Super Robot Wars ∀: Deep Space IC Thread - Part 1: The Culmination

[Ether]

As they continued to take out small chunks of the incoming horde, something odd happened. A segment of the security droids seemed to be diverting towards the front entrance of the facility, but Kim herself couldn't feel any presence coming from that direction. She could feel a small bit of confusion from Brant, as well, perhaps he had the same conundrum in his head.

"You feel what I feel... or better say, not feel?" Kim asked, taking a shot at one of the still approaching drones as she did so.

[Nanami Touko]

Feelings Not Received

As the force coming towards Brant and Kim dwindled to half a dozen bots, the source of the distraction became clear behind them. A teal haired android that had rushed to the scene upon their alarm being triggered. Still, the half dozen were upon the telekinetics, pushing at the door and making grabs at them.

"M-Move!" Christina called from the open cockpit, and kept moving the Phalanx towards the door. She could plug up the hole for now, and that would give them some time to recover themselves.

Jess was running back from her end of the hangar, having found no solution but to go further down. This seriously sucks!

Help?

"They can help if they want, but I'm callin' the shots! I haven't gotten my hands on a free reign toy since I got on this boat. This is some catharsis I need, and bad!" Buck didn't wait a second as the doors opening, rushing into the hangar and charging towards one of the mobile work stations. The two Heracles he'd been smacking at had been moved into proper standing frames in the hangar, both open and being monitored with small stations at their feet.

And probably the worst thing, there was Avery, asleep on a different bench, snoring in the quiet space. She hadn't gotten very far after Colt had woken her up.

[scorri]

Colt chuckled. He really was excited, wasn't he? "Sir yes sir, you're in charge. We'll follow your orders." It couldn't hurt to let the kid do the job, right? Avery thought he could do it, so no reason not to trust her. "How long have you been on this ship by the way Buck? You don't look old enough to have been working here very long."

 

Astin made their way up into the ship and to the bridge. Entering in, they glanced around and then headed over to one of the bridge crew. "There will be a truck coming from the colony police. They'll be bringing a new bot for us to use, but it's obviously too big to use the regular elevator. Just wanted to give you a heads up so you knew what to expect." With a nod, they headed back out to wait for the elevator down to the hanger.

[Phoenix]

"Yeah, I do," Brant nodded, trying to fight off the androids while also stealing a peek at what was giving their rear such a hard time. He only had to speculate for another second or two before a familiar android burst into view. After risking his life to retrieve her from the cockpit of the stolen mobile suit, Brant couldn't forget Hannah. The question was what was she doing here? The pieces were quickly falling into place in Brant's mind when a warning came from Christina. The phalanx was moving in fast, and just as well; the androids were just about in grabbing distance. Brant got clear of the door and went into his lower pants pocket for a spare magazine. His sense from Jessica told him they might be in here, a while.

[Ether]

Clearing the door as the ever-shrinking mob of androids reached it, Kim looked over to the entrance to see what looked like yet another android engaging them. Kim was a bit confused at the prospect, but Brant seemed to recognize their new arrival. Racking her brain to try and figure out where she might have seen that android before, she eventually thought back to the battle to retake the colony. Yes, in the midst of it all, Brant had been communicating with a security android that had been holding off the rebels, and Kim herself vaguely recalled a similar figure being present when she took her shot at the Apotheosis Lieutenant. They had brought the machine she had hijacked on board, so it wasn't out of the question that the droid had been repaired while she herself was in the infirmary.

"Take it you recognize new friend?"

[Shin]

Tarquin wasn't entirely sure why Nikolai laughed, he couldn't have imagined that his past had been particularly amusing. However, he did recall exerpts from his ventures into psychology, laughing when one had something troubling to say was not a good sign. Nikolai's story had Tarquin's full attention, he'd never had a family of his own or anyone he cared particularly about - other than the Professor. He had disliked leaving the facility, but he had full knowledge that the Professor was still there in good health. Was his history of turmoil the reason Nikolai was so unusual? Tarquin was not fantastically familiar with European history, but it sounded very much like Nikolai had been caught up in several conflicts.

Death was still a very scary word for Tarquin. He'd never seen anyone die before, or even known anyone who had died, the concept was far more daunting when it applied to someone within his social sphere. Admittedly, previously his social circle had been relatively small, if not completely non-existent, but things had certainly changed for him since he'd boarded the Heion Riese. Maybe not feeling anything was better than feeling sad, but wouldn't it be worse to not feel good at all? Tarquin had remembered fondly the praise he'd received for his high test scores, how thrilled the Professor had been when Tarquin had succeeded... maybe there was something in Nikolai's life that could counter the suffering?

"It can be different, Nikolai." Tarquin replied, stepping forward as the line progressed. "You don't have to live like that any more. I don't want to die, so I'll make sure that I stay alive... I hope you do too."

