustain these numbers."
"We can't even perform an emergency fold because the drives were taken... Damn the fallen Federation. And NUNE is hardly better, already crumbling-"
"Enough." Mishima tries to bring a little order to the discussion amongst the admirals, "We still have some weapons that should prove useful against the Vajra. Initiate the Battle Frontier's launch procedure, we'll enter the fight ourselves."
The admirals-who are very much used to giving orders from behind the lines-look at Mishima with a mixture of fear and concern. One even goes so far as to start saying, "Chief Mishima-" But Mishima cuts him off with a heavy stare. The admiral then corrects himself with, "President Mishima... If the Battle Frontier falls-and us along with it-the fleet will be directionless."
"There won't be a fleet left at this rate." At Mishima's retort, the admirals are obviously trying to come up with some counterargument to avoid risking their own necks. But Mishima simply orders again, "Launch the Battle Frontier!" Once more the numerous bridge operators get to work.
"Lowering armored bulkheads. Retracting walkways. Disengaging docking clamps."
"Bringing thrusters and engines online. Plotting launch course. Forward vector is clear of obstacles."
"Shutting down transfer grid between Island One and Battle Frontier. Conduit one, shutdown. Confirm ejection. Conduit two, shutdown. Confirm ejection. Conduit thr-"
"Detecting huge defold signature directly ahead of us!"
Sure enough, a huge circle of prismatic light forms in the middle of the final defense line, signaling something exiting from fold space. A couple of ships positioned right in front of the exit start to turn, trying to avoid whatever's coming.
The large, green form of a Vajra Knight-class battleship starts to emerge from the fold window. The smaller warships in its path don't have nearly enough time to evade it as they are slammed into by the much larger vessel. Their hulls buckle and tear apart, explosions starting to blossom along their surface until finally they both go up completely.
The Knight-class finishes de-folding, apparently unconcerned with the two warships it just crashed into. It immediately proceeds to separate its large forward section, the two halves sliding away from each other and revealing the ominously shining purple crystal situated at the back.
Being familiar with the huge Vajra organism, everyone on the Battle Frontier's bridge knows what's coming next. Mishima acts quickly, "Emergency sever the remaining conduits and engage the pinpoint barrier to fore!"
The operator in charge of that replies, "But sir, taking a hit like that in this stage of the launch, we risk overloading the power grid!"
Mishima quickly counters, "And if we don't, there's an even greater risk of a power surge transferring into the colony! I won't allow it to be destroyed like that." Especially not when he has just become the president.
Just as the Battle Frontier quickly cuts off the remainder of the conduits connecting it to Island One, the Knight-class fires its bio-quantum cannon. The huge beam tears through space, heading right for the Battle Frontier. Multiple barriers of light appear just beyond the tip of the Macross battleship, the swirling column of energy hitting a moment later. The barriers hold the beam back, sending the energy splashing all around the battleship and thankfully, the larger colony ship behind it. A few of the fleet's support vessels are caught in the spray of energy, exploding as they are ripped apart by it.
But finally the light from the huge cannon dies down and the Battle Frontier is still there. Though there are numerous arcs of energy dancing across its surface.
On the bridge, everyone is still recovering from nearly being vaporized. Unfortunately that's about the only good news.
"All engines are down! Seventy three percent of thrusters are offline."
"Integrated weapons systems are offline, we only have the Destroids."
"Pinpoint barrier unresponsive, the generators have been destabilized. Engineering estimates that even if they can get them operational again, we won't be blocking another shot like that any time soon."
Mishima grips the armrests of his chair tightly as the ship is rendered essentially helpless. Why did this have to happen now? Even as the crew of the Macross begin initiating desperate repairs, Mishima can only watch as dozens of new Vajra swarm out of the Knight-class vessel, adding greater numbers to their already overwhelming force.
-=-=-=-=-
Alto brings the Mobile Soldier he's chasing into his crosshairs and pulls the trigger. The Messiah's gunpod unloads a burst of bullets into the smaller Vajra, blowing away chunks of its shell but not killing it. It quickly swirls through space, escaping Alto's aim for a moment.
Alto spins his fighter, turning to follow after it. He manages to bring it back into his line of fire again, unleashing another burst of gunpod rounds, then another, until finally he's able to chip away enough of its armor and shred the Mobile Soldier in half.
Alto's breathing a little heavily at this point. Having this much trouble taking down just one Vajra is very concerning. He's about to start looking for the next target when a giant flash of light draws his attention. He turns to watch as the Knight-class unleashes its cannon against the Battle Frontier. His heart stops for a moment, but thankfully the Macross vessel survives mostly intact. Though it's not looking good.
"Shit!" Alto flips his fighter, pointing it back towards the Battle Frontier and pushing the engines hard. Starting to rocket back to the capital ship, Alto can see the Vajra launching from the Knight-class. He radios to his allies, <"We can't let the Battle Frontier be destroyed!"> As far as Alto is aware, the Macross's main cannon is the only thing they have here that'll take down a large Vajra battleship like that.
That and Ranka and Sheryl are onboard.
Charging the new Vajra arrivals, Alto activates the missile targeting for his Armored Pack, his eyes darting over the smaller creatures emerging from the larger one. The sensors in his cockpit pick up the movement of his eyes, assigning missile locks before he pulls the trigger. The micro-missiles blossom out of the Armored Pack's launchers, dancing through space to close in and explode amongst the group of Vajra.
They don't take too kindly to the attack though, a number of them spinning around and unleashing their own missiles in response.
Alto is not the only target either as the new group of Vajra split up, starting to engage the Frontier's defense fleet as well as its allies.
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Leon Sakaki with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Fire! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Rose Tritten with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Converge! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Astarte Spalding-Monteiro with Vajra Bio-Cannon Tearing Shot! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Aurora Dusk with Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Guiding Swarm! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Lucine Azul with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Rapid Advance! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Liam O'Maol Chonaire with Vajra Armored Claws Heavy Impact! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Rin Naujakaite and Sagiri Sakurai with Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Shinji Kaminaga with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Converge! KTS: Weekly Seijin has deployed in Vajra Knight Class. KTS: Weekly Seijin has deployed as a Boss for 9 opponents. KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Rin Naujakaite engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage, taking 4128 damage! <Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
Hearing Sheryl say that of Alto, "What?" Her red hued eyes grow wide, though then Sheryl might notice afterwards, Ranka doesn't seem elated in the least, by her misunderstanding of the situation before. If anything... "Oh... Oh I see." ... if anything she seems depressed?
Obviously she has questions, but she doesn't press to answer right now, instead they just swarm around in her mind without release.
Goodbye? Why? Is she leaving again?
Why wouldn't it work out? Have her feelings changed?
What happened? I don't get it!
But most of all, a thought, predominates.
This isn't what I wanted...
Ranka is so abuzz with tension, that she only looks back at Sheryl at her surprise over Grace. Grace is smiling, but she looks so worried, and Sheryl?
"... I guess they have a lot to talk about." Ranka comments to Brera, who nods in reply, even as the ship lurches from the launch, and Brera steadies her, just before Ranka feels something-
"... It's worse. It's so much worse than-" She makes a noise of distress, just a second or two before the ship rocks as if it was struck by a tectonic quake in space, the pinpoint barrier taxed by the sudden enormous beam, and Ranka shrieks.
Brera in that moment braces himself, before pulling her in as the pair strike the wall hard enough that a section of it buckles against Brera, but he seems apparently unfazed, as he holds her for a moment, and without asking, puts her helmet on her head, securely, adjusting it on.
"Brera?" "... Only minor damage. Keep your helmet on." Before Ranka looks towards Sheryl and Grace, "Are you both alright!?"
By then Grace is merely adjusting her glasses, as the incident finally did what Sheryl commanded, she's no longer touching her.
"... Sheryl and I are fine. Keep moving, Ranka."
Brera stands up on her feet, and keeps ushering her onwards, right towards the stage, which is built with the illusion that she'll be standing on deck, singing in space for the soldiers.
Obviously, that doesn't occur, but the pageantry is important, if she's hoping to inspire.
But as she does, she stops, seeming the full scope of the Vajra in question, the Knight Class ahead, the wreckage of the ships it crashed through. Flyers buzzing every which way as Bio-Lasers and Mauler Beams trade shots at each other in the dark.
And Ranka just stops, her arms falling limp at her sides.
If I do this then more of them will die
If I don't do this then Alto... Sheryl...
And after... it's Goodbye?
Frozen in place, just a few steps away from going out there and becoming a weapon again. She looks at the monitors, can catch a glimpse of Lucine out there, Liam... even the VTX Union's Carriax (The Tyranado is proving to be a little too hard for her to follow, blame Sagiri's piloting. No wait that's a good thing...)
"... I can't do this. I can't... sing."
Grace immediately says, "Now that can't be right. You're too much of a professional to let a little stage fright get in the way. Just relax, take a breath, and-"
As she tears her eyes away, she says more urgently, a hand closing into a fist at her side. "I can't sing!" And it's at that moment, that Brera says, "You don't have to sing if you don't want to, Ranka." "Brera? Is it... really okay?" And with his arms, he draws her into a hug, "Your songs are like your heart-"
And then his arms seize up, like his enhanced muscles just spasmed around her, and he falls silent for a beat, his eyes momentarily go blank, before he continues...
"... but it is true that sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do. If you can't, then people will die..." His tone, his affect, it's all devoid of feeling, even moreso than before, "... all over again. Is that really what you want?"
"Bre... Brera?" Ranka sounds like she's recovering from emotional whiplash, as she moves back in her arms "Of course I don't want that! But I can't... do this!"
Brera's eyes look down upon Ranka, at the top of her head, past her, through her.
"Then a great many people are going to die because of you." He tells her, matter of factly, to her growing sense of horror, Grace says nothing to Ranka herself for the moment, her glasses reflecting strangely in the lights demarcating the stage from the rest of the deck.
KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro fails to engage evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Tearing Shot! KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Tearing Shot, taking 4160 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Rapid Advance! KTS: Critical Hit! Lucine Azul poorly reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Rapid Advance, taking 4840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Kaiju Navi's Ace Attacker activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Kaiju Navi's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Leon Sakaki engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Fire! KTS: Leon Sakaki's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Leon Sakaki poorly reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Fire, taking 2900 damage! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire fails to engage guard against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Armored Claws Heavy Impact! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Liam O'Maol Chonaire poorly reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Armored Claws Heavy Impact, taking 3740 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Kaiju Navi's Ace Attacker activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Kaiju Navi's Defiance activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Kaiju Navi repulses Liam O'Maol Chonaire, preventing him from Charging the next attack! KTS: Rose Tritten has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rose Tritten engages parry against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Converge! KTS: Rose Tritten moderately reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Converge, taking 2940 damage! KTS: Aurora Dusk engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Guiding Swarm! KTS: Aurora Dusk's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Aurora Dusk successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Guiding Swarm, taking 3420 damage! <Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
This isn't what any of them want, is it? And yet, it's how things are going anyway. Even right in front of each other, they can't communicate their hearts clearly. When disappointment scribbles over Ranka's expression, Sheryl can only wonder what's wrong. That can't be helped, though. There's so much going on, too much for them to keep a conversation going--and too many people Sheryl can't trust in their midst.
The ship rocks as the Vajra pour on their attacks. Sheryl yelps as she stumbles to one side, nearly crashing into the hallway wall. Grace doesn't move to catch her like Brera catches Ranka; she doesn't lose her footing, either, her expression remaining steely calm.
Naturally, Grace speaks for Sheryl when Ranka calls out to them. Sheryl glares at Grace again, but at least this time she's keeping her hands to herself. She pushes herself to her feet. "Yes. Let's go," she says coolly.
As Brera escorts Ranka to the stage, a communication request comes in on one of the side monitors from the VTX Union's ship, the Carriax--specifically, a request for Sheryl. When the video-line patches through for her, the bushy-moustached face of Elmo Kresnik, Ranka's former manager, bulges forward.
"Miss Sheryl!! Thank goodness you're all right! Miss Sagiri and the others have been worried sick about you!!" he utters, somewhat thoughtlessly. Over his shoulder, to Hirosuke and the rest of the Carriax communications crew, he shouts, "Mr. Amasaki!! Everyone!! I've got her on the line!! She's okay!!" Back to Sheryl, he continues, "Obviously we've got to get through this crisis first, but once the Vajra are--huh? I-is that Ranka?"
"Yes," Sheryl replies, following his holographic stare over to Ranka on stage. "She's about to sing... but..."
But it's clear at a glance that Ranka is in no state to perform. She can't even grit her teeth and smile through her anxiety. Sheryl can't entirely blame her--Ranka made it clear she hates being an anti-Vajra weapon--but... even before she says the words, Sheryl knows what Ranka is going to say.
"Ranka..." Elmo murmurs, moustache drooping.
Sheryl purses her lips, but doesn't say anything. As much as she hates to agree with Grace on anything right now, she does have to agree with her. Ranka's the only one who can do this.
...Yet Brera doesn't agree. He walks in to reassure Ranka, to tell her she doesn't have to sing--
--only for something to go terribly wrong with him.
"Brera?" Sheryl utters, eyes widening. He suddenly changes his tune--and indeed, there's a quality to his tone that her sharp ears pick up on. It's both like and unlike him. It's too much like him. It's nothing at all like him, not when Ranka's concerned. It's like--
Sheryl whips her head around to stare full-bore into Grace. The glint on her glasses hide her expression, but she lifts her head slightly to meet Sheryl's eyes. The corner of her lips quirks up just a bit.
"What's the matter, Sheryl?" she asks lightly.
"What are you doing? What have you done to him?" she demands.
"Me? I don't know what you're talking about," Grace laments, tapping a finger to her cheek. "Brera's just expressing an objective truth right now. Isn't that right, Brera?"
Brera says nothing. There is a certain robotic quality to his stare. But then, that's just logical, isn't it? His body is mostly robotics.
Just like Grace's.
Sheryl's nails dig into her palms as fury chokes her. She'd thought that Brera had betrayed her, but now--now, only now, does she realize the awful truth. "How... could... you?"
"Hmm... More importantly, could you say something to Ranka too, Sheryl?" Grace's light tone belies the coldness in her eyes as she tilts her chin up. "You can't forgive the Vajra either, can you? You need her to do this, just as much as we all do."
Sheryl's teeth grit. Out in space, all over the monitors, people die as they battle desperately against the Vajra. Sooner or later, some of them might include her friends--Sagiri, Rin; Lucine, Alouette; fans, employees, and good soldiers alike... and of course... Alto.
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
Lucine announces herself, and Aurora realises she should probably do that too. But before she gets the chance-
"Hey, who's out there in the trainer Nightmare?!"
