2024-06-07: Company Expo
- Log: Company Expo
- Cast: Leina Ashta, Sagiri Sakurai, Soma Peries, Enba Rezza, Ruri Hoshino, Rena Lancaster, Luanova Luckwright, Flay Allster, Rin Naujakaite, Chienne Argent, Anita Rosetta, Lucine Azul, Al, Lilium Valerie, Rudi Pixyzalto
- Where: Area 12 (Taribia)
- OOC - IC Date: 06/07 UC 0099
- Summary: Cathedra stages a raid on suppliers for a human trafficking operation. Unfortunately it gets interrupted by some asshole and a woman who introduces herself without fail, every time.
KTS: Soma Peries has deployed in GNX-604T Advanced GN-X Rosen. KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has deployed in Tyranado. KTS: Flay Allster has deployed in GAT-X105E Aile Strike E Gundam. KTS: Enba Rezza has deployed in Izumo-class 'Uzume'. KTS: Rin Naujakaite has deployed in Combat Proto Test Group Nauja. KTS: Chienne Argent has deployed in Argent Getter-1. KTS: Al has deployed in eEXM-17 Alto. KTS: Al's eEXM-17 Alto has been disabled. KTS: Leina Ashta has deployed in CEK-068 Beguir-Neuer. KTS: Lilium Valerie has deployed in GNX-603T GN-X. KTS: Lilium Valerie has changed loadout. KTS: Rin Naujakaite has deployed in Combat Proto Test Group Nauja. KTS: Ruri Hoshino has deployed in ND-001 Nadesico Y-Unit. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Rena Lancaster has deployed in A000-0001V Gaia Gear Alpha Custom.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Damn them."
The middle aged man in a lab coat was taking a smoke break, which meant he had an escort out. "It was such a sweet deal. If only Celestial Being had done what it was supposed to." More tobacco scented smoke - the artificial stuff - hazes into the twilight. "Unlimited funding. A clandestine military contract. Premium test subjects, delivered to us by Government Intelligence. ... Now we live like rats in a hole."
For years, the abandoned One Year War style Zeon base had been a glorified tourist attraction in the first decade after for military enthusiasts who were searching for relics of that great conflict. As a result, it had become pitted and graffitied over in the wide open expanse of the former parade grounds. Now, no one came here except for the unfortunate explorers that all decided it wasn't a place worth checking out, instead posting pictures of bases in Chile, or Argentina before vanishing off the grid. Security here had gotten creative with the PR.
Camouflaged Zectars, blocky and wide machinery frames sat under grey tarps made to look like debris piles here and there, the man taking his smoke break had gotten really good at spotting them.
"Yeah, yeah heard it all before, but even if we didn't get the Golden Goose. It's not a bad gig." His escort, an older mercenary type, scanned the horizon. "Still pays the bills. And better than trying to make it in Khanka right now."
"'It pays the bills'." The first man coughed drily, "The concerns of a Salaryman." The other man smirked, "Prefer to see myself as a Freelancer."
-=-=-
"Today, we circle back to VTX Corporate Philosophy #1. 'People are treasures!'" The Chief of Special Section 3, Hirosuke Amasaki stood at the front of the briefing room of the Carriax, adjusting his shades, "This one's a request put in by Cathedra's Dominicus Corps to Special Section 3, to participate in a joint raid to shut down a criminal operation in Area 12, which was once the 'infamously' the Republic of Taribia briefly. For this, they've sent one of their own, a bright young lady and pilot named Leina Ashta to brief us. So please give her a warm VTX Union company welcome."
The young lady who had been at the side of the Carriax conference room steps forward, wearing a Cathedra uniform of a black top, with red accents, a pencil skirt, and tights, as well as a pair of business flats. She's got a professional smile on, but she seems a little tense? "Thank you Chief, and thank you VTX Union for your participation in the coming raid. For a while now we've been tracking down a particularly nasty group based out of the OAC that supplies... B-Types, on the cheap, to various guerilla outfits." That likely explains why she looks tense. "While we haven't made much headway in finding the main group, we've managed to locate one of their suppliers."
Satellite images begin to appear on the screens in the Carriax's briefing room of an abandoned Zeon base on the coast, "We don't know much about them but their outfit is a part of the Refrain drug trade in the area. They smuggle it in by a submersible, then send back what the cartel trades them in return." Her eyes slide over the VTX Union members, "People." Which- as Hirosuke Amasaki's expression grows more grave, one may understand why he chose to go back to #1 for today's raid.
The satellite images begin to turn into a blueprint that shifts into a profile view, showing multiple old buildings of the compound extending into an underground dock out to the sea. "We're likely to face a lot of resistance if we give them time to muster. We've spotted about twenty Zectars, some Savage II's, and a half dozen Prodoros. Classic case of quantity over quality. The problem isn't really the firefight. It's getting the drop on them fast enough that they don't have time to dump the evidence, evacuate to the sea, or murder all the people they're holding. We know from thermal imaging that they're not holding people anywhere near the surface, so we figure that they're being held down here."
There is a sublevel that lights up below the top three levels that extends outwards, into a visibly dock that tunnels out into the sea.
Now, her smile becomes a more genuine thing, "Which is where Special Section 3 comes in. We haven't seen any significant anti-air defenses, which means the Tyranado's Strikers are perfect for the job of cracking this place open by land. That way, we don't get bogged down by a drawn out firefight up top." A little graphic superimposed upon it shows the Tyranado making a high altitude jump, catching its Strikers and 'boom' as the top three levels just explode. Leina then turns to someone else within the room.
"Meanwhile, Miss Naujakaite. We'll be relying on you to cut them off down below. I'm told you've been working on an aquatic delivery system for your drone technology that can get them up on that dock undetected. Your goal is synchronize with the rest of Special Section 3 to prevent their escape, and secure the people below before they can even consider the word 'atrocity'."
"As for the rest you can leave the mop up to your backup." Leina then puts up two fingers as if in a V symbol salute, while winking perhaps having worked past the tension of the raid, or masking, "My squad from Dominicus will be leaping on in after the Tyranado, while a team of hand picked Gaia Sabers will be launching from the Agamemnon-class carrier 'Aion' mid-Atlantic, out of their effective sensor range. If it seems like overkill for this outfit?" Her hand drops, and there's a shrug, "Personally, I'd rather send a message to the whole world to think twice before setting up operations like this."
OOC Notes: In an unusual twist of fate, all of the battle plans for this raid leaked to Terminal and a few non NUNE factions earlier than even the briefing aboard the Carriax. While you're not required to be buddy buddy with NUNE in this scene in other factions, the tone of the scene is not being hostile to each other. It is a raid to take out a horrific human trafficking operation, which most individuals would want to succeed. NUNE participants in the raid can be party to the briefing directly, while others can decide upon their level of participation. This first round will be led in by Sagiri and Rin with their well defined objectives. Everyone else - you're welcome to do whatever you'd like. The goal is- be cool! Freeform up fighting things, arresting folks, saving people, hacking or otherwise retrieving evidence.
Don't sweat the details that haven't been delegated to Sagiri and Rin, the rule of cool applies. As the briefing stated, the resistance is mostly Zectars, RK-96 Savage II's, and Prodoros up top. The top 3 levels of the abandoned base are going to be blown up by Sagiri - giving people direct access to the bottom sublevel where this group actually is, a big drug lab, cages with people. It's an old Zeon base, so it's big! Big enough for even mobile suits to move around below. More Arm Slaves and Wanzers protect these areas, including the Docks. Pose anything and anyone down there to your heart's content, like I said - don't sweat the small stuff, don't overthink it. The goal is to show off your characters being cool in this first round.
As for the non-NUNE groups, do your own thing - just be here in something that can fight, and don't reveal yourself until after Sagiri and Rin have gone to see if the attack succeeds! While stealthing in is an option, it's preferred that you do so in something that can fight a mobile suit battle rather than on foot due to the vast majority of the defenses inside. NUNE may grumble and grouse about their presence, but today their focus is on the raid, not on fighting people showing up to help fight human traffickers.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has deployed in XVF-25I Svipul <GERWALK Mode>. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Anita Rosetta has changed loadout. KTS: Anita Rosetta arrives loaded onto Enba Rezza's combat deck! KTS: Al is now subpiloting for Rena Lancaster. KTS: Luanova Luckwright has deployed in MFW-1 Myrmecia. KTS: Will Barrier activated! (But will not apply until relevant Morale threshold.) KTS: Rena Lancaster arrives loaded onto Enba Rezza's combat deck! KTS: Lucine Azul has deployed in Dianthus Mk. 3.
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
So please give her a VTX Union company welcome.
There's polite applause as Leina Ashta steps forward, the welcoming, supportive kind. It comes courtesy of Meryl Spanna, Amies Ernst and Rami Amasaki; at least two of the three are even sporting friendly smiles! (Don't hold it against Meryl for not smiling; she's just not a smiler). It's all very subdued. Considerate.
"WOO!"
And then there's Sagiri Sakurai.
There she is, Special Section 3's manager, giving the VTX Union company welcome she knows bests. She claps. She pumps her fist. She judiciously uses her thumb and middle finger to give a powerful wolf whistle. She even shouts out a "You go girl! Hell yeah!"
It's a whole thing. A whole thing that is making Rami go pale with embarrassment. She stops clapping, burying her face in her palms to hide from the world of her peers who are now surely judging all of them and oh god she wanted to make a good first impression with her new co-workers and now it's ruined--!
"M-ma'am," Rami mumbles helplessly, "I can't take much more of this...!"
Sagiri's pastel green eyes flutter in a guileless blink. She looks Rami's way, eyes widening in bemusement.
"Huh? You okay, Rami? Is the mission worrying you--?"
Behind her, Meryl and Amies expressions have darkened like a unified storm on the horizon. Sagiri feels a chill down her spine.
"No. -You're- worrying her. -Please- show some restraint, ma'am, you're making us all look bad."
"Your behavior is rapidly approaching drunken frat bro levels. It's disgraceful."
"Oh c'mon, it wasn't THAT bad--"
So, congratulations, Leina! You just got the (semi-)official VTX Union company welcome.
To her credit, Sagiri at least has her game face on when it comes time for the actual mission briefing. She's a professional, and besides -- she'd be hard-pressed not to take things seriously when the subject of their targets' human exports come up. Pastel eyes narrow fractionally; Sagiri's lips pull into a thin line.
"So we go for the blitz," she surmises, lifting one hand in a palm up gesture. "Hit 'em hard and hit 'em fast and don't even give them a second to get any nasty thoughts in those nasty brains of theirs."
When the plan comes out more or less how Sagiri expected? Well -- when all's said and done, she flashes Leina a winning smile, and puts her in the crosshairs of a fingergun and a wink.
"One loud and clear message coming right up, Ms. Ashta."
~ $ ~
<"Tyranado systems online. Requesting Quark Drive uplink.">
<"Uplink confirmed! Systems are nominal here. I'll be throttling the Quark Drive's output so we can hit as hard as we can at launch.">
<"Understood. The Carriax is in position now. Meryl, you have the floor. When they give the word, deploy the Striker.">
<"Yes, sir. Ma'am, Rami -- everything is primed. We can't approach any closer without setting off the perimeter alarms, so from here, it's all up to you.">
<"Hey, don't worry! We got this in the bag!">
<"Ma'am, maybe you could refrain from jinxing us this time around.">
<"What? It's not jinxing, it's confidence! With this team on my side, how could I lose?">
Over the comms, Amies sighs, a technique she's perfected to hide when she's flustered. Sagiri, oblivious, just smiles, leaning back in her seat and crossing arms over her head as she waits and watches the Quark Drive output levels steadily rise. Silence passes. She takes a brief look behind her, to the discomfited-looking young woman behind her, and then looks back towards those output readings.
"You okay with all this, Rami?" Sagiri wonders abruptly. Rami blinks, startling out of her reverie.
"Wh-what?"
"The mission, I mean. All this work we're doing for Cathedra now. I know you've got some misgivings about using the Quark Drive like this. Right?"
Rami lapses into silence. She looks askance from her position behind Sagiri, fixating intently on the way she fidgets her fingers together against her lap.
"Mm," exhales the young woman. "I guess... I guess so. I just -- I'm still not comfortable about using the Quark Drive as a weapon of war..."
Why she's so invested in it, Rami's never said; Sagiri's never asked, either. It's a respect for the young woman's privacy that, thinking about, draws a smile to her lips. She hesitates. And then:
"... But I think using it for situations like this... where we can actually help people... This is exactly the sort of thing it ought to be used for. And I'm not going to sit idly by when there's something I can do for people in need!"
Sagiri grins. Hands flopping down, she grips the Tyranado's controls securely.
"Damn right. Now strap in, rookie dearest -- it's go time!"
"Wait. What? What! Y-you didn't give me any warning at all! I NEED A COUNTDOWN, MA'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"
FWOOM
~ $ ~
<"Launching Striker now! It's en route, ma'am!">
There is a glint in the skies high above this slice of Taribia.
Soaring through the air in the upper limits of the atmosphere, the Tyranado is scarcely a dot hovering over that base below. The sunlight glints off of black and blue alloys as it crests higher and higher. And as it reaches its apex, it stretches out one hand --
And catches a massive white, oblong object SHOOTING through the atmosphere at high speeds, its sheer mass and speed enough to make the Tyranado bodily -lurch- towards the right as it brings that great white weapon to a stop and grips it between both hands.
The Tyranado swings that weapon back. It hangs in the air for a brief moment, as if all time was suspended in amber.
And then it points that weapon down towards the base below.
<"Quark Drive is primed! Targeting arrays have a lock, ma'am! We're good to go!">
Bright jade energy funnels so intensely through the Tyranado that it looks like veins of lifeblood pulsing through the mobile suit's armored frame. Its visored optics alight with bright green life.
The oblong barrel of the Striker hisses open, revealing the charging array, churning with a crackling maelstrom of cerulean-green energies.
Within the cockpit of the Tyranado, Sagiri flashes a triumphant little smile.
<"Bingo. It's go time!">
She pulls the trigger.
In the skies high above this little slice of Taribia, there is a crackle.
And then, in a flash, a tremendous column of broiling energies SHOOTS down from the heavens like the lance of an angry god. The sound of it hitting the base is deafening. The explosion shakes the foundations of, trembling through walls and loosing rock and dirt and dust as it blows through level after level of heavily reinforced defenses until it's penetrated all the way down to the third, subterranean layer.
When it fades, all it leaves is a haze of heat, and a great, molten hole glowing in a series of superheated rings like a welcome sign.
<"That's your cue, Rin -- do that thing you do so well~!"">
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
"Yeah!" declaims RIN MEI NAUJAKAITE, who is one of the assembled members of Special Section 3: perhaps the tallest woman in the group, she doesn't stand out *that* much when seated, grey eyes forwards. Her hands rest on her knees. (Rin is wearing semi-standard office wear with an eye towards the weather: short-sleeved button up blouse with her VTX cross-badge clipped to the pocket, navy-blue leggings, deep-gray skirt. Work boots, though.)
Rin's enthusiasm changes in tenor though not perhaps quality when it becomes clear that, in fact, these are some bad dudes they're looking at. She frowns. Refrain is a drug she has heard of, resident as she was in Area 11. The frown deepens at the rest.
People.
Her eyebrows lift at the lineup of the machines.
"Rancor and Scorn can work in water as well as air," Rin says, before adding, "Drone names. We'll block off the retreat vectors, alright."
And how will they do it?
<s>Jihad</s> PENGUIN MODE.
The Nauja combat team (featuring a Gespenst and two customized units loosely comparable to 'two sets of Tyranado legs' and 'a Tyranado top third with extra wings) were deployed outside of visual range and approached submerged with disposable propulsors, staying in telemetry contact with the Carriax. The voices come through to her from the Carriax, if with some distortion.
She answers only when Sagiri calls on her. "Noot noot," she says, cryptically.
Rancor had carried the burden of a welded-together rack containing eight anti-ship torpedoes, which all fire at this point. At a range of less than four kilometers, the high speed cavitators hurl them into the underwater access points, two of them smashing, in fact, into the dock space and exploding what Rin is guessing were *probably* narco-submarines based on the subsidiary noises she hears through the headset. Might have been tanks for something, and empty, thus air-filled; not sure. They come to her in slower motion.
Rancor does a barrel roll, dropping a half-ton or so of mild structural steel to the ground. It has an air-tag for later recovering. Recycle, folks.
Scorn, being the most hydrodynamic, surges forwards, preceding its approach with a barrage of point-defense lasers, whose lower wavelengths (blue, mostly) allow for exciting transmission through an aquatic medium.
"There we go! Look out for anyone wrangling prisoners," Rin says as the Gespenst II-R module leans forwards, beam rifle held in both hands. "And hurry before they shake it off!!"
<Pose Tracker> Soma Peries has posed.
__ __
| Gaia Sabers Agamemnon-class Carrier 'Aion' |
| Pilot Briefing Room |
|__ Mission Clock: -2h:21m __|
"No mercy."
Soma stands beside the large screen at the front of the briefing room. Said screen displays maps, intel and plans regarding the upcoming raid against the drug cartel. She's just finished outlining the basic plan as established by Cathedra. And now she's giving the collection of pilots-a mix of her own squad and some additional reinforcements-a hard stare.
"These people are the worst of the worst. Drug distribution. Murder. Slavery and human trade. The world doesn't want or need people like this. We don't tolerate people like this. So we will clean them away."
There are nods and general murmurs of agreement from the pilots assigned to Soma's squad. Once they quiet down again, Soma taps on the screen to bring up the next set up plans. She begins to explain, "Now, this is how we're going to do it..."
__ __
|__ Mission Clock: -2m20s __|
The squad of seven GN-Xs and one Advanced GN-X have already departed from the Aion. Crimson motes of light trail out from behind them as they blast through the air, heading towards the cartel base. They're still a little short of mission start, a little short of being detected by the cartel's sensors.
This gives Soma, within the cockpit of her Rosen, a moment to direct her thoughts elsewhere.
You've been uncharacteristically silent about this. I would have thought you'd object to the 'no mercy' part.
... Even I have my limits.
That's surprising. At every turn you've questioned me. Fought me. It gives me a headache.
You're too comfortable with taking lives.
I'm a super soldier. It's what I was born for. I fight against those who are trying to ruin this world. I don't know why you would want to protect people like that.
Have you considered it's not them I'm trying to protect?
Then who?
... Stupid.
Soma frowns in annoyed confusion. But there's no more time to continue the inner dialogue as the mission clock quickly counts down.
__ __
|__ -5s -4s -3s -2s -1s __|
<"Engage!">
The squad of GN-Xs enter into sensor range of the cartel base. At that moment four of them, equipped with long rifles in their hands and pairs of huge missiles on their back, spread out from the others. Once clear of the formation, they adjust their facing and then fire those missiles. The large guided weapons detach and blast free, rushing ahead of the GN-Xs. Gunfire from the base defences manage to shoot down two of the eight missiles, but the remaining six slam down into the ground at various points some distance around the complex.
And they don't explode.
Instead, ports in their fuselage slide open and from within a concentrated spray of crimson particles start to blast outwards into the air. The red GN particles rapidly spread across the entire area, causing significant levels of interference for both communications and sensors. Cut off the enemy's ability to coordinate with each other, sow confusion, and make ranged engagements more difficult for them.
Meanwhile, the Gaia Sabers and their allies are free from the affects of this thanks to the support of the GN-Xs being able to use their own particles to pierce through the interference. A clarity which is extended to their VTX and Cathedra allies. It'll only be a short time before the particle concentration disperses. But until then...
<"Team two, target the fixed defences. Everyone else, advance!">
The GN-Xs that fired the jamming missiles raise the long rifles in their hands. They begin to fire off large blasts of crimson beams towards the base defences. Meanwhile, the other GN-Xs continue to rush forwards, rapidly closing the distance towards the base. In her Advanced GN-X at the head of the charge, Soma narrows her eyes as the details of the cartel mobile weapons start to take shape on her screen. Obsolete models. They'll be no match for her Rosen. And certainly not for her.
While the long range team of GN-Xs work on removing those exterior enemies that survived the VTX's initial assault, the other team sweeps its way in. The GN-Xs rush down towards the large crater. There they split up, taking multiple of the improvised entrances into the interior. They land on the floor and begin to walk through the facility. Rapid fire GN Rifles starting picking off hostile machines as they are encountered with those bolts of GN particle beams. All the while tanking shots against the shields on their arms. Those that manage to get close find crimson beam sabers slashing through them.
Soma's Advanced GN-X is the only one which doesn't land and walk. It continues to fly through the tunnels, floating just a few feet off the ground as its pilot takes advantage of the fine control of the physics defying GN Drive Taus and her own skill in manipulating her machine. She also does not have her rifle out, instead holding the newly (and somewhat hurriedly) designed prototype GN Lance. Seeing the melee weapon, one of the cartel pilots gets bold and steps out of cover to try and gun Soma down. She doesn't block the shots like her fellows, instead simply gliding around to weave her way through them. She then raises the lance in her head and shows the cartel member his mistake as a bolt of red blasts out of an emitter embedded in the side of the long weapon and pierces through his machine. The cartel member has a look of surprise on his face as the blast of his unit exploding engulfs him.
Having dealt with that one, Soma reports, <"Zone F cleared. Advancing to zone G. All units report in."> More reports filter in over the radio as they report their progress through the cartel base. So far it seems to be going well. It's nice to have a mission proceed smoothly.
<Pose Tracker> Enba Rezza has posed.
Naturally, Enba Rezza wasn't at the Cathedra briefing. They don't have any affiliations with Cathedra or NUNE directly, beyond certain agreements that happen to cover them. The intel they received suggested that they might want to help with this mission...