Tarquin's reply to Nikolai's sombre tale was interrupted by the cashier's call for the pair - they had finally reached the front of the queue. A bored woman probably in her early twenties with short brown hair and an unstylish uniform, she was the poster girl for a unsatifying dead-end job. The two children in front of her hardly made things any better. "Your order?" she asked, waiting impatiently for the pair. Through all their conversation, they had made no progress in deciding what they wanted.

"I... well..." Tarquin began, looking carefully up at the menu. All of the chicken had such strange names. "Perhaps two of the Turbo Chicken Meal?"

Tarquin looked over at Nikolai, checking to see if he had any protests. There was no telling if either of them would enjoy the meal, but it was the best they could go by. Despite all his intelligence and ability, Tarquin had realised one thing.

Ordering chicken was hard. 
 

[Nanami Touko]

Hold on!

Tristan caught Astin's quick message as they popped their head into the bridge, quickly hopping up to follow after them. They'd only managed to catch them as the elevator dinged to head down. "Hey, Astin! For the new bot, you've gotta use the lifts located in the hangar. Just ask Avery or Buck to show you where they are... Er, sorry. I'd forgotten we were getting something, so I ran after you without much of a reason. Now I just feel stupid." His lack of a break had been getting to him, even if he'd never admit it. "Good work out there, then, Sergeant. I'm sure the colony appreciates all of you going around to check on things."

Board the Doors!

Christina pushed the throttle on the bot as Brant and Kim got out of the way, slamming the thing into the double doors. The androids that weren't knocked back by the impact were trying to reach around the openings to get inside, but the Phalanx had nearly cut off all access to the hangar. Christina was pretty shaken from her crash, but after a quick set of breaths, she was hopping out of the cockpit.

"Hey! Are you two okay!?" They seemed fine at a glance, but Chrissy would be slapping herself if such an impact managed to damage either of them in any way!

Jess ran over right after, puffing and out of breath. "Uuugh, they never teach you sprinting in captain's classes... Geeeeeeez! I-Is that, thing gonna hold? Hahhhh..." Another groan, Jess collapsed to put her hands on her knees, trying to get her air back.

"Your worries are unnecessary, Captain."

The robotic voice came from behind the crashed Phalanx, as arm after arm of android began to disappear. That familiar tuft of teal hair popped into view, as the last threatening android was pulled away from the doors, and unceremoniously removed of its head.

"Had I known that you were going to be exploring the colony's mechanical plants, I would have
offered to join you."

"Wha... H-Hannah?"

[Xinnidy]

To the Ship!

With Lyra in tow, and the lad taking a lead with his car, Officer Grey moved out shortly after. In the end, even though he knew the way, it was just easier to follow Astin back. Quickly enough, they've found themselves in front of the humongous ship. "Man, I'll never get used to that thing in our docks. Feels like a damn fortress from one of those sci-fi shows." He chuckled, stopping the truck next to the entry dock. It was then that the realization hit that maybe he should have asked the pilot lad about how they were going to go about this --whether he'd just wait out there while the ground crew was called to help, or if he should already be unloading the truck.

Well, it couldn't hurt to make a call to the bridge.

"Hello? Is this the Heion Riese?" He grabbed the truck's transceiver, hoping not everybody was on break at the moment. "Got a big package over here, where should I park it?"

Fried Chicken and More

A muffled, cheery laugh could be heard approaching the two boys, or perhaps more specifically the cashier, as a tall figure which at a side glance could quickly be discerned as the mascot came by to join the conversation, for whatever reason. "No need to be so hasty, Julia. I bet there's just sooo much to chose from when your parents let you buy for yourself!" The cashier probably did not seem any happier as the mascot came by, but that didn't matter for the high-pitched voice person in the costume, whom seemed to have their attention on Tarquin.

"The Turbo Chicken Meal is great, but if it's not your first time trying it, maybe you want some big people food! There's the Comet Chicken Burger if you're really feeling hungry, it'll fill you right up!" The mascot patted their belly, an act to keep in character, no doubt. "We've also brought back a special from our earth branch, popcorn chicken, as an appetizer, if you want to share with your friend! You'll save some if you buy it with a burger or one of the full meal --free refills on your soda, too!" While the mascot seemed amiable enough while giving out suggestions to the boy, but maybe they were just trying to get Tarquin to go for something pricier?

Down the Hangar, Proper!

"O-oh." Well, that had been the wrong stop, and Makoto was almost eager to step out. Guess I should have known. Never been in a place like this, thought there'd be an entrance... Figuring it was probably a good idea to let the one in charge of supervising him lead, Makoto returned to the elevator with a sheepish look on his face. At least the rest of the (brief) journey down was met with interesting chatter, though Makoto planned to observe rather than add any input. Was it even okay for him to? Instead, he mostly listened, batting his eyes at the mention of an Apotheosis goon. That inference took a bit to sink in, but as the realization set, Makoto gasped shortly, but the topic had already moved, perhaps it wouldn't be good to change it back...