Aurora accidentally answers the question. < "This is Wolfhound. Engaging." >
Wolfhound watches the light of the detonating missiles blossom. Looks like it... sort of worked? They're off the ship that they were attacking, at least. Unfortunately, some of hers making it through means some of theirs do, and Aurora pulls on the stick, trying to dodge. "I'll try spinning. That usually works. Hang on, Lilium!"
Again, it sort of works. She comes out mostly unscathed. "Alright. Let's try that again." < "Wolfhound, Fox 2." > Another squeeze of the trigger sends another barrage of micromissiles towards the mass of approaching insects. Damn, that's a LOT of bugs. And the reaction weapons barely worked? Let's hope that song does. Aurora peers out of her canopy and sees... ah, there's Leon over there... and there's Liam and Lucine. < "Hound-1, is it?" >
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
"Evasive maneuvers!" The helm cries out as the attack glances off the side of the One Fine Day, causing the bridge to violently shake and the captain to nearly fall out of her chair, caught by Xiao. "Captain..."
"I'm fine. But we've got other things to worry about." As the ship turns, the Vajra ship comes into view. Astarte grips at her chest. She can feel her blood pressure rising. Today was not a good day. "Leave the small fry to the infantry. Concentrate fire on the ship!"
"Roger! Firing anti-ship missiles!"
The Nazca's launching system opens, a large missile shooting up into the space and coming down to descen onto the Vajra battleship.
KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro targets Weekly Seijin with Vertical Launching System Anti-Ship Missile!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
Through grit and professionalism alone, Leon blasts away one Vajra, but in half the time, four more have taken its place, like an insectoid hydra. A warning alarm from Brunnhilde on his portside blares loudly, and Leon swears.
"You've got to be $%^#ing kidding me."
Leon barely dodges out of the way as the One Fine Day turns two Vajra to cinders, only for the Prophecy to be sprayed down by another, taking heavy shots to his Pinpoint Barrier. Leon groans as the lights flash red and Brunnhilde screams at him. Pulling his stick to the side, the space around him spins like a cycle in the wash as the Prophecy performs a roll.
"Come on" As the Prophecy spins upwards, Leon kicks the legs out into a partial Gerwalk, boosting backwards to place himself behind the two Vajra, before unleashing a volley with his internal Vulcan machine guns.
KTS: Leon Sakaki targets Kaiju Navi with ES-25A High Speed Machine Guns Shredding Burst! KTS: Aurora Dusk targets Kaiju Navi with Aircraft Missile Array Lock! KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Valor Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
The Trio regroup, just as warning alarms blare. The multiple mobile warriors close in for yet another one of those damned multi-angle ramming attacks. "Oh CRAP! SCATTER!" Rose ordered, and the three ZAKU Warriors dashed apart as the warriors rammed into each other, Rose's Blaze ZAKU narrowly avoiding damage as her beam tomahawk slice down amongst them, her ZAKU quickly kicking off afterwards. As the beams of weaponized energy scream past, Rose sees the One Fine Day moving to engage the big one, with the little buggers closing in.
"Pixies, back to the One Fine Day, we have to protect Captain Astarte while she fights the battleship!"
The trio scream back to their mothership, engaging as many of the smaller targets as they can along the way.
KTS: Rose Tritten targets Kaiju Navi with AGM138 "Firebee" Guided Missile Barrage! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga fails to engage guard against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Converge! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga moderately reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Swarm Converge, taking 2430 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi rattles Shinji Kaminaga, making his next maneuvers more difficult. <Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
Someone speaks of her - someone speaks *warmly* of her - and Rin finds her focus returning now instead of to those not-so-long-ago halcyon school days. Here she is. Now she is. "Heh! I'll do my best, but are you gonna approve overtime for me~~?" Rin sing-songs back to Sagiri.
That is as far as it can really go, because there are a *shitload* of targets out there. Rin reaches into the little packet on her VTX-issued flight suit and takes out two slightly pinkish pills, throwing them in her mouth and crunching them even as Scorn continues his beam-barrage -- but his active cap power is draining off.
He jerks, he recoils, hit by strikes; one wing slaps outwards, improvised and emergent AMBAC. Rin would be proud of that alone, but even for an accelerated mind there is a metric crapload of other stuff to see. She watches the ZAKUs for a moment, wordlessly praying that they'll survive -
"Scorn, dump payload, watch Carriax," Rin instructs, and literally 200 milliseconds after 'dump payload', there is a bright streak as Scorn fires a missile at a Heavy Fighter, with several others following it up as Scorn, indeed, pops off his entire grip of rounds. (Scorn has not been approved for the deployment of Reflex weaponry. Think of it as a life goal, Scorn.)
Rin communicates quietly with Rancor - the more lupine one - "Hey, you remember the island?"
y_
"Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it?"
y_
"We may have to dual thrust into this," Rin tells the mechanoid. "I dunno yet. They should be getting on stage. You ready...?"
pinp.barr_install?_
"C'mon man, I'm not a sorceress," Rin huffs.
y_
"That's what I like to hear." A beat passes, at least for Rin.
And she speaks to Sagiri, to the Carriax: "... Feels pretty thick... maybe we should try karaoke?" It has the growing tone of whistling past the graveyard.
KTS: Rin Naujakaite targets Kaiju Navi with Scorn - Behold! A Missile! KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to engage Guard against Leon Sakaki's ES-25A High Speed Machine Guns Shredding Burst! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Leon Sakaki's ES-25A High Speed Machine Guns Shredding Burst, taking 2160 damage! <Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
SSSP's Takamura nods at Alouette, motioning her to a spare seat with an unoccupied laptop. "Good to have you," he says, though that's about all he's got given the circumstances. "One of our analysts is out overseeing evacuation, so we could use the eyes."
Non-Particle Physicist Akihisa Taki huffs, "Always comes back to the particle weapons," with a fake-but-not-THAT-fake quip to Alouette's proposal. Yumi Funaberi taps at the table with her finger, contemplating. "As near as I know, adaptations don't occur on a battlefield scale. It's generational, presumably. Adaptation is learned and somehow engineered into the young..." She scratches her head, squinting. "The one thing they haven't worked around is Fold Wave-imbued communication. Is the singing our only shot...it didn't seem to work earlier. Is it possible they've adapted to that, too?"
Ultraman isn't actually SSSP's 'ally' so much as he's their 'pet problem', and indeed they seem more focused on speculating solutions to the Vajra situation than Ultraman, at first. That changes when he's SWARMED, what must be dozens of creatures crawling all over the Ultraman's enormous silver body. He sweeps and kicks, but there's little he can do about getting chewed on. Except for...how he doesn't get chewed on.
*
"Almost like they're barely even physically interacting," Taki grunts, watching the data come in. "No damage at all. He's getting affected, but the body is barely phased."
Yumi pipes in, "What was it the spectrometer said about composition?"
Hiroko scoffs. "Pure cesium. Which it does not behave like in any way."
*
Soon, Ultraman disappears under a wave of Vajra, mountains of them clambering on and over.
This lasts until a brilliant bead of light forms within the wave, and an explosion of star-white light erupts from within it, a beam of scratchy light crashing out from the swarm and raking across it. Ultraman flies out soon after in total silence, charging at full speed toward the massive defolding Vajra Knight-class battle-body.
*
The rattling from the Bio-Quantum Cannon calms, and Taki releases a puff of breath. "We're gonna need some counters for that," he mutters.
Yumi sucks her lips, concerned. "Everything they do shows just how incredible this universe can be. A living creature that thrives in Fold Space. Inborn biological quantum weaponry." She shakes her head. "Don't suppose there's anything that'll destabilize the reaction..."
KTS: Shinji Kaminaga targets Kaiju Navi with Repelling Spacium Beam 133! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Kaiju Navi engages guard against Aurora Dusk's Aircraft Missile Array Lock! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Kaiju Navi poorly guards Aurora Dusk's Aircraft Missile Array Lock, taking 2945 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Aurora Dusk's Hands Stained the Colour of Wrongdoing activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai fails to engage evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Wide-Area Barrage, taking 4386 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages intercept against Rose Tritten's AGM138 "Firebee" Guided Missile Barrage! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Rose Tritten's AGM138 "Firebee" Guided Missile Barrage, taking 2257 damage! KTS: Weekly Seijin engages guard against Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's Vertical Launching System Anti-Ship Missile! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Weekly Seijin poorly guards Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's Vertical Launching System Anti-Ship Missile, taking 4700 damage! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga targets Weekly Seijin with Repelling Spacium Beam 133!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
< "It won't." > Lucine doesn't have it within her to sugarcoat her agreement. < "But we got here in time." > Will it be enough? That's for the future to reveal, and everyone to do their best to earn from the jaws of demise.
The maneuver between Owl and Hound produces results, though the numbers of Vajra still are innumerable.
Which makes the follow-up to their attack harder to deal with, as the few that evade Liam's attack fire on Lucine, which she's unable to properly evade.
Brandishing its glaive, the Dianthus attempts to slice through several of its pursuers, though this may do little to turn the tide.
In the end, all they may be doing is buying time, but for what? Lucine's eyes widen as she feels the new entity enter the battlefield. < "This is..." >
.... something far too big for the Dianthus to intervene in, by herself. < ".... Hound-1, I'll follow your lead." > If they go focus on one or the other, they'll go together.
Against the backdrop of psychic noise and too much distance between hearts, Lucine has little clue that she and all the pilots here, are practically held hostage.
... all of it, to get Ranka to sing.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Kaiju Navi with CL0-V3 Glaive Crescent Cross! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages evade against Rin Naujakaite's Scorn - Behold! A Missile! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi moderately reacts to Rin Naujakaite's Scorn - Behold! A Missile, taking 0 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi fails to engage Charge against Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Crescent Cross! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Crescent Cross, taking 3300 damage! <Pose Tracker> Liam O'Maol Chonaire has posed.
"Of course it won't," Liam says, in full agreement with Lucine and Alto. "But we can't do nothing." On top of their adaptation, the Vajra have always had the advantage of overwhelming numbers. There's so many of them that even Liam's augmented nerves can't process the rush of input fast enough. His focus has deliberately narrowed to the field around the Dianthus and the Balor, and--
"Aurora," Liam says, into the open comm. "Yeah. Stay safe." As if words alone could guarantee that. Liam pushes himself a little more, and marks the Nightmare as a priority.
The Heavy Soldier rushes the Balor. Liam jets back and away, raising the machine's thickly-armored left arm to guard. Talons sink into the Balor's armor, peeling off plates the size of small cars. The outer, ablative layer starts to flake off around the cuts. Liam responds in kind. The Balor's left hand drives towards the Vajra in an open-palm strike, and at the same time, it twists back on its axis, and jets downwards.
Space tears open. "Shit," Liam hisses, as the Knight makes its entrance. "Shit! New plan, Lucine!" The Balor's built to take down kaiju, like that big one that just appeared. It raises its arm, and the massive gun built into it disgorges a megaparticle beam big enough to swallow a Mobile Suit whole. Liam rakes the beam down the Knight-class' flank, in what seems like a desperate attempt to blunt its momentum before it rams.
Liam's breath hitches. He thinks back to his first meeting with Ranka and Alto, in the days after he escaped. "No," he says. "NO YOU DON'T!" The Balor's main gun starts to cool, but Liam can't afford to wait to take another shot. The Akashima surges forwards, trying to shoulder-tackle the massive Vajra battleship.
That's the desperate play, here. His machine's the only thing big enough to maybe deflect it.
KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire's The Hound activates! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire targets Weekly Seijin with EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - Snapshot! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire's Tactical Intelligence activates Focus! POT: Lilium Valerie is no longer set observer.
KTS: Lilium Valerie is now subpiloting for Aurora Dusk. <Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
At the fringes of the screen, Sheryl will find Meryl Spanner and Hirosuke Amasaki - calm as ever - waving from over Elmo's shoulder.
Only the very tops of Amies Ernest's glasses can be seen peeking over the impossible boundaries 'barely being Elmo's shoulder height', but at the very least, the ominous glasses-glint of her tell-tale glowering at Elmo ceases for a second, which probably means she too is happy to see Sheryl is - relatively - safe and sound.
"It's good to see you're alright, Ms. Nome," Hirosuke says. He pauses for a second before he ventures, calm but cautious: "I hope you're among friends?"
Leaving the implication unspoken but there: -is- she safe? Or does she find herself in poor company...?
Either way -- an answer might not be easy to come by, in the thick of battle. Especially one as heated as this: the Tyranado and the Test Group Nauja help to cover for the retreat of a warship -- a welcome relief. Less welcome, in a technical sense, is the way the Vajra's aggression turns on -them- instead. Organic warheads spew from the Vajra contingent; Sagiri let's out a less-than-eloquent <"Motherfuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"> as she banks the Tyranado rightwards, the spiral spin of its motion not quite fast enough to get out of the bulk of the explosive ordinance. Missiles blow up in spherical blooms of heat and force, rocking the Tyranado and baking at its armor as Sagiri lets out an even more liberal string of curses and adjusts for the turbulence seizing the mobile suit's cockpit.
<"Eesh! Every time we fight these things, they hit like an even bigger, truckier truck!"> is the esteemed VTX Union manager's teeth-gritting assessment. Her head ducks, turning towards the visual screen to the right. <"Meryl! I need some quality Launcher service! Rami -- spike the power, just for a few seconds!">
<"G-got it!">
<"Launcher launched, ma'am!">
The Carriax, flying by, releases a rifle from its belly; the electromagnetic launch of its bay sends it hurtling through space and into the waiting hands of the Tyranado, optics flaring the same phantasmal green-blue as that charging barrel as it -punches- through the swarm to try to break their ranks, coming to an abrupt, flipping stop just behind them in order to open fire with a sudden barrage of green-blue energy across their backline.
<"Just think of the overtime you'll be getting when you make it out of this, my precious part-timer!"> Sagiri calls out to Rin. The situation is bleak -- and yet, the growing strain in Rin's tone is met with an indefatigable confidence in Sagiri's. Is she that fearless?
No. She's scared as hell.
<"I'll treat you to the best restaurant in the Earth Sphere I know after this, so keep your head in the game, got it?">
But that just means she needs to look out for her people that much more.
They have their attention. That's terrible. But it's also good. The more they demand a response, the less Vajra will be attacking the Frontier, the safer Sheryl and Ranka will be -- and the better the chances they'll have of making it out of this alive.
... They just have to make sure they don't bite off more than they can chew in the process.