And so the Uzume is here. An Izumo-class battleship, the Uzume is an imposing craft with hidden weaponry across her. Her mobile suit capacity is significant, and so are her armanents. More to the point, she's blue!
On the narrow bridge, the green-haired and androgynous Capain Enba Rezza sits in their chair, regarding the viewscreen. Down at the helm is Licia Chovan, her Newtype senses on the alert. Down with her at Operations is Gara Merrs, the oldest on the bridge, waiting patiently for the battle to begin in earnest. Up at the tactical station is Madora Uehara, excited to see his weapons in action--and at comms is Crosi Teras, sharp-eyed with a dour expression.
Teras announces, at a signal fromm Rezza, "Mobile suits are clear to deploy!"
"Nadesico," Teras says, "This is the Uzume. Is everything in place?"
Over the general frequency Rezza's voice announces, "Good day, everyone. It's a great day to take out a human trafficking operation, isn't it?"
But their eyes linger on that explosion, all the same; Uehara's eyes grow as wide as dinner saucers. "What kind of weapon is THAT?" he asks on the bridge, and one might expect he's afraid, but he isn't. He's overjoyed.
"Keep it together," Captain Rezza instructs. "Chovan, make sure that weapon doesn't get near us."
"Aye-aye, Cap'n," Licia says. Enba lifts an eyebrow at 'Cap'n.'
"Be careful out there," Rezza advises Rena and Anita. "They... probably won't turn hostile at help."
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Terminal's reach is wide. And, below the waters of the sea...
"All systems green," Ruri reports to the XO, Jun Aoi, and their fellow ship the Uzume. "Our links to the Svipul and Gaia Gear are holding steady."
"I feel like a fish!" Minato exclaims, from where she's helming the Nadesico beside young Ruri. All the Nadesico's viewscreens, right now, are water, water, water.
"I'm feeling like sunk costs," Mr. Prospector bemoans, sitting behind Jun on the upper deck.
"Don't complain," Jun lambasts him. "These may not be Jovians, but their hearts are just as black. Ruri, are you ready?"
"Yes," Ruri confirms, their own personal technological marvel of a human being. And so she radios into the ground team, with -- "Come in, Gaia Gear," as her face appears in a little viewscreen to the corner of Rena's cockpit. "I'll be using you as a relay to access the facility. Thank you for your cooperation."
It's all been set up in advance, of course. She can't get to the low-tech facility at range so easily, which is why she's hitching a metaphorical ride. While remaining seated safely in the Nadesico! She pauses, and adds: "Hello," to Rena's passenger, the mysterious Al. "My name is Ruri Hoshino. I'm the Nadesico's Systems Operator." She's also fifteen! And empathically accessing the Gaia Gear's systems in a way which definitely isn't regulation standard! But never mind all that, she has a job to do --
She focuses through that relay connection, in order to finally reach that well-protected facility; the interference Soma spreads impacts her, too, but it's just one more barrier to surmount. Once she has an opening -- through a physical landline -- she's able to begin interrupting the systems of the facility, a little at a time.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Rami isn't exactly wrong, but not precisely right either. Leina is tense, because she takes operations like this seriously, because she can't pretend to be casual when lives are in the hands of people like this. But Sagiri's casual exuberance is familiar to her, and with familiarity brings comfort. However, it's the type of familiarity that causes her eyes to close, and to pinch her nose.
Congratulations Leina!
Sagiri boils down the strategy to the blitz, and Leina responds with a hand to her hip, and a grin, "Exactly right." See? She surpassed her expectations, she didn't have to draw her a single diagram with 3x the orange speed lines. You've set a higher bar than her brother and don't have to be chewed out.
Congratulations Sagiri!
"Looking forward to seeing it."
-=-=-
In the cockpit, she was calmer, because she had a sense - a feeling, that this would work, that Sagiri and Rin would pull it off. And as 'Go time' happens, Leina watches on her instruments the Tyranado make it's descent, counting down the seconds on the instruments.
"<Extend countdown for the drop time by two seconds.>" Leina spoke, "<Ma'am?>" One of her squadmates asked, as she notes, "<Just trust me on this one.>" They didn't question beyond that, these men had learned to trust her 'feelings' like this.
When the time came, they released from the bottom of their base jabbers, the atmosphere rushing around them, the view of the ground from above as the tiny speck that was the Tyranado now closed in and- a cerulean-green crackle starts.
Leina hits a button to put up the glare shield on her helmet early, as the energy broils from the heavens to consume the base, the explosion surging through the atmosphere to rock the four mobile suits falling, causing a moment of turbulence as their suits rocked angrily.
"<Ho-HOLY-! DAMN!>" One of them remarked, then another whooped over the comms. "<Maybe I should have gone with three seconds.>" Leina commented distantly, as she activated her thrusters to slow the Beguir down.
"<I think they saw that one from Khanka. Great work, VTX - time to finish what you've started.>"
It's all up to Rin, to take care of business and keep everyone alive until they can link up.
-=-=-
"Time's up. Back inside." The mercenary makes a motion to the guy taking a smoke break, as the other guy groused, "What's the rush? Already met our quota today. It's just packaging it up for our delivery tomorrow."
"Don't argue. The rules are how we stay alive here. You give us enough headaches with your need to come outside every time you get a goddamn craving." The other man couldn't help but keep complaining, "Can't help it. People aren't meant to live underground."
"Some of us manage it just fine-" A noise above gets his attention, "What?"
"You hear something?"
"No?"
"I swear man- it's-" A bright flash of cerluean-green, "-Shit."
A sudden massive detonation of the base's main compound sends both of them flying away from ground zero, showering them both in concrete dust. One of the men hacked up white dust as it covered him and rolled over in time to see a molten crater a few hundred meters away.
And then a black beguir, accented with orange descend, to stomp on a camouflaged Zectar with a muffled metallic crunch, it's beam rifle swinging up to fire at another, before the Beguir steps off, it's shield abruptly swung like a bludgeon beneath battering it to topple it off it's perch downhill, rolling towards another frame.
Getting a bead on it the pilot fires just before the other Zectar can dodge, as both machines erupt in a fireball. Three more Beguirs in purple and pink landed soon after, as dusk lights up in the fire of more Zectar beam machine guns and streams of Minovsky particle fire.
"Rather than announcing the obvious~? First ten who surrender get the chance to cooperate for special privileges." She announced over the speaker. "Very limited time offer."
The mercenary weighed their chances of getting away on foot after being hit by a blast wave like that, looked at the other man who was still struggling on the ground to roll over, then both of them raised their arms overhead from their prone position on the ground.
"So... know what I'm angling for..." He chuckles weakly, still suffering from the shockwave impact to his gut. "... you and your goddamn smoke breaks..."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
The Gaia Gear Alpha Custom rockets away from the Uzume. The white Mobile Suit has seen some changes from its earlier days -- from when it was rescued from Denver Colony. It has some more dark blue and dark teal lining on it, in places. Some of the replaced armor plating, after the damage at the North Pole, has been streamlined.
It soars out in waverider mode; streaks of deep sea-blue particles trail after from its Psychoframe. Though, now, a few pale green particles are seen here and there.
Inside the cockpit, Rena exhales.
"We're headed out, Uzume. We'll be careful," she says. Then: "Al, can you keep an eye on the battlefield for me? I'm going to light up some of those Savage II's--"
And a smile, when Ruri speaks. "And get us close enough."
The Gaia Gear Alpha's 360-degree display lights up. Then, half-a-dozen Savage II's are lit up with targeting reticules -- before missiles explode from its wing hardpoints, and go crashing down for them.
"You with me, Annie?"
<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.
Neo-America's contribution to the NUNE crackdown is Senator Luckwright's 'wunder-wanzer' that has still not hit the market, the MFW-1 Myrmecia. Despite some of her political talk about the constructive relationship between the executive and corporate authorities, neither the unit nor its anonymous pilot have appeared to line up with either formation in preparation, though the teams have been informed that it will be inserting vertically with the Dominicus attack wing.
It appears in sensor range only after the Tyranado has landed to crack the facility's shell open. It appears far above, a fireball cutting down through the atmosphere: direct insertion launched from the Orbital Ring. It lands, sloughing off scalding steam, the shape of its frame still visible from the glowing heat of atmospheric entry. Smaller than the mobile suits guarding the crushed upper levels, no larger than the wanzers patrolling the underground level, covered by a flimsy-looking mail rather than conventional armor.
<"This is Myrmidon on contract with the Gaia Sabers,"> the pilot transmits on the operation's shared frequency, filtered through an artificial synthesized voice. <"Orbital insertion successful. Looking for captives."> First priority is to secure any victims of trafficking held here. Within the cockpit, Luanova Luckwright draws a heavy breath and focuses herself. Mission mode. Emotional response simplified. It will take a moment for patrolling wanzers to react and cover the breach point. She feels the shape of the world beneath the unit's feet.
She finds her quarry quickly. The cell has taken little care to position and secure their captives: just pre-built cages, hovered in and shoved into the corners of large rooms where they could be monitored easily. The Myrmecia descends into the underground level and puts its hand upon one of the reinforced shelter walls, and Lua mentally draws the outline of a great door to pass through. Then her unit digs its hands straight through the wall and rips that door out, as if it had been traced out by a penetrating laser cutter, setting it to the side to stomp into the room where the cell's victims have been caged, alerting both the guards and the caged people both. Two Zectars and two Savage IIs have already been posted at different ends of the prison as guards, and they get off a burst of machinegun fire, the impacts visibly rolling down the Myrmecia's recapitulative mail. Then, in sequence, the walls and floor around each unit shudder and spike inward, impaling one Savage through the cockpit, falling like a guillotine through the other, spearing through the arms and legs of the Zectars. <"I'm contracted with the NUNE. We're getting you out of here. Stay close behind me."> The bars of the cages, too, tremble and then tear themselves open and fall apart, and the prisoners, weak and fearful, quickly flee out, some of them looking for routes in a panic, most ending up crowded around the legs of the Myrmecia. There are guards on foot, too, and a few of them try to turn their weapons on the prisoners. But within a radius around the Myrmecia, the air seems to grow thick, and force slows. Bullets hang in the air and then fall, bereft of momentum, before they can reach the crowd.Those grounded guards who do not flee are soon swallowed by the earth.
<"Prison secured. I need a transport out for these people."> Her voice is flat and even. There will be time to process what's been done to these people later. Keep it simple and actionable.
<Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
"I guess it all seems straightforward enough..." Flay mutters to herself, committing all the details Soma's earlier mission briefing to memory. She zips up her customized purple and white piloting suit within her pilot quarters, and fidgets around with the helmet. While Flay has really seen actual battle before... it's her first 'real' mission piloting for the Gaia Sabers.
And well... before, the details of a mission like this would be unbelievable to her. It simply never happened in her world, as far as she was concerned. But that's why it's a cross-NUNE joint mission, right? The intervention of the Gaia Sabers' power is necessary to make sure no one even thinks of doing such horrible acts again... at least that's what she's telling herself.
As the briefing aboard the Carriax comes to a close, pilots waiting in their machines to launch, Flay fidgets with the Strike's controls. "Give me the Aile Striker!" She demands, of the Aion's CIC team. "As soon as they break those defenses, I'm going in. Got that?"
As soon as they're given the clear to launch, Sagiri and Rin performing their respective breakthrough tasks, the Aile Striker attaches to the Strike E's chassis, folding in, Variable Phase Shift Armour lighting them a bright red. "Flay Allster... Strike, launching!!" The wings fold back out - taking the brunt of the Strike's acceleration towards the aquatic Zeon base.
"...? What's Orb doing here?" Flay asks, keeping her own transmission to the Gaia Sabers, when the Uzume comes in - it's clear as day it's one of their ships, at least to her. "Well, as long as they don't get in our way, I guess it's fine." She squints, just focusing on their objective. Their real enemy after all, are these human traffickers.
The resistance of Zectars require some more careful maneuvering, or perhaps timely shield usage, thanks to their beam guns... but the physical rounds of the Savage Mk. II and Prodoros defenses all but bounce off Phase Shift Armour. "I'm safe..." She whispers, before detaching the hip-mounted short beam rifles and aiming for the Savages ahead, descending into the base. 'No mercy', Lieutenant Peries said...
The lab below... unmarred by the wave of particle interference, is a pretty horrid thing to see, the stark reality that such operations really do exist even in the 'golden age' that NUNE is supposed to represent.
But putting a stop to it is why they're here, so it's not like she can run away this time. The Aile Striker pack folds down, and reveals a pair of beam sabers... which carefully carve at the metal of the human cages. It's a girl, no older than 12... at least by estimation. Mostly non-responsive, save for crying.
"It'll be all right," Flay assures the girl through the Strike's speakers, in the most comforting voice she can muster. She normally doesn't have the patience for children in the slightest, but... this is the right thing to do, isn't it?
"It'll be all right, because..." She hesitates, though it might be hard to tell through the speakers. "...I'll protect you." The Strike's hand extends, as if to coax the terrified girl towards the Cathedra team acting as rescuers... and using the mobile suit's body to create cover against revenge fire.
<Pose Tracker> Chienne Argent has posed.
Chienne Argent had, let's say, a limited amount of attention to give this operation at first.
You'd think that someone with her background would be a real go-getter when it came to rescuing the trafficed, the kidnapped, and the otherwise experimented on, but she's never really shown much of an interest in it. She freed herself, along with her brothers; they all managed it together, but they managed it together by themselves. She doesn't actually have much patience with those who don't even try to escape - even if they kill themselves trying. (Chien has more, because he likes being looked up to.)
But she has been pretty antsy about being able to use her new toys. And that's why *she's* on the operation.
---
"You know we could take out the top levels faster than the VTX lackey," Chienne grumbles, into the communicator - only for her brothers to hear; she doesn't want everybody listening in on their chats. "And that'd *really* show them who not to mess with, if they want to send a message."
"Probably," Chiot agrees, "but why bother? Let them blame her."
"I *want* them to blame *me*," Chienne snaps, which may explain a lot right then. It gets a rumbling laugh from Chien.
The three of them are in what appear to be jets, deploying from the Aion. All primarily a silvery-purple, they each have highlights in a different colour; one a darker blue, one a pale buff colour, and one a slightly yellowish-green.
They keep a good formation as they approach, not drawing attention to themselves. It's not until the great beam from the sky blasts down that Chienne starts to get anxious about being left behind (though she would not put it that way) and begins to accelerate, pulling ahead slightly and forcing the other two to catch up.
"All right, showtime. I guess the VTX lackey isn't all bad," Chienne grudgingly admits. "You two ready?"
"Ready!"
"Ready!"
Everybody knows about Getter Robo. The original Getter Robo is - was - a defender of Earth until it destroyed itself in New Yark City, causing a total ban on Getter Ray research and technology. NISAR has made machines since, of course, but it's the first one that people remember.
Getter Robo is a symbol. Of protection, maybe originally - but of violence, and destruction.
Getter Robo is also a weapon, and the Gaia Sabers do not like having weapons outside their control. And weapons can be reforged.
Three jets come over the horizon in a dangerously tight formation and deceptively fast, a straight line that looks no good for control or combat. Not identical jets, either; they all have the basic jet shape, but one has particularly outswept wings, another an almost shuttle-like shape, the middle somewhere between. But what really draws attention is when they pull up, vertically - and start to change.
"CHANGE! ARGENT GETTER-1!"
The planes shift shape, the polymorphic metal adjusting - reconfiguring - even growing as the planes, or what the planes are becoming, connect into each other. The blue-and-violet starts to dominate, growing silver and red accents as the unmistakable form of Getter Robo begins to take shape.
Somewhere in the cockpit, Chienne grins so broadly her face hurts, baring teeth. "OK, you poor fuckers," she growls, as the 'wings' spread and the fins on the side of the head pop out. Getter Robo - Argent Getter - dives toward what remains of the base, silver plasma building up along it as it flies, a visible shroud around it...
...which discharges, a veritable lightning storm toward the defenders of the facility - on foot, in units thoroughly inadequate to stand up to it, or through powerful systems, she doesn't much care. If the Tyranado punched a hole, Chienne rips it wider, the enormous plasmatic discharge nearly as bright as the original blast as superheated plasma and electricity dances along exposed surfaces with an eye to causing maximum damage in a minimum amount of time.
(There is a very good reason Getter-3 didn't follow Rin in. Nobody wants that kind of damage down there... not while there's someone to save, because very shortly, there wouldn't be.)
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
News of a strike against a human trafficking operation had reached Terminal's ears. They could trust it to NUNE's chosen raid team... but surely they wouldn't object to a helping hand, right? Right.
Besides - they're an extra layer of security for the captured souls. Just in case.
Int he hangar of the Uzume, Anita settles into the cockpit of the XVF-25I Svipul. She flexes her fingers, rolls her neck, and shifts her shoulders to limber herself up. It's a waiting game. The strike team already has a plan in mind, it seems, so there's no reason not to wait for -
Boom. An explosion tears through the base, ripping a great hole through several layers and revealing what lies underneath.
Ah, there's the signal.
"Anita Rosetta, heading out!" Anita announces, as Teras gives clearance to deploy. The Svipul soars out of the hangar - but rather than diving right into the fray, hovers over the battlefield in GERWALK mode.
"My eyes are at the ready. Don't worry, just do what you gotta do." Anita announces.
She's not the type to charge in like a big hero. There are others better suited to that. Nah, she's comfortable up here, right where she is.
From above, beam cannon fire lances down. A series of Prodoros moving to pursue the strike team into the compound find themselves picked off one by one - arms and legs blown away with pinpoint precision. No one's going to interrupt them - not while Anita's eyes are open.
And as two Zectars charge through, trying to flank the Gaia Gear Alpha... two more beams shoot out, sending them back down to earth.
"I'm with you." Anita confirms to Rena - and quickly taps out and sends over a wink and heart emoticon for her alone.
...It might be picked up by her digital passengers, though.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
'... circle back to VTX Corporate Philosophy #1. 'People are treasures!
Lucine, adjusting the faux fur-lined jacket over her Nergal flight suit, blinks up at the statement. "... I'm not sure this contributes to the briefing..." she murmurs, mostly to herself.
The reason for it is outlined, and Lucine's lips straighten in grim understanding.
Being among the number gathered here is foremost due to the task at hand: dealing punishment on those who deal in human trafficking, which makes it personal for her. The second reason is that Lucine owes Leina a huge debt, after the latter managed to deescalate a situation with aging prototype Psycommu weaponry that nearly ended in disaster. ... The third reason is simple in a way Lucine'd hate to admit aloud: she hasn't had an earnest dogfight in a while, outside of some spirited training. The Dianthus has gone through some upgrades, and its pilot itches for a fight where there's no reason to pause and think.
Underneath it all, Lucine's always been her cowboy father's daughter.
Flash forward to the attack...
.... and the magenta and black Dianthus is flying in, seemingly on its lonesome, with little to disguise it against the sky. Distraction is the name of the game, with Lucine choosing to attack from another direction from the main force.
Over a track of Sheryl Nome's spirited singing, the voices demanding her identity and for her to turn away. Lucine simply leans in, urging the Dianthus to go to its full speed. She's likely not the first lone attacker to have tried to deliver justice, but in this case, the ruse will likely be short-lived, if it even had a chance to blossom at all.
Bending in low to deliver an admittedly nonoffensive barrage of bullets to the top area, the Dianthus rustles the hornets' nest just enough to have a few ready units launch to chase her, something Lucine is more than happy to oblige. The Dianthus is poor on land, and impossible on the water. Otherwise, she'd be with the Nadesico. The best contribution Lucine can make is in a dogfight in the air, using speed and offense to divide a portion of the forces below as the three squads do the more important work.
Patching into the Nadesico's screen, Lucine's calm face appears on a small part of it. < "Success. I've got several on my tail. Not as many as I wish there would be, but... perhaps I was being too lenient in my initial sweep." > She pauses, momentairely distracted by another unit popping up in her line of escape. A sharp dip around corrects this potential problem, and she continues. < ".... Please give them hell down there." > A nearby blast of gunfire lights the side of Lucine's face, as she slightly smiles. < "... not that you need any further urging from me." >
Only when that debriefing is done does Lucine deign to quietly speak over her comm, as if to further intice the hounds attempting to nip at her hypothetical heels.
< "... The only way you'll catch me is if I *let* you." >
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
A white box is securely strapped to the back of Rena's cockpit chair, which has had to have some minor reinforcement so it doesn't throw off all the motors. Several cables are attached to ports, thick fiber-optic lines that look more like plumbing hoses, which run down into access panels on the floor.
Al has a few purposes for this excursion. Remote control of mecha requires a whole host of handshakes he hasn't optimized for yet, so on some level he's just starting at the hard end with that; Rena's custom-built operating systems present a challenge he'll have to meet and exceed. Another is perhaps simply to return to something more familiar than processing strategic data; in the end, he is a fire control system and finds a certain preference in battlefield conditions.
And third...
"Oh, it tingles," Al says, a sort of neutrally professional voice by preference. "Confirming communications link with Nadesico, Captain," Al asides for Rena, and then toward Ruri, favors, "Good afternoon, Miss Hoshino. Communications rate stable. Interference in this band is currently within tolerances. My callsign is Al, if you require a name for reference."
The data on the field quickly colates, a scan wave running across the whole screen and briefly hitting each unit and then tagging with a designation, friend or foe or Uncertain, designation number, distance.
"Initial calculations complete. This got exciting quickly, wouldn't you say?"
<Pose Tracker> Lilium Valerie has posed.
A dark cockpit. All systems offline.
It's been a few hours since the briefing, hasn't it? Lilium checks the one active monitor in her cockpit, reading it aloud to herself--"Mission timer... T minus Three minutes."