"Eeh... A Phalanx model, huh..." The teen contemplated softly, wondering what that could mean pretty quickly. Was it the machine he used yesterday? Maybe some armaments meant it could work like... a plane on two legs and with less top speed, stuck on the ground. Was it worth it, compared to the many large mechs they had used? Probably not. If it's a newer model, maybe it could carve a less sucky niche. Makoto wasn't as savvy on them, but their generators were very efficient for a small scale mech. A gunlance would be cool, though. Not gonna lie... The image of a Phalanx dealing a final blow with a miniature of the point-blank, armor shredder gun-pilebunker hybrid was enough to give Makoto a bit of glee. Now if only he had a name ready for that attack...

"Uwaah..." Now the hangar, Makoto could already tell how massive it was as soon as the door opened and they tooj the turn. "Uh... wow." Taking a moment to inspect basically every mech and scrap-filled corner with starry eyes, Makoto suddenly found it really struggling to decide what to do next. "Um, can we... well, I'd like to see the mechs, but I'm kinda curious what they're going to bring over. What do you say, Elaine?" That was a crossroad.

Long Stories

"I see..." Well, it seemed like chatter would continue, even if Dwight decided to stay, so it'd still be a good way to pass the time, even if not quite as planned --neither was Thorvald, to be fair. "Five years is shorter than I would guess. Not that many who would think to join the military that late, that I know. You also sound like you've had a deal of experiences in combat." Maybe Thorvald was just adept at this career. Maybe his prior job was relatable enough. Maybe he didn't want to be pried.

Roxanna opened her mouth to reply to Dwight, a bit surprised that he just felt like joining the topic. It took a bit to reply, but barely noticeable. "The... Olympus? I captained a Kraken-class, before I got sent here." She didn't really want to tell her story a second time, especially to Dwight (or, lord forbid, Jess), so she kept it brief for now. "The armaments of the Heion are what's hard to adjust to, personally."

Edited March 8, 2017 by Xinnidy

[Dandragon]

"Well, they might not have the thing yet, but we can check if they do. Might wanna start thinking of something else if they don't, though." Elaine, however, wasn't really sure who to ask about the Phalanx model, so she started just looking around for the head mechanic. Surely, Avery had to know something about it. But, as she spotted the familiar set of a pink ponytail and ballcap, Elaine soon noticed that Avery was sound asleep. She probably hadn't gotten any rest last night, and Elaine knew the feeling well. Any engineer or mechanic would.

The red haired pilot slowly made her way over the 'sleeping beauty' on the bench, and tried to gently shake her awake. "Hey...Hey, Avery. Got a couple questions for ya." Of course, it didn't seem to work. It was then she noticed a lack of a human sized robot on any sort of table, or anywhere really. It was possible that 'H4N4' was simply somewhere else on the ship, but she hadn't seen her ever since that one time. She tried shaking Avery again, this time with a little more force. "Hey. Avery. Where's that android you were working on?"

[Phoenix]

Once the Phalanx was between them and the hostiles, Brant smiled faintly. "Pretty sure that's our help from yesterday, yeah," he said. Jessica said the name, confirming the android's identity. "I would have asked if we knew where you were at the time," Brant called from beside the Phalanx. From the look of things, whatever had alerted the other androids had also alerted Hannah. That meant she made a mad dash from the docks to Bismarck in likely record time to investigate. "Okay, Hannah, questions: What alarm did we trip to get ourselves into this mess, and does this building have any other security systems we need to worry about?"

[Ether]

Well, that seemed to be the bulk of their problems dealt with for the time being. Recognition from both Jessica and Brant affirmed her suspicions, this must have been the security android from the larger scale combat within the colony.

"Am alright, Christina. Brant okay too. Don't think see you since liberate colony, Hannah was it? Not proper introduce, Kim Seung-Min." The Lieutenant replied to Christina, before turning to their new arrival, figuring an introduction of some sort was in order. This Hannah seemed to be amiable enough with Brant and the Captain, and had certainly made the situation a lot less hairy. Looking up at Christina, who was in the process of exiting the Phalanx, Kim hoped she could catch her attention before she did so.

"Christina, look all clear, can back Phalanx, open door."

Edited March 9, 2017 by Ether

[Shin]

There was some degree of irony in the mascot's words. As terrifying as the sentient piece of chicken was, Tarquin fully well knew that any of his caretakers wouldn't have let him close to a piece of fried chicken. However, Tarquin was now the one in control, and the chicken man's advice seemed to make sense. Fried chicken wasn't a topic that he was particularly familiar with, but surely the person inside the costume was far more familiar with it than himself? Scanning the options on the menu, the mascot's suggestions appeared to provide a better product-cost ratio... but at an increased base price. His funds were plentiful, and it wasn't like that the other option were that much more expensive. There were so many things to consider, did people just buy these things on a whim? Everyone ahead had chosen so quickly, and a queue was starting gather behind him.

"Nikolai? I don't mind paying more for the other one." Tarquin announced, ensuring that his friend had some say in the matter. "The chicken person says it's good, that means people like it, right?"

