2022-12-17: What Could Have Been
- Cast: Anita Rosetta, Asciel Colette, Eight York, Leina Ashta, Rena Lancaster, Serinas Nikola, Setsuna F. Seiei, Yuliana Kafim, Lacus Clyne, Rita Bernal, Zoltan Akkanen, Li Yao, Puru Two, Roux Louka
- Where: Denver Colony, Side 6
- Date: U.C. 0096 12 17
- Summary: People find their way to the reactor of Denver Colony. A decision must be made -- whether to destroy it or seize -- and people come to blows. But, with the power of a new psychoframe, the Phoenix helps create a miracle... but a crime of the past has not yet been answered. A promise is made to right that wrong, in the future.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Denver Colony is starting to have major problems.
The good news is that the reactor's communications- and sensor-jamming malfunctions have let up in the last fifteen minutes, and sensors have detected where the reactor is. The central corridor of the colony, at the southern end, houses a large complex. The scene is one of urban desolation: emptied office buildings, some hangars, and a few research laboratories that aren't destroyed. Just... emptied. Then, past that, is a large dome.
Inside of it is the reactor. It is easily detected on nearly every sensor.
The bad news is that the colony's rotation has began to malfunction. It hasn't stopped -- but it has slowed, and that means the centripetal force that creates gravity has lessened to almost nothing. In a few places, there are eerie sights: cars that were bounced by the malfunctioning rotational thrusters, now starting to float; slow arcs of descent for some pieces of debris, falling from the sides.
The question, then, is what to do with the experimental reactor.
Destroying it would assure no one is caught here again. Capturing it, though, and dismantling it, means it could be studied. It could offer power to a whole colony, if repaired. It could also be turned into a weapon.
The choice may be one that leads to blows.
For that matter, reinforcements may be coming -- several units went missing, with communications cut off, at this abandoned Side 6 colony -- and with communications restored, new arrivals are likely.
Of course, for people here, finding a way out of the colony is its own challenge. Fortunately, hangars with mobile weapons -- or ones brought by friends -- can be found.
INSIDE A HANGAR
Rena walks down a long hallway. It's half-walking, half-hovering. The way gravity has started to not work right -- centripetal force, she corrects herself, idly -- has thrown her off. She stumbles a little, as she does. Leina had separated from her, about five minutes ago; she said that an image of where to go came. Rena has learned to trust Leina's judgment.
So she walks, now -- and pauses as she spots something. A spectral image; that of a glowing, golden bird, with two long tailfeathers. Rena's breath catches for a moment, before she starts to walk faster, down the hallway.
As she gets near, the doors -- detecting movement -- open. Her eyes narrow, as she looks ahead. There is a shadowed Mobile Suit, in a single dock. Rena looks up at it, before she takes a deep breath. Then she fires the thrusters on her backpack, and starts up towards its cockpit hatch. She doesn't quite catch a small detail on it.
A few very recent streaks in the dust.
OOC NOTES
Hello and thank you for coming! <3 Welcome to the end of the Denver Colony plot. The central question of this scene is "what do we do about the experimental reactor," which could be turned into a terrifying weapon if someone grabs it... or it could be used for good, if it's fixed! Or, you may want to blow it up.
I'm not assigning dance partners as exactly what happens depends on what people would like to do!
If you were crashed inside Denver Colony, you can still be here! Otherwise, you might be coming to help your friends out, as communications were recently restored. (Previously, the experimental reactor interfered with those.)
I'll pose again at the top of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Lacus Clyne has posed.
EARLIER, JUST A BIT EARLIER...
Several figures in protective suits head towards the dock in the colony. One, the smaller one, indicates to the other that they can head back.
Then the smaller one heads in to see what she will find.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
She's been standing vigil for two days, now, watching over the heroes of the living who trapped themselves along with her. This colony has many secrets to reveal, but she's done her part to aid in their discovery. Simply guiding the living here was enough. It's up to them if they find everything they search for.
The Phenex, still for two days, ignites with blue fire.
It's time to go. Those trapped here have not gone unnoticed, and their companions have come to bring them home. She's done her duty, and beyond that, she's made a friend! Not something she ever expected to happen, once she took this form.
First, a little gift. Blue light streaks through the Colony, metal walls tearing open before the golden Gundam. It takes concentration to move two mobile suits at once, but it's important. Friends take care of each other.
Now, all there is to do is wait. The living are the only ones with the right to make decisions. She, and the rest of the dead, will simply bear witness.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
As communications abrubtly jar to life, Eight finds her radio working. She glances to her gunner in a moment and inclines her head, starting to issue orders immediately. "Ra Mari," the blonde reports over the radio, "This is Captain York. Status report: are the engines functional?"
...
...
...
"Captain," Lavhi says after a while, his deep voice audible only in the cabin. "The sensor readout... I do not think that we have time to go back to the ship."
"I don't either," Eight says. "Ra Mari. Hang back. Prepare the shuttles to evacuate as many as possible who remain here, as needed. Mx. Rezza, I trust you."
Then Eight starts her hands at the controls of the shuttlecraft, and starts to tear away down the corridors. She doesn't know where Rena is... but she knows she's out there, somewhere. She thinks...
She hasn't decided yet, what should be done with this reactor. Would it merely be another weapon to be brought to bear? Or could it be used for something better?
"Lavhi," Eight says, as her shuttle rushes towards the site of the reactor. "...We're going in. You and me. If you think it can be helped..."
"Understood."
The Koeningin Monster crashes forward through the colony, and a light reveals it in passing; a pink Variable Bomber, in Londo Bell markings.
"...The Phenex--there!" Lavhi says. "Right!" Eight answers. "Following!"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Outside the Denver Colony, a jet black, high stealth transit owned by the Chrome corporation docks carefully, cutting just enough of a hole into the colony's exterior for one little Arm Slave to exit. Information on "Project Sigyn" of Anaheim's interest is...limited, but Amalgam does have whispers of it in its files from when Anaheim was involved...and it's in Chrome's purview to assess what interesting projects of theirs could be salvaged. Of course, it's a rather hazardous environment for a human to venture into...
But their resident AI secretary, Asciel, has her own particular pondering for this colony.
>The 'body' is so close that I can reach for it.
>The 'mind' is slowly developing into a whole.
>That just leaves the 'heart'. I wonder if this will do?
"o/`Et sa me tooooooo~ Ef za me toooooooo~ San sa la lutica naaaaaaa-yooooooo~"
A slow, baleful sort of song like the echoes of the cosmos emanates through the colony, sung in Zentran - the figure calling it out might be mistaken for one as well - a rather large human-faced entity using countless harken-like anchors to reel and whir through the messy gravity of the malfunctioning colony. Vividly glowing cyan hair fans out in her wake - and at one point, she launches hiiiiigh up into the air, free-floating up above the line where gravity functions at all, tethered to the colony below - one hand over her eyes as she peers over the landscape.
<"Hmhmhm, good evening, anyone who's still alive!"> Asciel announces over broadband. <"I've gotten whispers of wonderful affairs going on in here - and that there's been an awful lot of calls for help. Luckily for you, I and my entourage have brought along a little escape route, but first, I'd certainly like a little bit of guidance towards a most interesting energy signature in here, fufufu.">
Syntax: @changag <channel name or alias>
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
A flash of intuition, and Leina Ashta decided to walk in another direction, she seemed cheerful enough about their prospects when she parted ways with Rena, told her they'd link up real soon.
That cheer vanished the moment she was alone.
Multiple recovered Cyber-Newtypes based out of Denver Colony should be considered total loss.
The words from the snippet of the file she'd found echo in her head.
We estimate 28 Cyber-Newtypes were sealed inside the laboratory with psychoframe material not yet installed. Life support failed.
"Isn't that the way it always is?"
Leina asks quietly to noone but herself, directing herself around on a scavenged portable vernier threw the debris that the Colony's erratic rotation was being tossed about seemingly in slow motion.
Exercise caution. Anaheim Electronics board would disapprove of this messaging going public.
Would it even matter if it did? So few people care about Cyber Newtypes. Much less finding justice for them.
It would be a PR Nightmare for a short time, but then no heads would roll. The Anaheim Executives would continue to profit off both sides as always.
"Nothing would change." There's a bitterness to her tone. It's hard to say where she was going, as she weaved about through the facility's hallways, she just knew she had to go in this direction.
And when the chamber opened up, she saw it kneeling with its new pink and white paint job... a torn open hole in the facility roof causing exterior light from the main Colony to pour in upon it.
For the first time since parting ways with Rena, Leina manages a smile, "Thanks Rita." She whispers quietly... and flies herself over to the cockpit, hitting the hatch.
It didn't matter if nothing would change, the cause is still worth it. For those used and abused and discarded.
Someone should know their stories, should fight for them.
Bringing herself inside, this time she took the action of closing the hatch, removing the Vernier to stow it in the copilots' seats, belting herself in, and beginning the start up sequence.
"Ready or not..." Leina certainly didn't feel ready. One battle where she didn't know what she was doing? A crash training course with Shirou? It didn't matter if she was.
She's had it stuck in her head ever since talking with Roux. Maybe there's no good that can come out of her getting in a mobile suit and fighting...
... but maybe she can stop something bad. That's something isn't it? "Alright Renalle. I'm coming."
KTS: Leina Ashta has deployed in MSZ-013 MP Type ZZ Gundam. KTS: Asciel Colette has deployed in Plan-1056 Codarl-a 'Glaux'. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has deployed in MSN-06S-2 Sinanju Stein. <Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Zoltan could not have spent a better few days here. Nope, not at all, there's absolutely NO chance that his mood could in any way be better than being trapped in an abandoned colony with all manners of people, and the only other person was drinking that Orange Tang that Amuro was overdosing on. Yup, juuuust perfect.
That didn't stop him from gaining something out of this whole ordeal, what with the datadisk from one of those facilities (and a piece of blackmail [so he'd say] in the mental backpocket) stowed away in his repaired suit. Sure, the repair was scuffed, but it was fixed, it was usable, and he could go yell at his superiors that he was still alive.
That spite was enough to keep him going. Being alive in the face of people who'd much rather watch him disappear.
That same spite led any good man who was close to his suit in a location he'd rather be out of combined with people who, for lack of a better term, was more ambivalent about survival (maybe) than others: Send out a call for help on all lines, deliberately omitting what the colony was. Just a call for help, all lines, on open comms. First through Sleeves channels with a few key phrases, then on open lines.
Sleeves would be directed to a particular open hangar, the Sinanju Stein striding within, already heading towards the reactor. Even on uncertain gravity, he merely bounded with an easier step, rifle at the ready. Hell if anyone came. He wasn't...optimistic.
Let no good deed go unpunished, as they say.
...An interesting broadcast, all the same. <"There's only one source it could be, newcomer. Take a guess. Take a single guess, maybe you'll win a prize for the most obvious thing in here."> Open comms. He's not bothering to be sneaky at all.
KTS: Eight York has deployed in VB-6 Koenigin Monster <Shuttle/Bomber Mode>. <Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.
The old man of the celestial beings had been wandering the colony for the last couple of days mainly on his own, his only companion being hallucinations of mythical birds in the time. He had left the Yulong in a recharge cycle while he scanvenged what he could to make enough repairs to maintain its operability but later it would need some real work.
Taking a deep breath he switches Yulong from stand by into a manual pilot mode, slowly using the sensors to map out and locate the source of all the trouble, the reactor. " So I think it would be best to find my young compatriot and then to blow this thing to kingdom come , wouldn't you agree my old friend. " Li Yao speaks to his unit as the Yulong begins to move out of the crevice it had hidden itself in and moves towards the open terrain. "Yes yes I will see if I can reach them."
Tuning his comms to run through all the private Celestial Being channels first Yao begins to broadcast, <"Verdiska, this is Yulong, did you survive?">
KTS: Rita Bernal has deployed in RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03 Phenex <Unicorn Mode>. <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita's Valkyrie has seen better days. The VF-25 Messiah flies through the corridors of the colony in GERWALK mode, looking much like a patchwork quilt from where it has been patched up from her battle with Ennil's Skoll. But it's a testament to Anita's capabilities at field repair that it's still in usable condition, attention given to ensuring that even the transformation gears still work. The combat knife was a lost cause, though, left behind with her opponent, so she has fashioned herself a replacement melee weapon out of parts salvaged from the colony - a spear. It looks fairly junky, but it'll do in a pinch. And if any situation counts as a 'pinch', this one certainly does.
She follows the reactor's signal, glowing like a beacon. There's no doubt that her friends must be heading that way too - and then, there's that blue light... A smile crosses her face. That's her, isn't it?
"Must be going the right way." Anita comments to herself, accelerating. And what's more... it seems like she's getting a signal, so she makes an attempt.
"This is Anita - I'm heading toward that signal." Anita announces over the Ra Mari line. ...But, the general area signal... Anita frowns. ...Look like there's going to be trouble.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has deployed in VF-25 Messiah Rosetta <GERWALK Mode>. KTS: Anita Rosetta has changed loadout.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana -- in another hangar entirely -- screws down a hatch on the Gelgoog, struggling against the lack of gravity. "Stupid... space... ughhh!!!"All a sudden, in her bag, her phone rings. She hooks a leg around the mobile suit, so she can try to dig through it without losing anything -- she snatches up a bronze heart and tucks it back in, stubbornly -- to pull it out.
You have: 115 New Messages.
Yuliana's expression grows drawn, as she scrolls down the list.
> yuliana? you have been gone some time. please update.
> it has been 12 hours since you left, yuliana. did something happen
> where are you, yuliana?
She scrolls down.
> it has been 24 hours and 30 minutes
> you NEED TO TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED
> how can i help you if you will not talk to me
> 24 hours and 40 minutes
> DO NOT IGNORE ME
And down.
> LET ME HELP YOU
> TALK TO ME
> YULIANA
And down.
> WHERE
> WHERE
> WHERE
> WHERE
> WHERE
Those myriad last messages are all precisely that coherent, and ice clutches Yuliana's heart, as she witnesses just how worried her wife is. Hurriedly, before the interference can cut her off again, she writes:
> I got trappep but Im okay coming back home asap sorry not ignoning you love you
(She usually stops to correct the typos which slip through her autocorrect, so she must be feeling pressured.)
"Tch... it's now or never!" Yuliana insists, as she cranks open the cockpit, and slips inside. "Zeon junk... you'd better not let me down," she snaps, to the machine, as she straps herself in. "If I don't get home, I'll never forgive you!"
She'll also be dead, but never mind that. "Launching!"
The MS-14A Gelgoog which crashes from that hangar was abandoned for years before the colony died; it's lost its rifle, somewhere along the way, clutching only that beam naginata and its ancient shield.
On Celestial Being's channels, she transmits: "Verdiska, present. I had to salvage a unit after mine was trashed. You all right, old man?" Her voice modulation is much more rudimentary, now; she had to hack something together in its communication systems. It's something, at least.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has deployed in MS-14A Gelgoog. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has changed loadout. <Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
CARGO MASS DRIVER 14-A
LUNA
TEN HOURS, ELEVEN MINUTES AND NINE SECONDS AGO
A steel and ceramic monolith swivels slowly in the background as the countdown begins. A technician whose normal suit is conspicuously missing any kind of identification patch on the breast plugs a handheld computer into the firing controls, and the ballistics computer does the rest of the work. "Destination is Side 6," he confirms to another patch-less technician who is feeding control timings for retrograde thrust into the program. "D airspace. Don't put it through the cylinder."
Two mirrored black visors look at each other.
"Sure. But you see how close the little lady wants it, right? This thing ain't exactly surgical."
"Just get it close enough for a trip on one tank of air. She was pretty clear. No cancellation order in twenty-four hours, we launch."
A click of the teeth. "What'd I just say? Tch... alright, alright."
With one final keystroke, the program is executed and the launch protocols begin. The mass driver's capacitors near full, and a 45-metre long cargo container fitted with boosters is comfortably floating above the magnetic rails. The countdown's final moments approach.
An otherworldly thrum pulses through the nearby Lunar landscape as a 310-tonne bullet departs Lunar space at 10.5 kilometres per second.
An insurance package hurtles towards Denver colony. Just in case.
> it has been 12 hours since you left, yuliana. did something happen
DENVER COLONY
SIDE 6
NOW-ISH
Meeting up with anyone inside the colony was already difficult, but now that things are starting to come apart, it's really gotten rough.
"I'll be back." Puru Two told Rena earlier, without much more explanation after comms came back online. "I've got a package coming soon, and you've got things to do here. Don't let the void woman catch you, she's still alive out there somewhere."
And then, the redhead sealed her normal suit visor and disappeared into the superstructure somewhere.
She glances at the time-date readout in one corner. Ten minutes to insurance package arrival, if nobody messed up. That's not much time.
So, a black-suited phantom slips through the aging interior of Denver colony towards a shattered cargo-bay. "Sorry," Puru Two mumbles to the distant sensation of the golden bird. "Trust in us... I'm not leaving. I'm just going to get something."
KTS: Li Yao has deployed in GNF-00XNH Yulong. <Pose Tracker> Serinas Nikola has posed.
The Sleeves are missing a pilot. In the spirit of cooperation, Serinas has come from ZAFT to help make sure that Zeon's failed golden boy gets some support against whatever other factions are investigating the colony.
A lone CGUE speeds across the void; a darker light gray than le Creuset's, and with an integrated armblade instead of a sword. Serinas slows down as one of the colony's hangar bays fills her screens.
It's strange, coming to an abandoned facility like this. There's no calling to the traffic controllers, as she has when moving about in ZAFT; if she ever tagged along on salvage work in the belt, she was either just in her spacesuit or a Queadluun-Rau. Still, moving the mobile suit is practically subconscious and automatic, and she moves to a slow coast, the CGUE's mono-eye sweeping back and forth in its visor as she checks the area for occupants.
And she hears an unexpected, familiar voice! <"Atrytone! It's good to hear a friendly voice! I was worried we'd be all alone in here... But what's this about an energy signature?">
And then she weaves her way around a ruined cargo transport and sights the Sinanju, a friendly IFF, and sighs in relief and hails him on a Sleeves-ZAFT joint channel: <"Found you! Do you need any help?"> She hesitates for a moment, noticing that the Sleeves suit is heading deeper into the colony, then follows. <"I'm Serinas Nikola, from ZAFT. The Sleeves said you might need some support.">
The mono-eye sweeps again, taking in their surroundings, as the Zero-Gravity Maneuver Fighter takes up a more loping gate for covering ground in such environments. <"Is this..."> Serinas asks, uncertainly: <"Are we after the same energy signature Atrytone is after? ...Is *everyone* here after whatever it is? What is it? Do you know who else is here, exactly?">
KTS: Serinas Nikola has deployed in ZGMF-515 CGUE <Serinas Nikola>. KTS: Serinas Nikola has changed loadout. <Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.
Locate the generator, dispatch those who would try to claim it for themselves for whatever reason, and destroy it so that it can no longer fall into anyone else's hands. Anything after that is left completely to his discretion. That is the plan given to the pilot known as Setsuna F. Seiei, and it's the one he's going to carry out. No one can be trusted with this sort of technology, after all, so it'd be best if it just disappeared... Setsuna's brow furrows beneath his tinted visor at this thought. Is it really correct?
It doesn't matter, he supposes. He'll figure out his answer along the way.
A blue and white Gundam lands on the exterior of the colony, drawing a massive blade attached to its arm to carve out an entrance for it to enter through. Almost immediately, as he drops inside the chaotic innards of the abandoned settlement, his radar easily picks up what he's looking for. Amongst other things, including another Celestial Being member.
The pilot considers opening a radio with them, but decides against it. He'd rather save his breath for more important things. Still, it's negligent to keep your teammates at least somewhat informed, so Setsuna alerts Li Yao by simply pinging him, alerting him that one of Celestial Being's Gundam Meister's is on the scene.