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai targets Kaiju Navi with Magna Beam Launcher - Focus Shot! KTS: Weekly Seijin fails to engage guard against Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - Snapshot! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully reacts to Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - Snapshot, taking 1840 damage! KTS: Weekly Seijin engages guard against Shinji Kaminaga's Repelling Spacium Beam 133! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Force Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully guards Shinji Kaminaga's Repelling Spacium Beam 133, taking 1360 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi engages evade against Sagiri Sakurai's Magna Beam Launcher - Focus Shot! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi moderately reacts to Sagiri Sakurai's Magna Beam Launcher - Focus Shot, taking 0 damage! <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Merci," Alouette takes a seat, her eyes scanning over the readings on the laptop. Everyone out there is doing their best to fend them off... but their numbers are just so many. She's certain Sho was able to link up with the rest of her Team by now... but even Getter would be hard-pressed to fight off this many of them.
"If it works, it works~" Alouette replies to the quip, though she feels Akihisa, considering her own specialty is unrelated to particle physics. She considers Yumi's words too. "Yes... which allows only one chance to use any given technology on the Vajra to its full effect. If even a small amount of them survive..." She can't say she doesn't understand why the SAL considers the Vajra a threat that will only be stopped once they're all wiped out. "You think that's it? Hmm..." She wonders, about the Vajra adapting to Ranka's song.
Alouette's paying more attention to the key threat of the day - the Vajra, but she does have some curiosity for the strange new Ultraman that joined the fray. "...Hm. I've seen several kinds of Ultramen in action before, but nothing quite like this. If anything, the ones I'm familiar were much more prone to pain than this." Much more expressive, too, she thinks, but that's somewhat besides the point.
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
The Prophecy slams on the breaks, metaphorically, pulling it back behind the Mobile Soldiers chasing it. Now chasing them, Leon unloads with a barrage of bullets. As the streams cross over the Vajra they shake under the assault. One is ripped apart, but the other spins around, beam guns aimed to unload more bolts into Leon's machine.
However, at that point missiles streak in, detonating against the Vajra before it can fire and blow chunks of it off. The Nightmare Plus that fired them rockets past, apparently with the callsign Wolfhound.
The two only have a moment to breathe and chat though, before they seem to draw the attention of the large Vajra capital ship. One of its large turrets mounting twin bio-cannons rotates, pitching up and starting to glow. Large golden bolts, equivalent to those fired by the Heavy Soldiers but in greater number, begin to streak across space towards the two.
It makes sense for the One Fine Day to switch targets to the Knight class. The large organism is huge, even larger than the Macross class battleship that is the Battle Frontier. It's an ideal target for warship grade weaponry.
Unfortunately it also utilizes the Vajra's greatest advantage, their adaptability. The missile fired by the ZAFT ship hits the Knight class, detonating and blowing a chunk out of its structure, though less than one might have hoped. And given its size, it's clearly not a lethal blow. The only saving grace is that the Knight class does not turn its giant cannon on the One Fine Day, as focused on the Battle Frontier as it is.
The threat instead comes from the smaller Vajra the capital ship had unleashed, a new swarm of Mobile and Heavy Soldiers approaching the One Fine Day. The missiles fired by the Tritten team are met with counterfire from the Mobile Soldiers, their beam guns raking out towards the guided projectiles. Some explode prematurely, others make it through to detonate near their targets. A couple of the Mobile Soldiers are blown away, but the others and their larger brethren continue their approach.
Rin attempts to disrupt that formation of Vajra as well. The missiles she fires lock on to the Vajra, which begin trying to out-run and out-maneuver them as they dance through space. Missiles detonate amongst them, catching several of them though failing to actually kill any, just blowing holes in armor and maybe sending a few limbs flying.
The Vajra counter with their own missiles, unleashing a barrage that's not just set for Rin, but also for the One Fine Day, the swarm of bio-micromissiles sweeping in towards both.
Lucine's glaive proves a little more useful than most other weapons here it seems. The Vajra do not typically encounter bladed weapons while fighting in space. Their armor is still thick though as it takes a few blows to cut through one. Thankfully Lucine is able to keep on top of those assaulting her until they are dealt with. After which she moves to follow Liam's lead.
Liam. Who decides to ram the roughly three kilometer long Vajra capital ship. Well, it does kind of work! The Knight class's firing angle is thrown off by a few degrees, which in the vast distances of space actually means quite a bit. Unfortunately the large vessel begins to fight back against his push, starting to turn back in to try and aim once more at the Battle Frontier. The brief delay Liam has brought is no doubt appreciated though.
Not by the Knight class though as turrets nearby to Liam turn and start to unload large amounts of bio-bullets at him.
Many of the Vajra clinging to Ultraman are thrown off by the large blast, though only a few are outright destroyed by it. But this does give him the opportunity to charge the Knight class. Many of the Vajra near to the capital ship aren't going to make it easy through as they move to place themselves between him and their mothership. Some of the larger ones begin to fire their bio-cannons towards him, trying to keep him from reaching the large green vessel. Regardless of what happens to them.
As the Tyranado charges through a swarm of Vajra, the space creatures part down the middle in an almost mesmerizing display of coordination, curving around and back to face the offending Sagiri as she turns around to fire at them. It's not hard to hit a target in this target-rich environment, the problem is hitting the same target twice or more to ensure you kill it. And the Vajra don't make that easy as they start to spiral around Sagiri's machine, bolts of energy raining towards her from multiple directions.
Meanwhile, Alto appears to be receiving a lot of the focus of the Vajra. As if they have a personal grudge against him. Though to be fair, he has killed a lot of Vajra in the past. Still, one must wonder if an alien hive mind can hold a grudge like that.
Regardless of their motives, the fact is that Alto is being pressed hard as more missiles come streaking in towards him. He quickly twists and turns his Messiah, trying to shake off the missiles while the beam vulcans on the top of the fighter try to shoot them down. Through a combination of maneuvers, Alto is able to deal with them, the last of the missiles exploding just short of his engines.
He barely has a moment to breathe though as two Mobile Soldiers come rushing in from the sides. They collide with his fighter, grabbing onto it and starting to tear into it with their claws. Alto quickly jams the flight stick down, triggering a transformation into GERWALK mode. The craft's rapid shifting throws the Mobile Soldiers off and Alto is able to bring the gunpod around to unload into one of them at point blank. It shudders under the assault before finally going limp.
The second sweeps in before Alto can readjust his aim, smashing into the Messiah's arm and knocking the gunpod out of its hands to float off into space. Alto quickly transforms back into fighter mode, blasting off and away from the second Mobile Soldier. At the same time, micro-missiles launch from the Armored Pack to swarm the Vajra as it gives chase. Amidst the explosions, it fires its beam guns, sending several shots sinking into the back of the Messiah. But the Mobile Soldier is overwhelmed by the missiles, blown apart soon after.
As for the Messiah, its main engines go out, the craft only floating along on inertia now. In the cockpit, alarms are sounding as Alto swears, flipping switches and pressing buttons. He reports, <"My reactor took a hit and is down. Main power is gone. I'm running on auxiliary..."> He's out of the fight at this point.
Which is when Alto notices it through the canopy of his cockpit. A Vajra Heavy Soldier, rapidly flying towards him. Alto tries his thrusters, but without the main engines there's no way he's escaping it. The Heavy Soldier slams into the Messiah, wrapping its insectoid limbs around the fighter.
Alto grunts from the impact, taking a moment to recover before looking up out of the canopy...
The Heavy Soldier's large head looms over the cockpit, its beady eyes staring at him. And on its back, the large bio-cannon is glowing, moments from firing. Alto's eyes go wide as he realizes he's not shaking this one off, <"Oh shi-"> He reaches for the eject...
The Heavy Soldier fires, the large burst of golden light piercing through the center of the Messiah with little resistance and leaving a large hole behind. A hole which sparks for just a few moments, before there's a bright light and the Messiah's frame rapidly bulges outwards as it explodes.
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Rin Naujakaite with Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Guiding Swarm! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Astarte Spalding-Monteiro with Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Explosive Dance! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Shinji Kaminaga with Vajra Bio-Cannon Charged Assault! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Sagiri Sakurai with Vajra Mobile Soldiers Coordinated Encirclement! KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Leon Sakaki and Aurora Dusk with Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Searing Spread! KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Rose Tritten and Astarte Spalding-Monteiro with Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers Wide Release! KTS: Weekly Seijin targets Liam O'Maol Chonaire with Vajra Anti-Fighter Bio-Machine Gun Turrets Barrage! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai fails to engage evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Coordinated Encirclement! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai poorly reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Mobile Soldiers Coordinated Encirclement, taking 4900 damage! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire engages evade against Weekly Seijin's Vajra Anti-Fighter Bio-Machine Gun Turrets Barrage! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire poorly reacts to Weekly Seijin's Vajra Anti-Fighter Bio-Machine Gun Turrets Barrage, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Wall Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
As she hears Elmo's voice on Sheryl's feed, Ranka seems surprised to hear him at all, looking sideways at Sheryl and the back of the hologram. She hasn't been able to get in touch with him for months, and there he is, talking to Sheryl on the line. It's not like she thinks he's Sheryl's manager though.
That's Grace, after all.
That she can glimpse the movement of the Carriax's crew behind the feed, just makes her feel worse about who she's letting down, but... she's been ignoring her feelings all along, thinking she had to do something for people, when it was really for...
For...
As Brera's attitude shifts, he keeps a hand on her, even as Sheryl says 'What are you doing? What have you done to him?' And Ranka peeks through the gap in Brera's arm at Sheryl, before eyeing Brera's face again. An objective truth... well, he is in the military...
But he's never... she'd like to believe he'd never-
"You've done this many times before. There's no reason why you'd be incapable now." Brera prompts, again, as if he were wholly unaware of anything else in the room save his attempt to convince Ranka.
Part of her wants to ask, if Sheryl can go on with her. If so, then maybe... but... but no... asking to stand on the same stage just for courage...
It wouldn't be the same as that day, two years ago - so long ago.
But... it's at that moment, that Ranka feels something. There's this sudden strong feeling of desperation...
"Alto?"
And-
Oh shi-
"ALTO?!" Ranka wriggles around in Brera's grasp to look out the window, but she can't see him, and for the moment... she can't feel him either, as tears spring in her eyes beneath her helmet, and she begins to blubber pathetically, limply beginning to fall as Brera hoists her up.
"N-no, I can't... I can't... please... I can't."
It hurts too much...
Grace looks momentarily disappointed that Ranka couldn't even hold on for Sheryl talking her into it, and lets out a sigh adjusting her glasses, before she speaks Sheryl's way, still looking at Ranka, "What a truly unfortunate turn of events... if I'd only had longer with her, then perhaps she wouldn't be so fragile." And if Ranka doesn't hear it, then it's only because she's too overwhelmed.
Grace only now turns towards Sheryl, regarding her for a few long seconds as if she were weighing the alternative, "You've been off your medication for quite some time... given that, you should be nearly as capable of controlling the Vajra."
Upon that previously smug countenance, eyes are hidden in the lighting is a smile reluctantly conceding that Sheryl managed to score a point here...
"Perhaps a last minute substitution is in order? As they say... the show must go on."
... by proving that Grace has need of her yet, even in the state she's in. Unfortunately, by the look in her eyes, the chances of Sheryl getting out of here after the battle have just dwindled significantly.
KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro engages intercept against Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers Wide Release! KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro poorly reacts to Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers Wide Release, taking 4680 damage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite fails to engage charge against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Guiding Swarm! KTS: Best Defense! Rin Naujakaite successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Guiding Swarm, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Explosive Dance! KTS: Critical Hit! Astarte Spalding-Monteiro poorly reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Micro-Missiles Explosive Dance, taking 5550 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.
Seeing Ranka see him, Elmo gives her a cheesy, awkward grin as he rubs the back of his neck. Things seem incredibly tense right now, though, so he keeps his trap shut. He has not yet figured out if he should hang up or not, and so stays on the line.
This means that Meryl and Hirosuke get transmitted too, waving to Sheryl from behind Elmo. Amies... is less visible, but ominous glasses-glints always stand out quite well, even if Grace currently has her beat there.
Sheryl smiles at Hirosuke when he expresses his concern, but it's a tight thing. "I've been better," she replies. Is she among friends, though? That smile gets even tighter, particularly in the wake of Grace asking her to say something to Ranka. "...Partially."
Meaning some of this company is poor indeed. But just this second, what can any of them do about that?
Indeed, when Sheryl fails (refuses) to do as Grace requests, it's Brera who speaks, repeating that prompt to sing to Ranka. Sheryl whirls around and marches over to him. She grabs his shoulder, ready to push him around--
Except then Alto shouts what is functionally a mayday, warning that the thrusters on his Messiah are out. The implications of that seize her heart with icy fear, and Sheryl shoots a wide-eyed stare at the viewscreens of the battle at the same time Ranka does.
Just in time to see a Vajra Heavy Soldier curl around Alto's Messiah and fire.
Sheryl claps her hands over her helmet where her mouth would be. Since that's still a good inch away from her lips, there's nothing stopping her from screaming, "ALTOOOOO!!"
She'd always been terrified that he'd die one day on the battlefield. That was why she'd given him that gift on Valentine's Day several years ago of an upgrade to the Messiah's armor. But that Vajra's beam punches through it with ease--pierces it like an earring and burns clean through until there's nothing but scrap left.
How could this happen? How could this happen--that she's got a terminal illness, but he dies before her?
Tears begin to well up in her eyes, throat closing with more screams that don't quite break clear. As her knees shake, threatening to drop her to the floor, though, Ranka ragdolls into Brera's arms.
Are you going to leave a scared little girl all on her own? Sheryl had teased Alto like that, paraphrasing her scolding that day the three of them too refuge in that Frontier shelter together years ago, maybe thirty minutes ago at best. Even so, it's enough to revive her willfulness. No one understands Ranka's pain better than her right now.
She rushes to her side, one hand on Ranka, one on Brera. She doesn't try to pull them apart, though. Not anymore. It's a little familiar, this trio. It's not the same as her, Ranka, and Alto, but they went on that trip to the Global together once to discover the past they share. If Alto's gone--and if Sheryl lets herself think about that too long, agony threatens to distend its maw to swallow her whole--then these two are...
But Grace is spewing some hateful lines now. The words the show must go on break through Sheryl's shattered heart. She gawks at her, astonished, then incensed, thinking at first Grace is mocking her.
"What are you talking about?! I don't have the power Ranka has! My song isn't going to do a damn thing to them! You said it yourself: I wasn't good enough!!"
Grace's smile softens, turns almost rueful, at the reminder of their fateful conversation at the end of last September. "That's what I thought. But you're a little too good at thriving in adversity, my Fairy-9." She strides forward, crowding Sheryl, pushing her away from Brera and Ranka, locking eyes with her. Voice low enough that they won't overhear, she murmurs, "Without your Witchcraft, I thought you'd die miserably before long. After all, once the V-type infection moves into your brain, death is just a few steps away. But there's a side effect that comes with that, it turns out." Her smile fades; her face darkens. "With them active there, their fold waves can broadcast through your song. In short, you can do what Ranka can do now."