Looking around, he could see a few people at tables with a meal similar to the mascot's description. If it were popular on Earth, and had been good enough to bring to the colony, it was good enough for him.

[riariadne]

"I'm also impressed, Specialist Eriksson. The way you compose yourself on the field of battle would certainly imply more experience than only five years," Dwight commended him, having not fully appreciated the statement until Roxanna repeated it. "The Olympus was Kraken-class as well, one of the earlier models when they were starting to be put into use, where I was an officer on it until retirement. The technological leap has certainly been a difficult one for me as well- the Riese's capabilities are exceptional. I wonder if the Olympus is still in commission today, considering it must be about thirty years its first voyage. It was updated when needed, of course, but I wonder if the upkeep cost has grown to the point where it has been replaced in the fleet by a fresher ship. I suppose I could look up such information at a later time. Technology does always seem to be improving so quickly, I wouldn't be surprised either way."

[Sandalphon]

Nikolai stared in wide eyed horror at the... thing that had approached them. Once, in a trench in rural Moldova he'd gotten horribly ill, a combination of pouring rain and nothing to eat but a thin cold broth and spoiled bread, and he'd spent few days doubled over in pain, fading in and out of consciousness as reality crumbled around him. He'd seen a creature similar to this one, all googly eyed and soft as though it was boneless.

In that feverish vision, the beast had exploded into a cloud of black wasps, burrowing under his skin as he screamed.

Somehow, seeing this demented thing speak in a goofy, forced cheer was even more horrifying than that. If he'd had hackles, the boy's would've been raised.

Anything to get this disgusting aberration away from him. He nodded, his mouth dry and slightly agape as he did.

"That sounds... reasonable." He spoke in a low, hissing tone. If the thing decided to strike, he still had the knife and did not know the fear of death. "We should acquiesce to its demands."

[scorri]

Astin smiled and nodded in acknowledgement as the elevator door dinged and opened. Entering in, they rested their head against the wall while they waited for the doors to open again. Once they did, they stepped out, quickly spotting Avery and Buck. Buck looked very excited while Avery seemed to be asleep, maybe getting woken up by Elaine. Wandering over that way, they asked Elaine, "What are you all doing down here? Need to talk to Avery about something?"

[Nanami Touko]

Tripped

"O-Oh! Sure!" After all that work she'd done getting the thing over there, Christina had to just move it back right away. Well, it wasn't upsetting. They were safe, after all! The pistons on the mech began to move, and it took some steps away from the wall. She would've felt bad had she just left it there, so she started guiding it back to its starting station.

"Your ID was not properly verified upon entering the facility. The local security robots are
still on high alert due to the attack. They have not been properly shut down, likely because
this facility was attacked as well. Any human staff on hand were either killed or chased off."

That doesn't really explain the lack of blood around here, but I don't think it's a problem... Maybe the facility automatically cleans itself. Or, something... Jess propped her hands onto her hips, a Hannah walked into the hangar proper.

"As my personal alarm was also triggered I felt it best to make it here as quickly as possible
to ensure that no harm came to any unfortunate trespassers. It would seem that had it not
been for the accompaniment of Lieutenants Abrams and Seung-Min, considerable danger
would have befallen you, Captain."

There was a hint of what you could call regret between the robot tones of Hannah's voice, but her expression remained the same.

"Huh... Well, good thing we brought both TKs along, huh? You couldn't read their minds, but your reactions are second to none... Thanks, Kim. Probably wouldn't have made it without your help." It was a chilling thought, that some of them had almost died to broken droids. She shivered, and shook her head.

"Yes, it was. Now that the security has been taken care of, is there anything I can assist you
in finding here, today? I have full access to the facility and any other stations present."

"How about that?" It should've dawned on one of us to check for the colony's android before coming here, but I guess we all got too wrapped up in the adventure of it. "I've got one, but I'll let Brant and Kim go first... He was checking out the front desk. That's probably more important. Until then... I'll, try to collect myself. And here I thought being in that Legionary was the worst experience I'd have to go through on this Colony..."

Wake up Call, Round Two

"Quiet down... Darlin' yer... Too much noise..." Avery shuffled and groaned a bit, blinking awake again, before looking around some, and sighing. "Didn't get real far, did I... Geezus." She shook her head hard, sitting up and staring at Elaine. It was a good thing the lights in the hangar weren't that bright. "Hannah? Ain't seen 'er since I fixed 'er. Why you lookin' for--"

"She ran off!" Buck shouted, having run over. "Said she had something to do after I was done showing her around the ship and took off. I don't have any idea where to, though! Was probably some Colony business. She's still their android!"

Avery had pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed as Buck came over with his shout, trying not to let a headache get started. "Iffin that's what he says, then she ain't here. She'll be back. Maybe. Ain't ours, so no tellin' what's goin' on with that. Whazzer anythin' else... Hey, Astin." Avery perked up considerably, smiling some. "What're y'all back for?"

"Oh! Right! Astin, where's that robot?" Buck had run over for a reason, before getting caught up in Elaine's question.