"Two minutes, fifty nine."
"Two minutes, fifty eight..."
"Whatever, A few minutes... oh, this is time for startup, though."
She grips her control sticks firmly. Her monitors flare to life--a roar filling the cockpit as the remote-start system activates her GN-X's drive. It decouples, and Lilium takes a cautious step forward. Moving to the Aion's catapult.
It's not the first time she's been in a GN-X, or even her first actual deployment... but the last time she saw real combat, she was behind the wheel of a Wanzer. In a trench, almost a mile away from combat. Not... mobilising into a high-profile raid in a top of the line mobile weapon. Well. Top of three years ago's line...
Taking a deep breath, she opens a communications line--"Second Lieutenant Lilium Valerie! GN-X! I'm... heading out!"
Two minutes of open-air flight in a straight line, and she's closing on the plume of smoke that's by now rising across the horizon.
Entering visual range. Mark targets. Call targets. Remember your training. Remember your role.
Lilium swings her long rifle around as she decelerates in the air, taking potshots at Savages and Zectars. Calling out positions to the other Gaia Sabers units, the ones she thought had better shots.
Don't think about anything, just keep doing your job. We're here to do a good thing.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The calls over the comms are instant, as Soma's Advanced GN-X spreads it's crimson payload of particles, and within moments, they are silenced, quickly the terrorists try to reply.
"-to Laser Links! Muster a response!"
"There's so many of them! The hell!? Where'd they all come from."
Their targeting however is instantly just off, auto locks failing, sensors misjudging, nothing is where it's supposed to be, chaos reigns among their ranks, and it's taken advantage of instantly.
They're further daunted by the fact they now have visuals on a warship, at least, one warship, because the other is submerged deep. The Uzume class in the sky.
"-screwed! Damnit! Damnit!"
"KEEP IT TOGETHER!"
Lucine does rustle that hornets nest in that moment, with strafing fire from the Dianthus, over the track of Sheryl Nome are Zectars forced to swivel from their engagements to try and take them out, to no avail in the GN particle storm. More and more roll out of cover to try and take pot shots...
Exposing themselves.
"-so fast!"
"FUCK!"
And as they do, Lilium's GN-X takes them out one at a time, the disoriented Zectars and Savages falling to her long rifle, in a one two combination as they fall, one by one.
Savages move out from cover, only to be peppered by missiles from the Gaia Gear, there's not even screams over the comms, after all - they don't laser link with their enemies. Even as AL facilitates Ruri reaching a landline. Even as the workers in the lab hurriedly start fires to try and take out the evidence, they have no idea that Ruri and AL are already in there.
File after file downloading, as the computer replies back to both of them.
hello=take care of me?
It is in fact, a call of distress, because the gasoline has already touched it's hard drive, and what comes after is inevitable, but what's inside? She can save.
Poor Fuckers indeed, because Argent Getter 1 discharges a lightning storm through the facility suddenly arcing down through the labs to decimate terrorists that haven't even managed to get into their mobile suits yet, it takes out lab personnel who are trying to destroy evidence.
Getter knows little of mercy, when there is a fight to be won.
Above, Anita swoops down, backing up the Gaia Gear as Beam Cannon Fire rips through Prodoros that are trying to lean out around the corner to start some guerilla warfare - well that was the plan, it is no longer the plan, because Anita takes out 1-2-3 that were aiming at the Gaia Gear.
(The Wink and Heart is picked up by them. Also a baffled little computer that's a little on fire (A lot on fire) down below who suddenly feels relieved.)
- ) <3=im saved?
Down below, Rin declares, 'YEAH' as the other side of the raid begins, her drones entering PENGUIN MODE as they insert onto the dock, the combat team becomes the vanguard, and with a noot noot... the torpedoes fire, smashing into the dock, causing instant pandemonium between the explosions up top and down below - steel falls, as the Dock splits open, even as the Prodoros present try to move into action.
Beam fire strikes the water ineffectively, as Rancor and Scorn's actions drop some of the structure on top of one of them, burying it beneath twenty year old scrap metal.
The Myrmecia instead penetrates deep into the facility, and what she finds are people in various states, some of them don't look all there. Others are babbling - still more are begging...
"Please, get us out! You have to get us out!"
It is a true tragedy that some don't even realize rescue has arrived, not even as more beam machine guns fire towards the Myrmecia. As that hail of fire comes, so too does the Strike Gundam in a different part of the room, with Flay maneuvering past Zectars right into that area with the crying twelve year old.
For a while, she doesn't seem to respond, but then she looks up to the Strike. Perhaps it is the image of a Gundam, but- her sobbing fades somewhat, as she looks at it with tear stained eyes, that might as well have been a reflection of Flay's own. "Th-Thank you. Is that... a Gundam?" The girl asks, hesitantly, before adding, "You must be... very brave."
<Pose Tracker> Rudi Pixyzalto has posed.
And just as the chaos feels as if it might be tamed...
The Dreadful Visitor - SRWT OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT3-ovbYe9E
"How nice to see you all again. It is I,"
They literally had not been there mere seconds ago. Not on anyone's short range sensors. And now they are, just hovering over the battlefield, two mobile armors which look like the far too thin torso of an avian humanoid, resting gracelessly on the bulk of a winged cannon. Like the world's fattest hummingbirds. They're surrounded by a trio of smaller, but just as bulky armors, sporting two cleaver like arms.
On all of their screens, despite the GN particle saturation making that seem like it ought to be impossible, the image of a flamboyant young woman with short styled red hair, golden pupils, large dangly earrings and a red ascot that would stretch any corporation's business formal dress code to the limits of casual, atop a white blouse and lavender coat.
https:'static.tvtropes.orgpmwikipubimagesrudi.png
"Rudi Pixyzalto! It just doesn't seem right that VTX Union's Special Section 3 would get the opportunity to demonstrate their products in the field without some healthy competition." She cheerfully reports, "So I have come to provide it. For today's event, our Company would like to welcome the VTX Union's former accounting chief, Mister Siegel Seygo."
A middle aged man with black, greying hair that meets in the middle like a subtle venus fly trap like mohawk appears, a perpetual scowl scowl and the stubble of a moustache appears on screen in a dark suit and tie. He doesn't have much more presence than that of a grumpy set in your ways Salaryman.
https:'static.tvtropes.orgpmwikipubimagessiegel.png
"That's my cue eh? As my HR Rep noted, I'm Siegel Seygo, formerly of the VTX Union. And today I'd here to denounce their business practices. I've prepared a statement to read."
"A statement?" Rudi asks looking thoroughly bewildered, "That's not the purpose of your deployment-" The man begins anyway, and yes he's holding up flashcards. "Once, I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into the success of the VTX Union. I earned my position, unlike the president's pet team, here today only because they have pretty faces going for them. And do you know what thanks I got for my loyalty to the bottom line?" "Mister Seygo." Rudi tries to get a word in but he bulldozes over her, "Dismissed! For accusations of harassment by my thankless subordinates. Even though I found concrete evidence of a conspiracy to divert funds off the books to-"
Abruptly, he stops talking, or at least there's no sound, his mouth is still moving. Instead Rudi speaks just as calmly, not as if she were upbraiding an unruly employee. "Mister Seygo, while we at the Company understand and sympathize with your desire to vent your frustrations with the VTX Union, I believe we agreed on our preferred method of how you accomplish that." There's just this chipper smile, as suddenly he starts being audible again, seemingly not realizing that his comms got cut, "You're damn right about that. All I have to do is give everyone a demonstration of force, right?"
"That would be exemplary." Rudi maintains that smile as she addresses everyone, "The Company will be taking over from here. If you don't wish to take part, then please disarm and depart from the battlefield, where our recruiters will be ready and waiting to make each and every one of you enticing offers."
The lead mobile armor, begins to swoop down past the trio of green ones, the 'wings' on the upper torso arms folding down, as each of them begins firing an array of particle blasts from each 'feathered' cannon, saturating the battlefield with prismatic particle fire that's difficult to analyze - but it's certainly not Minovsky weaponry.
"The pilot of our state of the art new model, the E-Phas, has worked very hard to make today's demonstration possible. While he hasn't earned his pilot's license yet, he's put in a grand total of..." Rudi holds up three fingers as she cheerfully announces, "... three hours in the sims!"
KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto has deployed in E-Phas. KTS: Rudi_Pixyzalto has deployed as a Boss for 13 opponents.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The firefight below doesn't stop as Leina's alarm over the interlopers grows, and there's something wary in her tone. "<Dominicus Corps will continue to secure our initial objectives. All other forces - engage the E-Phas with caution. Myrmecia - as we're facing an enemy of unknown capabilities, link up with Special Section 3 for this engagement.>"
But then she adds something else, "<... Also wow - you're like a walking talking case study in workplace sexual harassment. I'd say you should be ashamed of yourself, but I don't think you have any.>"
The E-Phas, sending down a hail of bolts, but the black Beguir has already leapt down below, into the crater Sagiri made, to vanish into the depths of the complex.
Abruptly, the front of the E-Phas charges up, with an eerie prismatic glow, before it starts firing 1-2-3, punching sequentially down at the facility through the ground into the water, carving great holes down in ways that threaten all below, the ground not melting more like disintegrating matter.
Before swinging up, firing one last long, prismatic blast towards the battleship Uzume, trying to carve out a section of it's Port Side.
"You've got some nerve, thinking that you can mouth off to me when the Company's given me a weapon like this!"
KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Sagiri Sakurai, Lucine Azul, Anita Rosetta, Rena Lancaster, Lilium Valerie, and Soma Peries with Corporate Burnout! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Rin Naujakaite, Enba Rezza, Ruri Hoshino, Flay Allster, Chienne Argent, and Luanova Luckwright with Disciplinary Action! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto's I'm Afraid That's Not An Option activates Alert and Strike! KTS: Lucine Azul engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout! KTS: Lucine Azul successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout, taking 3696 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta engages block against Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout! KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Anita Rosetta successfully blocks Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout, taking 1472 damage! KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza fails to engage evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action! KTS: Best Defense! Enba Rezza successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action, taking 3675 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto repulses Enba Rezza, preventing their from Charging the next attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto rattles Enba Rezza, making their next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: [Lucky] Sagiri Sakurai's The Natural activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout, taking 3612 damage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite fails to engage charge against Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action! KTS: Rin Naujakaite moderately reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action, taking 4410 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto repulses Rin Naujakaite, preventing her from Charging the next attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto rattles Rin Naujakaite, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Flay Allster has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Flay Allster engages block against Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action! KTS: Flay Allster successfully blocks Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action, taking 2695 damage! KTS: Chienne Argent fails to engage Charge against Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action! KTS: Chienne Argent moderately reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action, taking 4410 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto repulses Chienne Argent, preventing her from Charging the next attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto rattles Chienne Argent, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Luanova Luckwright has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster engages block against Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout! KTS: Rena Lancaster moderately blocks Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout, taking 2604 damage! KTS: Lilium Valerie engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout! KTS: Best Defense! Lilium Valerie moderately reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout, taking 0 damage! KTS: Luanova Luckwright engages charge against Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action! KTS: Best Defense! Luanova Luckwright successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action, taking 3675 damage! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Chienne Argent has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Soma Peries fails to engage evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout! KTS: Soma Peries's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Soma Peries successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Corporate Burnout, taking 2144 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to engage evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action! KTS: Ruri Hoshino's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Ruri Hoshino successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action, taking 3120 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto repulses Ruri Hoshino, preventing her from Charging the next attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto rattles Ruri Hoshino, making her next maneuvers more difficult. Haro teleports in.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
The heart and wink emoticon shoots across the Gaia Gear's console. Rena's cheeks flush red, then, and she clears her throat.
But she sends back a heart of her own.
Then, Rena glances once in the Strike's direction. A Gundam, she thinks; one of the ones from the first war, like that was with the Archangel. But now...
Clearly, the Gaia Sabers also deployed, with Cathedra's forces. She exhales once, then she looks back at the Savage II's.
"You okay back there, Al?" Rena asks, with a glance over her shoulder. She can't sense him -- a strange sensation for a Newtype. "And yeah... yeah, I would. Seems like everyone's come to the party."
Rena starts to relax a little, though. They clearly overwhelmed the people here. And that--
She gets a sense of a presence, a moment before there is one. It doesn't make her less surprised -- it makes her surprised a fraction of a second early. She gasps, as the strange Mobile Armors appear. And, with them, a new presence on their monitors.
"Your Company!?" Rena says. "Wait--who the hell are you!? And you need to identify that company! And this is--"
She frowns, as the middle-aged salaryman also appears. And starts talking. Her eyebrow twitches.
"You sound like a creep!" she says. "And I'm not a corporate employee. And, furthermore--" She huffs. "Now you're attacking people in a Mobile Armor, after three hours in the simulator, and that's really stupid!"
The E-Phas fires particle blasts for them. The Gaia Gear Alpha suddenly jerks to a stop in midair, legs unfurling and arms coming out. They cross even before the head pops out -- and the crossed arms intercept a shot. The particle beam explodes into a wavering crackle over the Gaia Gear's I-Frame.
Rena frowns. "Annie, let's show this guy a thing or two!" she says, as the Gaia Gear Alpha draws free its beam rifle. She takes aim, drawing a bead on the E-Phas.
Then, two lances of bright golden light erupt from the barrel, and hurtle up for the Mobile Armor.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto engages guard against Rena Lancaster's Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto poorly guards Rena Lancaster's Beam Rifle Shot, taking 3780 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Enba Rezza has posed.
All systems green. The same is true for the Uzume. As the firefight below intensifies, the Uzume--apparently of Orb--continues to hover in place, primarily here for support for the operation rather than engaging herself. Until... something appears on their screens.
And the mobile weapons appear in the air.
"Why didn't we see that coming?" Rezza says, and Merrs answers, "They just weren't there. Teleportation, or a cloaking device?" She pauses. "I'll investigate."
Then they listen. "What a tool," the XO comments just in their own cockpit--the GN particles make it hard to communicate with everyone else anyway.
"I'm more concerned abou Pixyzalto," Enba comments. And then--suddenly--
BOOM. Licia engages evasive maneuvers, but not fast enough; the ship's armmor takes the blast on full. The ship remains intact for now, but the armor is compromised.
"Three hours," Teras comments, her voice sharp and dry, over the comms. Enba cuts in, "Don't worry. We'll take your grievance with all the seriousness it deserves."
"Open up the Lohengrins to say hello," Enba insructs Uehara, who delighedly taps awway at his console. "Power up! Lohengrin positron blaster cannons onlinee!"
The ship opens up; from the sides come very large guns.
Uehara says, "Firing one shot!"
The cannon charges--and BOOM a giant positron beam lances out for the enemy unit!"
"Chovan, get us closer!"
"Right!" Chovan says, and the Uzume speeds into the battle.
KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Enba Rezza targets Rudi Pixyzalto with 'Lohengrin' Positron Blaster Cannon Basic Shot! KTS: Enba Rezza has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto engages charge against Enba Rezza's 'Lohengrin' Positron Blaster Cannon Basic Shot! KTS: Critical Hit! Rudi Pixyzalto poorly reacts to Enba Rezza's 'Lohengrin' Positron Blaster Cannon Basic Shot, taking 5060 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Enba Rezza's I Have You Now activates, causing Designate L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Enba Rezza's Just As Planned activates, causing Control Bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Soma Peries has posed.
The appearance of additional forces unconnected to the Gaia Sabers nor Cathedra is rather annoying and draws a frown from Soma. But their force strength is too large to do much about with what Soma has available. Any attempts to shoo them away would definitely derail the plan, so she sends out to the forces under her command, <"Ignore the interlopers for now, engage only if fired upon. We'll deal with them later. Focus on your objectives.">
The clearing of the base and the recovery of the hostages is going well. During the downtime between her own engagements with cartel units, Soma keeps track of the other Gaia Sabers forces. She had been a little concerned about the Argents deciding to insert themselves into this mission. Thankfully they're behaving themselves thus far. So long as they continue doing so, Soma can ignore them for the most part.
Meanwhile, Flay's progress seems to be going well. The enhanced Strike Gundam apparently living up to the long line of Mobile Suits that claim that name. She seems to be focusing more on helping to recover the captives. That's fine. Soma had intended to leave that all to Cathedra. But then Flay's not technically in her squad anyway.
Finally, Lilium is doing the job well enough. She's handling the GN-X better than most pilots. Soma expects that with a more advanced unit more tailored to her, she would perform even better. The GN-X control systems are a little basic, after all. Originally designed to assist those who had never used a GN Drive equipped unit before. Well, Soma found them basic.
Another interloper arrives, even going so far as to appear on Soma's screen spouting some corporate nonsense. Even going so far as announcing they're taking control of the mission!? Soma frowns, activating her comms.
<"I don't care who you are. You are disrupting an official NUNE operation. YOU will be the ones to disarm and depart from the battlefield, or face the consequences of-">
Soma doesn't get to finish her warning as the E-Phas opens fire. She's gotten quite deep into the facility at this point... So it's a surprise when her system alerts her to one of the beams carving its way towards her! She's caught off guard and unable to evade the beam in time-
One of the long, flat attachments on the Rosen's back separates from the the unit, revealing it to be a funnel as it rapidly rushes up and over the unit with crimson GN particles trailing it. Positioning itself between the Rosen and the incoming beam, a barrier of crackling energy lights up in front of it. The beam strikes the shield, the energy redirected in its advance to spread out and splash over the edges, only a fraction of it managing to burn across the Rosen's frame.
You're welcome.
...
The E-Shield Funnel returns to its mount and, even more annoyed now, Soma declares, <"You've opened fire on official NUNE forces! Surrender or be destroyed."> This 'E-Phas' appears to be more powerful than anything the cartel was throwing at them. Which has concerned, so she orders, <"Gaia Sabers forces. My squad will continue to assist the Dominicus Corp with the mop-up. Feel free to show these interlopers the mistake they made attacking us.">
As indicated, the two squads of GN-Xs under Soma's command continue the main mission. But Soma's Advanced GN-X blasts its way out of the facility underground, starting to rise on crimson light. Raising the lance in its hands to aim towards the E-Phas, the four emitters spread around the lance's round frame start to light up in sequence, rapidly spitting out those red bolts in large numbers towards the annoying interloper.
KTS: Soma Peries targets Rudi Pixyzalto with GN-X GN Lance Quad Rapid Fire! KTS: Soma Peries has completed their actions for the round. Escudo Shard teleports out.
KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Guard against Soma Peries's GN-X GN Lance Quad Rapid Fire! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Soma Peries's GN-X GN Lance Quad Rapid Fire, taking 3515 damage! <Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Thank you for your help, Al," Ruri says, working with him to reach a system designed never to be reached. It's Al who will get the best idea of how Ruri feels, reaching those hard drives pleading for rescue even as the heat warps their decks --
-- the way her heart shatters, as she 'tells' them, I'm sorry.
Her voice remains even and toneless, though, as she reports to Rena and the ships: "Data download proceeding."
But if things were going as planned, then --
"Siegel Seygo?" Mr. Prospector asks, in a communal channel with the Uzume and its units, pushing his glasses up his wiry nose. "I know him." All accountants know each other. But in this case -- "He's the one who always made the women in the office uncomfortable. His work was always solid, but with those lawsuits... it's convenient he's found a conspiracy now."
"We don't need recruiting, thank you," Jun Aoi addresses them, coolly. "We're happy with our present arrangement." Even if their relationship with Nergal is a little strained, right now --
Which is when a blast hits them broadside, bubbles showering below the water. "They could see us even down here?!" Minato yelps.
"Minato, bring us up," Jun says, looking down to the lower deck. "Their intentions are clear. We have to clear this out quickly -- and support the Dianthus."
"Aye-aye!" Minato chirps, bringing up the nose of the Nadesico. Its great prongs breach the surface of the sea, as seawater curtains off of one of the most destructive offensive ships flying. The Nadesico...
... would be pretty good to get in a merger, huh?
"Ruri," Jun says, "I know you're busy, but --"
"I can handle this, too," Ruri assures him. "Omoikane, for now, let's just launch missiles."
And so the missile bays open, a few missiles soaring out to strike at these new opponents.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Missile Launch! KTS: Ruri Hoshino has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Intercept against Ruri Hoshino's Missile Launch! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Ruri Hoshino's Missile Launch, taking 2880 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
In Rin's viewscreen, the status feeds for Rancor and Scorn continue to remain in their acceptable range of general function, complete with adorable penguin logo. (Her primary front view has a gently pulsating penguin logo facing the other direction.)
Her eyes look at other units. The voice and crackle of the Argent Getter is a little worrisome -- mostly for the legacy that is Getter -- but it's safe, right? She doesn't see anything Green. Except the good green.
Scorn sweeps around into an elegant loop-de-loop as Rancor and Rin-proper get up into the base, breaching the surface with some covering Beam shots and that's at about the point when someone comes on the radio.
Rin looks upwards.
She doesn't know who this guy is. Her eyes turn towards the signal screen from the Carriax, then towards the adjacent screen for ALLI.FOR (there was a character limit) as she purses her lips. But then something dawns on her, slowly.
"You..."
"You're the reason I had to retake that training three times, you jackass!!!" Rin suddenly erupts in fury. "The first time I got the email to do it again I was terrified I'd screwed up and ruined my life over something as minor as a harassment training course package and then I had to do it AGAIN! I actually cried a little! Meryl saw!!"
And then -- "... three... three hours? You came out here... with THREE hours... in sims?" Rin says, with that sort of quiet-quaver voice of someone who is unspeakably furious. (How much of this is actually Seigo's fault? It's a good question, because this was pretty fraught, Rin thought, even if she kept up her :D-grade face in the meeting. She's good at that.)