With that done, the Exia begins to journey deeper within the collapsing colony, green particles propelling it quietly through the air as it begins heading towards its target.
KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has deployed in GN-001 Gundam Exia. <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
As if there weren't enough fricking problems in the Earth Sphere right now, Roux Louka woke up one fine Spanish morning and went to cook herself some eggs, just in time for her phone's signal application to start serving her emergency notices. She had almost choked when she saw that they were coming in in stereo -
Both Leina, who has been flagged as top rescue priority for obvious reasons -
And the Ra Mari signal tracker, which remains Roux's technically-listed place of employment.
"Motherf"
SO
Roux was able to organize things despite having to work with something that she could find and scramble up. Roux does not have the money to just fly a Mobile Suit into space the way some people can just buy tickets to the back of beyond with luxury trips, but she WAS able to find what seems to be a functional credit card with someone else's name on it, and, Roux is willing to guess, she is either going to be able to get away with this, or she will be dead and the problem will not be hers any more.
And that is why right now, there is a Mobile Suit - with an attached extended-range fuel tank (the parasite rocket was left away long ago) approaching on a low-energy vector towards Denver Colony. An alarm in the cockpit wakes Roux up; she straightens, blinks sleep from her eyes, opens the faceplate to take a sip of nutrient fluid (with caffeine! and flavor!)
The ReZ-II's cameras turn to image the hangar she was approaching. "Oh hey," Roux says, "there's movement. That's good."
A beat. "Probably."
KTS: Roux Louka has deployed in ReZ II - <MS Mode>.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena climbs up into the cockpit of the Mobile Suit. It's thoroughly covered in shadow; the lighting in here is weak, such that emergency lighting only gives her a hint that it's a white Mobile Suit. She takes aim with a cable launcher, with a magnetic end attached, and fires it. It hits the steel of the suit with a clank -- then reels her in close. She puts a hand on the hatch, before she turns the handle.
It opens with a hiss.
Then, she slides inside. Rena slips into the cockpit, before she sits back into it. She looks it over; her eyebrows knit, as she takes in a fairly standard 360-degree cockpit, like those on many a Mobile Suit since the Gryps War. Rena's fingers begin working over switches. "Okay, okay... let's hope this thing works," she says. "I think..."
She flips a switch, and there's a satisfying hum as the reactor comes online -- and lights inside the cockpit's HUD light up. The screen turns on -- visible as a dim light, at first, and then brighter as it begins going through the boot-up procedure. It flashes, then displays some text:
A000-0001 GAIA GEAR ALPHA
ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL
LAUNCH...... OK!
Rena types a few commands into the console. On sensors nearby, a new unit appears: a Londo Bell IFF. Then, Rena grips the controls, and moves the throttle forward. The thrusters fire -- and the white Mobile Suit rockets out of the hangar, the doors opening for it. It's a white Mobile Suit, with golden and black lining; there is a blue portion down the chest. It has a look similar to a Zeta Gundam-like model, though with two large wing binders on the back that suggest a transformable capacity.
Its head is also not unlike a Gundam's, though with a large horn-like spike off the top of it. It rises upward, head turning about. Then, Rena flicks a switch, and speaks.
"This is Lieutenant Rena Lancaster, in the--" She has to check. "--Gaia Gear Alpha. Sorry if I gave any of you a scare. I'm--"
She blinks. Newtypes have a way of detecting when someone is nearby, but when one gets distracted... well... sometimes, it takes a second. So, still over the radio, she says: "Wait! Who's there!?"
Up ahead, the reactor waits. The building remains dark -- until a few lights flicker on, then off -- and the colony's rotation begins to slow a little more. A building shudders, as it does. This can't be good for parts of the interior.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has deployed in A000-0001 Gaia Gear Alpha. KTS: Weapon: Gaia Gear Alpha Built-in Array KTS: Weapon: Gaia Gear Alpha Handheld Array KTS: Weapon: Gaia Gear Alpha Hardpoints KTS: 60mm Vulcan Guns: 3000 Physical,Ranged,Microtarget KTS: Sand Barrel: 3400 Physical,Ranged,Rattle,Accurate,MAP KTS: 20mm Gatling Gun: 3800 Physical,Ranged,Spread,Intercept KTS: Dual Hand Beam Guns: 4600 Beam,Ranged,Spread,MAP KTS: Hand Beam Guns Burst Fire: 5400 Beam,Ranged,Accurate,Barrier Breaker KTS: Beam Saber Slash: 4000 Beam,Melee KTS: Beam Rifle Shot: 4200 Beam,Ranged KTS: Beam Saber Cleave: 4500 Beam,Melee,Initiation,Accurate KTS: Beam Rifle Blitz: 4800 Beam,Ranged,Formation KTS: Hyper Bazooka Salvo: 5200 Physical,Ranged,Missile,Spread,MAP KTS: Dual Beam Saber Rush: 5400 Beam,Melee,Anchor KTS: Hyper Bazooka Bombard: 5600 Physical,Ranged,Missile,Ship-Killer,Penetrating KTS: Gaia Flash: 5800 Magic,Melee,Attuned,Barrier Breaker KTS: Hyper Mega Launcher: 6300 Beam,Ranged,Ship-Killer,Penetrating,Root KTS: Shooting Star: 6700 Magic,Ranged,Attuned,Finisher KTS: Needle Missile Salvo: 4200 Physical,Ranged,Penetrating,Missile KTS: Funnel Pod - Dusk Formation: 4500 Beam,Ranged,Attuned KTS: Needle Missile Circus: 5000 Physical,Ranged,Penetrating,Accurate,Missile KTS: Funnel Pod - Dawn Formation: 5500 Beam,Ranged,Attuned,Spread,MAP KTS: Anti-Ship Missile: 6100 Physical,Ranged,Missile,Ship-Killer,Spread KTS: All-Range Attack: 6500 Beam,Ranged,Attuned,Finisher KTS: Pass: 0 Ranged,Passive,All-Range
<Pose Tracker> Lacus Clyne has posed.
As the Gaia Gear launches, there's a shuffling behind Rena. And then a figure in a normal suit appears, the pink hair visible behind her helmet.
"Oh my! I was hoping someone would come along to pilot this poor thing. It looked so lonely there."
Lacus Clyne sits behind Rena, nestling in the cockpit. There is no insignia on her suit, nothing to indicate she is acting on behalf of ZAFT. Which is to be expected, because she is a civilian. An idol singer from the PLANTs.
"Rena Lancaster, is it? It's nice to meet you. Sorry to surprise you, but you surprised me before I could tell you I was here. Isn't it exciting to find something lost like this?"
"BIG PROBLEM!" squeaks the tiny pink Haro resting in her hands.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Waiting just before the reactor is a golden machine, floating without use of engines or thrusters. Surrounded by blue fire, she waits, watching the heroes of the living who assemble before her. Armored shields at her back appear almost as wings, with a long kite-tail dangling from each. Every new mobile arrival is given an appraising look.
Where before the battle, the Phenex was full of instructions, now she's silent. Their obstacle is clearly before them: the reactor. Something must be done about it. She has her own private hopes, of course, but...
Only the living can make decisions.
The arms of the machine spread wide, as though welcoming the gathered pilots. Then she turns and flits to the reactor, darting this way and that, drawing their attention to it. A few moments later, she returns to her previous spot, arms now at her sides. It's a pretty clear gesture of "what are you going to do?"
KTS: Lacus Clyne has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Rena Lancaster! Lucine Azul teleports in. POT: Lucine Azul is now set observer.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The activity above is concerning, Asciel's in particular. Her aggressively pink and white MP Gundam decides not to go back topside.
Instead it clomp, clomp, clomps one foot step at a time through the linked complex, using the energy signature at the back to guide her.
Fortunately Rita put it at a point where Mobile Suits can actually move around... an IFF Signal for a ReZ-II top side comes though, Leina blinks in surprise, "Roux?"
And her eyes light up, as she sends transmission on that frequency with a narrowbeam, "<Roux is that you!? I'm in the complex near that big energy signature. I'm piloting - uh - a Pink Double Zeta, explain later!>"
She picks up the pace, and now engages the thrusters, as the ZZ Gundam's younger sibling weaves through the halls, catching a transmission, "What's a Gaia Gear Alpha?" Leina asks to noone in particular before hitting her radio onto what she thinks was the same frequency, "<Renalle - closing in on your position. I think->"
The Mobile Suit rounds the corner and halts, landing, as her cockpits screens zoom in on- "<-Ooooohhhhh that's a Gaia Gear Alpha!>"
Pause.
"<Neat.>"
That horn though??? Leina squints, it doesn't look like it splits but, suddenly she's suspicious.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight doesn't know what' up with the giant face. But she does hear her friends. And that includes... "Louka?" Eight thinks she detects Roux's unit out there. "Good timing!"
But Anita... "I'm also heading for the signal," Eight answers Anita. "Current orders for Kakapo Squadron and other Ra Mari attaches: protect the reactor from destruction. I'm not sure what the best option is for the future... but I know I don't want the evidence in this place to be buried."
She recognizes Leina's unit as one that she shouldn't recognize. That's a whole-ass thing.
"Rena!" Eight transmits. "nice ride!"
"you did--uh!?" Who!?
But as the machines all come into the light, it becomes easier to see the nose art on the bomber Eight is piloting with Lavhi. The nose art of... an adorable likeness of Rena Lancaster, eyes sparkling, both hands on a muffin.
Rita wants to know what they'll do...
Eight pilots forward and then the Koenigin Monster begins to shift, the cabin changing place as the whole machine turns from bomber to GERWALK mode, great guns appearing on all sides. There's so much firepower in this thing.
"This is Captain York of the Ra Mari," Eight says. "Claiming defensive position of the reactor. The truth of this colony deserves to be brought to light--and that won't happen if we destroy it."
The last, over a general radio--and Eight starts transmitting data to three of her pilots as she does.
"Repeat, establishing defensive perimter."
Eight York transforms to VB-6 Koenigin Monster <Standing Modes>
KTS: Eight York targets Leina Ashta, Rena Lancaster, and Anita Rosetta with Caution. KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Eight York suggests caution, raising Rena Lancaster's Intuition! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 14900 KTS: Eight York suggests caution, raising Anita Rosetta's Intuition! KTS: Eight York suggests caution, raising Leina Ashta's Intuition! <Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.
The ping from the Meister and the word from the Queen of Ice brings a smile to the old man's face , "It appears old friend that today we are not alone. " Setting the unit to a rudimentary autopilot to keep things moving as the old man moves himself to the platform of the gundam and begins the process of 'suiting up'
As the old man's suit up process finishes Yulong's systems switch from the imprecise tacked on cockpit controls to the full gundam fighter system, as it begins to mimic the old man's movements. Now ready for whatever may be lurking in the colony Li Yao increases speed towards the location of the reactor.
As he travels he responds to a certain captain he met just a couple of days ago, <"That is all well and good young lady, but the truth is the reactor is to much of a threat and must be dealt with.">
As the response is given the green veined gundam fighter would start to be visible on the Ra Mari's sensors, round two is about to begin.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
There's a new mobile suit on Anita's sensors. It's a Londo Bell, and the pilot announces herself as... Rena!? Even Anita is surprised for a moment, but she gets over it quickly.
"Hey Rena. Nice suit." Anita greets with a grin. And... Leina too? "Wow, everyone's got cool new toys."
Eight responds, then. Protect the reactor... Anita nods.
"...Yeah. I think this thing could be put to a lot of good if used right. But if we destroy it - that's it." She agrees. She adjusts her course to follow after Eight's unit - the bomber with the adorable art on the nose. She can't help but smirk a little when she sees it.
Soon enough her Valkyrie joins Eight, taking a stand to enforce the defensive perimeter she's attempting to establish.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Resting her cheek in one mechanical hand, Asciel gives a little pout at Zoltan's grouchy hailing. <"Aww, seems like spirits are fairly low in here. It sounds like you've all had it rough in this massive space coffin. You're not all going to pursue the target even though help's finally here to break you out, surely. After all, it'd be so much cozier to just head on home. To forget all this ever happened, and abandon this cursed pearl of a treasure.">
Asciel hurls herself onward until the gathering at the reactor is complete - with the enigmatic Phenex guiding everyone onward, like a siren into the abyss. On Asciel's arrival, Rita likely can acutely feel the...'refusal' which Asciel emits. Where Yuliana is like a void to that sense, the merry-sounding AI is more of a 'mirror' - substantive, but deflecting.
The AI takes a few steps, glancing at the Phenex balefully, a smile on the Codarl's fake lips. Its arm extends...and four trackers fire from a forearm sheath, each at the four corners of the room, signaling to her transit outside where the reactor is located.
<"So here's how this is going to go, everyone!~ This is the only object of real worth in the colony, so I will be imminently getting this device excavated and extracted, like coring out an apple to plant it into a wonderful tree tomorrow. I'm sure there's information elsewhere in this place, but there's vast sums of information anywhere large enough, and you'll waste your time excavating this dump for any little morsels of fleeting insight. Things are liable to get rough, and this whole place is sure to fall apart, but its fate is already sealed.">
Sending out two anchors to secure itself to the floor, Asciel is swift to open fire - selecting the pink and white ZZ Gundam, launching another cord at her...and unsheathing her sword, swinging it out like throwing a dart at Leina. <"I'd also enjoy proving a little bit of a point about the oh-so-friendly task forces that the world currently entrusts to save it, yet which refuse seizing the power and agency to do just that. Let me see what you, in particular, are made of - I've been needing to see what Londo Bell and its allies are made of for quite some time!~"
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Leina Ashta with Monomolecular Cutter Slash! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
A dot of lilac appears in the lower-left corner of Puru Two's visor, as someone on her contacts list is back within transmittal range. Now who do you think that colour might belong to, Roux Louka?
"Roux," she calls the other woman with little regard for whether she might be eating, applying makeup, or doing her taxes. "What's going on out there? Did you come to rescue us? This old colony has had it." she isn't even sarcastic about that. How sweet! She's always sweet, when she isn't trying to boil people's molecules apart with beam weapons.
"Also, don't stand between Hangar Bay twelve and the Moon for the next... fifteen seconds."
***
The first sign of the approaching bulk cargo container, really, is when it fires retro-thrusters as the distance between itself and the dilapidated Denver Colony shrinks to a figure you could measure in metres without resorting to scientific notation. Plumes of brilliant blue wink in the distance like blue pinpricks on the sea of black, wobbling and pulsating in contrast to the steady shine of distant stars.
Puru Two slips out of a shadowy ventilation duct, leaving a disassembled rotary fan in her wake. She squints as she listens to the static-y chatter in the background.
"Rena? Are you safe? You cut out for a while." she asks back on the Kakapo Channel, as the girl's voice reaches her ears once more. "And what exactly is a Gaia Gear?"
(Some kind of Masoukishin?!?)
"... and is it armed?" she switches conversational tracks shortly after, as a shadow begins to loom over the hangar bay. "Eight, I'm just picking up a delivery now. I'll be there shortly."
Clipping a thruster pack around her waist, Puru Two slips from the relative comfort of the hangar bay and into the great open sea of space outside of the colony. Just as the incoming mass-driven container slows to the cozy velocity of "a few hundred kliometres per hour" and then fractures, panels popping off as firing studs ignite. The express delivery from the moon is completed, packing slip enclosed.
In the midst of the dissolving bulk container, enshrouded by slowly-spinning panels and sparks, is a prize indeed. A 40-metre tall Mobile Armor of ghostly sea-green, with grossly oversized pauldrons and enormous cloven, clawed feet. The V-fin upon its head feels like a mockery, given the clear Zeonic design at hand.
A relic of the First Neo-Zeon War, a snazzy prototype thought to be nothing but a footnote in the history books.
"Ugh. It reeks." hisses Puru Two as she collides with the outer shell of the NZ-000 Queen Mansa. She is immediately greeted by many an unpleasant memory from the distant past, but has no time to dwell on them. The psycommu headset around her temple blinks briefly, and the cockpit yawns open.
"But this time, you're doing what I say. For my reasons."
KTS: Puru Two has deployed in NZ-000 Queen Mansa. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta blocks Asciel Colette's Monomolecular Cutter Slash, taking 2160 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette has engaged Leina Ashta! <Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Speaking of a big problem.
On Celestial Being radio channel, the Gelgoog transmits, Verdiska's voice modulated with a rough alteration: "I hear you, old man." And Setsuna can hear her, too, surely, since it's not a private channel. "After what happened here... I'd rather see this place be a proper tomb."
Not that she cares much for the fate of twenty-eight Cyber-Newtypes.
She's not one of them, after all.
"The truth?" Her mechanical voice -- more recognisable as feminine, with her last-minute radio hacks -- rings out on an open channel, now, as the Gelgoog approaches that perimeter. "The truth is that if this place remains, its bones will fertilise yet more horrors! You will see no justice, and bring ruin to the dark edges!"
There's no emotional signature, from the Gelgoog. It's as if no one is in there at all, to Newtype senses.
Yuliana -- 'Verdiska', as she calls herself, in Celestial Being -- pushes her Gelgoog forward, to attack one of those targets she recognises:
Anita's Variable Fighter.
With only her beam naginata, she stabs it forward, towards the VF. "Let it lie forgotten!"
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Anita Rosetta with Gelgoog Beam Naginata Slash! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.
Don't bury the evidence... He does suppose that has some merit. But still, can he trust Londo Bell? Should he? Probably not, especially when they're requesting people to stand down while openly displaying a show of force with what appears to be some sort of mockery of a Gundam. Or perhaps, an evolution? Why is he even considering this? Did that girl from before affect him that much? No. He won't blame her. He's always been this introspective, the only thing she did was put him back into that mindset.
As every one mobilizes, the Exia backs down, descending to the ground as it locks itself to the floor with strong magnetic feet. In an instant, the Celesital Being Gundam disappears, blotching out of existance in patches of hexagons as it blends itself into its surroundings.
<"What do you plan to do with the generator once it's secured?">
The Exia opens it's radio to everyone, despite the fact it's disappeared from sensors. The pilot seems to be probing for information to help with some sort of answer, and at least to some people here, the voice of the mysterious unit is unmistakably familiar as the boy present during the meeting with Celestial Being.
KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Yuliana Kafim's Gelgoog Beam Naginata Slash, taking 2029 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Anita Rosetta! <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
There's a feeling of Presence. Familiar sensations...
"Rena!" Roux exclaims into the comms. "Look at THAT! Wow! What did you call it, Gaia Alpha? Sick. Let me get a scan of you -" There's a gurgling sound in the ReZ-II and then a silent hiss and a fairy-sparkle of surplus propellant as the fuel tank is left to fall into a loose orbit around Denver Colony's mass. The trash ring! That's what Junkers are supposed to help with!
Speaking of junkers.
"I have several questions," Roux answers Leina. "If you had a Double Zeta of your own, why did you have to send a signal!? Is this some kind of pirate base or some garbage? At this point I'd say you outnumber them -- oh, did you buy them off?"
Roux looks at the hanging mesh for her personal pack, where Sayla's credit card is conveniently stuck in case she needs to use it to bribe someone or purchase Leina back or something like that. At which point she hears Eight's voice.
The ReZ-II flies casually inwards, nearer to the hangar entrance. "Hi, Captain!" Roux then answers Eight in a voice noticeably higher and sillier. "Ehehehehe! How's it going! It sounds like there's a reactor here! Well, I was just here to see what had happened to everyone, and I'm sorry it took me so long to reach back out!" current mood: ^_^; ehehe
"Uh... What's that golden machine flitting around?" Roux continues, her girly-girl tee-hee I goofed up and went AWOL act evaporating like spilled ammonia in a hot room.