"Robot? We gettin' somethin'?"

Best Laid Plans

Terry laid against a ridge, binoculars pressed against his face. Through them, the Bismarck facility lit up the night sky, a set of Velites patrolling around the perimeter. Aside from them, the place was just... Covered in defensive turrets. They were your typical AA placements, but concentrated fire from three or four of them could take down a Heracles in half a minute... And their squad didn't even number ten of the models. Calina had roused up the crew, but only five of them had volunteered for what was basically a suicide mission, if the slightest misstep occurred.

Terry sighed, rolling onto his back and pulling the binoculars away. "Hilling, you're really sure about this? You seemed as pumped up as the boss... Honestly, I think we should just cut bait. We've done enough fishing, you feel me? A tonne of our men are dead, and this... If it works out, sure, but if it doesn't, we'll be less than mercs, we'll be... We'll be fodder. Frontlines, first to go. We'll probably split up... So, I just..."

Terry had only agreed because he was still steamed over what had happened to him in the colony. To be pulled from his machine so aggressively by the android and left for dead, only picked up at the last minute... It left a terrible taste in his mouth, and it was the only reason he wanted to get back at that damned ship.

But now that they were there, staring down the facility, battle nigh... He was getting cold feet. "I just don't know, man..."

Hilling grunted a bit, as Terry's musings interrupted his concentrating on making observations. That they'd need to make their move when the Velite patrol was on the opposite side of the complex for this to work was a given. If both the automated anti-air emplacements and the manned mechs locked them down at the same time, they really would be done for, but good planning could more than cover for these few expected obstacles. He'd known coming in that this wasn't going to be easy, but in the longer term he was convinced that if they had any play, this was it.

Setting down his own pair of binoculars, and twisting his upper body to face the other man, he replied: "If you're having second thoughts, you did volunteer so you're free to back out. But let me try to assuage your concerns a little first, because, yes, I feel confident that this engagement is both necessary, and manageable. What comes after we've secured the facility is more uncertain, but planning too far in advance can be a recipe to invite misfortune." Hilling paused here for a slight sigh through his nose, before taking the approach he assumed would be the best way to win Terry over.

"You're right, if this does fall through, it'll be the final nail in the coffin, but let's not kid ourselves, it's been a long slow death for a while now. We took in a number of outsiders to bolster our forces, but it had the opposite effect, with them serving their own agendas, disregarding our methods, and splintering morale. It's painful to admit, but we were played pretty badly; we already were the fodder." Thinking back on how wretchedly the deal with Apothesis had gone, Hilling couldn't help but grimace.

"It's not too much of a presumption to say this, but the days of being a big company with mass deployments is over, we've got to adapt ourselves to the circumstances, and if we want to keep ourselves together and accomplish anything, we will need to become small, surgical, and elite. That, more than ever, is why we need the prototypes and upgrades in this facility, and that is also why it is a priority to retrieve Abigail, who we've confirmed is alive and captive, thanks to their having taken your Heracles on board with them. If we let ourselves miss out on tech like this, talent like hers, we might as well already give it up and go our separate ways. Retire from this kind of work entirely, and pick up something in the private sector." He didn't bother making any appeals along the lines of Abby being their leader, or 'no man left behind'. He didn't think Terry would really go in for that, because leaders can be and do get replaced, hell the position wasn't always hers. But if there was one thing he could count on, it was that he felt confident her skill as a pilot would be something the other man would acknowledge.

"If that sounds like your idea of a good time, by all means, turn back now. If that's not the life for you, then pick those binocs back up and confirm that the Velites will be making their scheduled turn to sweep the east side of the complex. If so, that's great, as it would confirm the route we've been working to establish. That would leave figuring out how to neutralize those turrets as the final obstacle." While most of their pilots favored to close and engage, Hilling knew full well that their existence would keep Sena from fighting in her preferred fashion, greatly diminishing their assets in what was to come, and with them their chances to pull things off successfully.

"It's not like that, but..." Terry sighed, giving in to listen to Hilling. He'd been Abigail's right hand for a reason... And those reasons were coming to the top as he explained their situation. He was right about the slow death of their group. With growing hostilities between the ANF, the EU, and now Apotheosis making their move, the governments had little use for mercenaries. They'd had to take on increasingly difficult jobs, and eventually they met this. We are in serious need of an upgrade... Terry sighed.

"Small, surgical, and elite, is it?" Terry could agree to getting new models, even among most groups, their heracles were only usable because they were kept in the best shape. Everyone else was stealing ANF mechs, or patching things together with them. Heracles with a Velite's arms and legs, Velite with a Plasma Buckler attached, a hodgepodge of both... Even Calina's own robot was a mess, but only on the inside. On the outside, it looked like a custom model, something the ANF or EU wouldn't even dream of...

His thoughts of what was going on with her mech were interrupted by Hilling, and Terry managed to shake his head. "Live a normal life after all of this? Not on my life... I may not be as close to Abigail as the rest of you, but she's a worthwhile gal. Maybe not worth my life, but... The whole group is. Let's keep us together, Hilling." He held up his fist and smiled, going back to his binoculars, but with a happy gasp.