Sheryl has already been forced into a retreat. Her face is pale beneath her helmet. "Wh--... You're lying!"
"Why would I lie about this now?" she counters with a frown. "It's not even a hypothesis. Back during the recent attack on Lagos, you sang, didn't you? That annoying little ex-manager of Ranka's" (grace he's right there (grace knows and does not care)) "helped broadcast your voice. It wasn't just the Little Queen that influenced the Vajra then. I monitored the fold waves; there's no mistake." Something in her violet eyes flickers. "You're still going to die soon, so I would have preferred to keep using her, but... I have no complaints about your strength."
Sheryl stares back, stunned. Her blood is roaring in her ears. Alto is... gone--Ranka can't function--Brera's being controlled--Grace has still betrayed her... and she'd still ask her to sing?
To alight the stage again and rock the galaxy, as she swore that day so long ago?
She smiles coldly, settling into herself. "Is it fun to say 'you're still going to die' as you ask someone for a favor?"
Grace chuckles and retrieves Sheryl's iconic golden microphone from her sleeve. "Very," she says as she holds it out.
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rose Tritten engages evade against Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers Wide Release! KTS: Best Defense! Rose Tritten moderately reacts to Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Missile Launchers Wide Release, taking 0 damage! KTS: Aurora Dusk engages evade against Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Searing Spread! KTS: Aurora Dusk's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Aurora Dusk successfully reacts to Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Searing Spread, taking 3040 damage! KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
Leon makes a noise of exertion as he rips the first Vajra to shreds, and then lets out a sigh of relief as the Nightmare Plus roars by - only to stop. Is that - the - Is that the girl from the concert?
"Wolfhound, identify yourself! What the hell are you doing here?" Leon moves into formation on her wing, feeling panic and stress creeping up on his mental state once again. She was supposed to be in the shelter!
"Skull 4, hold on, I'll swing around to assist," Leon responds to Alto's distress call over the radio. He's too late, though, as the Heavy Soldier crawls onto Alto's canopy and obliterates it in a flash of golden light.
"ALTO!" Leon screams, watching as the Messiah's pieces fly out into space.
"Skull 4, respond! Skull 4! Do you read me?!" Leon pleads over the radio. No, no, no, no no no! This couldn't be happening again.
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
"Evasive maneuvers! Intercept that artillery!" Astarte curses as the ship has to deal with attacks on multiple sides, not particularly handling itself against either.
"Systems are critical, Captain!"
"I can tell." The poor ship wasn't going to last much longer here, especially against THAT, she thinks, squinting her eyes as the battleship barely registers the missile specifcially for destroying battleships. "We could pound at this damn thing all night and not get anywhere... All power to the main cannons! I figure we've got one last shot left in us, and I don't intend on being shrugged off so easily."
The One Fine Day's beam cannons charge up, glowing bright as they collect every spare reserve of power the ship can spare.
"Tritten Team, you're doing damn good out there. We'll keep the doors unlocked in case you need to come home early."
And the cannons fire directly at the Knight with all the ship and crew's got!
KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro targets Weekly Seijin with 120cm High Energy Beam Cannon Focused Assault! KTS: Rose Tritten has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rose Tritten targets Weekly Seijin with Anti-Ship Formation Beta!
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
In a dazzling display of coordinator maneuvering, the trio of ZAKU Warriors dodge, duck, dip, dive and deflect the horde of missiles, sprays of beam fire blasting away missiles before they hit home as others scream past and explode harmlessly. The ZAKUS retaliate, taking new formation and firing away at the approaching mobile warriors around the One Fine Day, heavy beam cannons scything through them from Sushila, whirling pink energy blade slashes from Aspyn, and precise shots from Rose's beam rifle. The battle is getting desperate, and Rose's hands ache as her fingers work at lighting speed to keep her weapons armed and firing.
"We'll stay out as long as we can ma'am!" Rose replies, as the trio scatters once more out of the way of the One Fine Day's primary battery. Like a tri-pointed star, the Trittens try to close in as close as they can, targeting any obvious gaping wounds on the enemy battleship.
KTS: Shinji Kaminaga engages charge against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Charged Assault! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Shinji Kaminaga successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Charged Assault, taking 2700 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"You too, Liam." Aurora wishes her brother well over the open mic as the battle rages on. "Hear that, Lilium? That's my brother. He's a NERV pilot."
Leon takes down a Vajra, but the other prepares to fire on him. It's common sense to support an ally, and Aurora doesn't think much of the idea of Leon getting hit.< "Brace for covering fire." > A series of missiles impact the Vajra, blowing it to bits. < "Splash one." > There's no sound in space, and the shockwaves from the detonation don't carry... but somehow, Aurora can still feel it. Maybe it's her extended senses... she can feel the sensations of the battlefield in her bones. Something else is in there, too. Flying like this, in a hectic dogfight with a ton of enemies, is...
It's fun.
< "Identify? Well, this fighter was going unused, and it was an emergency. Besides, it's safer in a cockpit than on the ground." > It's... not much of an identifying... Leon slides up next to her, and Aurora settles into formation. < "Forming up." >
Aurora suddenly perks up in her cockpit, alerted by sight and something else to the incoming attack. < "Incoming anti-air from that battleship!" > The stolen Nightmare peels onto its side, flying to the side and up, weaving through the golden bolts.
"What in the- What?!" Liam is trying ANOTHER harebrained maneuveur. "Do you see this shit, Lilium?" < "Hound-1, you're flying a little too close to the battleship there..." > The enemy turrets swivel on Liam, and something about that offends Aurora. Something is pulsing inside her chest. What is that feeling?
Anger. Aurora closes on the battleship herself, dodging through the anti-air fire to make an attack run on the turrents. < "No you don't!" >
The Ultraman blows off a bunch of Vajra, and Aurora whistles. "So that's the power of an Ultra..." Eh, not much to do with her. Would be nice to be able to just swat bugs any time she liked.
Aurora peers at Skull-1's aerial dance. "Now that's some fancy flying. I guess he isn't just a pretty face." She double checks that she ISN'T transmitting that. No sense in getting herself killed like that...
No sooner than she stops to admire the Messiah, it's set on by MORE Vajra. "...I kind of want to get him in the arena now. I wonder if he'd respond to an anonymous challenge..." That boy, Leon, works with him, right? Maybe there's an angle there. < "Roger, Skull-4. I'll cover your retreat." > Aurora tries to get one of the Vajra off of him with her beam guns... only to be entirely too late. < "Or not. Skull-4 down."> Leon's taking it pretty hard... Ah, well. Nevertheless,
KTS: Aurora Dusk's I've Accepted the Machine that I Am activates! KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Weekly Seijin accepts Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's 120cm High Energy Beam Cannon Focused Assault! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Weekly Seijin moderately reacts to Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's 120cm High Energy Beam Cannon Focused Assault, taking 4530 damage! KTS: Weekly Seijin accepts Rose Tritten's Anti-Ship Formation Beta! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Weekly Seijin successfully reacts to Rose Tritten's Anti-Ship Formation Beta, taking 3323 damage! KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Aurora Dusk targets Weekly Seijin with Aircraft Missile Array Itano Circus! KTS: Weekly Seijin accepts Aurora Dusk's Aircraft Missile Array Itano Circus! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Weekly Seijin moderately reacts to Aurora Dusk's Aircraft Missile Array Itano Circus, taking 4230 damage! KTS: Leon Sakaki engages evade against Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Searing Spread! KTS: Leon Sakaki's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Leon Sakaki poorly reacts to Weekly Seijin's Vajra Bio-Cannon Turrets Searing Spread, taking 4300 damage! <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Like Liam, Lucine's focus is narrowed; it's hard to spare a single second, even to welcome more help. She doesn't have the benefit of Liam's enhanced senses, just the second by second knowledge that someone, somewhere, has died. ... By luck, she'll be shielded by only knowing them as a passing acquaintance, a fellow pilot who died on the field. Too many, and she'll be overwhelmed, if she lingers too long.
'NO YOU DON'T!' < "Liam, I'm with you!" > The miniscle Dianthus shifts its speed to maximum in order to make it over to the Balor, planting itself onto the Balor's shoulder, as it fires beams from the 'horns' atop its 'crown'.
The beams may not do much against a ship, but it may help give the Balor some measure to more forward.
However, as one measure is tended to, Lucine's mind senses another. Gold eyes widen.
"... Alto." The Dianthus brings up the com on her window, but by that time, Alto's distress call has already been made. Was that the danger, or something else that will come after it?
It's a second too late; her clairvoyance is not meant to allow for that much time.
In the end-- 'Oh shi-'
The noise of battle is too much; Lucine can't even give Alto the quiet observance of feeling the second his death occurred. She can't even move her hands from the controls.
All there is, is tears. A fellow pilot, who died on the field. Too many, and she'll...
".... Alto... I'm sorry." All she could say to him was empty words in the lead-up to his death.
Maybe, Ranka and Sheryl won't realize it until later.
Maybe, they'll all die here.
< ".... Keep going. We owe it to him and everyone else." > Her voice is thick with tears and clenched teeth, holding back the sobs that threaten to come the moment she relents. < ".... Keep going...." >
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul's Morning Star activates! KTS: Lucine Azul targets Weekly Seijin with Lunate Crown v.2 Bolt!
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
Lilium, for her part, has mostly been quiet up until now. She's not sure if this is safer than a shelter, exactly... but she didn't want to be on her own. She pokes her head out from behind the front seat of the Nightmare. "I.. I don't know if this is--"
She winces as something detonates outside the window. "I really don't--"
She pauses. "...Wait, you have a brother? I thought..."
Cutting herself off again, Lilium feels something... off. Someone right next to them was feeling... notably concern--oh. Leon has noticed Aurora is out here. She waves to him from the back seat, a strangely-artificial smile on her face. "Hi! I'm here too!"
"I'm not, like, sure if this was a good idea, bu--ah!"
Aurora peels off to pursue the battleship, throwing her off-centre again. Skull-4... who was that, again... it's so hard to perceive one life among however many are out here...
As the Nightmare moves in to strike the battleship, Lilium--disoriented and scared as she is--decides to put her actual skills... sort of to work. She can't improvise a proper routine under these conditions, not yet, anyway, but she can grab the seat in front of her with one hand, push her fist forwards, and shout--
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
KTS: Lilium Valerie targets Aurora Dusk with Awe! <Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
'Partially.'
The way Hirosuke Amasaki's shades-clad features dim just so is a subtle thing, the kind of calm understatement one might expect from someone who has lived most of their life in the grinder. But it's clear in the subtleties of that expression: Sheryl doesn't have to say anything more than that. 'Partially.' Meaning that some of that company...
"... Understood," Hirosuke says after a moment.
"Just remember -- you are our client. Whatever you need, we will provide. I'm sure Sakurai would agree."
There's not much more that can be done than this: offer assurance.
"Keep that good head on your shoulders, Ms. Nome."
That no matter what happens, Special Section 3 will have Sheryl's back. Even if the situation looks bleak.
And looks bleaker by the moment; those assurances might fall on deaf ears, given what happens next. Alto Saotome's Messiah falls. And Sagiri knows enough about the situation, at least, to know who that is -- and who that is to Sheryl and Ranka especially.
Pastel green eyes widen as the Tyranado casts aside the spent Magna Launcher. "Shit--" she begins, only to notice her -own- precarious situation -- surrounded by cosmic apex predators. "Shit!! Rami, hold on tight, we're going into evasive--"
Sagiri's reaction times are nothing to scoff at; but even she finds herself pressed when so utterly surrounded. Lances of energy collide with the Tyranado, the initial volley hitting cleaning and punching holes through the armor of the experimental weapon in a series of violent explosions before Sagiri manages to peel -out- of the hellacious onslaught; smoking and sparking, the Tyranado weaves through space, trying to rocket through the first opening it finds even as Rami reroutes the Quark Drive's output entirely into its thrusters. Phantasmal energy bleeds off the joints of the mobile suit like gushing veins as it darts through bugs, sustaining fire on its way out.
At the end -- the Tyranado, banged up but still functional, comes to a stop above the horde.
<"Ma'am, systems are at fifty percent -- I-I don't think we can take many more hits like that--">
<"Then we'll take as many as we can, Rami!"> Sagiri's eyes narrow, her teeth clenching. <"We're keeping Ranka and Sheryl safe! I'm not letting that kid go out for nothing--!">
<"... I know... then... we'll need something to harness the Quark Drive's full output.">
<"Exactly what I was thinking. Meryl! Order up, get me a Striker!">
<"It's already en route, ma'am!">
<"That's my girl! Let's show these buggy bastards what we're made of!">
A massive, oblong shape jets out of the Carriax; so large and heavy that when the Tyranado catches it, it lurches -forward- from the weight and momentum of the thing. The narrow front of it hisses open, revealing a two-pronged barrel that quickly begins charging with a crackling, electrical swath of ephemeral green-blue energies.
<"Ma'am, the Quark Drive's still winding up--">
<"Then let's give them a little love tap to say hello first! Firing!">
The Tyranado, optics ablaze, squeezes the trigger. And a great, but short-lived, column of blinding green energy -pistons- down into the ranks of Vajra, sweeping wide in its short wake to consume anything that gets in its way.
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai targets Kaiju Navi with Mega Buster Striker - Standard Fire! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Sagiri Sakurai's Mega Buster Striker - Standard Fire! KTS: Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Sagiri Sakurai's Mega Buster Striker - Standard Fire, taking 4160 damage! <Pose Tracker> Liam O'Maol Chonaire has posed.
One of the downsides to Liam's choice is that it's all or nothing. The Knight-class is immense, and if his desperate maneuver is to have any effect, he has to go in as fast as he can. For a fleeting moment, he sees the ship shift, imperceptibly, buying the Battle Frontier a few precious seconds.
"I know," Liam grates out, between gritted teeth. "We can't lose that ship!" Unfortunately, the Knight-class isn't just going to let that go, and its turrets have enough of an arc to fire at threats at point-blank range. The Balor's pinpoint barrier wells up just in time to deflect part of the first volley--but the second and third score long, dark lines in the Akashima's leg and torso.
Alto reports in, and Liam swears under his breath. "Hold on," he says, urgently, pleadingly. "Lu or I will get--"
'Oh shi-'
In many ways, the destruction of Alto's Valkyrie is just one more point of light among the stars. But Liam sees it, and as it plays out, his gaze focuses. His breath hitches again. The image etches itself into his mind. His hands tighten around the yokes.
"Bastards," Liam hisses, through lips pulled tight with tension. With the Dianthus still on its shoulder, and Liam maneuvering to keep Lucine out of likely arcs of fire, the Balor jukes back just enough to give itself a little maneuvering room. The barrel of its gun glows brilliantly, and a moment later, more megaparticle fire blazes towards the Knight-class!
KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire targets Weekly Seijin with EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - Focus Fire! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire's Tactical Intelligence activates Valor! KTS: Weekly Seijin accepts Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Bolt! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Weekly Seijin poorly reacts to Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Bolt, taking 2750 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Lucine Azul's Bright Eyes activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Lucine Azul begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
Yumi points at Alouette with a nod, pulling a chocolate bar from her purse. "Even if it's generational, they breed in a big hurry, apparently. Fortunately, it's not full acclimation immediately, but that still leaves a diminishing window...especially since they're getting more serious on an offensive end, too." She says, as if they weren't all in incredible danger of getting cored out by terrifically powerful quantum insect beams. "Even when we try to shift tactics to primarily fold-based ones, they always seem a step ahead. I wonder what we're missing..."
Tamura, at the head of the table, hums and leans back to cross his arms. "Even an insect will think twice if you ask it nicely to stand still and get shot up enough times, huh...?"
Yumi and Taki both grimace in recognition of the point.
*
Ultraman is bombarded - blast after blast of ferocious cannon fire rip into the Silver Giant. The first seems to wash across him harmlessly, but the second, third, each slow him down, until one can finally knock him completely out of posture and send him tumbling backward in space.
*
"Yeah, see here?" Taki says, pointing at a heat map of the blast exchange raining down on Ultraman on his own screen for Alouette. "He behaves like he's got mass, sure - couple thousand tons, even - but so far that surface is completely unaffected."
*
Ultraman brakes in open space, antigravitational forces allowing him to simply decide to stop moving backward. Then he rotates - spinning around his own short axis with no concern for the G forces that would pulverize a human brain in this situation, he builds up speed and then releases himself forward, sending Vajra flying as a ball of Ultraman's fists and feet whips forward like a saw to buzz toward the Knight-class.
KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga targets Kaiju Navi with Frictionless Rotational Energy!
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
Scorn looms over the Carriax. Over is relative - above its vertical plane - but this does seem to have a certain shape to it, a certain structure, doesn't it? Rin thinks so, anyway... but she might be hallucinating on a subliminal level.
Rin's eyes saccade as she watches the other units, A smashing meteor into a Vajra capital 'ship'. Sakurai smashing forwards, who swarm towards the Tyranado. Rin exhales and after a single glance towards Liam, says in a quiet tone aloud: "That's as good a target as any."
> 3_
> 2_
Rin grasps the throttle control.
> 1_GO!!
Thrusting forwards, Rin is pressed back in her seat. She bares her teeth at fate, even as her overcranked brain can take in other things. The Messiah - is that it over there? He's talking. A Vajra weapon. Rin's eyes widen.
There isn't enough time to let her mind rest on that. Instead, Rin, still thrusting while quasi-docked with Rancor, raises up the Magna Beam Launcher. "Damn it--"
She's not thinking at all, Rin realizes as streaking Vajra Heavy Fighters flicker in her targeting cone - how she moves her arm, to move her hand, to move the control, to move the Gespy's hand, to orient the Magna Beam Launcher, to fire it. Just happening.
Streak after streak after streak - there's a detonation, they lurch - it's just like a rail shooter, Rin thinks, firing three more times before another sudden swerve does a near 180-rotation, Rancor handling the maneuvering with his eight kilograms of formatted block silicon. For a moment Rin feels like something smashes her right hand, like when you hold out your hand while biking and hit something just glancingly; she does not quite cognite that it was because the Gespenst's left hand just lost its bottom finger and the control recoiled...
'The Quark Drive's still warming up!'
"I'm not the Striker, I'm just the er that Struck," Rin answers Sagiri, if with a strange detachment, shortly before an interception with a cluster of spaceborne life.
KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Shinji Kaminaga's Frictionless Rotational Energy! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Shinji Kaminaga's Frictionless Rotational Energy, taking 4000 damage! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga roots his unit, coming to a standstill and leaving him vulnerable. KTS: Rin Naujakaite targets Kaiju Navi with Magna Beam Launcher - Let's Shooting!! KTS: Alto Saotome's VF-25F Messiah <Fighter Mode> has been disabled. KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Rin Naujakaite's Magna Beam Launcher - Let's Shooting!! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Rin Naujakaite's Magna Beam Launcher - Let's Shooting!, taking 2624 damage! <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
The bridge of the Battle Frontier continues to be a buzz of activity as the numerous operators report on the status of the battle and the quickly dwindling defense fleet. But over the regular chatter, one operator reports somewhat loudly, "Skull-4 has been destroyed!"
5tMishima taps the armrest of his chair. Alto Saotome is a known factor to him. More than that, Mishima has plans that involve him. So for him to die now... Mishima asks, "Status on the pilot?"
"Unconfirmed."
Mishima taps faster at the uncertainty of the situation. However, a voice interrupts his concern:
<"Patience. I expect he has not met his end yet.">
Mishima turns to the screen that shows the handsome face of a familiar long-haired individual, "Chairman Durandal. What makes you believe that?"
From his position on the bridge of the One Fine Day, Gilbert Durandal gives a coy smile back to Mishima, <"Let's just say I believe in destiny. Alto Saotome still has a role to play in the future of this war. To that end."> Durandal turns to look at Astarte, <"Captain, please move the unit in bay six to the launch catapult.">
Mishima looks enthusiastic as he asks, "You brought the prototype with you? When were you going to mention that?"
Looking back at Mishima, Durandal says, <"I was planning to include it as part of the discussion with President Glass. But given the situation... My condolences by the way. He was a good man, if perhaps a little unsuited for the times. It's a stroke of fortune that my meeting with him was scheduled for later today rather than earlier, lest I might have ended up dead alongside him. Wouldn't you say, President Mishima?">
The tapping of Mishima's finger doesn't slow as he replies, "Yes, fortunate indeed." He eyes Durandal over the visual comms for a moment, before turning and ordering to one of the operators, "Get in contact with Saotome."
"Skull-4, do you copy?"
...
"Skull-4, do you copy? Over."
...
"Skull-4, are you receiving? Acknowledge."
...
Finally there is a crackle over the radio before a voice echoes out of the bridge speakers, <"Nnngh... I'm here... What do you want?">
The bridge operator taps in a few commands and then says, "Location confirmed." An image comes up on one of the bridge screens, showing the backdrop of space. It then zooms in a few times until an object can be seen floating. It's Alto's EX-Gear. Partially scorched, with a few chunks of debris embedded in the armor.
-=-=-=-=-
Floating still in the depths of space, Alto doesn't feel particularly good right now. The emergency ejection followed by the explosion of his Messiah threw him through a loop. And while he's feeling sore all over from the event and may have a fractured rib here or there, he doesn't think he's in any immediate danger of his life ending. Not unless a Vajra decides to come along and finish the job.
Which is why right now Alto is happy to just remain still as he floats through space. Because moving hurts. And he doesn't want to draw any attention to himself.
Unfortunately, there's a bunch of voices disturbing his peaceful floating, echoing around inside his helmet. He groans as he tries to focus on them, before saying, <"Nnngh... I'm here... What do you want?">
The image of Leon Mishima appears in a comm window on the HUD of Alto's helmet. Alto recognizes the man, though only by reputation.
Mishima says, <"Saotome. We're sending you a new unit. It's a prototype designed to combat the Vajra. It has a few new systems in it to this end, but the only one you need to worry about right now is the one codenamed 'Fairy Tale'. If you can activate it, this entire battle will end instantly.">
Still a little blurry from nearly dying, Alto asks in confusion, <"... What?">
His answer doesn't come from Mishima though, but instead the system in his own EX-Gear, which reports a new remote connection.
-=-=-=-=-
On the Battle Frontier's bridge, Mishima turns to look at one of his aides nearby, "What's the status on Ranka Lee's song?"
The aide raises a hand to his ear, speaking quietly for a moment, before replying, "There seems to be a situation. She may be unable to perform."
Mishima frowns, saying, "We will need the fold waves from her song if this is going to work. If she isn't in sync with Saotome and the Fairy Tale system, we have no future. Impress upon her the importance of her role in this fight."
"Sir! Something strange is happening!"
Mishima turns back to the screens...
-=-=-=-=-
It hurts...
The Vajra come to a relative stop in space, their limbs and bodies twisting and turning.
It hurts...
The One Fine Day's beams lance out towards the Knight class, cutting across much of its surface. The Tritten team joins in, rushing the large vessel and skimming across its surface. Beams tear into openings already created by the others. Yet more are targeted at the large vessel's turrets, trying to whittle them down and reduce its firepower.
It hurts...
Aurora's missiles rush past the idle Vajra floating around the Knight class, impacting against the capital ship's surface in numerous places and blowing chunks in its armor. Lucine's beams tear at it, carving chunks of armor off.
It hurts...
Sagiri's blinding column sweeps across many of the stationary Vajra, destroying several of the smaller ones and inflicting quite a bit of damage to those that survive. Meanwhile Liam's beam cuts across the Knight class, joining the others in whittling down its large structure.
It hurts...
Shinji's fists and feet lash out at the Knight class, impacting hard against its armor and crushing it inwards at the impact point, creating a large crater in the capital ship's side. Rin blasts her way through the swarm, taking advantage of their strange state to land multiple shots in quick succession, taking advantage of previous damage to destroy a number of them.
It hurts too much...
The Vajra freeze completely.
They then all turn towards those defending the fleet who are closest to them, starting to rapidly charge straight at them. There's no tactics, no attempt to evade fire, no aiming their weapons. They just charge, flying straight at their targets. As they close in, they try to latch on.
At which point the bio-energy in their bodies rapidly builds well beyond normal levels and they start exploding in bursts of golden light.
As for the Knight class, it doesn't so much as explode, as its engines light up and it starts to accelerate rapidly. And its course is straight towards the Battle Frontier.
KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Aurora Dusk with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Rose Tritten with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Leon Sakaki with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Sagiri Sakurai with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Liam O'Maol Chonaire with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Lucine Azul with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Shinji Kaminaga with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Rin Naujakaite with Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Kaiju Navi targets Astarte Spalding-Monteiro with Pass! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Sagiri Sakurai engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct, taking 5220 damage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Rin Naujakaite fails to engage evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Best Defense! Rin Naujakaite successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct, taking 4350 damage! KTS: Leon Sakaki has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Leon Sakaki has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga fails to engage guard against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Shinji Kaminaga successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct, taking 3225 damage! KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Aurora Dusk accepts Lilium Valerie's Awe! KTS: Lilium Valerie inspires awe, increasing Aurora Dusk's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Aurora Dusk successfully reacts to Lilium Valerie's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Aurora Dusk fails to engage evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Aurora Dusk's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Aurora Dusk successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct, taking 3840 damage! KTS: Rose Tritten fails to engage Evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Rose Tritten successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct, taking 4640 damage! KTS: Weekly Seijin accepts Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - Focus Fire! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Weekly Seijin poorly reacts to Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - Focus Fire, taking 3960 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Liam O'Maol Chonaire's Sick of the Cycle activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire bypasses Weekly Seijin, preventing it from Guarding the next attack! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: [Lucky] Leon Sakaki's Good Luck Charm activates, and luck goes his way! KTS: Leon Sakaki engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Leon Sakaki's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Leon Sakaki poorly reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct, taking 5300 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul engages evade against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Best Defense! Lucine Azul moderately reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct, taking 0 damage! KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro accepts Kaiju Navi's Pass! KTS: Best Defense! Astarte Spalding-Monteiro successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Pass, taking 0 damage! <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette nods, at Yumi's words about the Vajra's evolution. "Even if it's not immediate, it's the equivalent of thousands of years of any other species' evolution in the matters of months." That's not the only thing bothering her, though. ""What also concerns me is how the Vajra were able to slip under enough radars to infiltrate the concert in the first place..." Alouette frowns. "You'd almost think it means security wasn't taking their job seriously enough, but considering it's Ranka... it's almost like someone wanted this to happen."
She continues to watch the battle as it continues, keeping her eyes on the readings. She sees Alto's Messiah seemingly explode, and while she can't know that it was the one piloted by the beloved of both Sheryl and Ranka... it does mean they're already starting to take losses out there. If this keeps up... "It's not looking good out there," She murmurs. "Though you're not wrong that Ultraman seems to be holding out better than he should be."
She blinks at what happens next - it's so strange. They finally stop, like they would when exposed to Ranka's music. But then... "They're using... mass kamikaze tactics?" She reports, with each detonation. But her attention remains on the Knight-class. "No... not all of them. Their 'flagship' is planning on taking the Battle Frontier down with it!" Her eyes narrow as she makes a few calculations in her head. The results aren't very good.
KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire engages parry against Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Liam O'Maol Chonaire successfully reacts to Kaiju Navi's Vajra Bio-Cannon Self Destruct, taking 2650 damage! <Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
"I hope your 'destiny' involves some quick repairs to my ship, Mr. Chairman." Astarte had definitely had her questions about why Chairman Durandal requested an escort to a Valentine's Day concert, but things had started to make more sense with the Vajra attack. She also definitely had her reservations about him giving commands to her crew, but he did outrank her. Orders are orders.
She had gotten sick of saying that to herself for the last 20 years.
"You heard the man, bay six to launch."
"Roger!"
Astarte leans back in her seat and sighs. "Launch on your word, Mr. Chairman."
And then the Knight lashes out. Astarte grips at her seat as the One Fine Day had exhausted much of its power in that final shot, and cannot retaliate, though it seems that the One Fine Day is oddly not a target. "The Battle Frontier...!"
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
As Sheryl approaches, Brera hardly responds, if there is a response, then it is beneath so many layers of safeguards that Grace has put into place to ensure he can't act on his own. Despite it all, he still holds her up, Ranka buries her face against Sheryl, sobbing. Her pain transmitted across the Vajra, even when not in song.
It hurts too much
If he's gone then
my fault it's my fault just like
She can't form many words save one, "S-Sheryl...!" And is otherwise inarticulate, inconsolable, as she leans against her. Unlike with Sheryl, the words don't really break through.
Not really.
Just some-
Just-
Sheryl has
like me
then in lagos
There is a dawning recollection in her mind of all the rumors of Sheryl Nome trying to get her killed by controlling the Vajra, she'd dismissed them, everything about them. Of course Sheryl would never... but what if... that's why she got hurt.
But the worst word of all is...
"... die?" Ranka whispers to herself.
It isn't going to work out with Alto and me, you know,
When you saw us kissing, that was me kissing him goodbye.
Ranka's eyes grow wider all of a sudden, as she looks at Sheryl from the side, eyes still full of tears.