"-- Callisto! Some kind of reactor; I came here through the agency of, uh, CARD," Roux says, as if it's a secret organization. "... Okay" she continues, even as SOMETHING is moving into the area, but the fact that she's there... it's like the team is coming back together.
It's a warm feeling, even if Roux has a sensation of some kind of spot-point of nilhilism out there. Something --
-- A monologue! The speech gives Roux time to turn her head around in order to locate the individual. Asciel's flowering speech is lovely but also means Roux has to actually listen to figure out, which has its advantages over some methods of communicating, but is a lot more of a cognitive demand than 'die, fed scum' or 'for the love of piracy!' or 'a man's dream will never die!'
But -- she's going towards Leina. "Dick!" Roux exclaims, but at the same time she's already bringing the Mega Beam Rifle around, and this means that the melee between Leina and Asciel that Leina has been cordially invited to, whether she likes it or not -- ALSO has an incoming ray of megaparticles, aimed towards the aggressor suit!
KTS: Roux Louka targets Asciel Colette with Mega Beam Rifle! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette successfully evades Roux Louka's Mega Beam Rifle KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Got it, Callisto," Eight answers. A delivery... and apparently it's some-ass delivery. Eight stares up at the Zeonic design. It reeks, all right--it reeks to the mind. But Puru Two if anyone has the right has it. And...
"Ah." Eight's radio replies to Li Yao's, as he answers her, that green-veined gundam fighter...
"Looks like we get a rematch," she says. "I understand what you're saying... But I'm not willing to give in to cynicism yet."
Setsuna has a fair question, though. Eight, from her Koenigin Monster, "We'll bring dispatch a Londo Bell team to research it and understand it, while attempting to dig out the secrets of the colony. That does mean it'll be in Federation hands. But I have no intention of letting anyone use it as a weapon."
"If you can't accept that, though..." Eight leaves it open. She understands. But she focuses on Li Yao, for now. "All right, Gundam Fighter. I'm not much of a pilot, but if you'll accept me as your opponent, then I'll defend what I stand for. Me and my co-pilot." Lavhi chimes in over the radio, "I am also your opponent, sir," a deep-voiced Zentradi man who is also the Ra Mari's chief engineer. Lavhi works at the controls and nods, looking to Eight. "The two of us against them. So it is. I will handle weaponry."
"Right. And I'll get us maneuvered!"
The Koenigin Monster's squat form shifts, two gigantic legs turning as its 'body' bends forward to allow the railgun a single shot at the green-veined Yulong.
Then, she snaps off to Yuliana, "You wouldn't know anything about 'truth'! We can never have a better world if we fight to keep it the same as it always was!"
'Veridska.'
"Annie, you got her? I'm about to get real busy!"
The Ra Mari, meanwhile, is silent in the distance...
KTS: Eight York has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Eight York targets Li Yao with 320mm Railguns Single Shot! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"<It's more like a dead Colony where some awful Anaheim experiments happened! I'll explain the Double Zeta part later!!!>"
Leina calls out to Roux, she sounds less angry, and more anxious than anything. Even if Anita's praise causes her to beam.
As Eight speaks of how they're moving to preserve the truth, Leina's hands grip the levers more tightly, "<Agreed. Moving to defensive position.>"
Using Eight's data about the perimeter, she maneuvers the Double Zeta's younger sibling into cover by a hangar bay.
Celestial Being might notice an IFF signal that's subtly different for their sensors, indicating that it's not a foe at least.
The Codarl arrives, and Leina gasps inside of her cockpit, she'd seen that design before in Mithril's files. This is bad.
Immediately tense, hands upon the levers, she listens to her, and as she launches a cord her way, the Codarl finds itself being impeded by the sudden loader equipment that the ZZ has positioned itself behind...
... and perhaps the intervention of a friend besides.
The Codarl's monomolecular cutter buzzsaws the loader equipment with ease, equipment sparking and buzzing, as the ZZ raises its left arm, a strangely shaped mounted shield taking the blow and turning it with the assistance of a friend.
Rita feels a warm feeling of gratitude as blue fire streaks off the cutter from the Phenex's assistance.
The Double Zeta suddenly jukes to the side, its vernier thrusters maneuvering around the Codarl. She then surges forward, pivoting in mid-air to fire off a shot its way from its arm mounted rifle, hardly even taking the time to aim, simply trusting her instincts.
"<The power and agency to do just that? And what? Become the latest iteration of the Titans?>" Leina asks her, "<'Seizing power and agency' in this corrupt status quo to save it? What a joke. Londo Bell would only become a greater part of it.>"
Leina remarks, trying to move closer to the ReZ-II. She's truly not confident in her piloting skills at this juncture as a touch of anger enters her transmission, "<Then again, that's what someone piloting one of those would think, mmm?>"
Pause.
After all that confident talk, Leina sends another narrow beam transmission to Roux that Asciel wouldn't get, "<Um - Roux. Would now be a good time to mention this is my second real fight?>"
Pause.
"<Ever.>"
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Asciel Colette with MP ZZ Single-Barrel Beam Rifle Snap Shot! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Leina Ashta's MP ZZ Single-Barrel Beam Rifle Snap Shot, taking 2204 damage! <Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Che, the sarcasm was just dripping. <"Next time, don't spend a few days faffing around about it, thank you very much."> That Codarl wasn't anything special....so he'd like to say. Not much for subtlety, either. He hurtles himself forward on every step, bounding for the reactor. Strange things, strange things.
...And that golden robot is back again. What, is it mocking him now again? He's already bracing for the inevitable radianting aura of disgust, whatever that bastard thought he did.
That being said, taking the reactor was the best course of action; The best one at the moment, and he wasn't going to complain if a few extra pieces were lost in the shuffle. Much better than destroying it. That junked up Sinanju Stein couldn't help but grin, the rifle already powering itself up.
The modulated voice was makeshift. Amateur (to a point). ...And yet, he couldn't help but agree. <"I hate to agree, but I'll have to agree on that.">
Setsuna's call raises a cackle, the overacting suit merely shrugging as it assumed a typical sniper stance. Crouched, aiming, working with the targeting to focus... <"Isn't it obvious? Time won't stop for anything. Not even warfare.">
Ah, lancing another shot at Rena's new toy, the bright yellow bolt streaking across to aim right at that gaudy mobile suit. <"In! Any! Case! Rena, congratulations on your suit! Did you find everything you'd like, or did you just have to find some random junker that looks like a Variable Fighter reject!?">
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rena Lancaster with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Single Shot! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal targets Zoltan Akkanen with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Leina Ashta KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rena Lancaster's Ultrasonic activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Rena Lancaster, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Single Shot, taking 4400 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 10500
<Pose Tracker> Serinas Nikola has posed.
A Double Zeta!? ...Serinas doesn't know or care what that is or what decisions of Anaheim's led to all this; There sure are a number of Gundam-looking units that seem to be opposing them today, though...
Talking, though, she tries to follow the thread: <"Isn't that exactly what she's saying, though? The Feddies that know their bosses are corrupt should be doing stuff to fight it, not going along with it... Gah!"> Serinas shakes her head. <"I really don't understand you people... But if you're not taking it, we will!">
There are pretty big concerns, though... emphasis on the BIG, as there's a Monster on the field and it's in the way. And she left her beam gun at home...
...Is there just something in her blood that draws her to the big targets? Already, she's looking for potential weak points, thinking about how she can apply stress to weaken them and get her armblade in there. The CGUE tries to circle around the monster, drawing its machinegun and firing controlled bursts at its side...
And then as she passes by a hole in the colony wall, her sensors warn her of a mobile suit signature behind her! Serinas glances back at her rear screen in alarm... and for a split second, relaxes as she sees a Zeonic suit, probably another Sleeve here to help... and then she notices it's been tagged as enemy, decidedly non-Sleeves IFF, and is probably pointing weapons at her. "Shoot!" The CGUE leaps towards cover, turning in midair and firing backwards at the Queen Mansa -- unfortunately, this makes her an easy target for Puru 2 -- even a Coordinator can't always have the ideal battle plan worked out in a split second!
KTS: Serinas Nikola targets Eight York and Puru Two with MMI-M7S 76mm Machine Gun Barrage. KTS: Serinas Nikola has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"L-Lacus Clyne," Rena stammers, sounding dumbfounded. "The daughter of... the PLANT Supreme Chairman. I--um. Y-yeah, it's exciting... just make sure you're secure back there, okay? Are you really supposed to be here?"
There are days that Rena is pretty sure that she brings nothing but trouble to Eight and the Ra Mari. This is one of those. She looks back at the monitor -- as a screen cuts in, showing Leina Ashta's face. Rena cracks a smile, head tilted to the side. "Yeah, it looks like," she says. "I'm still getting a handle on what it has in it, but..."
Then, she nods, as Eight's orders come in. "Roger that, Captain. I read you," she says. "I'm moving into formaaAAAAAYYYY WHAT IS THAT ON THE KOENIG MONSTER'S NOSE."
Oh, look, Lacus! She's sputtering incoherently!
But the Gaia Gear Alpha sweeps in -- near Anita's Valkyrie and the Koenigin Monster, hovering there for a moment. The head turns sideways, peering at the others for a moment, before it turns back to look out at the others. She grits her teeth -- wincing as she hears Asciel call out for Leina. "Leina--be careful!"
Since when could she pilot a ZZ Gundam? She has to ask about this. (Later.)
Then, Callie's voices comes in. "I'm--I'm okay," she says. "I had some... strange run-ins down there. But I'll be all right. This is a prototype they had down there. It's--ah!"
The Queen Mansa. Rena gasps, as she gets her first look at it. She had only seen video feed of it from the UC 0088 war. Her eyes widen for a moment. She shakes it off. "I'm glad you made it, Callie."
Then, she looks back to Roux. She smiles. "It's the Gaia Gear Alpha. They'd left it in here, so... I thought I'd put it to good use."
Rena's head snaps to the side, as she registers that old Gelgoog rushing for Anita's Variable Fighter. She doesn't sense it -- but that's true of Verdiska. (And someone else.) She sucks in a gasp. "Annie! Look out, that's--that's the same pilot that we fought before!" she says. "She must have found a Gelgoog in here!"
Then, she shakes her head -- and answers, in a way, Setsuna's question to Verdiska. "Destroying it just means there's no chance to put it to any other use! To find out what happened here... to have a chance to set things right!"
She takes a deep breath, and then she grits her teeth -- as Zoltan's shot fires, and clips the Gaia Gear Alpha's midsection. There's a fiery blast that explodes out from the near-miss; the blast makes the Mobile Suit shake, Rena being thrown to one side. "Zoltan...!" she calls back. "It's... I don't know, but I'll see what it can do!"
She takes a deep breath, trying to steady herself, and glances over her shoulder at Lacus. "You okay? This guy, um, gets to me--I'll try to keep you safe."
Then, the Gaia Gear Alpha draws a rifle from over its shoulder, and takes aim. The Sinanju Stein flickers through Rena's crosshairs on the screen -- and she pulls the trigger. A lance of mega particle energy leaps from her white suit to his.
"Zoltan, people have to learn what happened here!" she says. "We can't just have this place be buried or forgotten!"
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Zoltan Akkanen with Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 51. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 60. KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Eight York blocks Serinas Nikola's MMI-M7S 76mm Machine Gun Barrage, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Puru Two fails to evade Serinas Nikola's MMI-M7S 76mm Machine Gun Barrage, taking 3375 damage! <Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Where Asciel's energy meets the Phenex's... It's very strange. Where she can normally feel a pilot within their mobile suit, this one-sided glass is perplexing. She floats nearer to Asciel for a moment, curious--
But Asciel fires on Leina. Spooked, the golden Gundam flutters backwards, then raises her arm. One of her armored 'wings' races forward, outpacing Asciel's attack, taking a stance before the pink-and-white ZZ. Haloed in blue fire, the golden shield defends Leina, managing to turn away some damage.
I was hoping they wouldn't fight. I'll do what I can to help you.
A message just for Leina. The Phenex gives her a glance that almost seems sad, then soars into the air, toward the edge of the battlefield. Whenever a stray shot arcs toward the laboratory area, a golden shield will appear to turn it aside. Soaring near that edge of the fight, the Phenex takes a protective stance, shields orbiting around her.
She will stand vigil, here. Protect those like her. She will not interfere in the affairs of the living.
She will not interfere in the affairs of the living.
...
Conflict is painful to witness. The emotions of fear and anger tear into someone as sensitive as the Phenex's beloved, tear into her with such precision. She's here for a purpose. Taking a side will not further her goals, and may endanger the future she's sacrificed so much for. But it aches, and it reminds her of so many moments she was helpless.
What good is freedom if you don't use it as you wish?
Quietly, the Phenex speaks to her beloved, in feelings, in images. Gentle urging.
And her beloved heeds her. A bird's cry echoes from the golden Gundam, and again, she soars above the battlefield. A single shield hovers near the laboratories. She won't give up on those she has a duty to. Her hands stretch out. Miraculous energy forms in the spaces between her fingers. The future may be changed, but if it is changed by an expression of agency, all the better.
Zoltan starts talking. As expected, disgust and hatred resonate from the golden Gundam. One of her luminous hands stretches out, and the Miracle Light of the skies the Phenex soars through follows its path. Rena is granted a vision of the next few moments of battle, just enough to aid her in her defense.
With a gleam of blue fire, the Phenex dives, soaring near enough Zoltan to strike him, though she doesn't move to do so. It's nothing more than an expression of spite. Blue light comes close enough to his machine to feel its sunlit-warmth, but absolutely no damage comes from the golden Gundam.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Roux is here, too!
"Hey, good to see you, Roux." Anita calls out. ...And then, Rena takes note of Eight's bomber's nose art. She bursts out laughing - but soon, she's given something to worry about as she hears a voice. She recognizes Verdiska(though she doesn't recognize recognize her, her true identity is still a mystery to her). She still hasn't forgiven her for what she did to Rena.
"...Yeah, looks that way." Anita replies to Rena. "Don't worry - I'll be careful. You be careful too, okay? Don't let her get to you."
"Pretty bleak way of looking at it. Me, I don't think it necessarily has to be that way." Anita replies to Verdiska, switching comms over. "...But, you know... I do owe you for last time."
The Gelgoog advances, stabbing a beam naginata forward toward her. Anita raises her shield to block, the weapon sliding across and cutting a line across her fuselage. The pinpoint barrier system - doesn't quite come on in time, still energy-low after being working to its extremes.
"I'll hang in there. You be careful too, Eight - good chance to break in your new suit, at least." Anita replies to Eight.
The Messiah Rosetta tightens its grip on its spear. Now's a good a time as ever to see if this thing she fashioned will work, or if it'll crumble apart the first time it meets resistance. She lashes out, swinging for the Gelgoog in a wide arc with her spear!
...And then, there's a new competitor. Zoltan. Rena mentioned him. Anita grimaces.
"Rena, just let me know if you need some cover." Anita calls out to her. "I'll be right there!"
As she looks over to Rena and Zoltan, so too does she see the Phenex. She gives the golden Gundam a brief wave, but it isn't long before her attention returns to the fight at hand.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Yuliana Kafim with Salvaged Spear Swing! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal targets Zoltan Akkanen with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
The Codarl's tongue traces across its lips - because Asciel installed an entire fake tongue purely for emoting on this thing. (It's gotten a little more lifelike - but it's still a bit uncanny valley!) <"There we go, the maelstrom of the ages begins. I wouldn't have it any other way, though I'd prefer it if it were a liiiiiittle more convenient. My prize might take collateral damage, after all!">
One of the Codarl's wires wraps around Leina's legs...and just in time, as she reels it in forcefully as Roux gets off a pot-shot at Asciel, the Codarl just barely evading...though it brings her right in range of Leina's own fire, bracing for it as best she can.
<"Dear me, ganging up together! It seems I've bothered someone important to you. Mind your own business - or if you're so needy, I'll scold you once I'm done with this one~ Or do you have something urgent for me? I'm hardly going to go out of my way to destroy this girl, if anything I'm keeping her safe from getting locked down to her knees in this burgeoning muck!">
One arm extends out to Roux - the other at Leina...and from Asciel's back, two gatling guns deploy underneath each arm, rapidly whirring up as she reels in closer and closer, the disparity in weight between the tiny Arm Slave and the much heavier Mobile Suit making it only a mild pull to Leina's point of view, especially in this mitigated gravity. <"If you're so certain that the power to change the world will corrupt your intend to change the world, and make you no better than those who've brought it to ruin - it means you're not ready to be trusted with its safety-"> Asciel's interrupted by that golden shield fluttering forward in Leina's path, fizzling in blue light - deployed from that strange Phenex that's so quiet and ephemeral.
>...Hmph. So the Phenex believes itself a judge. Yet again with these Unicorns...this power is a steadfast one. Unless it's this girl you care about so dearly...
<"What an auspicious blessing though! You should take it as a sign that your life is more important than whatever interest you have here - unless you'd like to help me in excavating this reactor!">
KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Leina Ashta KTS: Asciel Colette targets Leina Ashta and Roux Louka with AK-87 Gatling Cannon Barrage. KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka charges into the attack! KTS: Roux Louka partially guards Asciel Colette's AK-87 Gatling Cannon Barrage, taking 4180 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta retreats from the attack! KTS: Leina Ashta successfully evades Asciel Colette's AK-87 Gatling Cannon Barrage KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to rush. KTS: Yuliana Kafim partially guards Anita Rosetta's Salvaged Spear Swing, taking 2610 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen successfully evades Rita Bernal's Pass KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Rena Lancaster's Beam Rifle Shot, taking 3150 damage! <Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
The cockpit is silent, and large. The last time Puru Two sat here, she was scarce half the height she is now, and still it seems to dwarf her. A cavernous sphere of unlit panels and a lonely throne. Her gloved fingers slide across the controls, though they soon settle on the armrests of her seat as soon as the Psycommu input circuit is opened. She closes her eyes and opens her mind.
The Queen Mansa stirs slowly as it awakens. Eyes flaring with the light of stolen emeralds, its pilot inhales deeply and feels each limb and finger of the wretched machine respond to her will. "Yeah... you still reek." she curses it softly. The panoramic monitor alights, and the sensors come to life. The monstrous machine beast slowly turns to enter the Colony, where Puru Two's friends are soon to struggle.
"Okay, Roux. I don't really get it, but okay." she transmits back across Space, that void where you can talk to your friends in their giant robots. "By the way, don't panic, but I'm in something of Glemy's. Don't shoot if you see it."
"Eight, I'm back online. Where are you guys? I'll send you the IFF this thing's equipped with. If you see a big, green, Zeon machine, that's me."
There's a buzzing of alarm both in the cockpit and in the back of Puru Two's head as an oncoming craft draws a bead on the Queen Mansa. The big Mobile Armor turns to one side in the moment before a hailstorm of cannon fire strafes its bulky silhouette. Arcing wisps of ricocheting tracer fire ping and spiral wildly into the colony interior. "Tch. Some ZAFT jokers are coming already, watch out."
The Queen Mansa turns to regard the incoming CGUE with what should be indifference, what with it being a machine, but its angular face is a wicked mask of malice, to say nothing of the years of resentment pent up in its pilot. "Rena, same message goes to you." Puru Two calls back soon after. "Giant green Zeon suit, don't shoot. I'll try to be there soon." and then, she closes her channel and says the magic words.
"Funnels! Get out there!"
The command leaps from Puru Two's head, through the psychoreceptive circuitry of the war machine she's entombed in. The pallid green giant looses a stuccato burst of mega-particle fire at the CGUE to distract it, before several remote-controlled guns spiral out from the berth at its rear on long trails of burning blue-white.