"I have left three hours of combat experience in the-- ugh!!! Scorn, kill him!"
Scorn bursts out of the water, where he remained. The birdlike drone body points upwards, firing several missiles and disintegrating several additional hopefully-abandoned sections of the base while water cascades off of him
JUST
IN
TIME
To fly directly into a beam weapon and let out an electronic screech. Engines flame out; and Scorn quickly enough ends up back in the water he landed in. Rin's mouth hangs open for a moment, as does Rancor's (in spirit). Rin gazes in momentary fear on the feed-- OK, engine rebooting, no fires -- she exhales --
"Alright, if that's how you want to do it," she says. "C'mon Rancor!" She surges forwards, jet-leaps propelling her up through that recently created hole, Rancor following behind with almost-matching agility on his quadripedal chassis. Rin heralds her approach with beam rifle fire, before reporting quietly, "VTX-4, we have suppression on 4-beta, moving vertical with 4-alpha," just before grappling onto a chunk of prefabricated Zeonic-style concrete to pull herself up to 'the battlespace, proper.'
KTS: Rin Naujakaite targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Magna Beam Launcher - Snap Shot! KTS: Rin Naujakaite has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Chienne Argent has posed.
Getter-1's plasmatic discharge ends.
Argent Getter-1 itself continues to hover there, staying up on its wing-thrusters, firing gently to hold it in place as it maintains position. Chienne is just *waiting* to chase down any survivors, but she's not sure there's going to be any she cares about.
She feels... at least a little satisfied about that.
In the moment of clear fire, Chiot very deliberately targets all the Terminal units. He doesn't fire anything - he can't, he's not in charge of the weapons at the moment - but most of them get a brief ping that someone is scanning and he's not bothering to hide who it is, a decidedly unfriendly gesture. Apparently he wants eyes on units that may or may not actually be friendly...
...though there's two here that definitely aren't friendly. As soon as the pair appears, Chiot's electronic attention stops focusing on Terminal and starts targeting the E-Phas with rather more intensity as Rudi speaks.
"What company?" Chien asks. "Who builds something like that? Chiot, you've got eyes on it, what the hell is she talking about?"
"I don't know what that is," Chiot replies on the Argent private band, something made even more private by the fact that they're physically connected now, sounding - worried, actually. "I don't know who that is. Seygo is in the database, but the other...
"Well then find out!" Chienne reaches out, flipping her communicator to wider-range. She seems to be okay penetrating the GN static, at this point anyway. "Aren't you just precious." Chienne simply does not care why Seygo wants to fight, and while Chiot is trying to solve the mystery of What The Hell An E-Phas Is, she has better, more direct things to do.
"Three whole hours? Wow, I'm impressed. Impressed that anyone is that damn STUPID!" The scorn drips off her voice before it turns into a shout. "If you think you can hang with *real* fighters, we'll rip you to pieces, whoever you are! If you wanted to recruit me, you could have done a better job. And earlier. Chien, Chiot!"
Chienne guns the accelerator, driving directly toward the firing E-Phas. Any idiot can get a lucky shot, though, and so intent is she on getting in to tear it apart that the blast connects with a hastily rolling Argent Getter; the machine comes apart, one of the planes overtaking and another falling back.
"ARGENT GETTER-2!"
This time it's the purple and green-yellow one that makes up the primary torso; the machine is much lankier, with ridged armour on its upper arms. One arm ends in a three-fingered claw, and the other a drill, which whines to life immediately as the Getter accelerates even faster, little more than a streak of colour that leaves a sonic boom behind -
Which resolves into a sudden attempt to impale at supersonic speeds, Getter-2 striking and then springing away. Chiot is taking advantage of the proximity to get a better scan - not that it's helping him identify the E-Phas, but knowledge is power, and all the Argents have always believed that might makes right in their own way.
KTS: Chienne Argent targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Supersonic Drill! KTS: Chienne Argent has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.
Luanova Luckwright barks out a string of colorful figures of speech which, thankfully, do not escape the cockpit. <"Copy, Lioness, but I have the civilians down here and I need to get them out of the killzone first. We're not getting them out of cages just to lose them to this shithead."> The sky is caving in, prismatic comets crashing down amid the chunks of floor and foundation they tear free on their way through the upper floors. The Myrmecia's head visibly tilts back and forth like Lua's own, searching for cover and finding nothing. Even if she takes the blast head on, the civilians gathered beneath her aren't going to be safe.
<"Okay, listen to me. I'm going to need you to get ready to run. Any of you who can, take somebody who's immobile or unresponsive with you. It's going to be scary, but we're going to divert these new guys' fire away. When it's clear, we'll be able to pick you up. Ready?">
The Myrmecia leans down, grips the floor beneath it, and impossibly, rips up a chunk of the foundation of the old Zeon base, running up a corner to the wall, where the chunk torn free is somehow so wide that it dwarfs the Myrmecia, constituting an entire side to the wall of the base. The underground level has just been torn open not just above but now laterally, exposed to cliff walls and hillsides leading out into the night wilderness, where Myrmecia urges the prisoners of the human traffickers to flee and disperse, out of the ready-made killbox the facility serves as for the E-Phas. The rain of prismatic fire sears through the lifted walls of the Zeon base, shielding Myrmecia from the worst of its terrible heat, before she rears what is effectively a third to a half of the building and hurls it, as a single object, as a projectile straight up into the air, to crash through the E-Phas and its escort units.
KTS: Luanova Luckwright: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Luanova Luckwright targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Hurl Mountains! KTS: Luanova Luckwright has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Block against Rin Naujakaite's Magna Beam Launcher - Snap Shot! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Rin Naujakaite's Magna Beam Launcher - Snap Shot, taking 3375 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Charge against Chienne Argent's Supersonic Drill! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Chienne Argent's Supersonic Drill, taking 5490 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto engages intercept against Luanova Luckwright's Hurl Mountains! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto moderately reacts to Luanova Luckwright's Hurl Mountains, taking 4400 damage! KTS: Luanova Luckwright: Will Barrier Activates.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
There's really a lot of people here, from so many sides... It seems there are some things that even everyone here can agree with. Well, Anita's good at playing nice, at least.
A reply heart flashes onto Anita's console and she smiles, pleased, before turning her attention back to the situation. It looks like everything's getting under control, and then -
Several units are there. Anita does a double-take... and then frowns, just slightly.
"...I didn't see those guys pop in." Anita notes for her allies. She has a keen eye, and between the Svipul's instruments optimized for marksmanship and her own cybernetically enhanced eyesight, she would've known if they'd been there the whole time. A woman named Rudi Pixyzalto barges onto her screen, announcing... competition?
"...Hardly seem like the time or place." Anita notes. But Siegel Seygo is here, announcing himself and listing off his grievances. Anita's fingers tap against the controls as he continues.
She decides that she doesn't like him.
And then, the mobile armor unit opens fire - the Svipul braces itself, shield arm raised as the Pinpoint Barrier crackles to life as particle blasts rain down.
"These weapons... they're serious. Be careful." Anita notes. There's no point in hanging here any further, now that she's under direct attack. The Svipul ceases hovering and shoots off, moving to keep itself mobile.
"Gladly. I'll help give you an opening." Anita replies to Rena. "I'll get real instructive."
"So, Mister Three-Hours... you buckled up your seatbelt nice and tight, right? Went through the whole launch checklist? You didn't forget to degauss the Gravity Hyperpolarizer, did you?" Anita asks. ...Is that a thing? She doesn't give him time to figure that out - the Svipul swoops in quickly, gatling pod drawn and opening fire on the E-Phas before quickly ducking back out in a conspicuous manner, in hopes of drawing his attention away long enough for someone else to get a hit in.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Wingmate's Gambit! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
Al notes, with the precise efficiency of someone literally built for the battlefield, "Transfer point integrity failing. Hardware damage. ETA on the board." A little timer shows up on the top right of Rena's screen and in the sense of his world Ruri receives.
Then another one, MUCH shorter, for the actual transfer process. "But it's not a problem. We'll get what we came for," he says. Ruri's wave of grief grief is a surprise to him; it isn't within his scope to fret over the survival of a distant machine, designed only to store data. They'll escape with the data, the memory it was designed to shepherd. And, they'll complete their own objective besides. Is that not sufficient?
That's one they'll have to unpack back at the ranch. "No damage to my frame, Captain. I expect you'll know if I have any problems by the audible clunk of my case falling."
And then, the plot reinforcements arrive.
"Oh, is this what it's like on the receiving end?" Al asides. "I'm not sure I like it."
A helpful zoom window shows up on the E-Phas, scanning across it rapidly. "Target filed. Accepting designation provided by combatant Pixyzalto, E-Phas. Highlighting for combat priority." The minimap version turns red, with a matching silhouette on the heads-up display.
Eventually, Siegel and Rudi's speech is stopped, and Al sums up his opinion as: "I have concerns about their hiring standards."
*THEN* the shooting starts, and what shooting it is. "Alert: Enemy beam weaponry does not match known particle weapon profiles."
A pop-in window from behind swings around to the front just to highlight the damage Siegel's doing, a building smoldering with the traditional orange-white flame. "Good news: It seems to blow things up the normal way."
KTS: Al has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster KTS: Al targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Designate L2! KTS: Al has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Al's Where Are We Going activates Valor and Wall!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
'How nice to see you all again. It is I--'
Lucine's eyes flick to her radar, back up, and then back down again, bewildered by the unit's seemingly sudden appearance. She doesn't get much time to ponder over it, as she's forced to pay attention to another string of fire from remaining forces.
'... poured my blood, sweat, and tears into the success of the VTX Union...'
< "... This is a lot." > Lucine comments, blinking.
The cannon fire is more the Martian's speed. All she needs to do is dip suddenly low and--
The cockpit rattles violently as it's hit, Lucine tasting a hint of copper in her mouth her head hitting her head rest at the wrong angle.
< ".... I can't say I fully understand everything that's going on..." > The Dianthus falls back, retrieving the Argen-21 Beam Arbalest and, retreating to a safer distance, setting up her shot.
She can do more than fly fast, after all: Lucine is a rather decent sniper as well.
< "... but I'm not sure if I truly want to know." >
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Snipe! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
It almost looked as if it was the visage of the Gundam that calmed the girl - that it bears a meaning greater than just a 'weapon' to her. "You're welcome, and... yeah. A Gundam. We call it the Strike." Flay repeats. It's when the girl calls her brave that she pauses... genuinely unsure how to take it, but maybe secretly a little touched. "...You're pretty brave too, kid. Staying strong even in a situation like this. But you better hurry, okay? The transporter's gonna take you home... so um, take care."
It might have been a sweet way to end one's first mission, if not one that took some reflection later... and their presence prevented a number of horrible atrocities against humanity.
Unfortunately, it's going to take a little company audit before they can return home with a job well done. Flay's gaze snaps forward as this 'Rudi Pizyzalto' character reveals herself on their screens. "The Company? What, you think you're so famous you don't even need to give up a real name? And you can't be serious picking NOW of all times to do this." Her tone is just.. incredulous, as if to wonder is this even real?
There's little time to question it as there's just a ridiculous amount of beam fire coming from the E-Phas. The Phase Shift Armour won't protect her, so with this much incoming fire, Flay has to play it carefully, lunging forward with the Anti-Beam Shield and catching just enough of it to keep the Strike safe.
Soma makes her decision though, NUNE doesn't need to fire on the unknown allies... but the Company has to go or face their fire. "Peries, Valerie... I'm linking up with your units, okay?" Flay confirms, flying in formation. She notes the Gaia Gear, Svipul and Dianthus... but doesn't act on them, marking them to avoid 'friendly' fire.
The Getters... there's a look of awe as they really do pull of the transforming mechanism... but it's being piloting by those three from Heaven's Base. They're autonomous, and Flay certainly doesn't want to get in their way.
"With only three hours, I bet the only trick this guy even has is it's beams... so I'm going in close!" Flay decides, unsheathing both Beam Sabers, and rushing forward with the whirling formation she memorized in training. "Get out of here!!"
KTS: Flay Allster targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Whirling Blade Advance! KTS: Flay Allster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Charge against Anita Rosetta's Wingmate's Gambit! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Anita Rosetta's Wingmate's Gambit, taking 3300 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto accepts Al's Designate L2! KTS: Al designates Rudi Pixyzalto, making her easier to target and opening her to indirect fire. KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Al's Designate L2, taking 0 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Block against Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Snipe! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Snipe, taking 4275 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul completes the Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Evade against Flay Allster's Whirling Blade Advance! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Flay Allster's Whirling Blade Advance, taking 3450 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
Noot noot.
<"Heck yeah, I love noot noot!"> Sagiri Sakurai calls back with blithe enthusiasm. A second passes. Pastel green eyes flutter out a blink.
'Noot noot?' she mouths to herself, and then she turns in her cockpit seat to level a serious stare at Rami.
"Rami... what the hell is a noot noot? Is that some kinda sex thing?"
Face buried in her hands not for the first nor the last time today, Rami Amasaki is not having a good time of it.
"H-h-h-how should I know that?!"
"Hm. Well, damn. I really hope I didn't just get egg on my face!"
Somehow, Sagiri doesn't sound like she particularly cares. Maybe it's how easily she just laughs it off after. Rami, of course, is dead. Rest in peace, Rami.
For now, though, Sagiri's concerns about social gaffes and noot nooting are tabled in favor of focusing on the mission (to rami's great relief); hands back at the Tyranado's controls, thrusters ignite in warbling contrails of green and blue as to buffet and ease the mobile suit's descent down into the hole of its own making. The air sizzles around it, distorting the Tyranado's form in wobbling vapors of heat as scanners sweep the area, feeding the data back to the Carriax fast on the approach.
Sagiri pauses, for a brief second, at the huge and unmistakable silhouette inflecting chaos in her peripherals. Her eyes narrow in thought, jaw setting as she sees what is unmistakably a Getter Robo pulverizing the hole her machine has made even wider.
"Getter, huh..." she murmurs to herself.
"What was that, ma'am?"
"Ah, it's nothing, Rami. I'm just surprised -- we got a quite the spread of people assisting on this mission!"
<"We've got some unexpected guests, too,"> Amies suddenly pipes up over the comms. <"Registering several unregistered units that don't seem to be affiliated with NUNE. No signs of hostility yet, though. They seem to be helping us?">
<"Huhhhh.">
<"More than a few of these units seem to belong to people's of interest to the NUNE. How should we deal with this, Sakurai?">
Sagiri falls silent for a few seconds. And then, her shoulders roll in a hapless shrug.
<"Deal with what, Chief? I'm not seeing anything over here.">
<"Hah. I see. Silly me; must have been a trick on the radar. Please carry on as you were.">
It seems, though, that everything is well in hand; with the assistance of their unexpected allies-of-convenience, things go even -smoother- than they rightly should have. Sagiri smiles a bit to herself as reports come in of enemy targets surrendering and their prisoners being safely liberated from their captivity. The Carriax hovering overhead, the VTX Union at this point largely just helps oversee things and makes sure that none of those stray mobile weapons manage to get the drop on other people in the field.
At one point, Sagiri pops up on Rin's view screen, flashing her a thumbs up and an encouraging, <"Nice work, my precious part-timer! I knew you had the goods.">
But otherwise, she just smiles. It's a good debut for the Tyranado in Cathedra, she thinks. After all that mess out in deep space, it's nice for things to just
<"--Hold">
go
<"on, I'm picking up some kind of">
smoothly
<"distortion--!">
for once.
How nice to see you all again.
<"What in the world--?!">
Sagiri blinks. Pastel green eyes widen, a gesture echoed soon after by Rami as she goes pale-faced with horrified realization. That voice. She remembers it. -Sagiri- remembers it, too. How could she forget? It's--
It is I, Rudi Pixyzalto!
And there -they- are, an entire unit of strange, alien machines led by two vaguely avian mobile armors. Just -there-, in a space that previously went unoccupied above them.
Past the shock of the sheer suddenness of it all, Sagiri Sakurai's expression curdles like spoiled milk.
<"Ugh. It's -you-.">
A glowing, Sagiri welcome!
<"What are -you- doing on Earth, Rudi??"> Sagiri's eyes narrow, her jaw shifting in annoyance. <"Are you chumming it up with human traffickers now? If you're throwing in with people like -these-, it tells me all I need to know about you and your Company!">
Which. Sagiri pauses. And her frown blooms mightily.
<"And what in the world is this Company, anyway? That's such a lazy name! Don't you have any sense of corporate pride--">
<"... Ma'am, I think you're burying the lede...">
Despite her admonishment, though, Rami looks concerned. Her brows furrow, her body lining with tension. Did Rudi... follow them here?
... Did Rudi follow -her- here...?
"..."
Rami lapses into worried silence. And as she does, Rudi goes about making introductions of her latest recruit...
Siegel Seygo.
Within the Carriax, Amies Ernest's expression darkens by several, harrowing shades as she echoes a sentiment previously expressed by her inestimable manager:
<"Ugh. It's -you-.">
<"Seygo..."> murmurs Hirosuke. <"Now this is unexpected.">
Siegel launches into a rant that would manifesto lovers blush with envy. He's not even a third of the way through it before Sagiri, expression doing a warhead sour candy thing of sheer baffled disgust, just kind of mutes him to aside to the others,
<"You two know this guy?">
<"He was my old boss back in Accounting,"> Amies explains with the most blood-freezing, chilled tone imaginable. She -blatantly- just talks directly over his screed as she offers a helpful exposition dump instead:
<"He liked to talk a big game, but he his ambition was always an order of magnitude higher than his vanishing competence. He got hit with a demotion for bribery and then he got terminated for being scum who masqueraded 'harassment' as 'guidance,' like it wasn't obvious the creepy, disgusting things he was trying to pull.">
Amies' voice could freeze the core of the sun with its frigid judgment as she agrees with the legendary Prospector's assessment. By this point, she's successfully talked over his entire rant and claims of conspiracy before Rudi even manages to cut him off.
Sagiri's eyes narrow, a frown settling on her lips.
"... Is that so. Rami? ... We've got a new target. Prep the Quark Drive! We're not letting this loser stain the VTX's reputation a second further!"
"-Yes, ma'am!-"
With that, the thrusters of the Tyranado FLARE to life, -launching- it straight upwards through the enlarged hole she made in that base. Strange energy rains down on them all from the E-Phas; Amies shouts something about being unable to precisely analyze it; Rami once more lapses into conspicuous silence. Sagiri disregards it for now as she -banks- the Tyranado to the left and right, attempting to outpace the volley. Some of it is a success. The rest -- the rest collide with the Tyranado's dark armor, ricocheting off, singing parts of it, even melting others.
They're fortunate. It could have been much worse. That output...
<"Meryl! Prep the Carriax for weapons deployment! I'm gonna need your special service for this one!">
<"Absolutely, ma'am!"> shouts Meryl, incensed by the fresh memories of what this man inflicted on poor Rin. -She saw it all-.
As the Carriax approaches, the Tyranado unholsters its Beam Bayonets, green blades igniting along the undersides of their barrels as it -charges- at the E-Phas.
<"Hey, Bastard Chief! This one's for daring to make Rin cry!">
And looks to blitz STRAIGHT past the larger Mobile Armor, blades sweeping in lighting fast, carving motions across its carriage as it passes.
<"Don't worry -- there's gonna be plenty more where that came from! And YOU!">
Sagiri's focus suddenly turns on Rudi, expression livid.
<"Putting a scumbag like this in a weapon like that is one thing -- but a pencil pusher?! He doesn't have any combat experience!
<"And he's an idiot.">
<"And he's an idiot! What were you thinking??">
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Beam Bayonet Blitz! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Charge against Sagiri Sakurai's Beam Bayonet Blitz! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Sagiri Sakurai's Beam Bayonet Blitz, taking 3000 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rudi Pixyzalto has posed.
Rena's beam rifle lances two streams of golden light at the E-Phas, and his inexperience shows, as he turns inexpertly, the blasts slamming against the pinions of it's lower wings of the mobile armor, but - while there's damage, score marks.
It's less than Rena might have hoped. What kind of armor does this have that it can take direct hits like that, with no barrier, and do so little damage?
"You need to get your ears checked woman. It's 'The Company' simple as that." Suddenly, both cannon arrays are drawn up to reveal forearm cannons, as it charges a blast that RIPS forth in twin bursts towards the Gaia Gear. "You've got some mouth on you, calling me a creep! Are you trying to piss me off?"
As Enba trains the Lohengrin on him, the E-Phas abruptly begins to charge towards the Uzume class ship, moving faster, and faster. The Lohengrin comes out, and it swerves- at the last second, the charged particle blast consuming part of the mobile armor.
But it's armor!? Again it shows off that despite no tangible barrier, it survived a Lohengrin shot with... minimal damage?!
"You wouldn't last one day in the corporate world talking like that. Lemme show you how it's done, you incompetent buffoon!" That cannon is charging again, before suddenly that prismatic beam pours out, a bright column towards the Uzume, "I'll take you out in ONE SHOT!" The E-Phas turns only gradually, trying to pour that energy right into the battleship.
Soma does warn him, and the man sneers at her over the comms, "Who do you think you're talking to you uppity chit?" But her lance fire scores the white of the E-Phas grey in multiple places.
"E-Bit team, show her who's really boss here!" And Soma will notice then, two of the Green Mobile Armors coming in towards her, their arms like giant cleavers. The left of one lights up, while the right of the other lights up, each limmed by that strange particle energy, both of them cry out, "YES SIR!" As they slash towards her GN-X with Ray Cleavers almost the size of her mobile suit.
Within, a computer burns, and while Ruri will feel it's disappointment as more and more of it's circuitry curls up, there is a small mercy in it's resignation.
not=alone
The download completes before it goes up completely.