"They are, they're on the move to the east side of the complex. And... On final count, at least on this side of the building, I'm counting ten turrets... Sena can probably take out two before she takes suppressing fire. That leaves eight and the Velites for us... Think we can handle that?"

Before an answer could come from the veteran, his radio piped up.

"Hilling, what's the status? Are we good to engage? My Vergloria is on 
standby, and everyone's getting strapped into their Heracles. We managed 
to fix up another rifle, so Sena will having a buddy to snipe with."

"Better reply to the boss. You can tell she's impatient, sheesh..."

That had seemed to do the trick actually. Hilling allowed himself a bit of a smile as well, returning Terry's gesture and raising his own fist. The report back that followed swiftly on the heels of his companion's having returned to surveying the enemy's position was positive as well, and things were indeed looking up. He was settling on a plan of attack for the turrets that felt as comfortable as they could make it, and was going to answer Terry's question on that matter when Calina's voice came crackling across the comms, chafing at the delay.

"Reading you, Calina," Hilling transmitted back to her. "The Velite patrol route has been accurately nailed down, which will let us keep them out of the fight for the crucial opening maneuvers. Sending it to your machine now, so you can coordinate the ideal go time once everyone's finished getting ready on your end. Doesn't sound like there's much more, so it'll probably be their next pass around the far side, but you should set the mark regardless."

"Hearing that you've fixed up another sniper is even better news," he added, rolling into an explanation that ought to satisfy Terry's earlier curiosity as well. "Here's my recommendation on how it goes down: The second sniper and Sena should each set their sights on turrets closest to the periphery from the approach vector, leaving those that are more centrally located to the rest of the squad once it's no longer safe for them to risk the return fire. They should each be able to take out one with ease, more if we're lucky, which leaves at worst one apiece for everyone else, who should begin advancing once they've begun the long-range engage. It's advised to burn thrusters as quickly as possible from the moment the mission starts, since even though the enemy emplacements can certainly aim for targets on ground level, they were designed as anti-air, meaning more we can cut the angle, the more their accuracy should fall off. I feel like we'll be wanting to take these out in pairs if we can, getting in between them might trigger a failsafe in their AI to prevent friendly fire. But even if it doesn't, we'll be needing to stay on the move as much as possible to avoid getting pinned down, so it loses us nothing to try it out. Once all the turrets are cleaned up and the Velites arrive to engage, our snipers will have been freed up to rain death on them from afar while we take up an encircling position to tear them apart. As for the pairs, it makes the most sense that Terry and I will comprise one of them, staging out from our current position. Please assign all the others as you see fit, and certainly let me know if I've overlooked anything, or if you've come up with another plan of attack while we've been away that you think would work better."

"That's a sound plan, Hilling,"

Calina responded, but paused a moment to mull it over some more.

"I'm going to put the second sniper under Sena's command. She's good at that,
and as long as she's not being fired on, she's cool enough to give orders.
All they have to do is give us an opening... Heh, burn thrusters. I'll be doing
more than that. It's do or die today, right? Well, I'm gonna be doing. I'm
gonna push the Vergloria to its limits. If we win, I'll make sure this rickety
frame is stuck together for good. And if we lose... Well, we didn't have
what it takes, then. Still, I'm pushing it as far as it'll go. To that end,
I'll be going it alone."

The call would probably have worried him, so she took another moment to think of how to explain it best.

"I'm not going to risk this thing malfunctioning and taking anyone else out
with me. Besides, if I can push deep into their forces and get the turrets
on me instead of the rest of you, it'll give you better push for this... And..."

She paused once more, sighing, but maybe Hilling could tell she was smiling on the other end.

"I won't kill myself over this. There's no point in trying so hard if I die
getting her back. Do your best not to worry, old man. We'll get through
this yet. Over and out."

Perhaps purposefully, she cut off before Hilling could get a word back in edgewise. Terry sighed, chuckling.

"That's just like her, isn't it? She didn't even say if she was getting ready... But, I'd expect her and the rest of the force in a good few minutes. Time to get back in the tin cans, eh?" Terry picked himself up and started back down their cliff towards the Heracles. This was going to be one knockout fight...

As Calina began broadcasting her thoughts, tweaks, and reactions to his outline for the operation, Hilling was nodding with agreement for the first portion of them. While to an outsider Sena might seem the type to shrink back, shrivel up under pressure, he knew that once in the zone she could be solidly relied upon, and so there were no qualms with letting her get a little more practice at a higher degree of command. Even when the company's Blue Leader transitioned into talk of "do or die" and "pushing Vergloria to the limit", the older advisor couldn't help but nod along, as they were shared sentiments, with any disagreements he may have had with her over her particular choice of custom modifications for her craft being such a long-done discussion and water so far under the bridge at this point that it scarcely even disturbed the surface of his thoughts.