"ZAFT pilot, suggest you get lost. This is not a place of honor, and we're all very upset today." Puru Two issues a warning as the Queen Mansa moves to depart back into the Colony. As for the funnels, well...
There's a lot of them and they open fire on the CGUE from a multitude of angles. It's really rude.
<Pose Tracker> Lacus Clyne has posed.
Lacus Clyne watches Rena sputter and act confused with the calmest, gentlest smile on her face, as if her inexplicable presence is just the most normal thing here.
"I'm safe, don't worry! I was separated from my handlers. We were just looking into a few curious things here. Is it alright? I know I am a civilian. Don't worry, you won't get in trouble for this. I'll vouch for you if anyone asks." She sets her hands in her lap and smiles.
"You have many friends here! That's good." She gives a long glance to the Phenex in particular, quiet and contemplative.
"This poor child has been left neglected for so long, hasn't it?" She pats the side of the cockpit. "It's a weapon and has no choice in how it will be used. The same with that reactor. We have to make decisions for it. I'm glad you've made the one you have."
And Pink-chan briefly flutters by, making a pbbbt sound at Zoltan.
KTS: Asciel_Colette has deployed as a Boss for 3 opponents. KTS: Lacus Clyne has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster KTS: Puru Two targets Serinas Nikola with Queen Mansa Funnel Array - Lochos Formation! KTS: Puru Two has completed their actions for the round. Escudo Shard teleports in.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Ugh," Verdiska -- Yuliana -- grumbles, hearing Zoltan's voice on the radio. "Getting you back in the air doesn't make us allies! Don't get the wrong idea!"
Tragically, she says that over an open channel, too.
"And aren't you fighting for that?!" She demands, of Eight, through that rudimentary mechanical filter. "Let the mistakes of the past lie!"
The same pilot... Verdiska laughs, the sound tearing, in the ad-hoc alteration. "HahaHA... you've found another little toy for me to break, have you?" She grasps her spear, and taunts: "Even in a wretched suit like this, I can still take you apart!"
She can't, of course, and she knows she can't. It doesn't stop her from saying it.
"Do you think you can protect them?" She issues, to Anita, as she forces the Gelgoog forward. Thanks to her work on the machine, she's aware of how to turn it to make sure that spear hits a well-armored section -- even though this actually is her first time in a Zeonic suit like this.
She asides, and perhaps it's for Zoltan's benefit: "Don't underestimate the VF pilot. She's not as wretched as you and yours, but she's been thoroughly indoctrinated into their care and keeping... and as pilots go, she's really not bad." Saying one nice thing doesn't make up for ten awful things, Yuliana.
"It's not bleak -- it's just reality!" She insists, as she turns from the VF to lance her naginata into the Gaia Gear, with a broad spinning slash. The emptiness around her may well impress upon Rena, as the Gelgoog gets so close. "There's no way to 'set this right'! There is no path to salvation! This project was a failure!"
She sniffs, and can't help herself: "But then, you have quite the affection for failed projects, don't you?"
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Rena Lancaster with Gelgoog Beam Naginata Spin! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster parries Yuliana Kafim's Gelgoog Beam Naginata Spin, taking 1170 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 9330 KTS: Yuliana Kafim repulses Rena Lancaster, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Serinas Nikola has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Serinas Nikola has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Serinas Nikola charges into the attack! KTS: Serinas Nikola successfully avoids Puru Two's Queen Mansa Funnel Array - Lochos Formation <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
"Is that why there's this reactor here?" Roux answers Leina, tightly. "It must be important or you would just leave it or pop it. It's not like this is Reactor Shortage Part Five in real life or something, right?"
IN THEATERS 0092:
REACTOR SHORTAGE IV - THE DAWN OF ALARICCIA
a sausage mizushima production
(two stars)
The Double Zeta maneuvers. Roux considers saying something like 'don't listen to crazy people in a Mobile Suit battle' but decides on some inner sensation that this would be pretty hypocritical of her to do in these circumstances, given, like, everything.
"No it does not help!! You can't just lean on a suit's power to carry you, Leina!! Did you even get flight qualified?!" Someone cackles over the comms and Roux's head turns, though she doesn't spot out the enemy Mobile Suit immediately. "Who is THAT asshole--"
See? Rookie move, Roux. Rouxkie move. She hears Asciel again, and tells her, "You've got a lot of gall. She's not a child, idiot! She's made her decision -- you're just coming up with excuses for your greed!"
The talk of corruption flies past Roux for now. She has opinions, but she is also receiving several hundred high velocity kinetic projectiles. She had already known what she was going to do - a unit like this, that close with Leina, is unacceptable. She's already diving, and she weaves but the rounds rip furrows in the armor plating of the Mobile Suit. Not for the first time, Roux curses the limitations of mass itself --
But then she suddenly changes her vector, the Mobile Suit juking to the right as the Beam Rifle comes up and locks on the Codarl. "How the Hell did that thing get up here anyway?" Roux complains before she 'rises' relative to the other two Suits - getting above, raining fire even as the AMBAC pivots the ReZ-II round in a graceful pirouette, a storm of beam streaks flying through this relatively Leina-free vector -- you could call it the "ZZ Axis" if you're nasty -- towards Asciel.
KTS: Roux Louka targets Asciel Colette with Mega Beam Rifle Volley! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to retreat. KTS: Asciel Colette successfully evades Roux Louka's Mega Beam Rifle Volley <Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
It was in the moment of firing his shot off that he managed to get a good, long look at the nose of the Koenig Monster's nose. Indeed, he couldn't help but give a small chuckle, one that only intensified upon seeing that shot strike true.
A quip back through the Sleeves-ZAFT Channel. <"Of course I do. Thanks for coming by on such long notice. You hear me! We're going to steal that reactor, come hell or high water. If we have to escape, do it on your own terms. The Sleeves barely care for me, anyways."> A personal note as he aired out the shot, keeping an eye on that Gaia Gear...
<"People already know what happened here! You don't think Anaheim are a bunch of idiots, you know that!?"> Duh. What sort of place would be abandoned and the people invovled wouldn't notice? It was the worst-kept secret; Of course there were experiments. Of course there was illegal activity. The vast expanse of space was nothing more than a lawless locale that people tried to reign in with alliances and stations and other platitudes.
<"Let them rest! There's nothing in this place that wasn't already obvious, or isn't going to be found aga- Again, you damn phoenix!?"> Attention suddenly shifting to that damnable golden streak, adjusting his sight before making a hasty jump back, an instinctual reaction from having that beast come in. "Damnab-" And it made its way inches away . Staring at him. What does it want? What the hell has it so peeved? The hell did he do to deserve this sort of disgust? Nothing good, but what? It's the question, not the result.
"And why do you hate me so, huh!?" A broad swipe with the barrel of the rifle...leaving him wide open to that white particle beam, the force sending him into a grunt of sheer annoyance. Right on the shoulder, that bolted-on shoulder armor falling. Fine, fine!
If that Phenex was there to only psyche him out, there's nothing to do but ignore it. Allies? With Yuliana? Hah, laughable. There isn't enough time to recenter, to recover. No, just enough to keep his aim in the general direction of that Gaia Gear, firing off potshots on after the other, the streaks piercing through the sky.
If they missed, all the better, all the worse. What was behind them, anyways?
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rena Lancaster with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Reckless Fire! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rattles Rena Lancaster, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to evade Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Reckless Fire, taking 3300 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 6030
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"<If we pop it without being careful then Anaheim just gets a free pass on some of their bullshit again!>"
Roux might at least get the sense she's passionate about it because she's cursing. That's not something she does often really.
That passion deescalates though when Roux asks the important questions, "<Nooooo? Not like, officially. Shiro may have given me like... a crash course.>"
She's not doing much for her case right now, though she does appreciate Roux rallying to her defense, both in the fight and... emotionally.
There's a sort of bitter wistfulness in the psychic tenor of what Rita receives back.
I hope for a lot of things too Rita. Thank you.
The messages from the Queadluun-Rhea pilot though, "<I'm not Federation! I'm not a part of Londo Bell! If I knew ZAFT would use just to power a PLANT - honestly? I'd be on your side.>"
Pause.
"<But you're here with Zoltan Akkanen! If the Sleeves get it, they won't be using it to power Palau - they'll be using it for weapons development!>"
And after what she saw in a vision recently, those red eyes, that orange glow. The idea of Full Frontal getting a new weapon fills her with dread.
Leina hears Puru-Two's transmission, and Leina asks cautiously with a sense of dread, "<Something of- his?>" She doesn't recognize the Queen Mansa though, she was back on Earth when it was deployed. The description is one she marks at least.
The gatling cannon comes out, and despite having been awakened as a Newtype since she was a child, Leina's still shocked when the flash of a warning comes.
The Double Zeta suddenly speeds away even as the Codarl rushes her, the Phenex's shield making its imposition.
In the shower of sparks from the gatling cannon's bullet storm striking the Phenex shield, the Double Zeta's younger sibling seems to briefly vanish in the haze of blue flame and sparks.
It may just be a split second though, before Asciel marks it again, its arms spread wide, its chest angled down at the Codarl. lights strobing.
Before a Diffuse Mega Particle Cannon fires from its chest like a shotgun blast of beams her way, each moving in random circular patterns to try and catch her off guard.
Despite the hostile act and randomness, Asciel might notice her aim is, off center? It's like she's trying her darndest not to actually set up to make it a fatal shot.
"<I don't think you understand anything of the lessons I've learned if you believe that. Mobilizing an army? Seizing power by force? That's playing into the hands of all of those soulless aristocrats and grasping executives. It's making certain nothing will ever change!>"
Leina doesn't respond when it comes to the Phenex. She really doesn't want anyone to know what their relationship is.
Tipping their hand too soon might give certain things away.
"<I'll find a different way to overturn it all.>"
How did the Codarl get up here? Well, that's one of those things Roux and her will be talking about... laterrrr... yeah.
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Asciel Colette with Diffuse Mega Particle Cannon Scatter Fire! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Leina Ashta's Diffuse Mega Particle Cannon Scatter Fire, taking 2475 damage! /-----------------------------< SRTMOO +attacks >------------------------------\ | 1: 60mm Vulcan Guns Pwr: 3000 11 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Microtarget) | | 2: Sand Barrel Pwr: 3400 25 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Rattle, Accurate, MAP) | | 3: 20mm Gatling Gun Pwr: 3800 21 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Spread, Intercept) | | 4: Dual Hand Beam Guns Pwr: 4600 29 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Spread, MAP) | | 5: Hand Beam Guns Burst Fire Pwr: 5400 44 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Accurate, Barrier Breaker) | | 6: Beam Saber Slash Pwr: 4000 20 EN | | (Beam, Melee) | | 7: Beam Rifle Shot Pwr: 4200 22 EN | | (Beam, Ranged) | | 8: Beam Saber Cleave Pwr: 4500 30 EN | | (Beam, Melee, Initiation, Accurate) | | 9: Beam Rifle Blitz Pwr: 4800 33 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Formation) | | 10: Hyper Bazooka Salvo Pwr: 5200 35 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Spread, MAP) | | 11: Dual Beam Saber Rush Pwr: 5400 39 EN | | (Beam, Melee, Anchor) | | 12: Hyper Bazooka Bombard Pwr: 5600 46 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Ship-Killer, Penetrating) | | 13: Gaia Flash Pwr: 5800 49 EN | | (Magic, Melee, Attuned, Barrier Breaker) | | 14: Hyper Mega Launcher Pwr: 6300 55 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Ship-Killer, Penetrating, Root) | | 15: Shooting Star Pwr: 6700 68 EN | | (Magic, Ranged, Attuned, Finisher) | | 16: Needle Missile Salvo Pwr: 4200 27 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Penetrating, Missile) | | 17: Funnel Pod - Dusk Formation Pwr: 4500 27 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned) | | 18: Needle Missile Circus Pwr: 5000 38 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Penetrating, Accurate, Missile) | | 19: Funnel Pod - Dawn Formation Pwr: 5500 42 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned, Spread, MAP) | | 20: Anti-Ship Missile Pwr: 6100 49 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Ship-Killer, Spread) | | 21: All-Range Attack Pwr: 6500 65 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned, Finisher) | | 22: Pass - 0 EN | | (Ranged, Passive, All-Range) | \----< HP: 6030/14900 EN: 36 (+38/round|0 comm) SP: 15 Morale: 138/180 >-----/ <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"That's--"
Rena's breath catches. The Phenex is helping her, granting a vision of the next few moments. Her eyes widen a little, before she nods. "Thanks, Phenex," she says, her voice quiet. This may sound a little absurd to Lacus, though. Granted, the way the Phenex soars near Zoltan, in the wake of her shot, it may not sound so odd.
"Roger that, Annie," Rena answers. "I'll be careful. Call if you need help, too. This thing is loaded to bear."
Rena glances over her shoulder, peering back at Lacus (and her Haro). She blinks once. "All right," she says. "That'll be fine. I'll take you back to the ship I'm with, and we'll--um--we'll figure out what to do from there." She doesn't know for sure that this will be okay. Then, she blinks.
She smiles, a little. "Yeah, I do. And... yeah, it has," she says. "I guess people kind of forgot about it. And everything else in this colony... I'm, ah, I'm glad you think I made the right decision."
Then, she whirls around -- and Rena's eyes widen sharply, as she sees the Gelgoog rushing in for her. The Gaia Gear Alpha's other hand reaches up to the recharge racks -- grips a long handle -- and tears free a beam saber. A blade of golden energy explodes out of it, meeting the beam naginata. They clash together, lightning exploding across the two blades, before Rena's Mobile Suit is driven backward.
"That's not true! And... every project deserves another chance!" Rena snaps back to Verdiska. Her eyes narrow, as she does -- why does this sound so familiar to her? "You--"
The shots from Zoltan's high beam rifle pepper the Gaia Gear. Rena grits her teeth, as there are flashing red warnings across the panoramic display -- noting where shots pierced through and some of the corresponding failing systems -- and Rena shakes her head. "It... it could still be brought to light! We could learn from this, if we knew more!"
She has to pick a target. The one she picks is Verdiska. "Hold on," she tells Lacus. "We're getting in close--!"
The Gaia Gear Alpha's thrusters fire, and send her rocketing in towards Verdiska's Gelgoog. The beam saber in the white Mobile Suit's hand slashes down hard, striking across the older Zeonic machine with the golden beam saber. "Annie, cover me!"
She means from Zoltan, all told.
I don't understand that.
Try this instead: +attack yuliana=Beam Saber Slash with
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Yuliana Kafim with Beam Saber Slash! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 49. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 40. KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.
<"I see. Thank you. ">
There's an audible blip as the Exia turns off its open comms. It wasn't a satisfactory answer, so he's still going to destroy the reactor. But, at the very least, he'll leave Londo Bell alone for now. They are not the true threat here at the moment.
Perhaps, rather uncaringly, he leaves Li and Yuliana to deal with Londo Bell, as he turns his attention to the Cordal. The Gundam's optical camouflage drops, revealing the Exia once more.
<<"Setsuna F. Seiei. Providing temporary assistance to Londo Bell and allied units.">
His voice is calm and flat, but his actions are anything but. Like a tensioned coil, the Exia springs to life, jumping high into the air as a trail of green particles propel it forward.
The large, underslung blade bolted to its arm swings forward once more, as the Gundam raises its sword appendage high above its head with unusually fluid movement. This is his target. Yet another cancer that needs to be carved out if the world is to heal. With that thought in mind, the mysterious mobile suit descends downward, before bringing the might of its weapon down against the Arm Slave.
It's quite clear now that the only dialogue this pilot is going to entertain is violence.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
As it turns out, there's another friend who's still here.
"Callie, you're back online, too? Thank goodness." Anita greets with a sigh of relief. She has something new too, apparently... or perhaps, something old.
Her attention turns quickly back to Anita. Does she think she can protect them?
"Well, I figure I can give it a shot." Anita replies with a shrug... and then she grins, just slightly. "...'Just reality', huh? Yeah, they all say that. Usually while actively making things worse."
But, Verdiska and Zoltan both go after Rena, and Anita grimaces.
"You got it!" Anita replies, whirling toward Zoltan. The Messiah Rosetta's shoulder-mounted cannon emerges, aiming right at Zoltan.
"Hey, she's a smart cookie, you know. If anyone can do it, it's her... So, why don't you just back off?" Anita states... and sends a highly-accurate beam soaring his way!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Zoltan Akkanen with Targeted Beam Cannon Blast! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Asciel Colette KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei targets Asciel Colette with Depowered GN Sword Strike! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has completed their actions for the round. /-----------------------------< SRTMOO +attacks >------------------------------\ | 1: 60mm Vulcan Guns Pwr: 3000 11 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Microtarget) | | 2: Sand Barrel Pwr: 3400 25 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Rattle, Accurate, MAP) | | 3: 20mm Gatling Gun Pwr: 3800 21 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Spread, Intercept) | | 4: Dual Hand Beam Guns Pwr: 4600 29 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Spread, MAP) | | 5: Hand Beam Guns Burst Fire Pwr: 5400 44 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Accurate, Barrier Breaker) | | 6: Beam Saber Slash Pwr: 4000 20 EN | | (Beam, Melee) | | 7: Beam Rifle Shot Pwr: 4200 22 EN | | (Beam, Ranged) | | 8: Beam Saber Cleave Pwr: 4500 30 EN | | (Beam, Melee, Initiation, Accurate) | | 9: Beam Rifle Blitz Pwr: 4800 33 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Formation) | | 10: Hyper Bazooka Salvo Pwr: 5200 35 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Spread, MAP) | | 11: Dual Beam Saber Rush Pwr: 5400 39 EN | | (Beam, Melee, Anchor) | | 12: Hyper Bazooka Bombard Pwr: 5600 46 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Ship-Killer, Penetrating) | | 13: Gaia Flash Pwr: 5800 49 EN | | (Magic, Melee, Attuned, Barrier Breaker) | | 14: Hyper Mega Launcher Pwr: 6300 55 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Ship-Killer, Penetrating, Root) | | 15: Shooting Star Pwr: 6700 68 EN | | (Magic, Ranged, Attuned, Finisher) | | 16: Needle Missile Salvo Pwr: 4200 27 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Penetrating, Missile) | | 17: Funnel Pod - Dusk Formation Pwr: 4500 27 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned) | | 18: Needle Missile Circus Pwr: 5000 38 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Penetrating, Accurate, Missile) | | 19: Funnel Pod - Dawn Formation Pwr: 5500 42 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned, Spread, MAP) | | 20: Anti-Ship Missile Pwr: 6100 49 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Ship-Killer, Spread) | | 21: All-Range Attack Pwr: 6500 65 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned, Finisher) | | 22: Pass - 0 EN | | (Ranged, Passive, All-Range) | \----< HP: 6030/14900 EN: 49 (+39/round|0 comm) SP: 40 Morale: 138/180 >-----/
KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Setsuna F. Seiei's Depowered GN Sword Strike, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Asciel, again, attacks Leina. The Phenex raises her arm to intervene -- but Leina doesn't seem to need it. Her friend flies like a professional, though this is only her second battle. Delight and pride echo from the Gundam's heart, and she spins into another dive, putting distance between herself and Zoltan.
No answer will come for the failed clone. She simply dodges beneath the clumsy swipe and soars away.
Setsuna is here. That interesting boy, the one who might turn the tide, if she can convince him. Coming out of her dive, the Phenex gently circles Exia. She bears no weapons, and she makes no aggressive moves. This is meant as a playful greeting.
Hi, Setsuna! Do you remember me?
The voice should be familiar. After all, they just met a few days ago! And now Setsuna is aiding the people Rita's come to care for, against that nasty mirrored machine. Radiance builds between the Phenex's hands, and she flies in harmony with him, as he attacks Asciel. Confidence and support radiates from the golden Gundam, and it's infectious. She believes in him. She believes in him so much, how could he ever fail?