"<Nnngh... I'm here... What do you want?>" The comms officer has enough presence, to let that one be heard by all, and Ranka begins to cry again in relief, "Alto...! He's... he's...!" Then she shakes her head, as she bawls out, "... he's- okay!"
Everything is so messed up, completely turned around. If Sheryl is going to die, then... suddenly there's a certain clarity there. She needs more information, but... she knows what she has to do first.
Your voice has power--a power I can't obtain, no matter how much I might wish for it.
"...you should do it." She murmurs softly, because if Sheryl's dying - she can't let that be her goodbye to Alto. If she's been selfish, then... there's one way to make amends for it. "I just... I..." Ranka looks like she's about to say more, but then she suddenly goes limp in his arms, as Brera hurriedly tries to hold her up.
Grace makes a frustrated noise, "I thought she was past that... Brera, take her to the medical bay to rest." And Brera does lift her in his arms, beginning to carry her away.
But when they're very far away, Ranka opens a single eye, to look back at Sheryl. Brera... now released from her control, pretends not to notice.
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
It's good to have someone so understanding on her side. Grace's kind of understanding is one Sheryl could use significantly less of; Hirosuke's understanding, and the understanding he conveys in turn with his microexpressions, are a sorely-needed balm. His reassurances are met again with smiles, but there's something a bit softer and more muted about them now compared to a moment before.
"Thank you, Hirosuke. I know she would," she replies. After all, it's Sagiri who butted herself into Sheryl's employ and dragged Rin and the rest of VTX Union with her. Sheryl has no doubt that she'll keep on supporting her.
But the balm of those reassurances don't--can't--last long. For all that Grace draws close and lowers her voice, there's no keeping it from someone this close to Sheryl, literally and metaphorically. Sheryl wraps her arms around Ranka to comfort her as she sobs--and Ranka is thus privy to every word of their would-be private conversation.
Brera of course already knew, so it doesn't matter if he overhears. To Grace, he's just a tool, anyway.
Sheryl of course would never intentionally hurt Ranka; if she had any influence on Ranka's transport getting attacked back then, it was wholly unintentionally. (The Vajra would have gone after her anyway, but that's a complicated matter that neither of them understand right now.) When Ranka repeats the word die, Sheryl hesitates and looks away--only to have a staredown with Grace when she holds out that microphone.
The tension breaks when Alto's weary voice transmits through the bridge speakers. "Alto!!" Sheryl utters, relief suffusing her voice, her sudden smile, the turn of her head, the press of her hand to her chest, all of them echoed with Ranka, shared with a tearful smile as their eyes briefly meet. He's alive...! Alive, but... it sounds like he's being sent a new unit that relies on Ranka's song. Ranka, who tells Sheryl she should sing, before collapsing.
"Ranka!" she utters--but Brera is there, and this time, Sheryl lets him take her. Her blue eyes lift to meet Brera's red as they pass the girl they both care about so much, if in very different ways, between them. Grace makes her command... and Sheryl's jaw clenches. The anger there isn't at Ranka's inability to perform, though, or at Brera moving to obey without question. It's at Grace--and how much Sheryl's just realized they're all still puppets dancing on her strings. She lifts her chin to glare at her, and is met with a smirk.
It's an expressive smirk. It conveys a simple but clear message: 'What are you going to do about it?'
There's only one thing Sheryl can do. They both know it, and Sheryl hates it, and Grace for it.
But her love for Alto... her love for Ranka... is stronger by far.
"Fine," she says, clipped. "I'll sing. But I have two conditions, Grace."
"Oh?"Sheryl nods curtly to Brera as he takes Ranka away. "You're going to leave those two alone from now on. Don't you even dare touch them."
"I wouldn't even dream of it," Grace says breezily. "And the other?"
Sheryl snatches her microphone from Grace's hand. "You're not managing me anymore. I have new hires for that now." As Grace's smugness fades into a little frown, Sheryl looks over her shoulder at the holo-feed where Elmo still fretfully watches on. The Vajra are acting strangely now, freezing and then charging down their troops to take them out with kamikaze rushes. There's no time to waste. "Elmo! Ready the music. I'm performing that new song we've been working on right now!"
"R-right, Miss Sheryl!!" Elmo yelps. Even so, his hands are already at work on his station over on the Carriax. "You can count on us!"
Sheryl takes a deep breath and squares her shoulder. With one slow, smooth motion, she pulls her helmet off and shakes out her long, strawberry blond tresses. Her fold quartz earring dangles and swings with them as she's set free.
"Ranka... if you're the Songstress of Hope, then I'll sing even in the depths of my despair," she murmurs. Perhaps that quartz carries her message as it sways.
For all the fire with which she just spoke, she walks as if atop a lake of ice to the center of the stage. From the Carriax to the Battle Frontier and to all units battling in space project a slow, bittersweet, crystalline melody--and the live vocals of the Galactic Fairy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMn7j8SfNQU (Fairy)
Bringing a hand to her chest, Sheryl croons into the microphone that she's used her whole career. She'd left it behind when she ran away, but now here it is with her again. Her anger still simmers within her, but this is a song to convey her grief--and she captures it exquisitely after that moment when she'd thought Alto dead. Thinking of him now, she sings, earring shining in the stage lights.
"Everyone calls me 'Fairy'
"I try to live up to it... ohhh...
"I can't feel the weight in my heart
"That's why I chose to fly in the skyyyyy..."
Yes... she'd written When We Can't Meet as her personal good-bye to Alto, but this song is her good-bye to her fans--her processing of her grief knowing that she's fated to die young. No amount of fire will be enough to burn away the microbes that eat away at her life; no amount of willfulness will get her future back. But she can still sing. She'd thought she'd leave it all behind, but after traveling the world with Sagiri and Rin, after singing to the refugees in Lagos as the Vajra attacked... Sheryl knows that she can't not sing.
"I was shaken by love from meeting you, and my wings lost their way
"Exposed to the rain, they are wet, and they woke the sleeping lifeforms
"Fly away, for another day (call for me with your voice)
"I have no regrets, except my secret love
"Tell me you love me, but say no more for now
"I mustn't return to paradise."
And so she will sing to the bitter end. If she has the power to move the Vajra, if only at the cost of her life, then she'll do whatever she can--to protect Alto out on the battlefield, to save her friends fighting alongside him to vanquish the Vajra that now move to destroy them at the cost of their lives... to keep Ranka and Brera from being used as weapons against their wills.
"I'm here, I'm here, here's where I live, now I sing in the silence
"Right here, there's no fear, ohh..."
Aurora Dusk transforms to VF-171 Nightmare Plus <Gerwalk Mode>
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: You have not deployed a robot. (see +deploy) KTS: That player is not deployed. []
KTS: Sheryl Nome is now subpiloting for Sagiri Sakurai. KTS: Lilium Valerie has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Sagiri Sakurai KTS: You have not deployed a robot. (see +deploy) Errors ======= shinji: Out of Range <Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
"Safer? Like hell it's safer!" Leon yells at Aurora as they weave in and out of the hail of Vajra. His stomach is tying itself into knots just thinking about this.
"Uh, hi?" he says to Aurora's passenger, too focused on not dying to notice her wave.
Alto's weary voice crackles over the radio, and Leon breathes a sigh of relief. Another near miss. Too many of those recently. Then, suddenly, all of the Vajra begun a massive suicide charge, glowing brilliantly.
"Oh, sh-" Leon doesn't get latched onto, but he takes a massive explosion to the body of the Prophecy, and everything flashes red in his cockpit as he's knocked out of formation with Aurora.
"Ngh... why me..." He's close to being out of this fight, but that's never stopped him before - Leon Sakaki is an expert at surviving crashes. Time to show them that. Leon changes to Gerwalk, and prepares to unleash a final burst to cut down the remaining Vajra.
"I'm not dead yet!"
KTS: Sheryl Nome targets Sagiri Sakurai, Rin Naujakaite, Lucine Azul, Liam O'Maol Chonaire, Leon Sakaki, Aurora Dusk, Rose Tritten, and Astarte Spalding-Monteiro with Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome's Fairy-9 activates Trick! KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Astarte Spalding-Monteiro successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Sheryl Nome targets Shinji Kaminaga with Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome's Fairy-9 activates Trick!
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"What did you think?" Aurora doesn't turn her head back, but she tilts it curiously.
"Yeah, I have a brother."
Aurora isn't as emotionally sensitive as Lilium is. Her senses are turned outwards, towards the unfolding battle. Her focus expands to encompass her surroundings, perceiving attacks even if her eyes aren't pointed towards them... but she IS still telepathic.
"Of course it's a good idea. It's what people like me were... born to do." Aurora leaves it vague what she (and Lilium) are, despite not transmitting. Wouldn't want to risk it anyway.
Aurora might be optimised for combat, but she's still telepathic, and there's enough emotional proximity to transmit as far as Liam is concerned. Enough for her to feel a shadow of what he feels. That was his friend, wasn't it? Great, now Aurora is sad.
Lilium punches Aurora's seat and yells - 'GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!' - and the shout travels through the seat and into Aurora. It's like being hit in the chest, just... without the air rushing out. "...!" She can feel Lilium clearly, even for a Newtype. It's ringing in her bones, her brain... She's not quite sure she's experienced anything like this. So this is a Songstress... She leans forwards and tightens her grip on her control sticks.
Suddenly, a chill comes over the Vajra. They pause, and Aurora's attacks pass by. "Huh. I guess Ranka is finally doing something." Not that Aurora would be able to tell.
It's Aurora's inability to tell that lets the sudden change in tactics surprise her. Several Vajra launch themselves at her, and she briefly shifts into Gerwalk mode to get the extra AMBAC needed to shake one off before it explodes. < "They've changed tactics. Suicide bombing runs!" >
Aurora isn't watching the soldiers, though. Her eyes are busy drawing a path from the battleship's nose to the Battle Frontier. < "The battleship is trying to... ram the Battle Frontier? If that goes down, there's no hope of winning this battle... The engines. Wolfhound, commencing attack run on engines!" > Aurora needs to get to the back of that ship, but there are a shitton of Vajra waiting for her. She'll have to fly fast to get past them. Not a problem. She lets the pulsing in her head guide her as she flies through the Vajra crowd, cutting it very close with some of the incoming soldiers. Not a problem. Cyber-Newtypes are used to cutting a self-destructive edge when they pilot. She swoops around to the back of the enemy battleship. Sheryl sings, and Aurora hums after the rhythm. It's a nice song, and Aurora can feel the blood rushing in her veins... Lilium is there, right behind her, pressing her hand into her seat. It's like she can feel her hand on her back...
More Vajra come, and Aurora weaves past them like she's dancing a lightning-speed waltz before locking the missile launchers onto the engine's heat signatures and mashing the fire missile button. Again, the violent circus erupts from her Nightmare.
KTS: Leon Sakaki accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Leon Sakaki's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Leon Sakaki successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! Leon Sakaki transforms to YF-25 Prophecy <Gerwalk> 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: Leon Sakaki targets Kaiju Navi with Gatling Full-Auto!
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
Rose regains her senses, after the enormous explosions of Vajra all around her ZAKU. Her armour is scorched, but the damage is minimal...relatively speaking.
"Rose! Are you okay?" Sushila's voice crackled in Rose's ear.
"I'm fine, what's going on?!" Rose responded, getting her ZAKU back under control.
"The big bug ship! It's gonna hit to the colony!" Aspyn cried.
"Shoot!" Rose hissed, "Can we even stop it?"
Then...Sheryl's song...
"That's Sheryl!" Aspyn gasped.
"Look! Something's launching from the One Fine Day!" Sushila called out.
Roses's camera zoomed in on the object. So that's what was under 24/7 armed guard since they left the PLANTs with the Chairman.
"Whatever it is, we're gonna make sure it reaches its destination! Let's go!" Rose ordered, as the trio blasted off into formation with the new weapon until it reaches its destination...Alto.
KTS: Rose Tritten targets Kaiju Navi with Formation Attack Pattern Epsilon! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga's No Timer. activates! KTS: Shinji Kaminaga accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Shinji Kaminaga's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Shinji Kaminaga successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! <Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
"Understatement of the year," Taki mutters as Alouette describes the situation turning. "So many people..."
"We moved the burden to people who can defend themselves," Tamura says, firmly. "Take the win and hold on to it for moments like this."
"Yeah," Taki murmurs. And then: "Wait, thermal readings spiking, are they gonna--" Blow! They do! One after another, like a rip across the sky they ignite!
"That's not surrender," Hiroko calls out from her desk. "They just cleared the board. Barely anyone's still up to try and stop the Knight-class! But--!"
*
Ultraman emerges from a haze of golden light. The force of the blast is most obvious from the fact he's not particularly close to where he was when the blasts went off; but his Spacium-133 body reveals only the barest hints of scoring from where Vajra carapace carbonized itself with its own bio-force incandescence. Though...those red markings do appear paler than they were a moment ago.
The mask-faced creature surges as fast as it can toward the Knight, and then rears back its arm as it flies, building another Ultra Slash buzzsaw in its hand. And then it gets bigger. Incredibly bigger, enormously bigger, a sawblade of soft-focus starlight that could cleave clean through battleships forms, and he throws it with full force straight at the beast!
The SSSP though, notice something else. "Getting fold waves and another song broadcast. That's not Ranka Lee, though," Hiroko announces. "A backup? I didn't think we had one."
Taki looks awestruck. "We did, but...I thought she was gone..." he murmurs, and clutches at the Ranka fan towel lying out on his desk. "But that's...got to be Sheryl!"
Tamura, being a fine boss, gives him a moment to retrieve his pen light and fumble with the color picker.
KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Shinji Kaminaga targets Weekly Seijin with Anti-Fortification Ultra Slash! KTS: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro targets Weekly Seijin with Pass!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
< ".... Keep going." >
Two voices seem to cycle in argument in Lucine's mind: her own, urging to keep going, and that of...
Keep going.
It hurts...
Keep going.
It hurts...
On and on and on...
It takes a moment, to source it, to overcome her need to justify it with logic. No, it's not that Ranka's powers are this wide-ranging...
.... but that Ranka's grief is even larger, affecting the Vajra in turn.
The pain of someone who lost the person she loved, translated into a medium unique to the Vajra. And Lucine, a newtype attuned to it, a bystander tuned to the same frequency, if only from one end.
Which means...
< "... Liam, the Vajra are being affected, watch out!" > Lucine's voice hisses over Liam's com. As they try to swarm the larger Balor, the Dianthus is forced to disengage before it's overwhelmed in turn, and not a moment too soon, as the Vajra begin to explode.
< "Liam, are you okay?!" > She can't help it; her voice comes out panicked in the wake of Ranka's grief.
And then, over the radio....
< "Sheryl..." > Lucine says that name in a whisper. She's... singing. But why? Why now?