Prospector notes he knows him, "Damn, if it aint the former Branch Manager of Nergal. Last thing I expected was you to end up on a warship." And the E-Phas swings around, it's arrays firing as if to try and intercept the missiles with - little success, as it's frame rocks from the explosions.
"I always hated your self-righteous attitude, you bowtie wearing boy scout." He informs him, as the cannon charges, and erupts, for another go at trying to penetrate the Nadesico's distortion field. "The goddamned Nadesico. There'll be a bonus in it for me if I sink that."
But, Rin successfully manages to distract him with several, snapped off beam shots, "It's you - Rin Naujakaite. You always were slow. Didn't you get it? It was a lesson in respect! I knew you had too high a goddamn opinion in yourself, so I decided to knock you down a peg, what's hard to understand about it?" He can hear him slam the console, "Some nerve. SOME NERVE speaking to your trainer like that!"
Now the E-Phas moves towards her birdlike Scorn like a far too large hummingbird, it's arrays firing down, raining prismatic bolts, even before it swings around, both forearm cannons firing.
"Lemme take you down another!"
And then Argent Getter-2 comes in, drills at the fore, and it's drill finds purchase in the armor, sparks flying off as it nicks in, but it's not digging in NEARLY as far as might satisfy Chienne.
"You think you'll get far, talking like that? Your face aint nearly pretty enough to save you." The man tells her, before abruptly, surging forward, the E-Phas trying to literally shove Getter 2 back and slam it against a rock formation with it's massive bulk, and that cannon?
It sure is charging at point blank range, the mountain behind where he attempted to shove Getter 2 disintegrating a perfect column behind it.
"I'll take care of the problem before you can even think about whining to HR."
It certainly feels like the world is validating Annie, it feels - objectively correct to dislike this man, as she- "The Gravity what now? It doesn't use gravity! It's Anti-" The Svipul suddenly peppers the E-Phas with bullet after bullet, ringing against the outside "That's on me, trusting a woman to not throw a man under the bus." He grouses, "It's alright though." And Annie will find there's suddenly an E-bit hot on her tail. Both Ray Cleavers ignite, and come down hard, to try and take out the Svipul from behind with one brutal slice. "I know how to deal with that."
Lucine's sudden approach, and profession of ignorance, and perhaps - a desire to remain ignorant, is met with the Arbalest bolt striking a pinion as he jukes the mobile armor to prevent a worse impact.
"Isn't it obvious? You should know better than to interfere with a workplace dispute!"
Flay emerges from underground, and Rudi, answers her from afar cheerily. "What better time for it?" She asks, with that winning smile, "Do you think our PR department is doing a poor job? Well, I suppose you might think we don't have the clout to back up the name."
And as Sagiri asks, "Now now, don't get the wrong idea Sakurai! Taking them out is part of this demonstration." She spreads her arms out, "But we are first and foremost a business. And the goal of a business is to demonstrate the value of our products on a crowded market." She smiles warmly, "We simply don't believe Special Section 3's Tyranado project measures up, and would like to offer the world a compelling counter-offer." Rudi gives a shocked look as she calls out the name as being lazy, "Don't look at me Sakurai! Do you think someone like me had any say in our name? Take it up with our PR department!"
The Strike rushes Siegel with both beam sabers, and each burns into the side of the E-Phas as it doesn't swing out of the way, but frustratingly...
... they don't push through.
"Bah! Don't get so full of yourself." Perhaps his only trick is beams, but up close, the arrays do spread wide, and suddenly after charging, they all fire point blank at the saber wielding Strike, and keep firing, over and over, now - frighteningly accurate. "You clearly don't appreciate the value of a man who knows how it's done" Again and again, "So I'll show you first hand!" Was this guy REALLY only in the sims for three hours?
He seems way better than he ought to be.
Fortunately, he gets distracted from trying to punish Flay, because the arrays stop firing because he hears a familiar voice, talking about him...
"You havent changed at all, Amies Ernest. In fact you havent grown a single iota since you first came on board. You never followed my guidance, you never tried to put on a half-decent smile, and youre always acting so damn self-righteous. You should be on your knees thanking me for all that time I wasted trying to bring you in line." His head turns, and it's like he's looking right at her, "This is a good opportunity for me... after all that time I spent dealing with HR because of you. I'll see that prim face of yours contort with fear!"
But the Tyranado bolts past, beam bayonets deployed in hand, as it sweeps, carving into it again, and again, and again, far too quick for him to turn and follow it.
"You think you can make a fool out of me with your damn special robot Sagiri Sakurai! Someone needs to teach you the only thing, the ONLY THING you've ever had going for you!"
This time when the cannon charges up, something like a lens shifts over it, before erupting in numerous scattering rays that move in random patterns, trying to catch her out of the sky on the next pass.
"Is that pretty face of yours!"
However, Sagiri calls her out for hiring an idiot! And Amies! And Rudi smiles.
"Be that as it may." She doesn't deny he's an idiot!? "It's called fitting the right person in the right place. Our company provides him with an occupation suitable for him. In this case, he desires the means to avenge his grudge, and who are we to deny him employment that allows him to carry out that desire so enthusiastically!"
Rudi waves, smiling "Now then, Siegel, I'll let you take it from here." Rudi's own E-Phas, which hasn't taken part, there's a blur nearby it, this sound like a strange ring over the battlefield like a glass chime that extends and dilates out far too long, and she vanishes as if she were never there.
Those that were monitoring her would catch that it was some kind of distortion, but - HOW?
KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Rena Lancaster with Resilience Training! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Flay Allster with Productivity Quota! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Enba Rezza and Ruri Hoshino with Mass Layoffs! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Anita Rosetta with Dismissal! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Sagiri Sakurai with Scattershot Approach! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Lucine Azul with Resilience Training! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Soma Peries with E-Bit Ray Cleaver Dual Slice! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Chienne Argent with Dismissal! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Dismissal! KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Anita Rosetta poorly reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Dismissal, taking 4290 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rudi Pixyzalto's And That's... Check~mate~! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Lucine Azul engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Resilience Training! KTS: [Mirage] Lucine Azul's Glimmer Engine activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Best Defense! Lucine Azul successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Resilience Training, taking 0 damage! KTS: Flay Allster has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Mass Layoffs! KTS: Enba Rezza moderately reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Mass Layoffs, taking 800 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Lilium Valerie with Productivity Quota! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Luanova Luckwright with Resilience Training! KTS: Soma Peries engages parry against Rudi Pixyzalto's E-Bit Ray Cleaver Dual Slice! KTS: Soma Peries's Beam Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Best Defense! Soma Peries successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's E-Bit Ray Cleaver Dual Slice, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto's I'm Afraid That's Not An Option activates Focus and Wall! KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to engage evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Resilience Training! KTS: Rena Lancaster successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Resilience Training, taking 4000 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto bypasses Rena Lancaster, preventing her from Guarding the next attack! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai fails to engage evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Scattershot Approach! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Scattershot Approach, taking 4212 damage! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Lilium Valerie fails to engage Evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Productivity Quota! KTS: Lilium Valerie moderately reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Productivity Quota, taking 4320 damage! KTS: Chienne Argent engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Dismissal! KTS: Chienne Argent poorly reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Dismissal, taking 4900 damage! KTS: Flay Allster engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Productivity Quota! KTS: Flay Allster poorly reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Productivity Quota, taking 4800 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Rin Naujakaite with Aggressive Restructuring! KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Wall Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Got it. We'll... we'll try to do the best we can, okay?" Rena tells Ruri, trying to keep her voice level as she puts the Gaia Gear Alpha through its paces. Then, she suggests to Anita: "Seems like some kind of teleportation. Which... I'm not feeling great about."
She cracks a smile as the Svipul takes off -- Anita giving her instructions -- and then she looks at the heads-up display alert, courtesy of Al.
"We'll avoid audible clanks, if it's all the same," she tells Al. She looks at the damage displayed on one of those pop-up windows -- sucks a breath in -- and nods. "It doesn't match anything?" She looks at the lack of damage her beam rifle scored. "That's... who the hell are these guys? Al, does this match anything in any of our intel reports? Databases?"
Then, she scowls at Siegel. "Companies have names," Rena says. "And the way you're talking... that shows what you're really like!"
The forearm cannon blast fires down into the Gaia Gear, striking the left slide and burning through some of the armor there. Rena grimaces.
"Annie, look outfor those bits!" she calls out. "This thing is built tough!"
Anita made her an opening. Rena plans to use it. She leans forward in the cockpit, slides the throttle forward, and the Gaia Gear Alpha's wing binders lift -- thrusters fire -- and she gets pushed back into the seat of the Mobile Suit's cockpit.
"Here we go...!" Then, she opens a transmission to Flay: "Strike Gundam pilot, this is Captain Lancaster, Magallanica Defense Forces. Coming in on your three o'clock!"
The Gaia Gear Alpha stows its beam rifle; the white Mobile Suit draws out its beam saber. Rena frowns as Rudi's E-Phas teleports away -- and then her beam saber ignites to life.
She comes in and slashes down, with a two-handed strike with the beam saber across the remaining E-Phas.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Beam Saber Cleave! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rin Naujakaite fails to engage guard against Rudi Pixyzalto's Aggressive Restructuring! KTS: Best Defense! Rin Naujakaite successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Aggressive Restructuring, taking 4425 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto completes the Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Guard against Rena Lancaster's Beam Saber Cleave! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Rena Lancaster's Beam Saber Cleave, taking 3375 damage! Chienne Argent tosses a coin: Heads
<Pose Tracker> Enba Rezza has posed.
"Evasive maneuvers," Enba instructs before the E-Phas pilot even finishes talking. Licia Chovan is faster on the draw, even; she senses his intent, and banks the ship on its way forward, smoothly dodging out of the mobile armor's energy beam.
"I'm familiar with corporate, actually," Enba reflect to the man. "My family is primarily mercenaries. And I have to tell you..."
"When Human Resources has to intervene as often as they seem to have with you, you become a liability."
The MDF's rules on officer fraternization may be pretty light, but they do have standards.
"What is your end goal here?" Enba asks. "What happens if you lose? For that matter... What happens if you win?"
"Do you really think they'll give you that bonus if you don't? Or is this 'demonstration' meant to be effective either way?"
Uehara says, "Captain. ...I'd like o show him what this baby can really do."
"Sure," Rezza says. "Give him a taste of the Gottfrieds."
"On it, Captain!"
The smmaller guns on the forward module rise--and 'smaller' only means 'not quite as big'. They rise, double barrelled each, and point towards the E-Phas.
"Firing!"
Huge beams rocket out towards the enemy!!
KTS: Enba Rezza targets Rudi Pixyzalto with 'Gottfried' Mk 71 225 cm Dual High-energy Beam Cannon Increased Barrage! KTS: Enba Rezza has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Evade against Enba Rezza's 'Gottfried' Mk 71 225 cm Dual High-energy Beam Cannon Increased Barrage! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Enba Rezza's 'Gottfried' Mk 71 225 cm Dual High-energy Beam Cannon Increased Barrage, taking 4275 damage! KTS: Luanova Luckwright fails to engage guard against Rudi Pixyzalto's Resilience Training! KTS: Best Defense! Luanova Luckwright successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Resilience Training, taking 3750 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto bypasses Luanova Luckwright, preventing her from Guarding the next attack! KTS: Ruri Hoshino fails to engage block against Rudi Pixyzalto's Mass Layoffs! KTS: Ruri Hoshino's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Ruri Hoshino successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Mass Layoffs, taking 5210 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
I'm here, is all Ruri can offer the burning machines. She stays with them... and she knows grief. She knows Al's confusion, too, and to him, she empathically offers: ... excuse me.
"Transfer complete," is what she says out loud, leagues more more collected, of the data. More subdued, she adds, to Rena: "... we'll do our best."
Mr. Prospector adjusts his glasses again, and informs his fellow accountant, quite prim: "Better my attitude than yours, sir. In a working environment, employees should be able to give their all to the company without worrying about the particulars of their skirts."
"He says that," Minato asides, to the camera, "but Uribatake has complaints from just about every girl aboard..."
"He's never said anything bad to me," Ruri says, to her.
"And if he ever does," Minato wags a finger, looking over to her, "you tell us right away, okay, Ruri-Ruri?"
"Okay," Ruri nods. And then: "Incoming. Reinforcing --"
Another blast rocks the Nadesico, sending it tilting to the side for a moment. "The E-Phas's attack was too fast," she reports, still quite stoic. "Damage sustained in six sections. But we're still fine."
"Fire missiles!" Jun declares, pointing to the main screen.
"Missiles, firing," Ruri confirms, as more missile bays pop open, and Omoikane marks the target.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Seeker Missile! KTS: Ruri Hoshino has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Intercept against Ruri Hoshino's Seeker Missile! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Ruri Hoshino's Seeker Missile, taking 3375 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
While scrambling up to go shoot at a guy who caused her to have to retake sekuhara trainings, Rin's head turns slightly. She has plenty of time to think, given the pace of things. The Myrmecia gets a fast-talking transmission:
'Hey-thanks-you're-the-em-vee-pee-here-get-em-good'
And then back up she goes.
Sagiri gets a brief full on ^_^ face of approval, complete with pinkening cheeks, but it is short-lived, even as the Gespenst crests the surface. "Slow?" she says to Seigo, with incredulity. "SLOW? You --"
He's going after Scorn. Something grips Rin's stomach tightly and she whirls around as the E-Phas dives downwards, saying, "Get away from him you old bastard!!" And as Rin fires the beam rifle downwards, doing nothing and then cursing because of the outline of the Gespenst meaning she has to crouch down to shoot and -- and --
Of course, it's not Gallia IV, is it?
Rin, perhaps, is proving Seigo's point. For all her hyperkinetic reaction time, she has to work with the machine -- not built for someone that fast -- and physics -- which don't care a lot about where you are, exactly. Even as the E-Phas strives against the others, moving out of Rin's line of fire -
"4-beta's taking fire, in the water," Rin reports, before turning her head, which comes with the Gespenst turning.
Seigo keeps talking, a veritable torrent of trash poured out into the hot sun of Discourse to ripen and ferment into ill feelings well before it begins to degenerate into something more pleasant. Rin can feel her heartbeat's increasing. She doesn't like that it is, but that's the facts of the matter. The ships are opening fire on the E-Phas.
For a moment Rin wonders - what did he learn in those three hours?
In some ways, Rin's thinking mind is a liability. Her neuro-accelerant factors mean that it's not usually crippling and sometimes advantageous. But it does mean that when presented with a number of stimuli she struggles. It's fortunate, perhaps, that this did not happen on the decks of a Britannian ship not so long ago. Nor did it happen, critically, in the skies of an alien world, or in space. But it is happening here, or at least something like it.
There is a great 'CHIME' in the sky.
This is when the wolf arrives.
Rancor's chassis, made as it may be from repurposed production candidate designs for the Tyranado that were built, tested, and set aside, contains four legs - two sets of the legs that might be put on a powerful machine such as the Tyranado, inverted, yes, repurposed, sure, up-armored, definitely, tipped with reinforced impactors with high friction treads, absolutely, and anyway, two of those smash forwards as Rancor LEAPS -
But the head of the drone? From a distance it *evokes* a canine head but it's really just a ring of optical sensors set well back from the forwards cone, which is ultimately a piece of durable, stiffened metal coming down to a circular contact point about 5 centimeters in diameter. There aren't really any *eyes* even if there are obviously 'optical sensors.' Digital cameras don't scale like that.
Rancor is already drawing it backwards for the first smash, blunt-tipped-nose first, into the E-Phas *before* making contact, and the attack pattern will have about 35 repetitions of the 'slam your snout into something with hydraulic press force' attack before breaking off.
KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rin Naujakaite targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Rancor - Pin and Savage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Charge against Rin Naujakaite's Rancor - Pin and Savage! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Rin Naujakaite's Rancor - Pin and Savage, taking 3900 damage! KTS: Rin Naujakaite rattles Rudi Pixyzalto, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
<Pose Tracker> Soma Peries has posed.
Soma's barrage is mostly on point, burning across the E-Phas. Though it appears the machine is built quite solidly. It's going to be a tough shell to crack, even with so many going after it. But Soma is not disuaded. She's faced worse and this man's skill does not appear to match the durability of his unit. Plus, with her own Advanced GN-X performing as perfectly as she'd hoped, she remains confident.
The Company drone snaps back at her. Soma replies, <"I'm talking to someone who clearly screwed up when choosing which operation to interrupt!">
The mobile armors, ironically named E-Bits, seem to turn their focus towards Soma and her Rosen, their cleaver-like arms lighting up as they're enhanced with particle energy.
Which is their mistake.
Soma quietly asks the other half of her...
Are you sure you can handle this?
... Yes.
Because it's both of us that suffer if you don't.
... I know.
This time, all four of the E-Shield Funnels detach from the back of the Rosen. They move to take up formation around the Advanced GN-X. And as the two E-Bits charge in, the funnels split up with two to each. They wouldn't be able to block the full weight of the blows, but they don't have to as they activate their rectangular electromagnetic shields at an angle, forcing the beam coated cleavers to slide off them and avoid cleaving through the Rosen entirely.
Soma wasn't sure about trusting their control to her counterpart. But so far, it seems to be working. And it allows Soma to focus on offense, <"Allster, Valerie. Flank him, I'll cover you.">
Leaving the E-Bits alone for now, Soma keeps her focus on the E-Phas. After all, if he goes down the other two will be easy pickings. Probably. Soma leverages the rapid fire of her GN Lance to try and persistently harass the E-Phas and keep it off balance, while her allies strike more solidly.
KTS: Soma Peries has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Soma Peries targets Rudi Pixyzalto with GN-X GN Lance Covering Fire! KTS: Soma Peries has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Chienne Argent has posed.
Chienne wasn't even driving Getter-2; that is the province of Chiot, who is a younger teenager (he still looks like sixteen these days) with green hair, pulled back in a tail, and an eye-concealing metal visor.
But Chienne is still there, and Chiot doesn't tend to be as chatty, so it's a safe bet to address her... except it's Chiot that responds anyway: "You're not my type," he says, his voice completely neutral. He continues, "And you're too old for me, anyway," which sets Chienne laughing in her cockpit.
She stops laughing pretty fast when the E-Phas fires again. Chiot jets backwards, out of direct reach of the blast - but the corona around the beam is dangerous enough in its own way, and once again the Getter breaks apart rather than get vaporized. It's taking damage, even if the polymorphic metal sometimes makes it hard to tell - especially with it refusing to keep a single form for very long.
And indeed the planes reassemble into a new configuration, the chunkier shuttle-like jet leading - and the Getter that this one forms is significantly bulkier and heavier-looking than the others. Where the last form was lanky, this one is squat, with broad-spread legs that have treads instead of anything below the knee. And three of them, not two; the last one behind, giving it a tripodal stance.
This one also does not fly. It starts to fall almost immediately. "GERONIMO," Chien, currently in charge, yells, as its arms extend and extend, attempting to grab onto the E-Phas and drag it down with it.
Getter-3 eventually touches down with a blast of thrusters that means it lands, rather than crashes. That's about the only bit of grace it has.
"You're not my type either!" Chien's voice is much louder than Chiot's. "Get some muscle, then we'll talk." He aims to re-grip the E-Phas and swing it wildly, slamming it into E-Bits and terrain alike with those extendable arms, dragging it across the broken crater towards Getter-3, whose eyes seem to blaze with intensity. "Oi, Gaia Sabers! If you want a shot, now's the time!" While he's trying to hold the unit steady, presumably.
"You can't be serious," Chienne hisses, on the private link.
"I'm not!" Chien rolls his eyes. "Give a man a break, would you? I'm not *that* desperate."
Chiot pipes up, "But you are. You haven't had a hookup in months, and it's not for lack of trying - "
"Hey!" Chien would smack Chiot's shoulder if it was in reach. It is not, so he settles for thumping a bare spot in the cockpit. "Eyes up and out of my private life."
Chienne rolls *her* eyes, too. "If you two aren't going to focus I'm taking the controls back!"
Chienne Argent transforms to Argent Getter-3
KTS: Chienne Argent has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Chienne Argent's Violence Unleashed activates! KTS: Chienne Argent targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Retract Grapple! KTS: Chienne Argent has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Charge against Soma Peries's GN-X GN Lance Covering Fire! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Soma Peries's GN-X GN Lance Covering Fire, taking 3375 damage! KTS: Soma Peries begins a Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Evade against Chienne Argent's Retract Grapple! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Chienne Argent's Retract Grapple, taking 4000 damage! KTS: Chienne Argent anchors Rudi Pixyzalto, preventing her from Evading the next attack!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Yeah... Guys with teleportation and unknown particle weaponry? Whoever this The Company is, if they can afford to just show up and show off like this, who knows what they're planning..." Anita considers in response to Rena. It's bad news all around - least of all if they're putting that kind of tech in the hands of a man like that.
'Anti-'... Anita's real curious how he intended to finish that sentence, but then he accuses her of throwing him under the bus. Anita opens her mouth - then pauses and thinks better of it, electing not to say the first thing that came to her mind.
Rena calls out a warning, then.
"Right!" Anita calls back as the E-Bits rush for her, cleavers flaring to life. She dodges and weave around them, making use of her agility - but they're fast. A Ray Cleaver bites into the Pinpoint Barrier, and then the next. Anita grits her teeth and tries to force them back, but soon enough it's the Svipul that's sent reeling, armor scored by the blades.