Though the Phenex makes no move to strike Asciel, she looms over Exia's shoulder.
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Setsuna F. Seiei KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen charges into the attack! KTS: [Mirage] Zoltan Akkanen's External Propellant Tank activates, and he slips into a mirage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Anita Rosetta's Targeted Beam Cannon Blast, taking 0 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal targets Asciel Colette with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
>...If even the Phenex cares so deeply about this reactor, then it's clear and obvious what the fates are telling me.
>This is my heart.
>This is my heart.>This is my heart!>This is my heart!!!
<"I promised I would cleanse the curse of heroism.">
As the Gundam joins the fray as well - that first and most dramatic emissary of Celestial being...Asciel can't help but laugh. She knows well what the Exia is, role-wise - she doesn't know that Roux Louka is in that ZII, but she can tell that she's an immaculately skilled pilot. And while Leina is fresh-faced, she is clearly protected and cared for - her voice rings so clearly, after all.
These are the 'heroes' who would change the world.
<"I can't stand that you have to do this.">
<"Show it to me. Show me your willpower to make things brighter.">
<"I made my choice long ago that it was my responsibility, not yours.">
Asciel's own heart begins to burn - flaring with a rainbow-tinged cyan fervor - before bursting, pushing Setsuna away, leaving the Codarl burning with an aura of willpower that flickers and deters each fire of beams and sparkle of bullets - though Leina's shotgun-like burst does knock Asciel back just a bit.
<"You claim she is not a child - and yet there she says it, that she refuses to do what is necessary to assert her own willpower onto the world, hoping for a 'different way'. That's a refrain uttered by such a tragically many number of people. The mathematics of agency are not that virtue is not the vector of success - simply one's own amassed strength. The weak will have the world changed around them - the strong will do as they wish. It's tragic. It's incorrigible. It leaves the shape of our world dependent on whether the few humans who can make choices elect to be angels where they can.">
<"There will be no 'different way' until you realize this. Such is the division between the myriad children that constitutes most of humanity, and the handful who grasp the role of 'adult'.">
Radiant rays of that cyan light shoot off in vectors specifically targeting Leina and Roux - all as she unwinds from tethering Leina, and anchors herself instead to the floor and ceiling, along with each wall - as though allowing herself to reposition in 3D space purely as she wishes. Each light 'bursts' - into a field of 'uncertainty', noise and light in chaotic jumbles, isolating communications for a brief moment, tearing at armor like a sandstorm...!
But Setsuna gets a different invocation.
<"So, Celestial Being! Your blade rings quite true - I've been fascinated with you ever since your arrival. For a fleeting moment, you even made me feel 'hope' that the time of changing the world has come.">
<"I'm not going to forgive the falseness of that feeling. I realized very quickly that what you represent is an order that will crumble to dust as soon as aims are achieved - if not making everything worse. Both of you Gundams. . . you are false idols that should have been resigned to the hated effigies of history long ago!!!"> Her sword flashes out - one of light and vigor, in contrast to the thick and heavy material sword that struck her so firmly on the shoulder...
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Leina Ashta with Lambda Driver Static! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Roux Louka with Lambda Driver Static! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Setsuna F. Seiei with LS-3303 Laser Blade Pressure! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta blocks Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Static, taking 2300 damage! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei parries Asciel Colette's LS-3303 Laser Blade Pressure, taking 525 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette has engaged Setsuna F. Seiei! KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka retreats from the attack! KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Roux Louka, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Roux Louka fails to evade Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Static, taking 5980 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's Vex Routine - JUDGE activates, causing Deject! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to rush. KTS: Yuliana Kafim partially guards Rena Lancaster's Beam Saber Slash, taking 4800 damage! KTS: Rena Lancaster has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
"Don't give me that! You think the Federation is going to admonish one of their beloved suit companies!? Anaheim managed to do this, you think they won't just roll a sacrifice and keep going!?" Could, would, should. It all sounds so hopeful, so optimistic. Anaheim Electronics getting their comeuppance. The world punishing the cruel, appreciating the ones who want to make it better. Pah, pithy.
That beam cannon blast was clearly highlighted, clearly broadcasted...He could sense it before it shot, instincts of a Newtype to move in, to follow through, to weave himself and jump upwards towards that Variable Fighter. The instinct to pull his rifle back, releasing the holster on his beam sword to catch it, turn it on...
And take a wide swing towards the Plane With Legs, forcing himself in. Pressuring, pushing in, swipe after swipe after swipe to force that GERWALK-Mode Beast back. "I refuse, you know! She and I, we had a talk in the ruins of Torrington! And I have my answer, and she has hers. There's nothing you can do to change that, since the past needs to die!"
The past of these dead people. Let them rest. Take the core. Leave the rest to rot.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Anita Rosetta with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber Twin Swipe! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Anita Rosetta, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rattles Anita Rosetta, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber Twin Swipe, taking 3520 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Anita Rosetta! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Serinas Nikola has posed.
There's a lot to take in here, for someone familiar with Anaheim's projects, someone who questions the use of incredible amounts of resources to produce individual super-machines. And the words 'This is not a place of honor' would give pause to one who believes they must shoulder the burden of never again unleashing the worst horrors conceived of -- or NOT conceived of! -- by civilization.
But Serinas isn't either of those things. Nor does she have special trouble tracking funnels without a projected 3rd-person view transmitted into her brain -- a true Coordinator (half) can see them deploying and keep track in her head -- or rather, she doesn't HAVE to for long, because she has the better idea of reversing course, the CGUE's maneuvering thrusters bringing her 'down' to the wall before dashing forward, weaving between beam fire as she tries to get BEHIND the massive Queen Mansa and use it as cover against its own funnels! The rapid direction change makes the heroic-looking scarf her mother gave her billow behind her dramatically in the cockpit.
<"'Honor'?! Tch, as if the Federation cares one bit about that!"> A teenager with an extremely limited education in human culture doesn't get the reference.
The CGUE stows the machinegun in midair, speeding towards and past the Mansa. <"YOU'RE upset today?! Try being from space! Try knowing that the biggest power block in the Earth Sphere wishes you and your family suffering or death, EVERY day! That's a Zeon mobile weapon, isn't it?! It was built by people who felt this way... but now you've taken it, to hurt more of us...">
The ZAFT mobile suit lands, jukes behind it and turns around, and then leaps up at its back in the low 'gravity', unleashing a stream of bullets from the gatling shield and then throwing the machine's weight behind that armblade, trying to pierce bullet-riddled plating and tear a hole! <"Just like you took that weapon... we're taking what WE want!">
The Mansa may be big, but if she can tear open a weak point maybe she can hope to hit something vital!
KTS: Serinas Nikola has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Serinas Nikola has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Serinas Nikola uses hyper reloader KTS: Serinas Nikola targets Puru Two with Final Blitz! KTS: Serinas Nikola has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two fails to parry Serinas Nikola's Final Blitz, taking 5850 damage! KTS: Serinas Nikola has engaged Puru Two! KTS: Li Yao fails to evade Eight York's 320mm Railguns Single Shot, taking 4400 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight beams at Rena's reaction. Lavhi can see her try not to crack up, and thanks to the seriousness of the situation, she manages. "You like it?" she asks. "I had Annie paint it for me!"
It's nice to be out with the others; it's strange, really, to be out fighting like this, instead of on the ship's bridge. But Annie suggests she be careful too, and she will.
"The mistakes of the past are the foundation of the future! If we ignore them, the past will only repeat itself!" Eight answers Yuliana, even as she maneuvers around the Monster to avoid taking much damage from Serinas's shots. The Pinpoint Barrier does most of the rest of the work. And from there--
Eight actually in the midst of the battl finds an opportunity. Veriska laughs, and she says, "Speaking of mistakes of the past..."
"Lavhi--lock all missiles between the Gelgoog and that Queadlunn. Better hope she's half the warrior for it, but she's on Callie. Two, one, mark!"
The pair of Captain and Engineer turn suddenly, and Yuliana has to deal with something in short order--as does Serinas, fighting the Queen Mansa.
"There's a lot in this place that deserves to see the light of day. And you've only seen the half of it."
"The past doesn't need to die--the future needs to CHANGE!"
A frankly unreasonable quantity of missiles issues forth from the Monster, all bays loaded. A dizzying array of mechanical munitions merge towards mayhem!!!
"Callie! Hang in there!"
KTS: Eight York has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Eight York has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Serinas Nikola and Yuliana Kafim with VB-6 Koenigin Missile Array Overwhelming Assault. KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim charges into the attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim partially guards Eight York's VB-6 Koenigin Missile Array Overwhelming Assault, taking 5130 damage! KTS: Eight York begins a Formation attack! KTS: Puru Two has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. <Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
"I don't care one whit about Honor, it's just a catchphrase." Puru Two rolls her eyes in the cockpit as the CGUE runs circles around the lumbering Queen Mansa. "Didn't you ever see that in history? You know, the radioactive waste sites? This is not a place of honor? Et cetera." she explains rather casually, one eye on the clock. Every second wasted bantering is a second this ZAFT dog isn't hounding her friends, and that's a win.
To Anita, Callisto (or Puru Two, the line is now very blurry) keeps the space of mind to reply in a timely manner: "I'm alive, don't worry. Sorry about dropping out of touch for a while. I think ZAFT's got eyes on this place though, one of their soldiers is trying to chase me down." and after a heartbeat's pause, adds: "Gotta run, stay alive!"
"Neo-Zeon Mobile Armor NZ Zero-Zero-Zero Queen Mansa." Puru Two corrects Serinas, as the air around them sizzles with luminscient fury. An errant funnel blast scythes through someone's car, but hey. The owner's been dead for years. They won't mind that their car is now a dissolving pile of phosphorescent ash. "You think I'm not from space just because my friends wear the Londo Bell coat? Broaden your horizons. I was CREATED up here in space," she stands in her seat and jabs the center console of the cockpit for good measure, a gesture which carries through in her tone. "I was made a slave out here in space and chained to this cockpit at ten years old. Of this VERY machine."
The CGUE's barrage of autocannon fire slips between the Queen Mansa's point defenses, and the big machine makes a lumbering swing with an oversize beam saber to try and catch the blade before it can sink home. Alas: sometimes an old machine is simply an old machine, and can't keep up. A shower of sparks greets the blade as it sinks into a pauldron and severs a psycho-field generator.
... too bad there's not a lot of beam-weapons fire from the opposition that needs dealing with.
"Still think you speak for all spacenoids?" Puru Two sneers back, sounding unworried and unfazed despite the romantic distance between them.
For such a big target, the Queen Mansa can really put the pedal down when it needs to. The lumbering Mobile Armor picks up an ungainly burst of speed as thrusters along the legs and midsection ripple with fire, flinging it free of the CGUE's treacherous grasp. Control towers and scaffolding whip by silently as it beats a furious retreat for the Colony's central reactor. But that's a long way away.
The pockmarked, half-wrecked corridors of the Colony interior make for great hiding places, I add. But not for giant robots. No, for funnels! There are funnels lying in wait in the parking lots, the water towers, in truck beds, and so forth. Waiting for their prey to come by. And as the CGUE doggedly pursues the Queen Mansa across the steel and concrete landscape, they receive their silent command and lift gently... and they fire.
"You aren't half-bad, but I don't have time to put down one of ZAFT's yipping hounds. You should go home and forget you ever saw this place. Too much here that should stay buried." and then, revealing that she's had Eight's location tracked the whole time, Callisto-aka-Puru-Two calls out to her over the radio. "Okay, Eight, let her have it!"
The interior is once more a blinding maze of beam-fire, which sucks because manoeuvring space is at a premium.
KTS: Puru Two targets Serinas Nikola with Queen Mansa Funnel Array - Palintonos Formation! KTS: Puru Two has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Serinas Nikola has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Serinas Nikola fails to Evade Eight York's VB-6 Koenigin Missile Array Overwhelming Assault, taking 5600 damage! KTS: Eight York begins a Formation attack! KTS: Serinas Nikola fails to Evade Puru Two's Queen Mansa Funnel Array - Palintonos Formation, taking 4680 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Another spare shot is turned away from the laboratory section of the colony by the Phenex's wing. Despite the attacks on her friends, she refuses to allow any harm to come to the labs. It's difficult for her to manage with only one of her shields ready, especially--
Yuliana is outmatched. Though the Phenex cannot hear her friend's fear or rage, she can see the way Yuliana's Gelgoog takes damage. Turning from Setsuna, the Phenex raises her arm, sending the second of her wings racing toward the Gelgoog. It hovers just in front of the machine, slowly revolving -- then moves faster than belief, as Yuliana is attacked.
The Gelgoog charges into the missiles, just as fierce and vicious as ever. Azure fire kindles around the psychoframe-enhanced shield. A final missile from Eight. The biggest, and most menacing of all -- the Phenex fights to contain it in her wing, fights to hold it back with her power, a second arm joining the first, igniting with mental strength. As her focus intensifies, the blue aura around the Phenex grows brighter. It gleams in the dim light of the Colony, throwing every battle around her into silhouette.
Cerulean radiance shifts to a mystical expression of connection and resonance beyond this world. The missile is overtaken with the Miracle Light... and when it fades, nothing remains but the golden wing of the Beast of Rebirth. Yuliana is left battered, but safe.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Eight York with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
Yuliana has never been one to deny getting close with a Newtype. She rushes forward, into the golden beam saber's slash -- but there's no calculation she can make to abjure its damage.
The Gelgoog is completely outclassed.
"Shit--!" She barks out, as she's rocked in her seat, even as she closes the space to the Gaia Gear. Her only consolation is the isolation she must bring to the person (the people) inside of it.
"Hahah... AHAHAHAHA... you're so blind funny!" Two ideas war with themselves to come out of Verdiska's mouth -- out of Yuliana's mouth, that cluttering particular to her. "Another chance? They're dead! Did they freeze first, or asphyxiate? Or did they take matters into their own hands..?! Unworthy of salvation, they perished! Ballast to be thrown aside!"
She thrusts her naginata into Anita's Variable Fighter, seeing the viciousness with which Zoltan strikes. She is a soldier of the REA, for all she's disguising herself, here; she is ever one to claim an opportunity. "Not bad," she asides, to him.
She hates him, just like all the rest, but she'll recognise that much.
"Oh, you want me to make things WORSE?!" She turns her anger on Anita. "Don't tempt m--"
(MISSILE LOCK), the Gelgoog screams, on its display.
(MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK) (MISSILE LOCK)
"Fuck," Yuliana remarks, succinctly.
"COME ON, THEN---!"
Blood boiling, she forces her Gelgoog forward -- into the hail of missiles, not away. She forces the ancient machine to avoid one, but another catches her, even as she jerks her machine over the first -- and another two crash into the shoulders of her machine, before she can recover to send in spiralling through the fourth and fifth. The sixth finds purchase, centre-mass, and she feels the armour protesting, right to her teeth.
A little further, though, and she'll reach the Koenigin, with its ridiculous display. A little further --
But before Yuliana can keep charging recklessly forward, there's a shield, there, between her and Eight. It catches the final blow; Yuliana slows, pulling up to try and avoid running straight into it.
"What..."
She doesn't understand it, but the moment to reflect leaves her to realise just how many alerts and alarms are going off, inside the Gelgoog. Yuliana takes a breath, through grit teeth, and her hands tighten on her controls.
WHERE, she remembers, taking up screens on her phone. WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE
"I don't get it," she says, and sounds a hair more lost. "What... happened?" Who would bother?
"... but... I'm not about to let you take me in." She turns her attention from the Londo Bell warriors to issue, to Zoltan, sharply: "You're on your own, Zeon!"
With that, the Gelgoog engages its thrusters to retreat from the reactor -- to leave it to its fate.
She has to make it home.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Anita Rosetta with Gelgoog Beam Naginata Combo! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Yuliana Kafim's Gelgoog Beam Naginata Combo, taking 3360 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Anita Rosetta! KTS: Yuliana Kafim completes the Formation attack! /-----------------------------< SRTMOO +attacks >------------------------------\ | 1: 60mm Vulcan Guns Pwr: 3000 11 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Microtarget) | | 2: Sand Barrel Pwr: 3400 25 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Rattle, Accurate, MAP) | | 3: 20mm Gatling Gun Pwr: 3800 21 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Spread, Intercept) | | 4: Dual Hand Beam Guns Pwr: 4600 29 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Spread, MAP) | | 5: Hand Beam Guns Burst Fire Pwr: 5400 44 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Accurate, Barrier Breaker) | | 6: Beam Saber Slash Pwr: 4000 20 EN | | (Beam, Melee) | | 7: Beam Rifle Shot Pwr: 4200 22 EN | | (Beam, Ranged) | | 8: Beam Saber Cleave Pwr: 4500 30 EN | | (Beam, Melee, Initiation, Accurate) | | 9: Beam Rifle Blitz Pwr: 4800 33 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Formation) | | 10: Hyper Bazooka Salvo Pwr: 5200 35 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Spread, MAP) | | 11: Dual Beam Saber Rush Pwr: 5400 39 EN | | (Beam, Melee, Anchor) | | 12: Hyper Bazooka Bombard Pwr: 5600 46 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Ship-Killer, Penetrating) | | 13: Gaia Flash Pwr: 5800 49 EN | | (Magic, Melee, Attuned, Barrier Breaker) | | 14: Hyper Mega Launcher Pwr: 6300 55 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Ship-Killer, Penetrating, Root) | | 15: Shooting Star Pwr: 6700 68 EN | | (Magic, Ranged, Attuned, Finisher) | | 16: Needle Missile Salvo Pwr: 4200 27 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Penetrating, Missile) | | 17: Funnel Pod - Dusk Formation Pwr: 4500 27 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned) | | 18: Needle Missile Circus Pwr: 5000 38 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Penetrating, Accurate, Missile) | | 19: Funnel Pod - Dawn Formation Pwr: 5500 42 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned, Spread, MAP) | | 20: Anti-Ship Missile Pwr: 6100 49 EN | | (Physical, Ranged, Missile, Ship-Killer, Spread) | | 21: All-Range Attack Pwr: 6500 65 EN | | (Beam, Ranged, Attuned, Finisher) | | 22: Pass - 0 EN | | (Ranged, Passive, All-Range) | \----< HP: 6030/14900 EN: 49 (+39/round|0 comm) SP: 40 Morale: 142/180 >-----/ <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
Asciel speaks -
Roux feels a sort of troublesome feeling at how quickly that came out. This person seems to be peculiar. Is she the source of that familiar nether-realm feeling? She's speaking like a professor, and what she's saying isn't wrong, but - argh, Roux thinks, she's trapping me to focus on -
- Cyan light is glowing -
It's a chain bombardment! Roux throws the controls to the side but it probably is not going to get much other than, maybe, meaning the ReZ-II leaves this field of terrifying effect and ends up, trailing wisps of smoke, against the base of the low-gravity area as Roux pants for breath.
"Oh my God," Roux says -
- "It's someone from the Zum City Debate Club!" WHEN IN DOUBT TALK SOME SHIT.
As the ReZ-II struggles to get back into a combat orientation, Roux's eyes flick up towards -- the Exia. Unfamiliar. It's trailing that strange green stuff. Her lips purse for a moment. Setsuna F. Seiei. Japanese? He doesn't quite sound it.
"Teach me to charge into close range... Hey! Seiei! Look out for that grid bomb thing!"