When she got to "I'll be going it alone", though, the corners of his mouth turned down in a bit of a worried frown. It seemed she'd only paused for breath, so Hilling gave Calina a few more moments to explain what she meant before butting in with any disapproval. When she clarified her position, and the reasons behind it, Hilling's lips twitched back up into almost a smirk. Perhaps his long history of slightly less than enthusiastic response to the Vergloria's... unique temperment had finally left an impression. Moreover, truthfully, the idea of one unit acting as scapegoat and drawing fire had been something he'd dabbled with suggesting as well, and having considered putting himself in the 'hot seat' it would be disingenous to scold her overmuch for considering the same. In fact, that their thoughts were tuning in to the same wavelength on that mark gave him an added measure of comfort about the operation.

As he was about to transmit back, Calina signed off, rendering the action moot. This was a source of some amusement, for both Terry and himself. "Heh, you're right, can't say that was exactly out of character. But sheesh, I'm not really so much of a negative Nancy that she needed to cut things off quite like that, am I?" A little light-hearted grumble about the situation out of the way, he nodded to the other man as the pair of them descended back down from their observation point on the ridge. This was it then... suit up, then showdown.

"Dunno about too much of one... But if she hadn't stopped you there, you'd probably be trying to convince her to change some part of her plan... I don't like all of it either, but it's the best we have. You know how good the performance on her robot is... As long as it holds together." Terry sighed, and headed down towards his Heracles.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Nanami Touko

[Shin]

Tarquin had found the chicken mascot a little unusual, but Nikolai had been entirely defeated by it. Either he had been reminded of something from his terrible past, or the power of modern advertising was simply too much for him to manage? Tarquin didn't need to worry about it himself. Being tricked by advertising was for people who didn't have the money to afford things, someone as clever as Tarquin couldn't possibly fall for any devious tricks like that. Some people just didn't think sometimes. Content with his self-perceived insight, he decided it was in their best interest to comply with the recommendations - if only for Nikolai's nerves.

"I think we'll change our order to that, then." Tarquin replied, having been won over by the powers of commercialisation. Julia looked at the pair as if they were children, they'd somehow taken several minutes to make an order anyone else could have done in seconds. Passing his card to the girl to pay for the meal, Tarquin's decision to observe people making purchases and his previous experience at the bookstore had been incredibly useful. Julia sighed, the queue that had formed behind the boys was rather substantial. Stepping to the side to await their order, Tarquin tugged at Nikolai's sleeve, wanting to make sure he was OK.

"So far so good." Tarquin whispered, giving the googly eyed mascot a quick glance. "I think this is the part where we wait, the giant chicken thing should leave us alone now."

Edited March 18, 2017 by Shin

[scorri]

"Oh good, shedidn't punch you. I should have warned you though. Sorry about that." Colt chuckled as he saw Elaine wake up Avery, thankfully not having to deal with the same danger he had. He was a little confused though at her comments though. "Wait but you were the one who told me to go find Buck for the new bot?"

Astin was equally confused, tilting their head at Avery as they responded, "You know, the bot I messaged you about. The one the police are donating that needs equipment? It should be here soon though. It will need to come up the lifts here though. At least that's what Tristan told me. Here give me a sec."

They quickly sent off a message to Lyra to pass on to Officer Grey.

Quote

Lyra

Tell the officer he needs to use the hangar lifts to get the bot up here. I'll send the mechanics down with the lift to make sure you guys know where to go.

"Buck, do you mind heading down with the lift to make sure the officer knows where to head?"

Edited March 23, 2017 by scorri

[Ether]

"Not problem, glad keep safe. Hannah, do know if any standby security remain, or information outside access?" Seung-Min replied, reloading her gun before holstering it. Best to have it fully at the ready if it was needed again. As far as the facility itself was concerned, it was mostly Brant's escapade, she herself mainly along for the ride. She could leave that stuff to the others.

[Dandragon]

"...Kay, now I'm getting confused." Elaine said, scratching her head. "You're telling me that Avery sent Colt with news about a new bot being donated, and now Avery's telling us she didn't know? Is someone lying about something here, or did Avery just forget about the giant mech that's got Buck all riled up?" It could've been written off as Avery just being too sleepy to remember, but Elaine had a sneaking suspicion that things weren't as simple as they seemed. Guess that's Space Military life for ya, she thought to herself.

Astin explained to Avery that the police were donating the model to them. Maybe that would jog Avery's memory? One new piece of information, at least from Elaine's perspective, was that Tristan had told Astin about it. "Ensign Calvin, huh? I'm assuming the captain knows 'bout this, too?" This seemed like news everybody should be aware of, but Elaine wanted to make sure.

[scorri]

Elaine seemed confused and their attempt at explaining things was causing Astin to become confused as well. "Err... No. I told Ensign Calvin. And he told me to use the hangar lifts instead of the normal lifts. I was visiting the police to see if they had any information that we could use and they gave us a Phalanx bot. I messaged Avery about it because it needs equipment and I thought her and Buck would enjoy something that wasn't repairs. But then Avery seems to have forgotten about it so... Not sure why? But the captain doesn't know unless Avery, Tristan, or Lyra told her. I didn't at least."