"So that's how you 'deal with it'... Figures, a small man hiding behind big toys." Anita notes. The GERWALK continues its flight, strafing through the air as Anita sounds a barrage of vulcan fire toward the E-Phas.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Vulcan Barrage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
Rudi's carefree smile and cheerful attitude does not appear to impress Flay. "PR department? Honestly... with the way you're acting, I'm surprised you even have one!" Flay scoffs. It's true, her standards are all but the highest. "But at the same time... I doubt your company's even worth the time I'd take to file a complaint to whatever website you've got." Despite her dismissive tone, it's clear enough that Rudi Pixyzalto's personality is just right to absolutely get on her nerves in a memorable... which might as well be a win for her playbook.
And neither is the E-Phas the pushover she'd hope it would be. "Ugh-" Flay grits her teeth as the beam sabers just don't go through the way she wanted them to. "What is this thing's armour even made of?" She strains, and then notices the arrays spread just a second too late. "You're seriously going to fire this close? You're insane!" She shouts, because the recoil on those cannons must be...
Well, it's effective if you're just trying to do as much damage as possible. And it's close enough that raising the Anti-Beam Shield again isn't going to cut it. So Flay puts the Aile Striker's thrusters at maximum and just tries to sidestep away as fast as possible... but the beam array devastates half of the Aile Striker's wingspan all the same - a significant blow to the Strike's maneuverability as warnings flash across the cockpit.
Rena's transmission pops up through those warnings, introducing herself as a Captain with the Magallanica's defense forces. Magallanica, Orb... how did they find out about this mission? She does recognize the name... that woman was a huge deal in the Three Ships Alliance during the Bloody Valentine war and beyond. "Acknowledged, Lancaster. I'm Flay Allster with the Gaia Sabers. Just... you better make it snappy, okay? That guy's dangerous!" She introduces and warns at once.
Thankfully, Soma comes in with covering fire, and unknowing of her internal struggle, Flay is just really relieved to see her GN-X. "Ahh, thanks, Peries... go ahead,I'm switching to ranged combat!" She transmits back, shoving the beam sabers back into what remains of their sheath.
The Strike doubles back, shorty beam rifles in hand, firing beam after beam towards the E-Phas, as it distances itself from the mobile armour. While she supports Soma's firing solution first and foremost, some of those shots are also aimed to protect Rena's own beam saber advance. They might not even be close to allies, but...
KTS: Flay Allster has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Flay Allster targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Shorty Beam Rifle Rapid Fire ! KTS: Flay Allster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Charge against Anita Rosetta's Vulcan Barrage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Anita Rosetta's Vulcan Barrage, taking 3510 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta continues a Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Charge against Flay Allster's Shorty Beam Rifle Rapid Fire ! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Flay Allster's Shorty Beam Rifle Rapid Fire , taking 3612 damage! <Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
"Neither GN nor Minovsky particle response is detected," Al confirms to Rena. "No antiparticle-indicative reactions, either. I'll keep on it."
Al's case then does nothing, because it's not articulated. "I shall endeavor to land quietly," he says pleasantly to Rena's jab.
"Nothing coming up so far," he says then to her question about their foes. "Some radio chatter seems to be indicating familiarity, but nothing too indicative so far. It seems likely to be of alien manufacture. Earth does have some technologies for beam dispersal like that, but...it doesn't match the parameters.
Essentially simultaneously, something Al does not quite parse as a life vanishes from this world. "It's not a problem," he answers Ruri, a phrase he adopted from an old friend. He's too key to leave, so he doesn't cut the connection...but he also doesn't try to hurry Ruri along, either. "Such feelings are important to a person's wellbeing. I have seen that. I will continue to support you."
Out loud and in the physical, Al adds, "Oh, they can teleport," as E-Phas leaves. "No Fold Wave detected. No spacetime radar available for further assessment. Mechanism unknown."
Then, several markers flash up on the Gaia Gear's HUD. He passes the same data to Ruri, too: "Possible mechanical vulnerability. Recommended firing solutions included."
KTS: Al targets Rena Lancaster and Ruri Hoshino with Heart! KTS: Al has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Al's Where Are We Going activates Focus and Alert! KTS: Rena Lancaster accepts Al's Heart! KTS: Al bares his heart, letting Rena Lancaster deal some extra damage! KTS: Best Defense! Rena Lancaster successfully reacts to Al's Heart, taking 0 damage! KTS: Ruri Hoshino accepts Al's Heart! KTS: Al bares his heart, letting Ruri Hoshino deal some extra damage! KTS: Best Defense! Ruri Hoshino successfully reacts to Al's Heart, taking 0 damage! <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Ah. So, the reason it didn't seem to make sense before is because the matter was so unbelievably... petty. Calling out former colleagues, refusing to see the wider picture, wallowing in his own self-pity? What is he, one of her mom's co-workers?
Siegel lashes out at Prospector, at Rin, at Chienne. On, and on, and on.
< "... All I care to understand is that you are getting in the way of my business: an operation to rescue trafficked people. And in listening to my fellow pilots' responses, I am confident that all you have done is succeeded in sowing distrust in your cause and your accomplishments. If you survive today, I hope you build the self-reflection necessary to put your more useful skills to better use in your next work environment. Which hopefully *won't* involve inexcusable crimes." > Lucine's response is delivered alongside attacks like Enba's 'Gottfrieds', and, if one could read into the tone of Lucine's words, they may find a certain amusement. < "Though if this is a common occurrance where you are thrust into harm's way as a means to voice your complaints, then perhaps this is a good spot for you." >
The Dianthus's image wavers as a shot seems to pierce it, but it's just an illusion; the real one has shifted over just enough, and its pilot is still lecturing.
< "An ineffectual position for a man who can't even have a proper face to face to resolve his problems before they explode on him!" > The arbalest is exchanged for the silver glaive. < "And, oh dear. Your co-worker was unwilling to deal with your hubris." >
The Dianthus descends upon the E-Phas, its glaive letting loose two intersecting lashes to join with her final words, this time laced with the displaced anger she feels, realizing one of the people below could very well, if it was another time, be someone like Liam, or one of the people he's had to deal with, or... someone whose fate would have otherwise gone unknown.
< ".... _You have no one to blame but yourself_. >
Like Rin, once Lucine is done with her lecture, she thinks better of it. Three hours of VR training can't be enough to be able to operate a unit like this. Unless...
Patching in to the Nadesico's line, Lucine's face pops up. < "... Ah, sorry. What was the name of the drug these people trade in, and what are the effects of it, by chance?" >
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Lucine Azul targets Rudi Pixyzalto with CL0-V3 Glaive Crescent Cross! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.
The Myrmecia wasn't built to sustain fire of this sort... whatever kind of fire this is. Lua is sweltering in the cockpit, gripping the chair rests right to hold the machine together and keep each blast from shearing parts away from each other. What manner of energy even is this? <"I'm not holding up good,"> Myrmidon tells the operational frequency. <"The civilians should hopefully be free of the killbox. Tyranado, I'm going to be coming up behind you for cover. Can you bring me in?"> The Myrmecia is the last on its way up, out of the human trafficking facility, after seeing to the dispersal of civilians. There's a hell of a lot of traffic Lua observes on her way up: Captain Lancaster. Lucine, the Martian. Some units she's seen before. Rin, the other agent from special section 3, comms in briefly and gets a reply: <"Aw, pshaw. I just like to throw things. But thanks."> Lucine alone gets a personal tightbeam transmission without the synthesized anonymous voice: <"Do you have any more idea than I do what's going on now?"> It might as well be rhetorical. She assumes the answer is no.
Lua doesn't like the idea of getting surrounded by those E-Bits on the approach. She's got her hands full with just the mad corpo. Myrmecia shadows the movement of the other units on her ascent up, but soon, thanks to the actions of Chienne in the Argent Getter-3, has cause to swing back down, chasing after the unit in her grip. In one corner of her cockpit console she gets the communications ready to open to the E-Phas. In the other, the Myrmex Engine's spinup calculations, sparking somewhere in the back of her brain.
<"Appreciate the delivery,"> she tells Getter-3, before keying up open comms with the corpo, and anyone else who wants to listen in, really. <"Neutral party here. I'm not as much of a speaker."> It's hard to follow up Lucine's dressing down. <"I just wanted to let you know."> Myrmecia falls down upon the E-Phas in Chien's grasp from above, perching upon its shoulder. On physical contact, the Myrmex Engine expands its map of integrated spacetime, and Lua guides its calculations with her feelings, roving through her senses of the E-Phas's matter composition. She doesn't have anywhere near the kind of precision nor the expertise to identify anything about its bizarre system workings. She doesn't have to. She just needs to find about where in that machine is a cavity about large enough to comfortably house a human being, and preferably, within that cavity, where she might find a human-shaped mass positioned. <"That right now, I am trying very hard,">
Then, squeeze.
Massive cascades of spontaneous particle interactions build up suddenly within the E-Phas, pieces of its inner workings exploding outward against the other parts or collapsing inward. Sudden severe controlled pressure differentials, deliberately targeting the area around the cockpit, which is not likely more essential to the unit's workings, but damn near scary if she can place it right. <"to find just the right positioning,">
The last adjustment she makes before breaking off contact and leaving it to the Getter-3's mercies is much smaller in scale, and unlikely to affect the workings of the enemy unit except indirectly. It's not even likely to make an audible sound. <"to invent a new shape for your dick.">
KTS: Luanova Luckwright targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Twist Space! KTS: Luanova Luckwright has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Luanova Luckwright has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Luanova Luckwright's Force of Will activates!
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
<"Doesn't measure up?! You're in for a rude awakening, Rudi Pixyzalto! Gambling against the pride of Special Section 3 is a fool's bet--">
<"Ma'am, that's so cool--">
<"--especially when I've got a sweet, sweet bonus payment for combat data on an unknown unit on the line!">
<"... I retract my statement.">
Maybe it's heartening that Sagiri Sakurai can raise hopes and then dash them quite expertly, even in the contentious heat of conflict. It says something as to her own ability as much as it does the rapport she has with the rest of Special Section 3 -- but it certainly does nothing to undercut the threat the E-Phas, or, shockingly, its pilot represents. It flabbergasts Sagiri, just how well Siegel is doing despite all evidence suggesting he should be doing anything -but-.
Is it the E-Phas? ... Is it something about this 'Company' and its training methods?
Sagiri's brows furrow, even as the Beam Bayonets of the Tyranado hiss off in churning green shutters. She listens to the pilot of the Myrmecia's request -- and Lua gets a v-for-victory sign flashed encouragingly her way, both physically -and- translated perfectly into Sagiri's confident, easy-going tone, despite the fraught situation even -she- finds herself in.
<"Don't worry, Myrmecia -- we've got your back.">
Rami, meanwhile, just buries herself in her work, monitoring the Quark Drive's output levels like her life depended on it. It's true enough, really.
... But it also helps her bury the brewing concern bubbling within her.
Meanwhile, the Carriax is fast on the approach from the skies above; Meryl is swiftly loading up the first fresh weapon deployment for the Tyranado by the time Siegel's angry tirade against Rin -- against all the others -- against Amies lights up their communication lines. Her eyes narrow. Hirosuke turns his own gaze Amies' way, concern muted in his expression.
But there is a permanent shadow cast over Amies' pale features as she rears up, lips drawn into a thin, tightly controlled line, as if desperate not to let this man have the satisfaction of hearing her upset.
<"... I've only ever tried to do what's right. Which is more than what I can say for you,"> she transmits flatly, hands curling into fists against her legs. She shuts her eyes, and lets out a little exhale as she hears the Prospector himself admonish Siegel.
<"Don't bother, Mr. Prospector, sir,"> she says, with deferential respect -- which is certainly not a petty attempt to upset her former, terrible boss by giving respect to -another- fellow accountant while talking about -him- like he's not even there, <"He's never been one to seek out the opinions of others. He's too fragile to stomach others disagreeing with him.">
Case in point: the way he -rails- against Amies. Glinting glasses hide her baleful stare as she winds herself up, somehow making her menacing despite her petite frame. Despite that, she falls into silence, her fists trembling with scarcely-contained contempt as she clenches her jaw.
I'll see that prim face of yours contort with fear!
<"...">
Before anyone in the Carriax -or- the Tyranado can react, though, Seygo is already on the attack. Rays of particle fire scatter in wide, unpredictable patterns. Sagiri's eyes widen as she attempts to weave -between- them...
... but they come too fast, the patterns too unexpected. Prismatic light scatters and hammers the Tyranado over and over, leaving smoking holes of superheated armor in their wake as the VTX prototype spins out of control.
<"Hold on, Rami--!"> shouts Sagiri before she undertakes emergency recover maneuvers, g-forces suddenly -mounting- as the thrusters of the Tyranado blast -backwards-, providing violent counter-force to stop and correct its own tailspin. The two pilots shake and rock within the cockpit of their machine. THat much damage -- the Tyranado won't be able to take much more of this, Sagiri knows that. And yet...
<"I-it's okay! Just focus on him!">
The Fallen Angel of VTX Union smiles a little smile. Her eyes shut. And then--
<"It's okay, Amies. I won't let him touch you or the Carriax.">
Within the Carriax, Amies blinks. She looks to Sagiri's viewscreen, questioningly -- but her focus is already tunneled on Siegel.
<"If someone wants to quit VTX, they're free too. I don't even care if they want to badmouth us. Let 'em, to their heart's content. But anyone who pushes their pigheaded grudges on my precious coworker is an enemy... and I'm gonna make them regret the day they opened their big mouth. Plain and simple!">
<"Ma'am...">
<"Meryl! Give me the launcher!">
<"Already en route, ma'am!">
<"Heh heh. You know me so well, Meryl~. Now, Rin, Rami -- let's show this chump what we do to someone who harasses one of our own!">
The Tyranado -blazes- upward, -above- the E-Phas. It reaches out a hand -- and just as it does, it intercepts a large beam rifle, shooting across the skies right into its waiting grip. It swings that weapon around, one handed, as the Mobile Suit's engine begins to thrum with that strange, phantasmal green-blue energy once more.
<"You think you can tussle with us? Don't kid yourself, Siegel! I'll admit you've got decent skill for some guy with only three hours of simulation training under his belt, but you've made three major mistakes:">
The Tyranado fires -- fires -wide-, a lance of great, green energy scorching the air just to the right of the E-Phas in a feint, meant to herd it westward.
<"Mistake one: it takes more than just skill to win a real fight!">
Another shot -- this one high above, to make the E-Phas -descend-, straight into the Rancor's path.
<"Mistake two: you can never climb to the top of the hill of corporate success if all you know how to do is dig a hole for yourself!">
The Tyranado aims one last time--
<"And mistake number THREE: I'm not pretty -- I'm god damn gorgeous! And completely out of the league of deplorable scum like you!">
And -fires-, aimed for a straight shot -right- for the center mass of that strange Mobile Armor.
<"Get ready, Bastard Chief -- I'm about to teach you the meaning of fighting a real battle! It lies beyond fear, beyond salarymanhood... and as long as you don't know it, you'll never win against me, or anyone here! Your only value's gonna be the price we get selling off your middling combat data!">
<"Please,"> deadpans Amies Ernest; despite her tone, a smile touches her lips.
<"I couldn't -pay- someone to offload his useless data.">
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Magna Beam Launcher - Focus Shot! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Charge against Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Crescent Cross! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Crescent Cross, taking 5100 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul completes the Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Evade against Luanova Luckwright's Twist Space! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Luanova Luckwright's Twist Space, taking 3648 damage! KTS: Luanova Luckwright bypasses Rudi Pixyzalto, preventing her from Guarding the next attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Block against Sagiri Sakurai's Magna Beam Launcher - Focus Shot! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Sagiri Sakurai's Magna Beam Launcher - Focus Shot, taking 4050 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rudi Pixyzalto has posed.
"Yeah? That unfeminine mouth of yours tells me all I need to know about you." Is Siegel's response to Rena, as he suddenly turns around the E-Phas, failing to catch her saber on one of the better armored wings.
Instead it catches on the frame itself, and pushes in, just right. And then Rena gets a flash of insight, as another towering E-Bit comes in to slash try and carve through the Gaia Gear with both Ray Cleavers. "Lemme teach you a lesson in respect for your seniors."
However Enba notes they're familiar with corporate, and the man snorts, and- "Are you trying to piss me off? It's not a man's fault if the women in the workplace are all out to get him." What's his end goal? What's he trying to do? The Gottfrieds fire, and the huge beams slam into the E-Phas, rocking it repeatedly as the man seems to briefly lose his nerve.
"Simple, collect a paycheck. They gave me a 20% payraise over the VTX Union right out the gate. Shows how much they value me for my experience. They also said they'd take care of those ridiculous lawsuits for me."
This time it's not him that comes at the Uzume, but one of those E-Bit mobile armors, it's Ray Cleavers igniting as it starts trying to slash into the hull of his ship repeatedly.
Prospector calls Siegel out, and he takes offense right on cue, "Big talk for a man who hires a cute little girl to be a part of the bridge crew. You think you don't know what kind of message that sends?" His image appears on the Nadesico bridge again, as he waves an arm as if through the window, "Look at her! She's got PIGTAILS! I-"
That same moment is when the Nadesico's missiles strike, and they see him suddenly getting jolted all over the cockpit. "... Damned brat." He mutters, as he reorients himself. "Feeling pretty secure behind that shield of yours, aren't you? Let's do something about that."
And with that, the E-Phas flies down on a wide arc, right up next to the Distortion Field - somehow, he's just smart enough not to crash into it, but here, point blank, that cannon glows too as a wide column of powerful particle energy tries to bore through the Nadesico's shield.
"Don't ever try to tell me what to do Naujakaite-!" The man finally replies to her, before- the Rancor arrives, the canine head of the drone slamming it into the E-Phas over and over, "YOU LITTLE! Get it off me!" One of the E-Bits replies, ray cleavers igniting as they try to slash down on the Rancor. "I can't even tell you how good it'll feel to carve up the president's pet team."
Chiot suddenly speaks up, indicating that, they're actually the pilot, "H-Huh!? Hey! What gives! I wasn't- naturally I wasn't meaning you! I meant that - unfeminine broad you've got on board." Is he panicking a little over that? Yeah, he definitely is. As Chien- "It's NOT LIKE THAT!" Panicking, he slams down on the scattering mega-particle ray, trying to catch Argent Getter 3 with a burst of Antiproton rainbow hell, small beams scattering and scything across them in random patterns.
"I've been married three times, damnit!"
Soma slips past the E-Bits, the lance beginning to fire it's bolts which pepper the E-Phas's armor with pot shots, it's enough to cause him to veer sideways before banking around with all the grace of a blimp - though somehow so much faster, "All this whining! Interruption this, interruption that. Peons like you are why everyone knows that when you wanna get the job done right, the government privatizes!" Suddenly bringing his arrays to bear, all of them begin firing, each of them actually making microadjustments to track, and respond to her GN-X's movements in real time."
"There's nothing small about me." He picks out, from Annie's insults, as he slips through, peppering the head of the E-Phas with Vulcan Fire, "But you? Only thing you've got going for you is your big mouth. Let me show you." The E-Phas suddenly turns, it's cannon charging, as it fires several short bursts in quick succession, each one fired so quickly that it can't seem real from a cannon so powerful.
Rudi is unfortunately no longer present to answer Flay's complaints, but Siegel? As Flay's beamfire glares past his optics enough that Siegel finds it difficult to see, each impact flashing. "You're the one that's crazy, sweetheart, thinking that a man's going to take your sass lying down." Now that he's out of the workplace, he just has no filter, does he? "Your Daddy obviously spoiled you, by sparing you his hand."
The Strike Gundam may feel momentarily safe, because he seems blinded by the shot after shot, but the E-Bit, the shadow of it appears overhead, as it begins trying to carve right into her armor with the repeated blows of its Ray Cleavers.
"You're not quite Christmas Cake yet, so maybe if we start now, there's time for the lesson to take."
Al is correct, there is in fact, no fold wave detected How the heck did Rudi pull it off? Is the Company's technology really so advanced? But- Al does point out a structural vulnerability.
(It's Siegel's ego, but everyone knew that. Al manages to point out a much better weak point to his toy.)
Lucine calls him out and the man notes, "Bah! You don't get the corporate world at all! This is my job! If you don't understand that business is cutthroat like this, then-" But she keeps going, and going, "Who the hell do you THINK YOU ARE? Just trying to get a rise out of me huh? I get it." This time, when the cannon turns, Lucine will also see that it's been charging... overlong, "You're that type, aren't you? But it's fine. I'll give you exactly what you-"
The Anti-Proton Smasher erupts, firing one long, horrendous stream of energy, strobing upwards at an angle, like some inexorable natural disaster, splitting the clouds over the Taribia at that point of contact, sunlight pouring in even after it stops firing.
"-ASKED FOR!"
Suddenly, he feels the pressure of the Myrmex engine though, and... parts of the E-Phas bend, ominously, like the pinions of the arrays are just twisting subtly, and the man makes a noise, "That so? Tell you what - you can think all the dirty thoughts about my bits all you want." The cannon turns just enough, as if the armor is just sturdy enough that it's engine can pull to resist it before it starts firing, and firing again, just short bursts that try to disintegrate the area around the engine.
"Man like me? Has got high standards, but, won't begrudge you your fantasies, babe."
(Rudi sadly is no longer around to know about the sweet, sweet Neo-Benjamins that Sagiri is going to get.)
However, it's that moment when he's firing on Luanova, that the Tyranado trains that Magna Beam Launcher on him. And the look on Siegel's face for just a moment, is those deer in the headlights look of 'Oh I fucked up.'