"Leina, do you have any idea what this rude person is using?" Roux says, with the slight reduction in tension that comes from being far enough from the enemy to, probably, not get instantly deleted. After a pause, the Mega Beam Rifle is set aside in order to let the capacitor rest -- and what comes up instead is a long tube of a weapon. Roux checks the loadout --
FOOM! A 300mm smoothbore rocket-assisted round, aiming right towards where that Codarl is -- a little behind, perhaps, anticipating on some subtle level an evasive maneuver...
KTS: Roux Louka targets Asciel Colette with Clay Bazooka - 300mm Explosive! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Roux Louka's Clay Bazooka - 300mm Explosive, taking 1890 damage! <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I know the Federation won't do anything about it!" Rena snaps back at Zoltan. It's heated, but it's earnest. "But... just walking away from it, just saying that it needs to be left in the past, that's wrong, too! I want to find a way so we do something!"
Rena's eyes snap from the Sinanju Stein to the Gelgoog. "Even if they're dead, they shouldn't be forgotten! There's things we can still do for their memory! They're not just something to be thrown aside!"
Her eyes widen as the missiles come screaming in -- but somehow, for some reason, the Phenex protects the Gelgoog from Eight's onslaught. Rena gasps. "What--"
Why?
She grimaces, as the Gelgoog begins blitzing away from both of them. She stares for a moment, before she looks back at the Sinanju Stein. She considers, for a moment. She has to drive Zoltan away.
But, more than that...
She has to try to get through to him. Rena sucks a breath in, then she hits the thrusters on the Gaia Gear Alpha's wing binders. The Mobile Suit blitzes forward, beam saber glowing, and she swings the weapon back. "You said the past has to die... but you're part of that past, Zoltan! Who we are, where we came from, it's still there in the past! You can't kill the past--"
Something changes in the Gaia Gear Alpha.
It's not a normal Mobile Suit. The Zeta-style unit has a unique look to it, as-is, but there is more to it. There is a sudden, stunning pressure on the battlefield -- and it's directed for Zoltan Akkanen, but it can be felt otherwise. Rena's brown eyes widen, lighting up. There is a flash of insight across her mind, as she awakens to something.
And then there is something made real, too, that comes with it. Motes of green light drift after the Gaia Gear, in growing intensity. The beam saber slashes in an uppercut motion across the Sinanju Stein. And the left hand swings around, those same green motes dancing across its fist in a nimbus of energy, as the Gaia Gear Alpha throws a punch that is far more than a punch.
A Psychoframe, with a pilot that can use it.
Rena shouts over it, those same green beads of light rising all around her and Lacus. "--WITHOUT KILLING YOURSELF TOO!"
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Zoltan Akkanen with Gaia Flash! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 37. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 35. KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. *** Redirecting connection to new port *** *** Redirecting old connection to this port *** #$#mcp version: 2.1 to: 2.1 <Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Zoltan's words - it gets under Leina's skin a bit, because she knows he's right in a sense but, instead of bowing to it, she tries to urge Rena on, "<Don't listen to him Renalle. He's just lashing out because he feels powerless.>" That's a bold claim to make but...
Setsuna's Exia gets a narrow beam transmission as it engages Asciel, "<Exia pilot. This is Spade-7 of the Shuffle Alliance in the Double Zeta. Assistance noted and appreciated.>"
Was it the same boy as at the meeting? It sounds it. They were at odds ideologically but... right now she's glad he's here.
As she feels Rita's greeting to Setsuna, there's almost a playful feeling in response from Leina. As if noting how many friends she's made in a short time.
Asciel's words cause Leina to bristle a touch, but the hears Callisto's words and... in Callisto's truth she finds her answer to Asciel.
And she actually smiles.
"<Have you been reading Glemy Toto's playbook? It sure sounds like it. You have no idea how tired this refrain is to me. Next you'll be claiming the people crave a strong leader and that leader is you.>"
Leina finds herself untethered by the Codarl, and the Double Zeta finds a freedom of movement right away in how it immediately tries to capitalize on it. The Codarl is on her within moments! And eyes wide, Leina jerks the levers to have the Double Zeta raise the shield.
This field of uncertainty erupts around her, as communications static, and Leina shakes her head, suddenly disoriented.
Engaging the thrusters frontside, the Double Zeta's younger sibling suddenly erupts at a diagonal backwards and up, and away at Asciel before levelling off and trying to move at a flanking circle in mid-air and avoid being tethered again.
(Note to self: Thank Shiro for 'killing' her in a similar fashion about four times.)
"<And your definition of adulthood? Immature. You're just falling into the same trap as everyone else. Do you want to know what your version of adulthood really does to people?>"
The rifle rises up, as she fires one shot after another at Asciel, trying to keep her pinned down in Roux's field of fire.
There's this unshakable confidence in how Leina sounds in this moment. What's truly unsettling though is how despite her youth, she sounds the voice of experience.
"<It hollows them out. Until they can do nothing with any real feeling whatsoever. They become just empty automatons gnawing for scraps at the table. If you don't understand that much?>" A beat, "<You'll never change a thing - you'll just become one.>"
Leina then sends a transmission to Roux, "<Nope! Not a clue. It's a kind of Arm Slave used by science criminals called a Codarl but - I don't know more than that.>"
Mithril keeps her on a need to know basis about such things.
Before Leina's head turns at the sudden psychic resonance of and alarm, what kind of suit has Rena stumbled into here?
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Asciel Colette with MP ZZ Single-Barrel Beam Rifle Focused Barrage! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Serinas Nikola has posed.
> The future needs to CHANGE!
<"That's RIGHT!"> Serinas agrees, gripping the controls and leaning forward slightly.
> Didn't you learn about radioactive waste sites in history class?
Serinas cocks her head ever so slightly to one side, a blank stare on her face. And then she takes a breath, about to launch into the next bit of banter--
> I was CREATED up here in space, a slave chained to this very machine
The tone in which Puru Two names her machine gives Serinas pause, and then at what's announced next, the half-Meltrandi's mouth just hangs agape. <"That... That... that's horrible!">
She's *heard*, distantly, of human weapons, but never really thought about meeting one, and the double whammy of absorbing that she's face to face with someone who's been through that and is now *stuck back in the very same machine* pushes all tactical calculations out of her head for a split second.
It's enough. Funnels scorch molten-hot streaks across her armor. Missiles rain down, battering and denting. She's barely able to rally fast enough to dodge the very worst of it, which is all that keeps her machine from becoming wreckage on the spot. As it is, the CGUE is left blackened and battered, with massive tears in its armor plating and its shield reduced to a thin, brittle crisp that looks like it might shake apart if she uses the gatling gun much more.
<"Why... why would you HELP them?!"> Serinas is flabberghasted. It doesn't make any sense!
Fortunately, the battlefield DOES make sense. Things are looking bad, but it's too soon to give up just yet! Her best chance to last long enough to find an opportunity is to continue staying close to the Queen Mansa, to try and use it as cover against its own funnels and the Monster's artillery fire. Dangerous and risky, to be sure, but, that's battle to begin with, isn't it?
The CGUE zips to the Mansa's side and leaps up once more -- from Puru Two's view, the ZAFT mobile suit is silhouetted against space through the hole the zeonic mobile weapon entered through... and then maneuvering thrusters drive it straight towards the Mansa's head! A probing slash with the blade is followed up with a kick, the 'low gravity' allowing her enough hang time for another thruster-assisted jab before trying to kick off of the Mansa.
A daring move, but hopefully getting up in the Mansa's face (literally) will make her a difficult target for another moment. She daren't hope to be lucky enough to actually hit the main camera. <"Why?? WHY?! Why do ANY of you HELP the Federation's leaders?! Loyalist spacenoids, the earthnoids they're oppressing too, WHY?! How is the future going to change like that?!">
KTS: Serinas Nikola targets Puru Two with CGUE Armblade Rapid Strikes! KTS: Serinas Nikola has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Serinas Nikola rattles Puru Two, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Puru Two fails to parry Serinas Nikola's CGUE Armblade Rapid Strikes, taking 2325 damage! KTS: Serinas Nikola has engaged Puru Two! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rushes into the attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Rena Lancaster's Gaia Flash, taking 3363 damage! KTS: Rena Lancaster has engaged Zoltan Akkanen! KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Leina Ashta's MP ZZ Single-Barrel Beam Rifle Focused Barrage, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta begins a Formation attack! <Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.
Asciel's words catch Setsuna off guard a bit, as the Exia raises its blade to catch the Cordal's, a slight green tint now lining the edges of the seemingly physical blade. It's a sloppy catch, one that puts the mobile suit in a disadvantage as it desperately tries to keep the searing blade away from itself.
Her claims aren't unfounded. Even if world unification is the end goal of Celestial Being, they aren't truly equipped to follow through with what's required next. They are an organization of damaged people, discarded and forgotten. People are only good for war. They can unite the world through force in terms of binding together nations against them, but their souls... <"Rita?">
There's something that can almost be considered surprise in the Gundam Meister's voice as the ghost-like girl appears from before him. So this is the Phenex. It's nice.
But it also reminds him, the logistics don't matter. Even if it's a dream drenched in hypocrisy, he's going to fight. Fight for peace. Fight so that there's never anyone like him ever again. Fight for...
<"Gundam is a symbol of hope. A symbol of mercy. It's an icon that will never die. Not so long as humanity strives for a better tomorrow. And not so long as I live...Because I...">
With a second burst of strength, Exia flips the situation around, pushing the Cordal away as it points its arm blade at the derranged Arm Slave.
<"I am Gundam, and my mission is to cut twisted people like you from this world.">
The GN drive on Exia's back flares up as it dives back into the fray with Asciel, the unusually agile mobile suit whipping its weaponized arm back and then forward as it cleaves towards her unit. The sword, despite being used just moments ago, seems even sharper than before, as the edges of the blade seemingly vibrate with condensed particles.
KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei targets Asciel Colette with GN Sword Thrust! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Hey, it's fine. I'm just glad to see you. I'll take care, but you stay alive too." Anita replies to Callie.
Anita isn't surprised by much. But her eyes open wide in surprise now by the way Zoltan cleanly weaves out of the way of her shot, moving in close. He lays into her machine and Anita does her best to defend it, the Sinanju Stein's beam sabers colliding with her shield and the pinpoint barrier systems in a shower of sparks and flickering lights. Anita grits her teeth as she's forced back.
"That so...? Guess this means we can't be friends." Anita replies. She's in a bad situation so it's a little wry - and it's made worse when Verdiska elects to capitalise on the situation. "Yeah? Well-"
She's interrupted as Verdiska takes advantage of the situation to jab her beam naginata into the Messiah Rosetta. It collides with the pinpoint barrier system - and punctures through. It could be pretty bad - but a hail of missiles from Eight comes to save the day!
"Th-thanks." She breathes out a sigh of relief... and watches, with surprise, as... Rita comes to Verdiska's defense? She stares, in surprise.
"...You're protecting her?" She asks. She isn't judging, just - confused. But, Rena - Rena is doing something incredible. She can't tell what it is, but she can see it.
"That's... awesome." Anita breathes out, surprised. As always, seeing Rena trying so hard helps reinvigorate Anita, too. She shifts the Messiah Rosetta's spear into one hand - unfortunately, it's too big to fit in the slot meant for her combat knife - and draws out the gatling pod - and goes wild, unloading a massive spray of bullets in Zoltan's direction!
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Zoltan Akkanen with Gatling Full-Auto! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Setsuna F. Seiei's GN Sword Thrust, taking 6200 damage! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
>I'm so close to my horizon. I'm so close to saving the world. I'm so close to being the only thing I can become. Just a little more. Just a little more!! The heart I have now won't give out. It feels too amazing! It feels too refreshing! I'm so close to the endless miracle!
>I'm so close.
>...no...no I'm not. I've been here before. The validation the Driver gives is very, very intense. The world makes sense, clear and bright, when it is set ablaze.
>...Mr. Silver recently warned me of that. The 'clarity' is clouding. It will control me, if I do not control it.
>And I must control it, or else the world will perish.
<"Fufufu. You claim to be the Gundam itself? You poor, poor thing. It is not me who is twisted - it is this very world's structures, which devour a pure little person like you and warp you into dehumanizing yourself, all to bear the burden of humanity's endless desire for heroes which succeed only at making more heroes. You are not Gundam. Please don't say anything that would break my heart so deeply like that.">
<"While I'd love to ruin all of your wills to fight, especially considering you're being terribly dismissive of my passion for this beautiful little world, the fact is I have a very important objective that's far more than just proving something to you. This is a preeeeetty perilous situation. I don't even know much about all of you, after all, besides that the Gundam is one of Celestial Being's! Please do just call me Atrytone. Consider me someone with a close interest in the world's stewardship, if that much hasn't been obvious. I'm here in search of a future where humanity need no longer fight, after all. Tell me more about yourselves - because you are creatures I have to protect, even if I must tear apart your swords. You are people who have rather impressed me, really, even if you presume there is a falseness in my will to overcome the curse that has chained humanity. I refuse to give up until the world is a garden of peace. I will not become hollow - I will always be the radiant light you can depend on~">
...She may say this, but between the fierce slash from the Exia that outright tears a limb off, and the failure to meaningfully deflect Leina and Roux's heavier fire, it's her light that's looking unseemly. She raises her hand - and a vivid column of light erupts from the ground, ravenously engulfing Setsuna in what must feel like the convergence of starlight on a single point - the illumination lighting up the dim colony and tearing a hole in the ceiling. And yet, when Asciel raises that same judgment upon Leina and Roux...nothing comes of it. She has no idea how much she's overheating - steam emanating like wings behind the Codarl's back, her hair actively on fire. A frown crossing those artificial lips, Asciel makes a strange twitching motion with the arm she has left, flickering that laser sword in a curious pattern...and forming it into a fanning projectile. The 'blade wave' effect of these models of sword...one well known to usually require extensive cybernetic modifications to actually perform, due to the hyper-precise trajectories needed of the emitter.
KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Assail Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Setsuna F. Seiei with Lambda Driver Smite! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Leina Ashta with LS-3303 Laser Blade Wave! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Roux Louka with LS-3303 Laser Blade Wave! KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Leina Ashta, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Leina Ashta fails to Evade Asciel Colette's LS-3303 Laser Blade Wave, taking 5280 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's Vex Routine - JUDGE activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen retreats from the attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Gatling Full-Auto, taking 4500 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Setsuna F. Seiei, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei blocks Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Smite, taking 8880 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's Vex Routine - JUDGE activates, causing Deject! POT: Li Yao is now set observer.
<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
Two souls circle around one another slowly, despite the terrifying velocity of combat in outer space.
<"That... That... that's horrible!"> says Serinas.
"Isn't it?" Puru Two jeers back, though her words do not burn quite with the killing intent reserved for certain folks. "History is full of tragic stories like mine." the Queen Mansa's beam sabers may burn brightly, but they can't keep up with the CGUE. Again, the more nimble of the two weapons has the advantage. But the Mansa's pilot has a cruel advantage: a lifetime of survival. Each blade-thrust meets the Zeonic terror weapon's bulky limbs, those too-large pauldrons. There's just a ton of *metal* to actually contend with.
<"Why... why would you HELP them?!">
"Why wouldn't I?" the question is turned right back around on the idealistic young pilot. A weariness far beyond her years wreathes Puru Two's words like an icy mist. "Zeon made me, robbed me of my childhood, drugged me, abused me... and they did it again, and again, and again! They grew us in labs, and killed us for the political fuck-fuck games of young nobles." the temperature drops precipitiously at the last few words of her comment there.
(Puru Two seldom swears.)
The Queen Mansa's very form and silhouette glimmer the shade of distant emeralds, as emotions run high and the pilot's frustrations boil over into real, physical phenomenon. Pallid flames roil and wreathe from the machine's eyes as it leans in and stares furiously at the CGUE. With that loadout, you might ask: shouldn't it gain distance? Fire again? Yes, dear reader, it should. But this is about making a statement, and the two pilots here are having a *conversation*.
"The Feds gave me a place to hide after we destroyed Glemy's Neo-Zeon. What do you think about that? A little Cyber-Newtype freakshow like me got to have a slice of normal life. More than any Zeke ever gave me." Puru Two lectures, sweat running between the knot of her brow. "But don't think I'm any Government's dog!"
Perhaps it's linked to the many Miracles unfolding in the Colony. The distant golden glow of the divine Phenex, the brilliant cyan hum and the psycoreactive power Rena is unleashing... is one Newtype flare-up leading to another? And another? Anyway, the point is that the Queen Mansa rears back and yanks a beam saber from its left pauldron, because having one beam saber at hand wasn't enough. "If you're gonna report back on this, don't you dare say Puru Two is some loyal lapdog." she seethes the words, more than says them. "She's just playing the hand she and her friends were dealt."
The wellspring of emotion surges through the Queen Mansa's weapon: the beam-saber blade winks briefly and then blazes anew at twice the size. The blade is haggard and untamed, like a flame wildly consuming everything in reach. Not at all like your average, tidy little saber. When said blade is swung at the CGUE, a whipcrack-lash of neon golden flame burns an unsteady arc follows in its arc. It eats through practically whatever it touches. This isn't some megaparticle-sword, this is some bullshit Newtype magic.
"Now go!"
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Roux Louka successfully evades Asciel Colette's LS-3303 Laser Blade Wave KTS: Eight York fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Setsuna F. Seiei KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has activated the Trick Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Change the future? Change the future!? The future is based on the past, and with the past chaining the path to the future, there's only one path to truly take! "Don't screw with me! You're saying the same thing in the same way! Changing the future means killing the past, doesn't it? Doesn't it!?" Changing the future. And what of it!? "There'll always be people who'll want to wrench it back!"
Zoltan_Akkanen the
KTS: Eight York has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Setsuna F. Seiei <Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Change the future? Change the future!? The future is based on the past, and with the past chaining the path to the future, there's only one path to truly take! "Don't screw with me! You're saying the same thing in the same way! Changing the future means killing the past, doesn't it? Doesn't it!?" Changing the future. And what of it!? "There'll always be people who'll want to wrench it back!"
Onwards. Onwards. Onwards. Riding the highs of emotions, of how his mind sizzled with the heat of battle, of oh so successfully proving his point. What did it matter if the future was to be continually chained!?
To break the chains of the past, to push onwards. So what if he could see that out of the corner of his eye, Yuliana being the coward she was, running on home to her wife? Make it! Make it, his internal voice says! People should be able to sleep at the end of the day without the ruins of everything burning around them, LIKE NOW!
Rena's own words fail to make a dent at first. The stubbornness. The refusal. The man looking forward at all times with the scars of the past. He pushes on, pushes on, unrelenting. "They're all DEAD! They're forgotten, destined to rot in Anaheim's corpse until tehy get something! Then, they'll be remembered, but not as they lived! No, for what they DIED for! And you want to keep that memory alive?!" Again and again and again, watching that mobile suit shunt back. There's no hesitation, the blue glow of those nozzles flaring up as he charges in, aguely noting
the
-crashing against his own beam saber, pushing in only the slightest bit before being forced back, crashing down against the ground, bouncing once, twice, before managing to catch his footing and sink into the ground, grunting out. "You- Damn- AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I DON'T!?" The scream of a person who gave up, all that he managed to retort against Rena's spiel. No, there were more important things, like trying (and failing) to avoid the peppering of bullets from Anita.
To curse his luck, curse that damn new mobile suit, curse the Phenex, curse it all as he cocked the underbarrel of his rifle, pumping a few rounds towards that damnable Variable Fighter...!
KTS: Puru Two has activated the Valor Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Change the future? Change the future!? The future is based on the past, and with the past chaining the path to the future, there's only one path to truly take! "Don't screw with me! You're saying the same thing in the same way! Changing the future means killing the past, doesn't it? Doesn't it!?" Changing the future. And what of it!? "There'll always be people who'll want to wrench it back!"