Lucine has to answer by an offensive of her own. "Alright, Didi... let's do this, alright?" She pats the dashboard. "We have to match her energy, if we want to get through this alive..."
The Dianthus's glaive with replaced with its arbalest, preparing a line of charging missiles. Pivoting through the dark, it releases a universe of its own of magenta-tailed comets, hitting against the still major numbers of Vajra.
< "We'll... keep going!!" >
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Lucine Azul accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Lucine Azul's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Lucine Azul successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul targets Weekly Seijin with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Lacrimosa! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Liam O'Maol Chonaire's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Liam O'Maol Chonaire successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Aurora Dusk accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Aurora Dusk's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Aurora Dusk successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Rin Naujakaite's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Rin Naujakaite successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Weekly Seijin accepts Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's Pass! KTS: Best Defense! Weekly Seijin successfully reacts to Astarte Spalding-Monteiro's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Weekly Seijin accepts Shinji Kaminaga's Anti-Fortification Ultra Slash!
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"I don't like it either," Alouette agrees with Taki, though she listens to Tamura's words as well. It's a different kind of hope, than the one GGG usually holds. But then again, this conflict is also so very different than the ones GGG has taken part in up until now. While she's quite good at concealing her emotions, Alouette can't say that doesn't bother her.
---
And the defenders that are left, aren't having an easy time of it, even Ultraman starting to feel some strain. There's many people Alouette cares about her, and she doesn't want to think about what will happen if they don't make it. But in times like these, there will always be someone to turn the tide - a very familiar voice broadcasting out to everyone. If it's not Ranka, it must be...
"Sheryl...!" Alouette murmurs, with so much emotion in one word. Relief, that she's still alive. Elation, that she's singing to keep everyone alive. And maybe some worry, that she might be pushing herself to the limit in doing so. But all the same, Alouette wants to believe in the Sheryl that she came to be not just a fan of, but also a friend towards.
KTS: Weekly Seijin accepts Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Lacrimosa! KTS: Weekly Seijin's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Weekly Seijin poorly reacts to Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Lacrimosa, taking 5400 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Lucine Azul's Bright Eyes activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Lucine Azul completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
Lilium is still... particularly disoriented. Going straight from the concert to this... and the feelings all around her she still wasn't used to being able to hear--not being able to shut out, even... it was a lot.
Still, though... she can't help but sing along to Sheryl. Not loudly enough for the transmitter to hear, and perhaps not even deliberately... but, in the back of the nightmare, something compels her to follow along under her breath. She doesn't know the words--how could she, this is a new song--but... she can read the tone well enough. They didn't put all that stuff in her for nothing, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Liam O'Maol Chonaire has posed.
The Balor's gaze turns to the side, conforming for its pilot that Lucine is still there. Liam's brain is still swimming in a haze of adrenaline. Time stretches out for him, and in the space of a few seconds, he's calculated a second firing vector, confirmed that yes, that is an Ultraman, and he doesn't recognize this one, and glanced at the expanding fireball that was Alto's Valkyrie.
"Ranka," Liam realizes, sick dread welling up in his stomach. "Something happened to her!" Something bad enough to make the surviving Vajra self-destruct. The Balor drives its free hand forward, focusing the Pinpoint Barrier around its open palm. The shockwave of the Knight's hull breaching slams into it, a wave of shrapnel and force. The massive machine soaks the initial impact, the barrier flickering--but there's enough force behind it to send it flying like a hurled doll. Liam grits his teeth, and holds the sticks steady as his machine pinwheels around him.
Liam presses the jet pedals. The balancers take over, moving the Balor upright and stabilizing its flight. Liam's eyes flick towards the remains of Alto's Valkyrie, again, and then...
"No," Liam answers Lucine, with perfect honesty. "But..."
Sheryl.
Liam's eyes mist over. Tears bead up, and he blinks them away to float in his helmet--tiny, shimmering spheres. He's always liked the more melancholy songs in her discography, but something about this one feels...
It feels like this might be the last song she'll ever sing.
Liam snaps, violently, back into the present. The Vajra ship is accelerating. The Balor turns to track it, its main gun glowing with hellish heat. "Full positron charge in the barrel," he says, "stand clear!" Liam pulls the trigger. A wave of antimatter erupts from within, kept barely in check by magnetic fields. Anything the beam touches is instantly and utterly rent to its component atoms: shattered Vajra limbs, bits of armor from the wrecked capital ships, incidental detritus from previous wars.
KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire targets Kaiju Navi with EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - The Terrible Gaze! KTS: Liam O'Maol Chonaire's Tactical Intelligence activates Wall!
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
The Vajra just -- freeze.
The barrel of the Striker is still crackling with discharged energy as the pilots within the Tyranado blink at the sight. Sagiri's brows furrow; for a moment, she feels on the verge of shrugging and thanking her blessings for the easy pickings. But it only lasts a second, before the hairs on the back of her neck raise on end. Because--
"... something's wrong..." Rami gives quiet voice to Sagiri's instincts as she sinks teeth into her lower lip. "Ma'am, this isn't normal behavior. I don't know what--"
"Rami, we need to move!"
"Wh-wha--"
Sagiri Sakurai's learned to listen to her instincts since she burdened with the label of 'ace pilot' by VTX corporate and shuffled off into a role she never wanted. A natural, they called her. A prodigy. A genius at something she never asked for and wanted. And largely? Largely that 'genius' has been used keeping her and the people she cares about alive.
Intuition. And it's an intuition that's telling her, right now, something horrible is going to happen.
Thrusters engage--
But sometimes, genius and intuition can take you only so far.
A Vajra sentinel collides with the Tyranado just as the mobile weapon is about to move. Its legs curl up towards its midsection as the drone latches on; metal feet slam against the thorax of the creature. Thrusters engage--
And the subsequent explosion rips through the Tyranado as Rami lets out a startled, panicked cry, shredding its right leg in the seconds before it is knocked away -- but saving the Tyranado and its passengers from a much more fatal fate in the process.
In the end, the Tyranado comes to a sparking, struggling stop a distance away, heavily damaged by still functional. Unstable spurts of green-blue energy pulse through its frame, channeling into the Striker it holds at its side with its right hand. The left -- has fallen towards the Beam Bayonet still holstered at its hip, gripping tight.
Within the cockpit, Sagiri Sakurai lurches forward, breathing heavily. She clenches tight at the Tyranado's controls as she reins in the wild firing of adrenaline racing through her and making her heart beat out panicked staccatos, gulping once and drawing in deep, steadying breaths. Pastel green eyes slip to the side; she focuses on the first thing she can to anchor herself.
"Rami-- Rami, are you okay?"
Behind her, Rami Amasaki groans, lurching forward and rubbing her forehead.
"My head is killing me but, um... I... I think so, ma'am..." mumbles. Sagiri manages a small, relieved smile.
"Thank god," she exhales. "Everyone would give me no end of hell if I let something happen to you."
"M-ma'am..."
<"Tyranado! Tyranado, come in. What's your status? Rami? Sagiri--"> Amies' voice crackles in over the comm lines. Sagiri can't help but heave a little laugh.
<"--It's fine, Amies. We're the cat's pajamas~.">
<"... Well, if you can think up cringeworthy turns of phrase like that, you must be fine.">
<"Hey, c'mon, that one's a classic--huh? What's that--">
Sagiri blinks as she hears the music coming in from over the comms. Pastel eyes widen fractionally at the familiar voice that soon joins in.
<"... It was a request from Ms. Nome,"> Amies explains. <"Her new song. Courtesy of Vector Productions and Special Section 3.">
Sagiri smiles. And despite herself -- a dry, exhausted, but very genuine laugh follows shortly after, drawing a smile to Rami's lips too.
<"Is that right?"> Sakurai wonders. <"Well, if our client's pushing herself this hard, we can't have ourselves falling short, can we...?">
Behind her, Rami beams, head bobbing in enthusiastic agreement. <"Absolutely not, ma'am!">
<"Then -- let's give Ms. Galactic Fairy a bombastic return to the stage! Carriax -- engage tactical pattern: Terrible Nightmare Delivery!">
<"Tactical pattern -- approved.">
The Tyranado's thrusters ignite anew; the Carriax banks in beside it, just as it jets off to Rami Amasaki's proud declaration:
<"TND, start!!">
<"And Elmo--">
Missiles fire from the Carriax from each of its silos, a full circus spread of warheads that blanket the battlefield, pulverizing into whatever remaining Vajra they can to open a path for the Tyranado as it jets forward for that great Knight angling for the Macross Frontier.
<"-- don't let that music stop for a single damn second, got it?!">
The Bayonet unholstered in a flourish, the Tyranado unleashes a rapid fire spray upon the Vajra, firing and firing until all the rounds in it are depleted in a hail of green-blue light. And as soon as it's done --
<"Rin! Keep your head in the game!"> Sagiri repeats in the face of that detached joke as the Tyranado grips the massive Striker with both hands.
<"Show these gross bugs what we're really made of, and you'll have my explicit approval to use all the bad wordplay you like with impunity after!">
<"Ma'am, do you know what being an enabler means?">
<"Ha ha, I sure do! And it's great! WOO!">
And with that slightly irresponsible warcry complete, the Striker fires off a MASSIVE burst of pure energy, a great column of light that carves through anything in its path before condensing down into a mighty, crackling lance tip of green-blue energy surging from the Striker's barrel as the Tyranado runs through everything in the path of that massive Knight-class. The Tyranado can't take something like that down -- not in this state.
But it can help clear the path to it, for the Frontier to do what massive machines like that do best.
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai accepts Sheryl Nome's Awe! KTS: Sheryl Nome inspires awe, increasing Sagiri Sakurai's Morale! KTS: Best Defense! Sagiri Sakurai successfully reacts to Sheryl Nome's Awe, taking 0 damage! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai targets Kaiju Navi with Combination TND! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Leon Sakaki's Gatling Full-Auto! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Leon Sakaki's Gatling Full-Auto, taking 3750 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Rose Tritten's Formation Attack Pattern Epsilon! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Beam Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Kaiju Navi poorly reacts to Rose Tritten's Formation Attack Pattern Epsilon, taking 3816 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
The Vajra stop!
That's good, right, Rin thinks even as she and Rancor have a tooth-rattling glancing impact off of a Vajra. Rin shifts the seating of the Gespenst on Rancor's 'back' for want of a better term - this is all improvised, nobody had a plan, the plan was ruined minutes ago if not sooner. The improvised meteor sweeps past and begins to turn.
Rin fires a few shots on her way out but the range is getting too far. They swerve towards a cannon--
-- as it explodes.
There is silence in the space of the Gespenst II-R for what feels like half an hour, at least to Rin, but Rin has a condition. To Rancor, of course, it takes exactly as long as it takes.
In fact, it's 47 seconds... before the sounds begin to come out. Music, thinks Rin as she picks up the transmission as it radiates into the shining void of space. They're getting it going. We're going to get it. It'll be OK.
The voice rings out...
... and it isn't Ranka.
Rin's brow furrows as she looks to the right and down, towards where the Frontier is relative to her. "... Did something happen to Ranka?" Rin says, quietly, though the mike is open - hi, Carriax and Sagiri and local fandom! And Sagiri... "Ahh," Rin says, with a little more heart, as she can hear Sheryl right behind her ears. (She set up her cockpit speaker array personally.)
"I'm being scolded... got it.. ha, ha... Okay: Far Stick," Rin says, with the last phrase being spoken clearly. Rancor produces an electronic chord in reply and veers off. Rin raises up the Magna Beam Launcher (wondering for a moment as she sees the hand damage to the off-limb - when'd THAT happen?) and dials in targets. Breathe in once.
Breath twice.
Let your position move and...
Lances of light burst down. And as they do, a looping and wildly-accelerating projectile rips through a cluster of Vajra, aiming to slash with jagged wedges of unpainted metal.
Somewhere in eight kilograms of silicon, Rancor is relieved. Perhaps even uplifted. A hound can have some pride; he can hear Sheryl too, after all.
KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rin Naujakaite targets Kaiju Navi with Team Up Combo - Press The Attack!! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - The Terrible Gaze! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Force Wall L2 activates, negating 2000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Kaiju Navi poorly reacts to Liam O'Maol Chonaire's EL-444P Variable-Output Cannon Array - The Terrible Gaze, taking 5830 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Liam O'Maol Chonaire's Sick of the Cycle activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Sagiri Sakurai's Combination TND! KTS: Kaiju Navi poorly reacts to Sagiri Sakurai's Combination TND, taking 7100 damage! KTS: Kaiju Navi accepts Rin Naujakaite's Team Up Combo - Press The Attack!! KTS: Kaiju Navi's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Kaiju Navi successfully reacts to Rin Naujakaite's Team Up Combo - Press The Attack!, taking 3150 damage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
With the Vajra taking a suicidal approach, it's a lot easier to target them. Though they're still as tough as before, meaning several bursts are required from Leon's gunpod to bring each down, some growing dangerously close to him.
Aurora chooses to try and assist the Battle Frontier, weaving her way through the charging Vajra to bring her Nightmare around behind the large vessel. Its engines glow brightly as it continues to accelerate. Not all of the Nightmare's missiles manage to make it past the engine flare, but those that do explode against the capital ship's rear. Aurora manages to inflict enough damage to knock out one of the large devices, slowing the ship's acceleration and buying Battle Frontier precious seconds.
Still, the Knight class is moving faster now as it continues to accelerate. Ultraman throws another, much larger energy buzz saw at it. The spinning light impacts into the side of the battleship, carving along it before digging into and through one of its large 'wings', separating it entirely to send it spinning off into space.
Liam's antimatter cannon blasts into the front of the capital ship as it charges. It rips into it, blasting through the protective shell and into the interior section one might have seen when it opened itself to fire its main cannon. Essentially opening a hole into it.
Lucine takes advantage of this, unleashing her barrage of beams that flare out. Some carve their way into some of the charging Vajra around the warship. Others flying into the whole opened by Liam, exploding within the far more vulnerable interior and creating additional openings in the massive organism's shell.
Rin's own attack tears through what it can, cutting through several Vajra completely while sending the limbs of some others flying.
The Carriax unleashes a barrage of missiles, each one unopposed by the Vajra in their single-minded state. As such they streak out to their destinations, exploding and catching a number of Vajra in each blast. Some come out still intact while others-already damaged from earlier attacks-suffer worse fates and they finally succumb.
On the bridge of the One Fine Day, If Durandal notices any of the concerns that Astarte has, he doesn't mention it as he simply smiles at her, "Thank you for the efforts of you and your crew today, Captain. I'm sure you'll see that they'll be worth it." As the launch is ready, he nods, "Launch."