A lance of energy strikes the E-Phas once, then twice, then thrice. "AIEEEE!" The man shrieks, on the third one, thinking - that's it, but as the smoke clears, the E-Phas is still there, scorched and battered but. "Ehe-ehehehehe!" He begins to laugh, as if it's settling in just how resilient he really is, by a man who's never really faced danger on the battlefield, or death, "That all you got, Sakurai! Don't kid yourself!" He looks at her grinning, "If you put on more makeup, you'd only be a seven, at best."
He might as well have spoken heresy, to Special Section 3, here and now.
"You sure you wanna make big talk like that, calling me your enemy, Sakurai? I NEVER forget a grudge!" That Antiproton cannon begins to glow, brightening all the more charging to being so bright that it's a glaring beacon heralding destruction, "Didn't you hear me, Amies Ernest!? Next time-"
Just like with Lucine, it fires, one long stream of rainbow particle hell that feels like it would carve through anything in it's path.
"-you'll LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU!"
%
KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Rena Lancaster with E-Bit Ray Cleaver Dual Slice! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Enba Rezza with Severance Package! KTS: Ruri Hoshino's IFS Genius activates! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Ruri Hoshino with Termination! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Chienne Argent with Scattershot Approach! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Anita Rosetta and Luanova Luckwright with Disciplinary Action! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Flay Allster with Severance Package! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Lucine Azul with Anti-Proton Smash! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Sagiri Sakurai with Anti-Proton Smash! KTS: Luanova Luckwright fails to engage block against Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action! KTS: Luanova Luckwright's Will Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Luanova Luckwright successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action, taking 2720 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto repulses Luanova Luckwright, preventing her from Charging the next attack! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto rattles Luanova Luckwright, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Rena Lancaster engages parry against Rudi Pixyzalto's E-Bit Ray Cleaver Dual Slice! KTS: [Mirage] Rena Lancaster's Voidframe activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Best Defense! Rena Lancaster successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's E-Bit Ray Cleaver Dual Slice, taking 0 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Chienne Argent fails to engage Block against Rudi Pixyzalto's Scattershot Approach! KTS: Chienne Argent successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Scattershot Approach, taking 4590 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta engages block against Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action! KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Critical Hit! Anita Rosetta poorly blocks Rudi Pixyzalto's Disciplinary Action, taking 3900 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rudi Pixyzalto's And That's... Check~mate~! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Sagiri Sakurai fails to engage guard against Rudi Pixyzalto's Anti-Proton Smash! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Anti-Proton Smash, taking 5760 damage! Chienne Argent transforms to Argent Getter-1
KTS: Ruri Hoshino has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza engages guard against Rudi Pixyzalto's Severance Package! KTS: Enba Rezza moderately guards Rudi Pixyzalto's Severance Package, taking 4760 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto completes the Formation attack! KTS: Flay Allster engages guard against Rudi Pixyzalto's Severance Package! KTS: Best Defense! Flay Allster successfully guards Rudi Pixyzalto's Severance Package, taking 4200 damage! KTS: Chienne Argent has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Ruri Hoshino engages guard against Rudi Pixyzalto's Termination! KTS: Ruri Hoshino's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Ruri Hoshino successfully guards Rudi Pixyzalto's Termination, taking 4420 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Rin Naujakaite with E-Bit Ray Cleaver Slash! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto targets Soma Peries with Aggressive Restructuring! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto's I'm Afraid That's Not An Option activates Focus and Alert! KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Rin Naujakaite engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's E-Bit Ray Cleaver Slash! KTS: Rin Naujakaite successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's E-Bit Ray Cleaver Slash, taking 3510 damage! KTS: Soma Peries has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Soma Peries engages evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Aggressive Restructuring! KTS: Critical Hit! Soma Peries poorly reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Aggressive Restructuring, taking 6240 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rudi Pixyzalto's And That's... Check~mate~! activates, causing Control Bonus! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto completes the Formation attack! KTS: Rin Naujakaite has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul fails to engage evade against Rudi Pixyzalto's Anti-Proton Smash! KTS: [Mirage] Lucine Azul's Glimmer Engine activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Best Defense! Lucine Azul successfully reacts to Rudi Pixyzalto's Anti-Proton Smash, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Enba Rezza has posed.
'Are you trying to piss me off?' "Yes," Enba answers. "Is it working?"
They have little else to say to him; they got the data they wanted, after all. One of those little E-Bit armors comes at them in any case, and there's no way to dodge this; thee Uzume relies on its armor until its CIWS can dissuade the little guy from cutting any further. Still...
"Ship's armor compromised," Uehara announces. "We can take more, but we might want to do something quick."
"Agreed," Captain Rezza says. "Lancaster, Rosetta. We're moving in for combat suppor. Be careful."
Merrs then says, "No fold waves, Captain. I still can't account for why they can appear and disappear."
"Noted," Rezza says. "We'll analyze the data later. The Nadesico might have more luck."
Licia grimaces. "Can we kill this guy already? He reminds me of so many guys back home." In Zeon, that is.
"That's the idea," Rezza answers. "Uehara. Charge the Lohengrins to full power."
"WOOHOO!" Uehara exclaims, pumping his fists. "You got it, Captain! 100% power!"
"Full stop. Bring us about, Miss Chovan."
"Got it," Licia answers, and turns the ship to face Siegel's Phas-E. "Optimal cannon positioning set!"
"Uehara! Aim!"
"Firing solution acquired, Capain!"
"Now--"
A flash cutin of the bridge crew displays all five of them, Enba at the center, with the Captain saying, "Fire at will!"
Some of the biggest cannons Terminal has to offer open up and BLAST forward with positron beams, two from each side. And then they fire again. And again. And again.
It's a lot of explosions.
KTS: Enba Rezza has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Enba Rezza targets Rudi Pixyzalto with 'Lohengrin' Positron Blaster Cannon Devastation! KTS: Enba Rezza has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Guard against Enba Rezza's 'Lohengrin' Positron Blaster Cannon Devastation! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Enba Rezza's 'Lohengrin' Positron Blaster Cannon Devastation, taking 5865 damage! KTS: Enba Rezza roots their unit, coming to a standstill and leaving them vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Yeah," Rena replies to Annie. "This is something we're gonna need to find out more about."
The Gaia Gear Alpha keeps flying in, and Rena manages to keep her focus on piloting and talking to Flay. (Coordinator things.) She nods. "Roger that, Allster. I'll be snappy," she says.
Allster, Allster... the name feels familiar, but she isn't sure. Rena tables the thought.
"Alien manufacture?" Rena repeats -- then she shakes her head. No, she's had enough conversations with Omoikane to know that disbelievingly repeating something to an A.I. is just confusing. "Sorry. I believe you, just... that's got scary ramifications."
She frowns.
Then her frown deepens.
"Excuse me? I'm going to knock your arse halfway across the Solar System, if you keep that attitude up!" Rena snaps at him, her acccent thickening as she gets angrier.
She gets a flash of insight; that rush of his intention to hurt her, those emotions rolling over her mind, then flashing like lightning between her her eyes.
She processes that even as Al highlights something on her screen; part of the E-Phas, lit up brilliantly on the Gaia Gear's 360 degree display. Her eyes narrow. "I see it, Al!"
Her voice is tight as she turns. The Gaia Gear moves, at the Psychoframe's urging. But ever since that day at the North Pole, it hasn't just been Psychoframe. Pale green light comes out of the Gaia Gear Alpha, unbidden. Only a flash of it--
And for Al, on the screen, there is an impossible read out. The spatial coordinates of the Gaia Gear -- and him and Rena -- are briefly in two places at once. There is a shifting of space, a feeling of reality sliding around them, then snapping back into place.
For Siegel, the Ray Cleavers strike metal for a moment. The Gaia Gear's white-and-teal armor crumple -- then puff away into a burst of pale green and blue light, like -- to the untrained eye -- Psychoframe emossions. The real Gaia Gear suddenly is ten meters back from it.
Rena sucks a breath in, her brown eyes widening sharply. "What the hell was--"
The Psychoframe roars back to life. Deep sea blue explodes out of it, instead, and the Mobile Suit's fist swings back. Blue light dances off the fist, pours off its eyes and the armored frame of the white-and-teal Mobile Suit, and then coalesces into a flame.
"And don't--" She slams the fist for the midsection of the E-Phas once, with an explosion of blue sparks.
"--talk to--"
Then the other fist, wreathed in blue Psychoframe light, slams down from above.
"--my girlfriend--"
And then the Gaia Gear slams its knee upward, with a final, brilliant blue explosion of light.
"--LIKE THAT!"
KTS: Rena Lancaster's Newtype activates! KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Gaia Flash! KTS: Rena Lancaster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Guard against Rena Lancaster's Gaia Flash! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Rena Lancaster's Gaia Flash, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Soma Peries has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Flay Allster has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Sagiri Sakurai KTS: Soma Peries has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Soma Peries has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Soma Peries has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Flay Allster has activated the Strike Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Leave it to you, Mr. Seygo, to look at the crew of the Nadesico and see their superficial traits," Mr. Prospector sniffs, as Siegel targets Ruri. (The Systems Operator in question frowns, lightly, as she's reduced to a message to be sent.) But when he considers Amie's wishes, Mr. Prospector sighs. "You're quite right, Miss Earnest," he says, to Amie. "Of course, we'll back you up." It's a matter of professional pride between accountants! Who all, again, know each other. Somehow.
Minato appears, in a little window to the side of Lucine's cockpit, to explain: "It's called 'Refrain'. It calls up all your happiest memories -- and you lose yourself in them. Except, it's so hard on your body, you end up falling into catatonia in a matter of months... I'm afraid it makes you happy to death, Lucy-lu." She frowns, clearly bothered by it all.
The E-Phas fires an unexpected blast -- but Ruri, all tuned into the Nadesico, realises what's going on before anyone else does. "Incoming," she warns, as she cycles the generators to steady the Distortion Field. That cannon-blast certainly knocks it about, but thanks to her split-second efforts, they're not blasted straight through.
But Rena is in two places at once, and -- "Rena-san," Ruri appears in a window to the side, "what happened?"
The 'electronic fairy' has no explanation for Rena's displacement.
"That teleportation is a problem," Jin says, "but he doesn't realise we have an ace up our sleeve! If he keeps dodging like that -- we'll just leave him with nowhere to dodge! FIRE GRAVITY BLAST!" Jin's getting all worked up...
"Gravity Blast, now calibrating for atmosphere," Ruri isn't nearly as hot-blooded. "Calling targeting data... firing solutions. Thank you," she adds, to Al, whose data is invaluable in figuring out a path which won't do as much damage to their allies as to the E-Phas. "Now firing."
The great jaws of the Nadesico open wide, as gravity builds within the prongs, and a giant beam of gravitational energy fires to wash over the E-Phas.
It's a very big gun.
KTS: Ruri Hoshino targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Gravity Blast Cannon - Atmospheric Gravity Blast! KTS: Ruri Hoshino has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Block against Ruri Hoshino's Gravity Blast Cannon - Atmospheric Gravity Blast! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Ruri Hoshino's Gravity Blast Cannon - Atmospheric Gravity Blast, taking 4425 damage! KTS: Ruri Hoshino roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. <Pose Tracker> Chienne Argent has posed.
"Married three times and still looking? Maybe you're hunting for something a wife isn't going to give you," Chien says, before correcting himself thoughtfully, "Most wives."
The scattering particle ray (is it mega particles if it's antiprotons?) dances across Getter-3, and even its enormously heavy armour can't hold up to that indefinitely. Chien actually does a remarkably good job of bracing against it, deploying a flip-out shield from each arm and a heavy shoulder guard, but it starts to erode away -
"Got it!" Chiot no longer sounds worried. "Antiparticle weaponry. I've never seen anything like it, but I think we can get some defense with the plasma - "
"You're on that." Chienne immediately takes control while Chien keeps running damage control. Her voice is tightly contained. She's about to explode, and - "I'm going to delete this asshole FROM THE FACE OF THE PLANET!"
Chienne slams the decombine lever before the others do. Argent Getter shudders weirdly before breaking apart as the other two pick up on it, either from damage or from lack of team synchronization, but there's nothing sloppy about their recombining into the original Getter shape.
It's actually visibly damaged, now. There's nothing *missing*, but parts of it are deeply scored or scorched. It's still moving, though.
And true to his word, Chiot is running defense. A plasma shield forms around Argent Getter-1, crackling silver. It won't stop everything, and isn't meant to, but it ought to give them some defense against the antiprotons, or so he's hoping - if he can just repel a few of them, it might be enough to save them from a follow-up shot. It's not like Chienne ever pays enough attention to defense...
"Unfeminine, huh." Chienne's voice is back down to a low growl. "Just because I don't have my tits all the way out doesn't mean I don't have them. Fortunately, I don't care about looking good to slime like you - but if you're going to SIT THERE and INSULT ME I'm going to TEAR YOUR FACE OFF and SHOVE IT - "
Chien very quickly mutes Chienne. "You probably didn't want to make her mad," he says, while Getter-1 begins to move.
It rushes in, wielding a weapon that looks like nothing like a giant ball and chain. Chienne begins to get it spinning, around and around - and the ball flattens, shifting its front half into something more like an enormous executioner's axe, growing to almost the size of the Getter. Which is not small.
She begins to spin, whirling her entire mech in a circle, letting it extend further and further out on its chain - and a *thruster fires* on the back of the axe-head, accelerating the whole thing. A second thruster fires, this one on the Argent Getter itself, stuttering on and off and moving the entire whirling arrangement forward, directly at the E-Plas - though if it takes out some E-Bits by mistake she's not complaining.
" - DIIIIIE!" Chienne crackles back on, as she brakes her spin, lashing out with the enormous polymorphic axe head to not only bisect the E-Phas but to smash right through it, the burning thruster putting impossible force behind the blow.
KTS: Chienne Argent has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Chienne Argent targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Boosted Guillotine! KTS: Chienne Argent has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto engages charge against Chienne Argent's Boosted Guillotine! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Chienne Argent's Boosted Guillotine, taking 4640 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
"Big mood," Rin answers Luanova, but she has a lot on her mind.
Rancor contends with the E-Plas, but Rancor, faithful and loyal as he is, is a drone core operating a somewhat kitbashed body. The struggling and the smashing do their toll but soon enough an E-bit strikes a shrieking blow against Rancor's side. The machine falls to the side.
There isn't a yelp or anything.
Not one their enemy can hear.
Rin's eyes are shadowed, even as Siegel presses his attack against the others. Even as ships fire upon the E-Phas. Rin takes her beam rifle... and leans it carefully against a wall. "Meryl, Rami," Rin says, in a somewhat toneless voice, "Sorry I'm going to run up the test bill more."
Rancor thrashes, regains his feet, and moves away. But he seems to be limping. If Siegel is paying attention he might see -- the E-Bit didn't damage a hind leg -- but that seems to be where the leap is.
Rin takes a deep breath -- reaches forwards and takes two tablets out of a little container and pops them in her mouth with a crunch. Her eyes widen slightly afterwards.
More gun fire roars forwards as Rin makes the Gespenst II-R -- which is for the most part unharmed so far -- do a little... hop. Backwards. Then forwards. Then again, a bit quicker. Rin breathes deeper, as the Gespy spreads its arms out and then brings them up in a boxer's guard. Another hop forwards...
"You know, guy," Rin says, "I feel bad for you, because I bet you've had a lot of disappointment... but I don't feel THAT bad for you... because you're being a total asshole to everyone on the face of the Earth right now!! You're not just diving in -- maybe your machine's so strong YOU could have done all of this, but you could've been here an hour ago, and then YOU'D be the hero. So I don't think you want to save these people. To stop the bad guys, to be a hero."
A hop back.
"I think... you just want to express yourself."
The Gespenst hops forwards, then *jumps* back, enough to turn a somersault...
"So for the sake of all my co-workers-- and all women-- I'll express myself right back!" A foot slams forwards to tumble the Gespenst back forwards, Rin watching the world slide as she can feel her awareness seem to tighten and sharpen.
Suddenly the thrusters flare -- throwing the Gespenst up to hang in the air, even as her eyes track the incoming Getter-blade--
"For the sake of everyone you've given shit!! And twice for Amies and Mz. Sakurai!!!"
The thrusters stop as the Gespenst reorients. One fist is raised. There is a crackle of energy, but not at the fist.
"GES"
The thrusters ignite at full throttle. They can't quite fly long distances under Earth-normal gravity right now (Penguin Mode requires accomodations) but they don't have to go much further than the location of the E-plas. They scream, joining their impetus to Gravity's inevitable pull, however perturbed by the Nadesico's weapon.
"PENST"
Streaming air glows luminous around the extended foot as Rin accelerates. It pushes her back in the cockpit in a strange way; she can feel the strange tug, see her eyes swim, but she's grinning as she does, and the conclusion is aimed
"KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK~!"
RIGHT at the centermass of the E-Phas, however damnably ornate it may be: something like 70 tons of metal with screaming thruster force and gravity giving both push *and* pull, all of it backed by burning heart!
KTS: Rin Naujakaite targets Rudi Pixyzalto with VTX GESPENST KICK! KTS: Rin Naujakaite has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Parry against Rin Naujakaite's VTX GESPENST KICK! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Rin Naujakaite's VTX GESPENST KICK, taking 4350 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Soma Peries has posed.
'Peons like you are why everyone knows that when you wanna get the job done right, the government privatizes!'
Soma squeezes her controls tighter as she starts to feel anger swelling within her. She doesn't care that he just called her a peon. An insult to her own skill is nothing that'll get her fired up.
But this man is essentially insulting all soldiers like her at the same time. All the people she's served with. All the ones who have died to protect their nation.
The Rosen launches itself forwards, charging full throttle towards the E-Phas and leaving its funnels behind.
S-Slow down, the funnels can't keep up!
Doesn't matter. I'll handle this myself.
The E-Phas unloads with its constant barrage of beams, emitters fine tuning their angles of attack. Soma doesn't have any actual shields on her machine other than her funnels. Which is fine with her. She prefers to utilize her super soldier reactions. The Rosen twists and turns, sliding and spiraling around the multiple beams. It's not perfect, with each shot grazing across parts of Soma's machine, the damage quickly adding up. But it remains far less than if they had all struck dead on.
Even after the barrage of beams ends, Soma is still charging forward, close on the tail of the Argent Getter. In fact, the Rosen slips in behind the larger machine's charge, briefly hiding it from the E-Phas's direct view. And moments after Chienne tries to split the E-Phas in half, the Rosen reappears again to follow up the attack, trying to plunge the long lance in its hands point first into the E-Phas.
Soma adds on to Chienne's cry, but with a far cooler tone, <"What she said."> Soma pulls the trigger.
Still plunged into its target, the GN Lance begins to rapid fire unload its crimson beams at point blank range. Until finally the Rosen pulls its weapon free and quickly backs away in order to avoid getting in the way of its allies aim.
KTS: Soma Peries targets Rudi Pixyzalto with GN-X GN Lance Pierce and Unload! KTS: Soma Peries has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Guard against Soma Peries's GN-X GN Lance Pierce and Unload! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto moderately reacts to Soma Peries's GN-X GN Lance Pierce and Unload, taking 4590 damage! <Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
'You're that type, aren't you? But it's fine. I'll give you exactly what you-'
Gold eyes focus in on that charging beam. Lucine pulls back the Dianthus to improve her chances of evasion, hands tense on the controls.
'-ASKED FOR!'
The Dianthus jerks aside, but it's not enough; the Dianthus is still in the blast's trajectory, being pierced through.
But it's enough for one of her dad's pride and joy, as, once again, it's an illusion. The Dianthus, and its very tense-knuckled pilot is right next door.
Running her tongue over the spot where she accidentally bit herself, Lucine is briefly startled at Lua's voice over the line. She quickly relaxes; of course Lua'd be here. It'd be just as personal for her, if not moreso.
If only Lucine could simply say 'no clue'. Unfortunately, Lucine's gotten the gist of it, straight from the man's mouth. < ".... He switched places of employment to the one that engaged in human trafficking and drugs... because they gave him a raise and promised to do away with those lawsuits he's been complaining about. .... The fact that Ms. Pixyzalto has disappeared on him may mean they're liable to abandon him in a ditch someplace if this battle doesn't do him in." > Lucine pauses, her tone briefly reverting to the quieter persona Lua met in that cafe. < "... He's not the one responsible for the people you guys are getting out.
Which brings Lucine to another realization. < "For all I know, they carted him out as a giant distraction, and I just may have fed into it. We should make sure this isn't just bait." > Because of the things Liam still deals with, and he is simply one of many. And this isn't even the same group, but another, one of many.
Minato informs Lucine about Refrain, dashing her theory about Siegel. Lucine sighs. < ".... So he's just an asshole who knows how to fire a weapon, rather than someone getting some magic boost. ... I suppose that's the best I can hope for. Thank you, Minato." > She feels bad for her fellow Newtype-- such information isn't the greatest to have to spread out.
The Beam Arbalest is taken out again; Chienne's response is an excellent time to take advantage of it with a more personal sniper shot. ".... Just stay there like the proud son of a b--" Then Rin comes in, briefly ruining Lucine's shot.
..... Lucine would be angry if Rin *didn't* get some sweet revenge. Refocusing is easy enough.
< "... Bullseye." > The weapon fires a bring stream of light, not nearly as impressive as the attack the E-Phas fired earlier, but nicely aimed.
There's an art to these sorts of things.
KTS: Lucine Azul's Morning Star activates! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
"Affirmative," Al says, confirming Rena's expectations and continuing the important task of Rena's conditioning. But he does add: "Other options do exist that meet these criteria but have been trimmed for efficiency. At the very least, they're not using any standard I can source. I will note it wouldn't be the first time someone invented an entirely new category of mobile weapon in their garage."
He's counting Methane Wanzers, isn't he.