Onwards. Onwards. Onwards. Riding the highs of emotions, of how his mind sizzled with the heat of battle, of oh so successfully proving his point. What did it matter if the future was to be continually chained!?
To break the chains of the past, to push onwards. So what if he could see that out of the corner of his eye, Yuliana being the coward she was, running on home to her wife? Make it! Make it, his internal voice says! People should be able to sleep at the end of the day without the ruins of everything burning around them, LIKE NOW!
Rena's own words fail to make a dent at first. The stubbornness. The refusal. The man looking forward at all times with the scars of the past. He pushes on, pushes on, unrelenting. "They're all DEAD! They're forgotten, destined to rot in Anaheim's corpse until tehy get something! Then, they'll be remembered, but not as they lived! No, for what they DIED for! And you want to keep that memory alive?!" Again and again and again, watching that mobile suit shunt back. There's no hesitation, the blue glow of those nozzles flaring up as he charges in, to match that swipe- that green light- that will of the future-
-crashing against his own beam saber, pushing in only the slightest bit before being forced back, crashing down against the ground, bouncing once, twice, before managing to catch his footing and sink into the ground, grunting out. "You- Damn- AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I DON'T!?" The scream of a person who gave up, all that he managed to retort against Rena's spiel. No, there were more important things, like trying (and failing) to avoid the peppering of bullets from Anita.
To curse his luck, curse that damn new mobile suit, curse the Phenex, curse it all as he cocked the underbarrel of his rifle, pumping a few rounds towards that damnable Variable Fighter...!
KTS: Puru Two targets Serinas Nikola with Heavy Beam Saber Psyco Amplification! KTS: Puru Two has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
There is a miraculous shield, between Eight and Yuliana. The woman who has caused so much distress to people that Eight loves--there is someone, this Phenex? Who loves her, too. And the simple truth is that Eight York does not hate Yuliana Kafim more than Rita Bernal loves her. ...So Eight watches as her last missile disappears, and then inclines her head.
"Let her go," Eight instructs her pilots. Lavhi looks towards Eight and lifts an eyebrow--at what happened, more than at her response. "That was... not usual," he says.
"...Somebody up there loves her, I guess. Not gonna mess with that today."
"Fair enough."
Eight and Lavhi both put hands back to the controls, and as Callisto sneers, as she fights, as she helps... Eight looks to her. "...You're coming home today, right, Callie...?"
She has a bad feeling.
But Rena--Rena does something extroardinary and dangerous both. Eight watches, and then takes up her defensive position again. But she answers Serinas anyway, "Maybe someday we can discuss it. But today... Today I think you should go home."
"Transmitting data. I'm going to stay here and defend in case someone gets by your perimeters."
"But..."
"Rena. I'm with you. And Mister Gundam..."
The symbol of Hope.
"I hope we can strive together for that tomorrow, one day."
KTS: Eight York targets Puru Two, Rena Lancaster, and Anita Rosetta with All-Out. KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Eight York orders an all-out attack, raising Rena Lancaster's Skill! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 6030 KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Anita Rosetta with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Underslung Grenade Launcher! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Eight York orders an all-out attack, raising Puru Two's Skill! KTS: Eight York has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Yuliana begins to retreat, and the Phenex flits to cover her path, spreading her arms wide. It's a clear signal. You'll have to cross the Phenex to pursue the Gelgoog. Blue eyes turn to Eight, awaiting her decision.
Eight chooses to be kind.
Almost as if in reward, a memory floats before Eight's awareness. A young woman with green hair, before a young woman with blonde hair. Both have the unmistakable weariness of a test subject. Familiar. The green-haired woman looks away from the blonde. There's distates in her movement, but not hatred. Not fervor. "... it's not forever. We can live a normal life again."
Eight knows, somehow, that was the single touch of kindness the blonde-haired woman had known, would know -- as time spirals before her. One single act of kindness. It wasn't true, it wouldn't be true -- but it was kind.
Before the memory can continue, the Phenex is jarred from the air by the pressure of Rena's awakened machine. She falls for a hundred yards before catching herself and rising again, blue light rekindled. This battle... it's gone on long enough.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Zoltan Akkanen with Pass! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Eight York orders an all-out attack, raising Anita Rosetta's Skill! KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Anita Rosetta, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Anita Rosetta partially guards Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Underslung Grenade Launcher, taking 4800 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Serinas Nikola has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Serinas Nikola has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Puru Two enervates Serinas Nikola, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Serinas Nikola parries Puru Two's Heavy Beam Saber Psyco Amplification, taking 1590 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru Two's Pressure of Aggression activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru Two's Pressure of Aggression activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Puru Two has engaged Serinas Nikola! KTS: Puru Two completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"They're two different things, Zoltan!"
Rena calls that back to him, and she swings with the beam saber again. It goes wide -- Zoltan's Sinanju Stein speeds backward, leaving a flash of gold between them. Rena's eyes widen as she hears that. "Do you really not value your life!? Isn't it worth more than THIS?!"
She shouts at the end of it, the lingering auras of both of their psychoframes slamming into each other -- dancing off one another, colliding and not pushing through. She feels herself tensing more -- but things get through to her. The sight of the Phenex, falling away; as if driven back by the pressure of her words. Rena's eyes close. This time, her words can reach out, fully formed, for the Phenex.
I'm sorry. I can't imagine how hard this is for you. I'll try to not hurt you.
Eight's words also reach her. Eight is with her. Rena takes a deep breath, trying to center herself. "I know, Octo."
She sees Zoltan turn his gun on Anita. Rena's eyes widen -- that's Anita, her friend, and she's in this because of her -- so she shouts out: "ANNIE! LOOK OUT!"
The Gaia Gear Alpha has storms and rivers of green light swirling around it. The machine slams its beam saber into the recharge rack -- the weapon clicks back into place -- and then it points both arms at the Sinanju Stein. Those same lights swirl around it, and spiral into complex patterns, as the Gaia Gear's verniers fire -- and it begins to weave a tight arc around the other white Mobile Suit.
"It's not easy to let this go," Rena tells Zoltan. "I'm still trying! You asked if I found what I'm looking for, and... I don't know yet. But we have to keep looking, not just stop because of how awful the past was!"
Two pods on the back of the Gaia Gear Alpha burst open, with blasts of vapor, and then funnels launch out -- cylindrical ones, tapered at the end with the cannon -- and begin arching all around the Sinanju Stein. "Funnels," Rena calls out, "GO!"
They fire at once, raining down a series of beam shots across the Sinanju Stein, while motes of green light swirl about both of them.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Zoltan Akkanen with Funnel Pod - Dawn Formation! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 40. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 30. KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Hearing some parts of Callisto's exchange breaks her heart, but she finds herself proud about the way she's standing up to ZAFT's recriminations here.
Whereas Zoltan shouting about the dead, "<It doesn't have to be that way... only remembering how they died. You can always learn their stories.>" Perhaps her eyes trail up to the Phenex's Golden Light there.
Whereas Setsuna's words make her think of how the young pilot sees the world. A symbol... there's a purity in his willingness to embrace hypocrisy which she has to marvel at, no matter how wrongheaded she thinks this approach might be.
Asciel captures her attention in short order, "<Oh don't mistake me. I believe you're passionate, Atrytone.>" Leina says into the comms, "<I do. And I believe your will is true. ... His was too.>"
There's a touch of sadness to her tone, "<I hope you're right, that you don't. I do. Because I've seen where it leads for so many others.>"
There's a sudden flash of Asciel's blade, causing a laser sword projectile. Despite the flash of intuition she receives, she misjudges her speed, and the blade projectile scours her flanks, sizzling away the ZZ's younger sibling's beam coating in a spectacular fashion and damaging some of the thrusters.
In the cockpit, Leina's suddenly jerked forward from her flight path being disrupted, head striking a translucent airbag that erupts out, then is sucked back in. Her thrusters sputter as she tries to right herself.
She sounds a touch dazed as she answers who she is, "<I'm just a Spacenoid Girl from a slum on Side 1 - who got caught up in a huge mess during the First Neo-Zeon War.>"
Pause.
"<A little sister. A ward. A friend. A girlfriend. A charity worker. A high school student. A cat lover. Sometimes I try to be a big sister too.>"
There's a thoughtful tone as she recovers and adds, "<And I guess I'm a theater kid as well, so I do appreciate your sense of drama.>"
All of a sudden, the Hardpoints on each of its shoulders, and several turrets on its hips bristle with rockets like spines.
She fires them all, all of them at once, rockets, missiles, micro-missiles, all of the ordnance launching and weaving in erratic patterns to try and catch the Codarl in its graceful acrobatics.
Somehow though, there's never a sense she's aiming for the cockpit, or the reactor, always for limbs, joints, sensors.
"<Today though? I'm Renalle's friend - so get your 'radiant light' away from this REACTOR!>"
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Asciel Colette with MP ZZ Missile Pod Ashta Circus! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Leina Ashta's MP ZZ Missile Pod Ashta Circus, taking 6500 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette has been defeated! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen successfully evades Rena Lancaster's Funnel Pod - Dawn Formation
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Eight says to let her go. Anita thinks about this for a moment, and nods. She smiles, just slightly.
"...Alright. If both of you say that, who am I to go against it?" Anita replies. She still holds her grudge - but today, she can set it aside. And not in the least because she has more immediate problems as Zoltan turns his gun on her.
Eight sends her data, and Rena shouts her warning. And it's only because of this, the support of her friends, that she's able to react in time. She turns to face Zoltan and braces herself. She can't stop the attack, but she can at least minimize the damage. The rounds explode against her machine and sends her flying back against the wall. The VF-25 Messiah slams against it and crashes to the floor. It stays there for a moment, but...
"...It's alright. I'm okay." Anita announces. With a grimace of effort, she forces her machine to stand.
"...You know, me... I'm more an 'in the now' kinda gal, you know? But, Rena... She's always looking. And I admire that about her. How much she cares, well... it gets even someone like me thinking about it, too. So... if she thinks it'll make a difference, I do too!" Anita says. She takes up her spear in both hands and accelerates toward Zoltan. Mid-charge, her Valkyrie transforms into Battroid mode with an uncomfortable sound of crunching metal with the damage its taken thus far, and uses the momentum from the charge to drive the spear at his machine!
KTS: Anita Rosetta has changed loadout. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Zoltan Akkanen with Salvaged Spear Lunge! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Serinas Nikola has posed.
Leina has a lot to say today! Yeah gosh Asciel, you know what taking on the duty to change the world does to people? Do you know how burned out and bitter they become?!
Well, Serinas sure isn't going to tell you, because she doesn't know. She doesn't dream of being a hero, she just wants to protect the normal life she could have with her family.
...Which is why Puru's story nearly drains her will to fight. Newtype bullshit isn't needed to make her blood run cold. Her fellow spacenoids did that to someone...?
A normal life. This woman, once treated as a weapon instead of a person, is fighting for the same thing Serinas is.
It can't be true for all the Federation's soldiers (can it...? no time to think about that right now,) but Puru certainly deserves it and can't be blamed.
Serinas hangs her head... and then a golden glow makes her look at her screens again. The sight of that... whatever the hell even IS that weapon!? spurs her self-defensive instincts. The golden flame *disintigrates* the edge of the hole in the colony wall as it comes down, layers of metal and structure becoming atoms or less. The CGUE won't stand a chance.
Which is why she dashes forward, trying to grab the mobile weapon's forearm. Incredibly, she's bought herself another moment... although with each passing second, mere proximity to that golden flame is eating away at the CGUE. She's got to disable it!
Metal strains as the CGUE's left arm tries to hold back the mobile armor's forearm a moment longer. The gatling cannon spins up, the shield binder rattling and beginning to shake apart as she draws the machinegun and empties the mag point-blank, hoping that sheer volume of fire can disable the arm and save her from whatever the hell this is!
<"You're right. You're no lapdog. You're the first Feddie I've met fighting for something I can understand. Us and our friends..."> Remembered pain flashes across her face as she thinks of Riika Sheder, the friendly face greeting her at her first posting, and the pained voice, silenced by ZAFT's guns, her own included. <"...War is hurting all of us."> But then the young half-Meltrandi's voice fills with determination. <"But I can't give up either! I'm fighting for a normal life too! Isn't there some way we can both get what we want?!">
KTS: Serinas Nikola targets Puru Two with MMI-M7S 76mm Machine Gun Full-Auto Barrage! KTS: Serinas Nikola has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Puru Two partially guards Serinas Nikola's MMI-M7S 76mm Machine Gun Full-Auto Barrage, taking 2745 damage! KTS: Serinas Nikola roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to rush. KTS: Anita Rosetta anchors Zoltan Akkanen, forcing him into close range. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Anita Rosetta's Salvaged Spear Lunge, taking 2160 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has engaged Zoltan Akkanen! KTS: Anita Rosetta roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
Asciel takes time to talk. Roux only has one shell on that scale - the other ones are less and she is doubtful that the adhesive is going to do much to this pilot, this terrifying pilot. She's obviously enhanced, SOMEHOW, Roux thinks; she's reacting like this and there isn't a 'presence' the way she would expect if it were a New Type of some kind. Something else?
No, Roux thinks, with a burst of frustration--
And another thought: Is that what keeps holding me back?
But the thought itself unfolds a little. Something else behind her. The subtle knowledge that the back half of the dead colony - that beyond the wall there is an enormous void, immense stacks of megameters to the nearest object, dotted only with a statistically trivial portion of places where she could live. Roux passes for a moment past the fear that that might bring, into...
Into...
What?
It's like there's a light in here, Roux thinks, but what kind of light? The thought makes things waver -- and focus returns.
"Atrytone," Roux echoes. "You want to know more about me...?"
The ReZ-II's thrusters ignite and it leaps forwards, swerving to the side -- and when the laser sword begins to swing, a TRUE laser sword, a real beam, something flies towards it -- intercepted, bisected, and the Clay Bazooka's single adhesive round erupts into a huge set of streamers of gray goop, flying in snakewheels as the laser hits and ignites the expanding material, just making it expand further! Providing a vital moment of COVER...
"I read a joke once, in a ladies' magazine they printed out in Jupiter," Roux says. "Probably an old one... the masochist says to the sadist, hurt me, beat me, make me give you my bank passwords, do anything you want to me -- and do you know what the sadist said, Atrytone?"
Faster, faster. Get closer. Roux brings out a beam saber from the charge-points, familiar in the Zeta-grade frames. She raises it up and it -- doesn't come on? She shakes it a little, but her voice somehow sounds only slightly aggrieved. "The sadist looked right at the masochist and said --"
(Does she see what I'm going to do? Is she predicting my maneuvers somehow? Or is it --, thinks Roux, as she gets close enough to--)
The ReZ-II swerves away at the last moment and THAT'S when the beam saber flashes onwards, almost at the last moment, aiming into a huge arc of a sweep as the Mobile Suit accelerates forwards, flying towards the void at the center of the colony, already pivoting on AMBAC rebalancing as Roux finishes what she was saying:
"No."
KTS: Roux Louka targets Asciel Colette with Beam Saber - Feigned Failure! KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.
The Exia raises its shield in an attempt to block the uncoming go, and in a flash, it's gone. Not only that, but a good chunk of the armor on the side the shield was mounted was gone as well, revealing some of the inner workings of the robot, a series of thin, iridescent cables woven through a metal skeleton, with large green orbs littered throughout the joints. It's not a conventional Minovsky system, whatever it is, it's completely alien to any respectable technician. But that's to be expected from an entity like Celestial Being that prides itself in its Gundam technology.
<"If I need to be a martyr to shatter the status quo of this world, I'll do it. If I fall, I trust that another will carry through with my ideals. That's what it means to be Celestial Being. To be a Gundam Meister.">
The still good side of the Gundam raises its arm up as the large blade folds back, its hands now reaching down to grab hold of the two additional blades mounted on its waist. Its fingers firmly grasp on to the hilts as it unclips the swords from their hard points, giving them an experimental wave before locking its eyes on the enemy Arm Slave one last time.
Exia's optics flare a blinding green as the mobile suit charges one last time, streaks of green trailing behind it as it crosses the blades together into an X formation, before crashing into the Cordal. The unusually sharp blades sink into the robot's armor for a bit, before the Gundam quickly pulls the blades both to the side and forward, creating a visible cross-cut pattern across the Arm Slave's torso.
KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei targets Asciel Colette with GN Long & Short Blade Bisect! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette parries Roux Louka's Beam Saber - Feigned Failure, taking 1410 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette has been defeated! KTS: Roux Louka has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Asciel Colette fails to rush. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Setsuna F. Seiei's GN Long & Short Blade Bisect, taking 4950 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette has been defeated! KTS: Setsuna F. Seiei has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Rena reaches out to the Phenex, promising not to hurt her. It's another little kindness, so needed. The Phenex's beloved deserves it, and so much more.
All present hear the sound of bells. Small, sweet ones, high-pitched and light. Ascending slowly, the Phenex rises before Rena. Her hands are held out. Rena may take them, if she wishes -- it's not forced upon her. Like an aura, the Miracle Light returns to the Phenex, cloaking it in mystical fire. It burns cool. No damage is done.
Thank you. Thank you for caring about me, and about them.
A glance to the laboratory district. A shield still waits there, protective.
You've done all you can for now. It's time for all of you to return home. I can stop this, but I need your help, Rena. Together, we can put this place to rest.
It's almost as though the Gundam squeezes the Gaia Gear's hands.
But you must promise to return. This story isn't over yet.
And Rena Lancaster faces a choice. A choice she accepts. There is no verbal response from the Phenex this time, but she inclines her head.
Rena will feel strength, rushing through her and the Gaia Gear both. Harmony, connection, love. Power from beyond this plane of existence. It's transcendant. It's terrifying. The memories of the ghost of the Phenex and the pilot of the Gaia Gear entwine together, and for a moment, there is perfect understanding.
This life isn't all there is, a whispered message, through the incandescent brightness. It isn't simply the Phenex's beloved speaking, she's joined by the voices of two dozen others. We'll be waiting.
Radiance swells around the joined mobile suits. It echoes out across the battlefield in the form of a gentle wave. It shoots into the air like a geyser of pure light, arcing high into the colony sky, taking the shape of a glorious bird, twin tailfeathers extending far behind it. The target of the irridescent power is clear: the reactor. And as it strikes home--
There is no explosion.
On the contrary, everything goes still. The Colony halts in its stuttered movements. Darkness falls. Silence wraps its way around every hero of the living.
A soft hum.
Light returns. The Colony is rotating as it should, perfectly balanced. The reactor, is stable. For any observing, it is as though there was never any danger.
It's time for me to go. I'll return to you, someday. When I do, please follow me again.
One final message, broadcast to every pilot within hearing -- save Zoltan. Another cry of a great bird, and the Phenex releases Rena's hands. The Miracle Light fades from around her, replaced with the azure flames of her beloved's own strength. With swift, darting motions, the Phenex races from the battlefield and out of the colony.
She will not be seen here again.
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Eight York with This Life Isn't All There Is! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rita Bernal targets Puru Two with This Life Isn't All There Is! KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Rena's first question goes unanswered; Who'd want to answer such a question after an exposure behind the scenes? Not Zoltan. Not him. All he can think about right now is the anger. The cursing. The sheer sense of disrespect. The feeling of muted joy as those grnades hits home, grinning despite it all. Despite this.
Kill it, damn you. Kill the past. Unbind the shackles.
His bounding run traces a wide arc around the Gaia Gear and Variable Fighter both, the shambling hunk of metal now littered with a fresh new coat of bullet holes pockmarking the suit.
"Yeah!? And what are you going to find here, after it's all done!? Death! DEATH! Death and more death and the death of people who deserved to live!" And what did living get them!? What did living get him!? This!? "You can't say they deserve to be remembered when all their life was nothing!" Unabashed, unrestrained emotion coalescing within him, roiling, crashing, the sheer aura of a man who was forced to understand.