Being on guard near the One Fine Day, the members of the Tritten team catch sight of the launched unit as it flashes past them. It's fast! They give chase, providing cover for it and keeping the Vajra away as it streaks towards its destination, which it reaches soon enough.
Then, amidst the sound of Sheryl's song, a new unit enters the battlefield. Clearly a variable fighter, it's not a design seen before. A striking red and white, it bears a resemblance to the VF-25 Messiah. Though with obvious deviations such as the forward-swept wings and the four engines over the Messiah's two. It arrives with a SAL identification code, with the designation:
YF-29 Sentinel.
The Sentinel rushes in towards the dogfight taking place around the Vajra Knight class. The rifle hanging below its frame lights up and spits out of a beam tinged with blue, which streaks across space to pierce through a Mobile Soldier, killing it.
Recognizing the threat, several Mobile Soldiers and a Heavy Soldier break off from the furball to charge the Sentinel. Beam and bio-machine guns reach out to the new VF. But its wings rotate, outer engines now pointing down which boost it over many of the shots.
The Sentinel weaves its way through the counterfire, unleashing a barrage of missiles from its launchers at the same time. They dance through the air, each homing in on one of the Vajra currently assaulting the VF. As they impact with the creatures, there is no usual detonation and explosion. Instead spheres of swirling purple light engulf the Vajra in part or in whole, seemingly completely obliterating everything they touch.
The Sentinel rushes past the remains of its latest prey and inside the cockpit, Alto glances out of the canopy at the sight of the Vajra, <"What the hell kind of weapons are those?">
-=-=-=-=-
Alto's question echoes out over the speakers of the Battle Frontier's bridge, but Mishima replies, "Focus, Saotome. You need to be in sync with the system."
<"How the hell am I supposed to do that!?">
"We... Don't actually know. It's a highly experimental system. Just... Focus!" Mishima turns to his aide once more as he asks, "Status on the fold waves?"
Mishima's aide replies, "It seems Sheryl Nome has started to sing." Sure enough, the feed from the Battle Frontier's stage appears on a screen on the bridge. It is also transmitted to everyone here.
On another screen, sensors are recording the intensity of fold waves. And for a moment, it seems doubtful that Sheryl is going to be able to pull it off...
"Knight class is rapidly approaching our position on a ramming course!"
... And unfortunately, it seems like they might have just run out of time. And sure enough, the visuals show the large Vajra battleship quickly growing in size as it gets closer, various trails of debris left behind from all the damage it has received already.
"Wait! Main weapons are back online!" Everyone had bought the Battle Frontier's engineers the time they needed.
Mishima quickly orders, "Charge the quantum cannon!"
-=-=-=-=-
The Battle Frontier can be seen stabilizing its listing as systems start to come back online. The large launch deck that makes up most of its top splits down the center. From within the vessel, the large tri-barreled cannon running down its length lowers down and begins to glow with gathering light.
The Knight class continues to accelerate, growing closer and closer to the Battle Frontier.
The Battle Frontier's main cannon continues to charge, everyone on the bridge waiting with breath held.
Finally, Battle Frontier's cannon fires, a trio of massive beams blasting outwards and twisting around each other, blasting through the space cleared by Sagiri and rapidly closing in on the Knight class. The beam engulfs the Vajra battleship, intense energy tearing into it, disintegrating and warping its structure. The large green vessel twists under the assault, until finally the entire thing explodes in an incredible blast of fire and light, much of which reaches just short of the Battle Frontier itself.
The rest of the Vajra seem intent on continuing their suicide run though. Some of them switching targets to the Battle Frontier.
KTS: Alto Saotome has deployed in YF-29 Sentinel. KTS: EN Barrier activated! <Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
The depths of despair. It was wrong for Ranka to ever consider herself the Songstress of Hope. The only hopes she was doing it for were her own.
From everywhere on the ship, she can hear the beginning of the concert, and within her - she can feel that strong pull, towards Sheryl... towards her feelings.
She does not let herself be carried by the flow, she merely feels it, even as she's put in a medbay cot, a few words are spoken to the medical officer, as the ship rocks again.
It should be a moment to revel in, as she feels Alto again, soaring to new heights, as she feels Sheryl singing to inspire.
She should be there with them. But... there's more feelings out there too, now. More and more she feels them acutely, for it's not just how Alto responds to Sheryl's song, but...
The Vajra... They...
When the medical staff have finished a cursory examination, Ranka opens an eye, as Brera tells her, "If you needed to rest, you should try to play the part for longer." But instead, she opens up the other eye, and tells him.
"Was that really you earlier?" Brera doesn't look at her, just leaning against the wall as he keeps staring forward. It's not that he refuses to answer. He could just say, 'It's classified' and that'd be the end of it.
But instead, he can't, answer.
Ranka watches him for a few moments longer, then asks, "If I asked you to take me somewhere... would you?"
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
"Y-yes, ma'am!!" Elmo yelps at Sagiri. He'll keep this music going no matter what, until its last note. Yet...
There is a certain poignant despair in this moment as Sheryl sings, and yet the fold waves that she'd just been told should be able to match Ranka's are still not enough. Did Grace lie to her? Is this all a cruel joke? It's like being told in real time that she isn't enough after all. That, because she isn't enough, they're all about to die.
Her hands shake as she clasps her microphone. If her voice shakes, though, it's only in the service of a rich vibrato. This song she wrote only after she was scouted anew by Elmo, who was then brought into the VTX Union as her new manager, is a sad love song, seemingly an atonal fit for a frenetic battle. But Lynn Minmay did the same thing too, didn't she? Love drifts away. Sometimes, sorrow is the only natural fit for a frenetic battle, and so Sheryl remains steadfast in her song even as she stares the Vajra charge down. If they're all about to die, then she'll die on stage, where she was born to be.
"Is there such a place in this universe?
"A place of warmth, a place where we can dream together, oh-woah... ohhh... woo-oo...
"I gather the energy waves that shine on the darkness in my heart, and I take to the skies."
That's the legacy of Macross songstresses, isn't it? To sing even as war rages like hell around them, out of the hopes that their song will quell the hostility in others' hearts. Leon, as a Macross citizen, knows that well from his history, just as he knows the agony of the losses that conflict brings--even if this time around was a near miss. Aurora may come to know it as she continues to protect Lilium not just on behalf of her handlers, but because she herself wishes it--and Lilium herself, primed as she is to become the next big songstress, will know it best of all. This song is for them and their uncertain futures.
"To your place in the distant land, as the rain falls like whip lashes
"I'll be fine even if my feelings unrequited disappear like bubbles--"
Fans young and old know it too. Aged soldiers like Astarte who've been listening to those songstresses since Lynn Minmay's debut, or bright soldiers like Aspyn who are up-to-the-second on the music scene, it makes no difference. They and Rose and Sushila won't hold back or give up, down to the last bullet, down to the last beam fire, as they defend the Battle Frontier and make sure the Sentinel makes it where it needs to go. This song is for them and their never-say-die doggedness.
"Believe in me: 'your glow is by my tears'
"The truth is simple: I love you
"My beautifully tied hair is yours to untie. It's collecting dew drops."
The emotions, raw and powerful and yet focused through carrying each note to perfection, convey both love and grief. Few know both better than Liam and Lucine, whose love has been viciously pockmarked by a steady fire of violence, both external and mutual. That hasn't stopped them from defending each other, though, and through that mutual care, they've survived and reached a better place. This song is for them and the trials they've shared.
"After I met you, I was always alone because I wanted to be loved
"I want to watch with you, the galaxy's sunset that bridges the future and the past."
Being familiar is hardly a prerequisite, though. Even a seemingly brand-new Ultraman who's only recently joined the fight against the Vajra can't back down, any more than those who monitor him as they monitor the Vajra. Their motives may be different, but the results are the same: they're in this together, both as professionals battling an existential threat... and as fans, like Taki, and friends, like Alouette. This song is for them and their steady cooperation.
"Where are you? Why the love? Fall into the end of the World
"Fairy, realize that I can feel on my soul."
All of them are in this together. From the Battle Frontier to the One Fine Day to the Carriax, communications officers and bridge crew, making orders, delivering orders, monitoring fold waves and Vajra movements and the losses of their troops, coordinating ship strikes and individual fliers, each one of them is battling for their lives whether they're directly in the field or not. This song is for them and their unflagging bravery.
"I will escape from the reach of the space-time tempest--"
And from the Carriax, Sagiri and Rin continue to fly for their VIP. They're the ones that brought Sheryl here back to the Frontier in the first place; if not for them, she would never have caught Ranka's concert at all. Does that make them saviors or sinners? Sheryl knows which they are to her. For all she refused it at first like she did everyone else, she'll always be grateful to them that they decided to help her, however under the guise of capitalism. This song is for them and their stout friendship.
"Where are you? Why the love? Fall into the end of the World.
"Fairy, realize that I can feel on my soul."
The Battle Frontier fires before the Knight class can finish its charge, and it shoots out to consume it. All of the Vajra will feel it and cry out in a collective pain--a pain then passed on to Ranka. Brera, at her side, will observe it through her even as the Vajra remain dead-set on their suicidal rush. The Vajra have plagued both of them for so long, whether they know it or not. And more and more, they will know it, just as the Vajra will be made to know it. This song is for them and their lost past.
"And head for you..."
And so the finale for which they risk their lives begins: the Fairy Tale wrought by Alto's Sentinel synchronizes with Sheryl's heartfelt song and will express its power through that brilliant crystal at the core of its systems. Sheryl has already told Alto how she feels about him; there are no secrets left there. But that doesn't mean there are no secrets left between them at all.
This song is for him... and for her. For the promise she made to him when he first inspired her from atop the stage:
"Where are you? Why the love? Fall into the end of the World."
One day, she will rock the galaxy.
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
Focus...
Explosions figuratively shake space around Alto as the Vajra sacrifice themselves, for what reason Alto cannot imagine.
Focus...
Some of the Vajra move for the Battle Frontier. Alto quickly pushes his throttle forward, pressed into his seat by the g-forces of the acceleration. Far more than his Messiah ever put out. What kind of reactor is powering this thing?
Focus...
"Believe in me: 'your glow is by my tears'"
Sheryl's song echoes in Alto's ears as he pulls the trigger, quantum beam gunpod slung beneath the Sentinel blasting through more Mobile Soldiers before they can reach the Macross warship.
Focus...
"After I met you, I was always alone because I wanted to be loved
"I want to watch with you, the galaxy's sunset that bridges the future and the past."
Sheryl...
As the Sentinel weaves its way around the charging Vajra, missiles blasting out of launchers to engulf them in orbs of swirling purple light, the variable fighter begins to glow, a trail of green light extending out behind it.
"Where are you? Why the love? Fall into the end of the World.
"Fairy, realize that I can feel on my soul."
Alto can't even feel himself pulling the trigger as his thoughts drift back to what felt like an eternity ago. But was in fact just earlier that day. That moment, when Sheryl kissed him...
The shielded chamber in the cockpit behind Alto starts to glow.
/ Fairy Tale System \
< >
\ ONLINE /
The glow around the Sentinel rapidly grows brighter, before a huge pulse of green light blasts off it in all directions. It expands out rapidly, quickly washing over everyone on the battlefield, before going much further to cover the entire Frontier Fleet before it finally fades away.
To most people, the pulse has little effect on them.
To the Vajra though... Those that remain end their suicidal charge, once more coming to a stop, their heads glancing around.
-=-=-=-=-
Seeing this from the bridge of the Battle Frontier, a small smile appears on the corners of Mishima's mouth. He quickly stands, giving an order, "All forces stand down. The threat has passed."
Then to one of the nearby operators, "Send the request." The operator nods, entering some commands into his console.
-=-=-=-=-
The Vajra's heads perk up, before they all turn in the same direction and start to glide through space, away from the Frontier Fleet. Completely ignoring everyone here.
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
A tangible sigh of relief rushes through the entire crew of the One Fine Day, its captain finally relaxing her muscles as she pulls off her cap and wipes her brow. "This job's not too good for the hypertension, I'll tell you."
"Captain, are you sure you're alright?"
"It's alright, Juno. We'll all be okay. All hands, report."
"The ship's in pretty rough condition, but we're still hanging on."
"And the crew?"
"A few injuries, but no casualties."
"Thank God. Loop us around to pick up the Tritten Team and anyone still left on the fleet. Then we're getting the hell back home."
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
It's only after Sheryl stops performing, that she'll see Grace look distant rather than triumphant over this turn of events... before ultimately, irritated, "I was just informed that Major Sterne's Variable Fighter launched... only minutes after Ranka checked herself out of the med bay."
As she adjusts her glasses, she glowers at Sheryl, "Your doing? You always were such a willful child..." Grace puts up a hand, "As we agreed... I won't have them pursued. They can do as they wish."
The annoyance bleeds way into something a more dignified malevolence, bleeding off of her, "... But I doubt the Frontier Government will look kindly upon any attempt to depart while they sort out this obvious 'hostage' crisis." Crossing her arms, she steps up to Sheryl, "I do hope you're proud of yourself." She smirks, "Wasting what little time you have left getting in my way..."
Grace Godunwa thinks back to that day, when she was slowly dying, but fighting for every breath... just long enough to get to where she needed to go.
"... you really are a girl after my own heart."
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
The missile detonations reflect in Aurora's visor as pumps missiles into the engine. The thruster flare destroys a bunch of them, but she keeps firing them until they're all gone. The missiles, that is. Sadly, she doesn't get all the engines, but it seems like one was enough. As she withdraws from the vicinity, she watches the giant Vajra get sunk. "Woah."
There's something else of interest going on here. A new plane. And the missiles it's using look like they're obliterating the Vajra. "What the hell did SMS develop? Sentinel..."
As the battle winds down, Aurora begins drumming her fingers on the controls, still humming. "Hm, hm hmhm hm hm hmm..." She slumps back slightly and lets a breath out. The legacy of Macross songstresses is indeed the legacy of war... Perhaps what Lilium is now is just a natural crossover. Didn't Liam say he was friends with Ranka, way back? Maybe he should go talk to her.
"...we should probably land somewhere that lets us sneak out instead of getting arrested for stealing a plane.
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
The song winds down, and the Vajra slip away. The general 'feel' of the space around Lilium grows less oppressive, and she sinks back in her chair.
A contented smile comes onto her face--she didn't do this, of course, she just happened to be here... but being able to feel the effects of Sheryl's victory still feels pretty good. Things have turned out quite well, actu--
"HWEEEEHH!??! You mean this VF isn't one of ours?!!"
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"...No? It was in an SMS hangar..." Aurora's mouth hangs open with the realisation that she just casually stole from a SAL hangar with no relevant orders. "...Uh." Fuck, she's in trouble now. "Well. It's ours now. I think." She sinks further into her seat.