Rena's OS and the autobalance system are doing a lot of Al's usual job for him, giving him plenty of time to assess, spot targets, and manage damage control subroutines. The connections aren't perfect, but interacting with it using the pilot-input systems lets him bypass the need to write new API access, even if it does also mean Rena gets semi-frequent windows she's not controlling show up. It's fine. They'll work that out later.
BUT THEN, something activates that Al MOST ASSUREDLY did not turn on. "System contact. Psyc--" wormp.
"Oh," Al says, twice. "I don't like it."
Waveforms collapse and the Gaia Gear is in one place at once. "System activation logged," Al notes, throwing a notification up onto Rena's window. "Psychoframe activation and full utilization. And here I thought I was done managing unpredictable pilot-aware subsystems..."
"But with this in play, I see a path. Captain," he adds, and throws a series of targeting markers up on-screen. "This should comprehensively eliminate all evasion solutions within his unit's demonstrated reach."
"Believe you can strike true."
<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.
Myrmecia hangs in the air. Did she get him? There's no blood-curdling scream coming in response, just an escalating litany of misogyny. So that's a no. Myrmecia is rocked by another blast from that cannon, and again Lua has to halt other thinking simply to hold the unit firmly together. Too much of this and the cockpit's going to superheat. She falls back to evasive maneuvers within the thick cloud of responders.
Think all the dirty thoughts about my bits you want. Won't begrudge you your fantasies, babe. The gender-neutral synthesized voice from Myrmecia responds, <"What do you mean 'babe?' I'm a dude, guy."> Lua rolls her eyes within the cockpit. "Cartoon-ass piece of shit." Messages incoming from Lucine, providing a surprising amount of intel. Not that Lua is really in a position to use any of it. All she has to add is, <"Is he becoming more of a stereotype by the minute? I swear he was less misogynist at the beginning of this fight."> The Myrmecia swoops back around the rear in time to witness the thrusters coming up from the Gespenst, and she sees, in her mind's eye, the kick before it happens. Myrmecia moves in.
When the E-Phas is rocked by the terrible momentum of screaming thrusters, the Myrmecia is there on the other side. Unlike the Gespenst, the Myrmecia hovers stock still, save for theatrically winding its right arm back to deliver a single punch with impossible, outsized force at the exact moment to launch the E-Phas immediately back in the other direction again.
KTS: Al targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Nullify! KTS: Al has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Al's Where Are We Going activates Wall and Alert! <Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Definitely." Anita replies to Rena with a nod. Captain Rezza chimes in with a report, too. Combat support... "Got it. Well make sure the firing lane's clear."
Siegel shoots back, and Anita smirks. Figure he'd pick that part out.
"We're not talking about your ego, or your delusions of grandeur, here. Those don't count." Anita points out. She smirks, proud of Rena, as she snaps at him. The E-Phas turns, cannon charging... and it's fast. It shouldn't be able to fire off so many shots that quickly from a cannon like that. Her own Gungnir SC would face a significant cooldown time if she were trying to fire off so many at once...
No room to dodge. Anita grits her teeth and braces herself, the Pinpoint Barrier flickering as each successive blast from the E-Phas's cannon hammers into it. She reels back, having taken heavy damage... but, she's still in the fight. Her attention turns to the Gaia Gear Alpha. Blue... Deep, sea blue. She takes note of that, then turns her attention back to the fight.
Anita exhales... and then, she smirks.
"...Least I've got somethin' going for me. But you?" Anita replies to Siegel. "...You're nothing."
Suddenly, the Svipul unfolds into Battroid mode. The Gungnir SC launches from its shoulder and accelerates after it, rushing down the E-Phas alongside the Gaia Gear Alpha. It catches the weapon mid-air and the end ignites like the blade of a spear.
"You're /less/ than nothing." She clarifies. The Gungnir SC lashes out, jabbing toward the E-Phas's form as if to punctuate and emphasize her words. "You demean women, then feel entitled to their attention and respect 'cause you think you're a /big, strong man, and that justifies you doing whatever you want. So..."
"You'd better enjoy this while you can..." The Svipul retreats back, then, folding into Fighter mode, and then unleashes everything it has - a volley of missiles and gatling fire, all rushing toward the E-Phas from every angle. "...'cause this is the last time a woman's going to pay any amount of attention to you.
Smoke rising from the gatling pod's barrels, the Svipul returns to GERWALK form... and inside her cockpit, Anita smiles proudly for Rena.
"You tell 'im, Rena~." She says. One can practically hear the '<3' in her tone.
KTS: Luanova Luckwright has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Al has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Luanova Luckwright targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Gigantic Impact! KTS: Luanova Luckwright has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Wings of the Valkyrie Outstretched! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Block against Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot, taking 4560 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto accepts Al's Nullify! KTS: Al nullifies Rudi Pixyzalto's defensive abilities. KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Al's Nullify, taking 0 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Guard against Luanova Luckwright's Gigantic Impact! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Luanova Luckwright's Gigantic Impact, taking 4125 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Evade against Anita Rosetta's Wings of the Valkyrie Outstretched! KTS: Best Defense! Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Anita Rosetta's Wings of the Valkyrie Outstretched, taking 5175 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
"Good. Then let's finish this corporate leech off just as quickly, all right? " Flay replies to Rena, though it's with a delay because she doesn't exactly have those Coordinator multitasking skills. Her tone definitely reads arrogant as a Gaia Saber might be... but it's hard to tell if that arrogance is masking something else.
And now that she's laid out enough fire to be out of the E-Phas' sights for once, she finally breathes one quick sigh of relief... but that doesn't prevent her from hearing Siegel's comms. "What? Really? How unprofessional can you get?" She snaps back, detaching the Strike Bazooka from the left skirt, preparing for a heavier assault. "You're way too old to talk like-"
It's the mention of 'Daddy' that does the critical blow. "How dare you invoke him? You have no idea what he was like!" The Bazooka almost seems to shake in the typically imposing Strike, giving the E-Bit its perfect opening to try and cleave it open. The Variable Phase Shift Armour slowly darkens in colour, losing its power, as the Cleaver pierces it through clean. The cockpit turns dark, and Flay can only wonder... is she going to meet him again this soon?
Flay can only stop it by using the Strike itself to desperately overpower the E-Bit with its own limbs. "If that's your way of trying to get at my skin, then clearly you don't understand the proper way to talk to a lady at all. The only 'lesson' that matters right here and now is showing you exactly where your place is." She at least attempts to regain her composure after being hit in the trauma... but the venom in her tone is extremely evident.
The Strike Bazooka is loaded and aimed with the entire available ammunition... and right now, Flay feels exactly the same way Soma and Chienne do, loading the entire capacity upon the E-Bit, and E-Phas that commands it. "Don't you dare try to run...!"
KTS: Flay Allster targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Strike Bazooka Barrage! KTS: Flay Allster has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Intercept against Flay Allster's Strike Bazooka Barrage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Flay Allster's Strike Bazooka Barrage, taking 5369 damage! <Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
Sagiri Sakurai knows how to talk a good game. And really, there's not much bravado to be found there. Still, for all her confidence...
The chestnut-haired manager of Special Section 3 can't help but grimace as she looks upon the battered, yet -still operational- E-Phas.
"Eesh," she mutters, comms muted for the moment as she stares at the thing. The steady stream of data is still being uploaded to Amies on the Carriax and rapidly processed as fast as her ever-talented mind can manage, but even so...
"This thing... it can take a hit as good as it gives one. What the heck is up with it?"
Rami Amasaki bites the inside of her cheek. Her gaze remains fixed on the erratic motions of the Quark Drive, working to get its output under control -- while trying -not- to draw too much attention to just how much it -can- output.
"... It's..." she begins, and hesitates. She swallows hard, and pushes past her worry. "... it's because of the Anti-Proton Cycle powering it."
Sagiri blinks. She looks behind her.
"Huh? What do you mean, Rami--shit!"
That brief distraction costs her. It's a second too late that Sagiri notices that immense prismatic particle outpouring. Her eyes widen. And yet, rather than try to evade that hellish nightmare of high yield devastation--
"Rami! Cycle the Quark Drive as high as you can get it!"
"M-Ma'am??"
"Everything into the Tyranado's defensive systems -- go!"
"Y-yes! On it!!"
She -slams- on the accelerator of the Tyranado--
--until it is positioned right between the E-Phas and the Carriax, arms raised.
Those defensive systems engage -- but it's not enough. The pure, destructive potential of the Anti-Proton Smasher overloads systems and starts to compromise the structural integrity of the Tyranado itself. It's reckless -- not only for the obvious reasons, but... on top of everything else, despite everything she's said to Rami -- she puts her co-pilot at risk with her gamble, too.
The Tyranado is lost within a sea of churning hues for a few, perilous seconds. Meryl and Amies shout out in alarm and worry. But when the light fades...
The Carriax remains untouched, just as Sagiri promised. And the Tyranado...
... The Tyranado is still there, sparking, glowing with excess heat, chunks of armor melted to slag, pieces of it simply -missing-... but still operational.
Cerulean-blue light pulses through its limbs, its chest, its sparking head unit, like the unstable ebb of a star.
<"... I couldn't be more clear..."> Sagiri's voice comes lowly, dangerously. <"... You're not going to so much as look at any of them the wrong way, -Former- Chief.">
<"You know, Rin is right. You're just sad, Former Chief. Rudi and her company flattered you into a situation you had no ability to manage, and left you dangling in the wind when she lost a use for you. I heard you bragging about a twenty percent pay bump the Company offered you?"> VTX's Fallen Angel wonders, almost conversationally. <"Y'know, back on Gallia IV, Rudi offered me double. But the difference between you and me is that -I- can smell someone trying to give me the hard sell from a mile away. Because, unlike -you-...">
The Tyranado tosses the slagged ruins of its launcher out into the skies, hands falling to the still-intact Beam Bayonets at its hips like a cowboy readying for the quickdraw.
<"... I actually know how much I'm worth! And I'm sure as hell not going to sell out for a company that recruits ignorant dirtbags like you who can't even see how outclasses they are on every level! Amies, Meryl, Rami! Remember the special tactics training? I think it's time we put it to good use!">
<"You mean--">
<"--Tactical Pattern TND?! But -- but the demands on the Tyranado -- ma'am, that maneuver is too complex for the state its in!">
<"I've got faith in your system, Rami -- so you should, too!">
<"But--">
<"No. She's right,"> Amies suddenly cuts in. Her eyes pour over the data, a little smile dancing at her lips.
<"It's exactly what we need. Former Chief Seygo needs to know exactly how screwed he is.">
And, despite the severity of the situation... Sagiri grins, throwing her hands up haplessly into the air. Despite herself, Rami smiles too, as if that unflappable confidence was somehow infectious.
<"Well, I think that settles it, right? Requesting Tactical Pattern: Terrible Nightmare Delivery!">
<"Hah. Approval granted. Sakurai, Naujakaite -- show Seygo the VTX spirit in a way he'll never forget.">
<"You got it, Chief! TND -- start!">
Rami raises the Quark Drive's output; those thrumming lines of energy intensify to almost unstable degrees. But it's the Carriax, not the Tyranado, that acts first: flying forward past the VTX prototype, the white, jet-like deployment vehicle suddenly banks sharply southward. As it does, the Carriax's missile bays hiss open and fire, launching a full volley of rockets -straight- towards the E-Phas. They pack firepower all their own. But what they really do...
<"Here, Bastard Chief! Let's give you a taste of what a salarywoman can do when she's properly motivated!">
... is provide cover fire, each explosion belching smoke to conceal the Tyranado until it's suddenly punching -through- that haze, firing rapid-pulse blasts of green energy into the E-Phas as it blitzes past once, twice --
<"Meryl -- now!">
<"Striker, deploying!">
-- until that massive, oblong cannon that punched the hole straight through the trafficker's base LAUNCHES from the deck of the Carriax and straight into the Tyranado's hands as it blazes forward.
<"This is for Amies! And Rin! And for seven out of ten! And, hell -- literally every single woman you've talked to in any capacity today! Activating lance mode--!">
But rather than a massive particle shot like before, the strange particles that fuel the Tyranado's weapon instead spark and bloom into a MASSIVE blade tip like the pointed end of a very fat lancehead --
DRIVING it into the center mass of the E-Phas at the exact same moment that Rin and her Gespenst deliver that potent kick.
In the Carriax, Amies watches from afar, her expression a harrowing yet pleased thing.
<"Goodbye, Former Chief Seygo. I'll never forget how you subjected me to every form of harassment in the dictionary.">
...
...
POST-SCRIPT:
<"Rin, you never have to apologize running up a bill to deal with a man like this.">
<"Yeah! Some things in life you can't put a price on! Like not sweating the small stuff! Hee, get it? He's the small stuff--">
<"Besides, don't worry, Rin. with Former Chief Seygo clearly in breach of contract, we'll have more than enough money to cover the cost from his voided severance.">
KTS: Sagiri Sakurai targets Rudi Pixyzalto with Combination TND! KTS: Sagiri Sakurai has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto fails to engage Guard against Sagiri Sakurai's Combination TND! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto successfully reacts to Sagiri Sakurai's Combination TND, taking 6660 damage! KTS: Rudi Pixyzalto has been defeated!
<Pose Tracker> Rudi Pixyzalto has posed.
"You're damn right it-!" He starts to shout at Enba, the man sounding half-crazed, like a desperate, cornered animal, caught in the consequences of his own actions, the Lohengrin however fires and engulfs the E-Phas briefly, when it comes out, it is decisively a shade greyer.
And something flakes off...
Despite the intense armor, it can be defeated. It's showing it, gradually, as they team up on him, as they wear it down. "God-damn you!" It spins, trying to intercept the glowing Psychoframe of the angry pilot of the Gaia Gear, suddenly the E-Phas is smashed down a few meters, then away.
But it's that final blow, that knee, that causes something awful, a notable dent in the E-Phas, as part of it's wing crumples. "You're together? Like some sort of..." There's... this pause like he's comprehending it, "Guess it's true what they say about what piloting does to a woman."
(That's fair Al, Siegel Seygo likes it less than you.)
Which is when he gets head on by the Gravity Blast of the Nadesico, which slams him against part of the coastal hillside, then detonates the hill, then slams him into a new crater where the hill once was.
"... You- goddamned traitor!" He yells, once he realizes he is once again, not dead. Yes, in fact - he's alive. And why is Prospector a traitor? Well... all accountants know each other, but specifically he's a traitor to the male side of the equation. "Next you'll tell me that a woman keeping the books is as good as any CPA!"
He's getting more and more erratic, which is why Chien scores a notably blow with that, "Shut up! You don't know anything! Kind of guy like you-" Chienne however interrupts that train of thought, "Just try it - survived better than you! You think you're the first who's ever been after my head!" A vein throbs on his head as Chien mutes Chienne, "You think I'm SCARED of her!?"
Well he should be, because the giant ball and chain grows, axe-head at the fore, before it's thruster flies and this time when it comes at the E-Phas, he's stupid enough to...
... run right into it's oncoming swing. The Axe-Head scrapes across it's form with a giant shriek, gouging out a whole section of it's armor.
Maybe he should have listened?
'What she said' The man sees the tip of a lance. And the bright flash of it's rapid fire, of GN beam bursts, the man screams, "AIEEEE!"
(Yeah he's definitely scared.)
He recovers in time, to yell at Rin, the E-Phas barreling past Soma's GN-X as if he'd found a favored target. "Shut up! Shut up you disrespectful chit!" He snaps at Rin, "You still haven't learned a single goddamned thing about how you're supposed to act! You think you can backtalk me!?" The Gespenst however is there, as it hops forward, and then, tumbles towards it, as he tries to reorient the E-Phas to match it's movements.
But for all it's bulk, all it's armor, noone claimed it was fast- and suddenly it's thrusters catch it as it streams luminous energy and smashes right towards it's cannon. The Anti-Proton Smasher sparks as it's impact bends the edges of the cannon down, even as it's frame is gouged inwards, even as he's slammed into the base's parade grounds.
"You think that's... a winning attitude. How do you expect to ever please a man, acting like that?"
Yeah he's asking for it.
Which is when Lucine hit's Bullseye, as his E-Phas tries to recover, it's slammed right back down to the Parade Grounds. "You stupid bitch! I'm not on drugs! I'm mighty! You think you can get away with this!?"
Definitely asking for it.
"What!? Bullshit! You think I didn't hear how you talked to everyone else!" But- doubt creeps in, good lord, this man is definitely insecure, but worse? Yes definitely, give a aggrieved man a mic and make him think he's mighty - that his words won't face real consequences...
... he'll definitely get worse.
Either way that punch sends that E-Phas flying into the debris pile of one of the Zectars.
"No-!" He barks as Anita calls him nothing, the E-Phas disappearing in missiles and gatling fire, "The women of VTX - tried to do this to me before! You failed then, and you'll fail NOW!"
The E-Phas surges out of the cloud of smoke only to get hammered by the Strike Bazooka's projectiles hammering into it, detonating it again and again, tearing that hole in the armor wider.
"You think- you think I'd run from you!? You prissy little brat! I bet I can tell you EXACTLY what he was like!"
He's panting, panicked - at this point he really is like a cornered animal and it's because... he really has only had three hours in the sims. The man probably hasn't been in a real fight since he was a teenager, not really, much less real combat.
Yet, what knocks him out of that is not threats, it's not indignation, it's Sagiri Sakurai informing him of one simple fact, "What? They offered you double? You! You're just-!"
Suddenly, a very small man faces what he's truly worth, and despite the armor and armaments the Company gave him, he feels like a very small man indeed.
"It doesn't... matter, damnit! I'll prove my worth! I deliver any of you, even someone B-Rank. They'll give me more than that from the 'referral bonus'-! Far more! Eheheh! That's all I have to do! That's ALL!" And as such, he points the E-Phas right towards the Tyranado, "Just one shot! One good shot!"
And the bent cannon, and tortured frame of the E-Phas begins to charge again, even as the Carriax missile bays fire at him, filling his screen with smoke, the E-Phas glowing brighter, and brighter.
But he can't really see through the smoke, the green energy peppering it's form, and as Sagiri weaves in and out with the Tyranado, the Carriax banking away- the cannon fires again.
And even as that energy beam fires, not even coming close to where the Tyranado or the Carriax is, the Strikers are charged up with it's retort, sparking and booming, before driving it in.
And the E-Phas's whole frame trembles, and sparks, and glows, that Antiproton brightness like a reactor going critical mass, and the man works the controls, "This- this can't be happening! I was supposed to be mighty! That's what the Company told me! I can't... I can't...! DAMN YOU AMIES- ERN-"
The roar is deafening, a bright flash of sound and thunder and a truly concerning amount of particle energy erupting, and when it's finished...
... there is literally nothing left of the E-Phas. One would have to be watching very closely, to see the winged escape pod flying off in an arc towards the ocean before descending into the depths. Those who look for the E-Bit mobile armors as if something to 'mop up' after would realize they were already gone, withdrawn because the Company lost faith in Siegel Seygo's ability to deliver.
The GN Particle saturation has only just now cleared enough that her comms work from below ground as Leina Ashta's voice is heard, "<-ead me? This is Black Lioness. We've put out the flames and secured the area. We need a medivac team stat for some of these people. If you can hear us, please respond.>" Apparently, she's asiding to her coworkers down below, "<I still can't believe they're in a pitched battle with their ex-accounting chief? If this is what it's like at the VTX Union they better never layoff anyone on risk management.>"
There are certainly many unanswered questions of the day, but unfortunately, Rudi Pixyzalto seems unlike to reappear to answer them. For now at least, the raid is a success, the people are safe and secure...
... and one awful man with a grudge had his anomalously powerful toy taken away.
BBSYS: Post 1544, 'Recruitment Drive' has been published to Coordination by Sagiri Sakurai.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Sorry," Rena tells Al. "It's... never done that before. Which I'm not a big fan of." She winces a little. Was it really the Psychoframe. "I've got your data."
She exhales.
"Some... something with the Psychoframe," Rena says to Ruri. Her voice is distracted, for a moment. She has a suspicion; it's not one she plans to voice, and she certainly won't say it aloud when Cathedra and the Gaia Sabers are here. "I'm... I'm fine, don't worry."
The Gaia Gear remains alight with blue and green light; a little bit of the latter lingers. Rena glances, sideways, at Flay's panel on her screen. She cracks a smile.
"Agreed, Allster," she says. Then, she looks back at Siegel -- and cracks a smile. "Sure are. Isn't that right, Annie? And I don't think you know anything about piloting."
A beat.
"Or women. Like the ones coming right at you."
It's over soon, thankfully, for the E-Phas. Rena winces a little. The Gaia Gear Alpha Custom turns, head looking in the direction of the Tyranado and the Carriax. Rena's lips purse.
"So... that's Leina's coworkers, huh?" she asks. "They seem all right."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Rena's comment gets a laugh out of Anita.
"For sure." She agrees with a smirk - and laughs.
Soon enough... the fight's over, the Tyranado finishing off the E-Phas. Anita exhales. That was... a little cathartic. Maybe she should be worried about that - but, it's fine, really.
And with that, the Svipul turns to look toward the Tyranado and the Carriax at Rena's comment.
"I think I like 'em." Anita notes. ...And with that, the Svipul offers a thumbs-up, to them and the others gathered.
"Pleasure working with you all. Hope you didn't mind the intrusion."
KTS: Lucine Azul's Dianthus Mk. 3 has left KTS: Luanova Luckwright's MFW-1 Myrmecia has left KTS: Lilium Valerie's GNX-603T GN-X has left KTS: Anita Rosetta has launched from Enba Rezza's combat deck! KTS: Anita Rosetta's XVF-25I Svipul <GERWALK Mode> has left