Those motes. Those funnels. They're like any other. They're like. They're. They're like. The movements. The way they spin. The firing. It's textbook. It's amateur. It's something that's the same for any new pilot with funnels.
...Exactly like the Nu Gundam. Weave. This way. That. Stop here. A step to the left. The right. An elaborate dance ingrained from memories, ingrained from the damned project. All that power, and nothing to show for it.
"And look, look! Look at you! You have that suit now, but you can't do anything! The future can't be changed until you acknowledge the past, and the past deserves to be seen AND TO STAY DEAD!"
The final shot, the final dance. The finale of a concerto as that grinning man watched the Variable Fight approach.
"You're looking? She's looking? You can say anything you want, but if she can't manage what she has, she can't do anything. She can't, you see? Let me show her."
And he runs.
And he twists to the side, the spear burying itself in the arm. A failure of reaction, a success screaming inside him.
A slam of his foot down on the Battroid-form's own.
A twist of the wrist.
A beam saber pointed towards the leg.
And a swipe.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Anita Rosetta with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber Swipe! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Puru Two partially guards Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is, taking 2925 damage! KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Anita Rosetta's Easygoing activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Anita Rosetta, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber Swipe, taking 3000 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Anita Rosetta has been defeated! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Anita Rosetta! <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
The Driver burns, and burns, and burns, enduring the onslaught from Leina, Roux, and Setsuna - Asciel begins quite vividly vibrating from holding up. Each tiny missile from Leina's shatters one little barrier in the way of Roux and Setsuna's more close-in assaults - the surprise shock from the saber sending Asciel staggering.
<"I refuse to ever give up on my horizon.">
There's a tear in her face now - the illusion of skin revealing the obvious Arm Slave monitor equipment beneath, ripping away one glowing 'eye' to unveil standard optics. The cross slashing of blades is met with Asciel's own sword - but the Exia's shatters the Monomolecular Cutter, gouging an X-shape in the Codarl's chest.
<"I refuse to ever give up on your paradise.">
In the corner of her eye, the Phenex glimmers away in its performance of a mending miracle, its 'purpose' here seemingly sealed. Asciel's own radiant cyan darts of light seem to falter as soon as Rita's cerulean feathers intersect with them - for what she seeks is the 'image' of a miracle . . . one created from her own intent. It's only an echo. Can it ever be real? Can miracles like these be relied upon? Can she seize it? Can it be controlled? ...How possible is this very thing that's happening right now?
<"...But it's looking like I have to accept that this storm of willpower was far too much for my own light to blaze through.">
The barriers drop, and Asciel is still, sizzling and steaming and fuming out smoke. The light fades slowly from her heart, and short static-y bursts emit from her ever-loud speakers. Like a few coughs.
<"...It's infuriating. All three of you are infuriating. You all aren't all wishful thinkers. There is a genuine strength behind your convictions. That's why this is so sad. It must be incredibly hard for you to endure. It must be so much suffering, to rely on 'heroic' willpower to make it through, but refusing the capacity to turn it into a new world. I can't handle the idea that it must simply be like that forever, as the world rots away century by century.">
<"I can't stand to think that your only hope to prevent the myriad catastrophes that would befall the world, is a yet unknown miracle.">
Slowly, Asciel bends downward, retrieving the Codarl's fallen arm, quiet and still, her movements barely more than a slow gait. She stares balefully at the 'miracle' she can only barely understand - there is so much she cannot hear of the Phenex, no matter how much Rita pushes at the door . . . no. It's not a push. It's a patient waiting. Even still. There is no letting in. --<...Cancel the extraction operation. Change retrieval coordinates to backup point A. And...wait, a little bit, after I board.>-- Asciel pipes to her supporting staff, before briefly turning to the slowly consolidating battlefield - clearly noting that the captain of the Ra Mari and her entourage have fairly well secured the reactor.
<"...Akkanen. Serinas. I don't know if you have a transit secured to get out of here, since you certainly couldn't tag with Londo Bell so easily. There's space aboard mine. I'll have to drop you off somewhere secure of course, but feel free to come along if you need an exit. That really goes for any of you. Whatever this 'heart' could have offered . . . it's clearly not in my grasp at all, so I won't pursue it further.">
Asciel's head does tip backwards towards Roux, though, baleful and flat-lipped. "Hm. Countering external expectations is usually satisfying, but countering one's own desires is hardly that. That outcome leaves both unfulfilled, don't you know? The absence of pain is hardly pain. For what it's worth, I'd never say 'no' myself, to the purest requests of someone's heart."
KTS: Asciel Colette's Plan-1056 Codarl-a 'Glaux' has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.
Roux answers Asciel. There isn't any of the heat or swearing from before - maybe a sprinkling of pique.
"Then my real request... is to ask these questions when you're not in a Mobile Suit. You can't understand the world from behind your guns; not unless you want to shrink the world."
She feels like she's coming back and coming down at the same time, and so she takes a moment to think: Yeah girl, sick line. You've still got it. Everyone's just dipped in mag coating these days.
<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
<"You're right. You're no lapdog. You're the first Feddie I've met fighting for something I can understand. Us and our friends...">
The Psyco-surge of power coming out of the Queen Mansa's beam saber pulsates wildly and ferociously, like a sine wave billowing out of control. The golden flame indeed scythes through great swathes of the colony structure nearby, leaving a cherry-red canyon of molten steel in its wake.
"You need to talk to more of them!" Puru Two's passion for this simple answer surges through her machine's limbs and burns in the very air itself. There's a buzzsaw roar of the CGUE's autocannon, and a barrage of rounds hurls the Mansa's hand backwards. A parry is still a parry, even if you do it by peppering the other guy's arm with AP rounds. The Queen Mansa itself is *bullying* with its presence, sheer bulk and speed making up for the gulf in age between the two machines. It does not back down. It does not stand down. Its pilot has a point to make, and an unbending will.
"So many of us are just lost in this world's cracks! Running from shadow to shadow, crying, screaming to be free of our chains!" Puru Two punctuates each point with a violent finger-thrust into her Mobile Armor's center console. "Our families are whoever will take us in, our allegiance is to those who'll put a roof over our heads and fight off our pursuers!"
The larger of the two machines swiftly turns from the torso as if the pilot can sense the oncoming attack.
(She can.)
The timing of Serinas's barrage of cannon fire is good, but there's a sixth sense at play here, annoyingly. The Queen Mansa's massive shoulder-binder soon occupies much of the space where its more vulnerable torso once did. Again, the buzzsaw churn of cannon fire spawns a blizzard of sparks and armored fragments. But the beast lumbers on.
<"But I can't give up either! I'm fighting for a normal life too! Isn't there some way we can both get what we want?!">
Puru Two jabs both of her fingers into her temples--or tries to, given she's wearing a helmet. She's standing out of her seat, not a hand on the controls, but the Mansa has long since been completely in Psycotelemetry mode.
"There is! You turn your guns on the fools who style themselves as hard men making hard decisions, and you put your future in your own hands! Think, girl, THINK!"
The Queen Mansa's enormous hands reach up and grab each side of its head in a mimicry of what the Human inside is doing, which looks vaguely unsettling. Also, the two battleship-sized cannons on its chest have begun to glow, which is never a good sign.
... except...
This life isn't all there is
A beautiful radiance best likened to the divine glow of Heaven ripples through the Colony at this moment. It is no furious show of force, nay, but a kindly reminder from those who have gone before. It is a message of love, and hope. Of reassurance. There is a silence that follows in its wake, and this too extends to the pitched battle between the two Spacenoid girls on opposite ends of the Earth Sphere's political spectrum.
"No--don't interfere with this--" Puru Two grimaces, shielding her eyes from the glow from Beyond.
But things like fury, rage... these are transient. They can't sustain. They don't build or leave much behind other than loss and sorrow. These are all lessons that Puru Two knows all too well. Lessons she must be reminded of, from time to time.
She clutches her head in confusion, in shame, and perhaps a sense of violated privacy.
The Queen Mansa's terrifying aura, palpable as it was mere moments ago, flickers out. The lights beaming from its eyes too, wink away. Nothing more than dull green lenses remain. Its arms fall by its side. A beam saber hilt the size of a semi-trailer drifts aimlessly from a monstrous mechanical hand.
"... just go." the redhead clone bitterly concludes, making no more to continue the duel with Serinas. "Just go, and live. Live and see people for what they are."
Silently, the funnels all return to their dock at the Mansa's rear. Like a flock of birds returning to roost. It makes no further move.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The Phenex offers Rena a choice, a promise. And Leina feels the psychic resonance as the Phenex unleashes a miracle.
A stabilization of the reactor.
And with a smile, she sees a friend off.
Take care of yourself Rita. For once. For me.
Asciel however, in all of her stubborn determination, in a way Leina admires her, but... there is one thing she has to correct her on.
"<It's not a miracle I'm looking for, Atrytone. ... Miracles? They're a part of the status quo too.>"
Miracles can make so much happen, but she's seen it, the belief that nothing can change without one. How people shed their agency to great men and women, miracle makers all. How it becomes part of the Federation narrative, the propaganda and the status quo.
"<My hope lies in our potential being so much more than any miracle->"
The only way anything will change in her eyes, is if people no longer rely on miracles, and put in the hard work to change things.
It's an odd philosophy perhaps, for someone who thinks of the Phenex, who literally just made miracles happen as a friend. ... But she didn't befriend her because she could offer her miracles. That was never her reasoning.
Miracles do not reach her eyes, she's a girl who did not see rainbows during the Axis Shock.
"<-if enough of us but reach for it, together.>"
Asciel's correct though, it is sad, and it is hard for her to endure. It is an active choice every day.
Maybe she'll burn out first, long before Asciel's radiant light.
The Double Zeta then flies over towards the ground and waits to be sure this lull in the battle actually takes before she breaks her silence... "<Hey Roux.>"
Pause.
"<Sick joke.>"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"That's-" Anita starts. Her spear drives into his suit - and locks into place. He's managed to minimize the damage to his suit. She lets go of the spear to try to get away in time - but he's faster than she is. His foot slams down on the Messiah Rosetta's leg, locking her into place. A twist of the wrist directs the saber toward the Valkyrie's leg, and a swipe - removes said leg, causing the machine to topple and hit the ground with a resounding crash.
The force of the collision causes Anita to black out, for a moment. Her suit blacks out too... and when she awakens, she hits her comms.
"S-sorry, everyone... I messed up." She mutters. ...But there's no response. She may have woken up, but her VF's systems are still out - they can't hear her in here.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
There is a glorious geyser of pure light, and Lavhi calls even as Eight starts moving, "Eight!"
But Nothing harms the Monster. The Koenigin Monster is whole, when the light fades, and though Eight is not a part of that particular miracle, she is a aprt of a different one. Radiance...
"...Phenex," Eight murmurs, closing her eyes and reaching out in that moment, before she fades--but the light fades again.
"...Take care of yourself," Eight projects to the Phenex as the light races from the battlefield. "Thank you for helping Rena."
But the wave of miracle light has gone farther than this place. Suddenly, Eight's radio lights up, and she opens a channel as she notes their being hailed.
"This is the Ra Mari," Enba Rezza's voice comes over the radio to Eight and perhaps to others. "...Our engines are in full repair. Whatever that light was, it appears to have repaired us. We are en route now to secure the safety of our pilots and others."
And to secure the reactor, one assumes.
Eight chimes in over the same channel, "...Let the enemy retreat. We have our objective." In fact, she switches to a general channel, "Opposing forces, this is Londo Bell's Captain York of the Ra Mari. If you surrender yourselves you will not be harmed. If you flee, we will not pursue. The Ra Mari is inbound as we speak. They have orders not to fire, provided that you do not take further hostile action."
...However, the Sinanju might notice that every single one of the Koenigin Monster's many gun and missile ports are pointed in its direction, as it stands over Anita's VF, though no one but Lavhi is likely to notice the way Eight is holding her breath. After all, this close... Zoltan is the one who decides what happens next for Anita. After that, who knows?
<Pose Tracker> Serinas Nikola has posed.
The gatling gun's mounting shakes apart and it swings wide, dangling half-attached from the mobile suit's shoulder before it stops firing and spins down.
Two spacenoid girls struggle from the helms of metal behemoths. Great bodies of steel built to fight with strength and resilience far beyond human.
Puru has a lot to say. Serinas is inclined to listen, even as she fights to not be rent to atoms.
Her question, shouted in frustration, was rhetorical. If there was an answer that made an ounce of sense, they wouldn't be fighting in the first place, right?
So, she's pretty surprised when Puru actually replies, and it isn't some drivel like 'surrender and I promise you'll be treated well.' It's...
> You turn your guns on the fools who style themselves as hard men making hard decisions, and you put your future in your own hands! Think, girl, THINK!
...She'll have to, when the battle is over.
...Which it soon is, as there are bells, and golden light, and what is all that. Serinas is spared the Mansa's cannons, but honestly, she doesn't feel like fighting anymore. As long as she and Zoltan escape, surely the Sleeves can find no fault with her.
> ... just go. Just go, and live. Live and see people for what they are.
<"...You too."> Serinas answeres Puru somewhat lamely, lacking anything as insightful to say. <"It'd be nice if you're right, that there's a way we can both win.">
She'll follow Atrytone out. <"Zoltan! Come on... I don't... I don't think there's any point in fighting more here. We need to get out...!">
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"How can you say their life was nothing!?" Rena shouts back at Zoltan. "Just because a life was cut short... that doesn't mean that life didn't matter! It doesn't deserve to be forgotten -- or to be reduced to only a tragedy!"
Her funnels fire -- and somehow, the Sinanju Stein weaves and darts between them, so easily. He knew where she would fire -- he knew where each shot would be. She can feel that knowledge, too; it's so different than fighting Verdiska, and how she is a blind spot to her. But Zoltan being easier to read has never made it kinder.
Her brown eyes widen, but they tremble too.
Annie's Variable Fighter slams into the Sinanju Stein. Rena starts to smile, when Anita says that. She feels her heart lighter -- and then it grows so much heavier when the Sinanju Stein turns the beam saber around on the Battroid.
"Get away from her!" Rena screams. "ANNIE!"
But Anita doesn't respond from that VF.
The colony lurches around her. Rena stares down at the Variable Fighter -- and at the reactor's building -- and she hesitates, as she hears a voice reach her mind. The sound of bells joins it; there is a feeling of her hands being taken, as the Phenex rises up before her.
She swallows.
"I--I understand," Rena says, her words trembling. There is a choice to be made -- and she feels a rush of power. She could use it, she briefly thinks, to strike at the Sinanju Stein. But, that feeling of harmony isn't for that. It's for the past, which she doesn't want to let die. She closes her eyes -- and she exhales.
Motes of green light expand out from the Gaia Gear, mixing with the cerulean aura of the Phenex. Rena's consciousness rushes out, feeling the words of the Phenex's ghost as much as hearing them. And, to Rena's amazement, the colony's rotation is suddenly halted.
Lights flicker on -- one by one, rapidly -- and the reactor hums, stable. Denver Colony is, once again, alive. Rena blinks her eyes, surprised to find tears rolling down her cheeks. "Th...thank you," she says, opening her eyes up. She thinks the Phenex heard her. "I will. I promise."
The Gaia Gear Alpha lands, setting down on the ground. It's a little shaky, the feet of it shuddering, when they land near the downed Messiah Rosetta. Rena looks down at it with widened eyes, then looks back up at the Sinanju Stein. Her hand trembles on the controls.
She opens a channel to Zoltan. Her mouth opens -- but words don't come. She needs to show him something.
But she doesn't have it, yet.
<Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.
It's over. There's not much to be said now, and Setsuna is for once completely and utterly silent even as his radio continues to pick up ongoing conversations.
The Exia reholsters its blades as it now just floats in the air, its pilot quietly assessing the current situation. He might be able to take down a few of the Londo Bell members by himself, but with his mobile suit in the condition it's only a matter of time before he'd eventually be downed and captured.
While he said he'd be a martyr, he's not stupid. There's no point in throwing his life down here and now.
The Gundam's head turns to gaze upon the Phenex to that it's retreating, before doing the same. The GN Drive in its back makes a barely audible whirring nose as it kicks up again, showering the wreckage of the colony in green particles as it helps to carry the damaged unit out of the many holes that now litter the structure.
<"Mission failed. Setsuna F. Seiei now retreating.">
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
The moment feels still. Time feels still. It's a fleeting moment, all the same, but the fixing of the colony is blatant to see. The aura, gold and green. The sight of everything humming, everything fixing itself bit by bit. A miracle in the flesh. And it leaves without so much as a word. How pompuous. How utterly pretentious. Strolling in, radiating disappointment, rot, concern, displeasure, fixing it, presenting itself as some benevolent being while secretly scorning. It hates, it keeps being disappointed, yet it keeps not saying why. What is he, a plaything? The designated person that won the lottery of being The One Who Is Hated? He couldn't hear the bells. The deliberate cessation of messages from Phenex to it all.
This life isn't all there is. There has to be something more.
It takes a moment for Zoltan to respond. For the head to grind its gaze upwards, staring at the Konegin's guns. Not a muscle moved, not a singular movement to push further. "...Arty One or whatever was it, right? I'll take you on that offer." One sentence. "Captain York. I'm holding you to your word. If you're all going to go so far as to exhume this corpse, I ebtter see some damn good things come from it."
And he released the grip on his beam saber, the failsafe turning it off, the cylinrical piece of metal bouncing harmlessly off of the desecrated Variable Fighter.
...The comms are open. "You see, Rena? What's so good about having so much if you can't put it to use when the time comes?" He turns on his heel, blatantly stowing his rifle away on his back. Walking with the back to the enemy, leaving the battlefield. "ZAFT gal! Come on. I know there's no point, we lost." Che. He's going to come back alive and with barely any results.
What a pain this turned out to be. Hopefully that Cyber-Newtype got home to her wife. Better than being continually cold-called by some miracle gaudy gold bird Phenex.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
What's so good about having so much if you can't put it to use when the time comes?
"I..."
She doesn't have an answer to that. She has to find a way to put it to use. Rena's eyes are down on the ground for a moment, regarding the damaged VF -- and thinking of the Phenex. She closes her eyes. Eight is here; Anita is here, she hopes; Leina is. She takes a deep breath.
Zoltan is right, in a way. She has to find the way to put the Gaia Gear Alpha to use. She helped make a miracle, today. But she needs to learn to make her own, with her own power.
She stays quiet for a time after that.
KTS: Li Yao's GNF-00XNH Yulong has left KTS: Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S-2 Sinanju Stein has left
<Pose Tracker> Puru Two has posed.
Puru Two yanks desperately at the helmet of her normal suit, since the cockpit is pressurized and all. Droplets of sweat and doubtless a teardrop or two beside tumble free from the tyranny of gravity. She gulps breath in greedy, heaving, agonal gasps as the emotional and sensory overload finally take their toll. A few moments sooner and she would have been a sitting duck before her foe.
She thumbs the climate control dial clumsily, feeding power to the life support systems and bringing the temperature down, down, down. The cool air helps still her panicked thoughts. With an errant thought or two, the hulking and battered form of the Queen Mansa recedes into the deep shadows of the Colony interior, running lights killed.
Her arms fold on the controls, and she soon keels over with her head atop them. Eight years of anxiety burst like a popped soap-bubble, the filmy aftereffects still washing over her.
Despite all her fears, there isn't a whisper of that man's presence anywhere about this machine.
There was nothing to fear.
"Feels weird." she mumbles. And seems content to leave the thought at that.
A small part of her is glad, really, that this accursed old machine wasn't truly necessary to carry the day.