[Xinnidy]

A Chance of Chicken

"Good choice, kid! Well, you heard him, Julia, don't wanna let them waiting too long!" The mascot seemed pleased, or at least had done this long enough to simulate the emotion. The clerk herself seemed to put a strong face to endure the mascot, so maybe it wasn't just the boys that found it disconcerting. "Well, enjoy your meals, kiddos! Thank you for choosing LFC!" With a wave, the mascot left the two to their own devices, and returned to the entrance of the establishment. With a receipt and a number, it seemed like Tarquin's meal was coming pretty soon, at least. There were only three orders before him, probably thanks to the time they spent ordering?

Just Observing

"Yeah..." With how expansive the hangar was, Makoto figured even if it was going to take a while for the Phalanx to show up, they'd have a lot they could check up on. Just from looking around, he could spot a few of the ANF Mechs --ones that helped save the colony, presumably. Whoa... I can't believe I get to see them up close. And I might help rev up a Phalanx too! It was becoming harder to contain his excitement by the moment, but Makoto knew he had to follow Elaine around. If he went off on his own, that'd surely only cause problems.

That said, following Elaine caused him to be stuck in a situation he didn't quite know what to do. Uh, what are they talking about? A colony robot? Standing a few steps behind Elaine, Makoto observed the conversation between her, the pink haired mechanic --Avery, apparently--, and a purple haired newcomer. Not knowing what to do, the teen defaulted to the most basic of approaches. "Uh... hi." He waved a hand.

Yeah, that'll do it.

Mount Olympus

"I don't think I've heard about the Olympus in at least three years. It's been a good while since it was retired." Roxanna nodded, not as interested in the new subject, but courteous enough to give it continuation. "Considering it lasted over two decades of use, I think it's a good sign that tech is going to leap slower now, unless another breakthrough or other happens." For whatever reason, Roxanna felt fine imparting a theory. Such casual chat was leaving her open to say what she wanted, as long as Jess was out of it, and it felt liberating in a way. "I wonder how long the Riese is going to last... perhaps longer." It seemed almost complete, in the vision of current engineering techniques and technology. A curious part of Roxanna started to wonder what an upgrade to the Riese itself would look like.

Lift Me Up

"Hmm, what's that?" Officer Grey turned as Lyra called to him, showing the message she just received from Astin. The officer leaned on slightly, reading the note, and then turned off his own receiver. "Well, no answer from my end, but at least we know they're aware. Must be busy up there." After a mission like yesterday's, Grey didn't find it surprising. Stepping on the engine, the officer moved the truck from in front of the normal lifts to where the hangar lift would open, with instructions from Lyra. Turning the truck so its back was facing the ship. "Well, I guess we wait on them, now."

[Dandragon]

"Eh...Well, ain't this some situation, huh?" Elaine continued to scratch her head. She continued to hope that Avery just forgot how the high powered robot being sent to the ship, but Elaine wasn't going to be surprised if things went a little differently than expected. Of course, Makoto spoke up a little, and it reminded her of why she was specifically down here.

"Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry, kid." She faced Avery once more. "Uh, this is Makoto Watanabe. He's actually the one who was piloting the Phalanx during our last mission, and I was just showing him around. You think it'd be alright if I let him see some of our bots, up close?"

[Balcerzak]

Small Talk

Dwight had started off by asking what sort of ships they'd been assigned in the past, which was a bit of an interesting question for Thorvald. He supposed he could maybe share a story from when he was working the civilian life, but that was far from what the man had been asking he was sure. The older officer's own record was momentus. He couldn't help but be amazed that the man hadn't been disturbed by transfers or otherwise during his impressive tenure on the Olympus, which must have been a blessing as far as familiarity goes. Though, there was no guarantees that the rest of the crew didn't get shuffled up frequently enough to disturb things, he supposed.

Roxanna had been a bit surprised his own service record had been as brief as it had been, which Thorvald could understand. He gave the brief explanation that "I did some work in the private sector that wasn't entirely unrelated, so some of that experience has paid off I guess." But he didn't feel like going into too many details at the moment. "The Heion is my first spacefaring experience," he confessed to Dwight, juggling the conversation as deftly as possible. "Much of what we were involved with at Caribou Cape was developing and executing training programs, though there were a number of live deployments at land and sea for various purposes."

The further discussion on the Olympus and the nature of armaments on Kraken class vessels versus those of the Riese--what class did that belong to again, he couldn't remember--was a little outside his realm of expertise however, so he refrained from chiming in too much on those accounts. Thorvald did spare a comment on the possibility of new advances in technology, though, he couldn't help himself. "Well, breakthroughs are impossible to really predict, but they tend to come in one of two kinds, judging by history. There's either a new way of thinking about things, some sort of scientific paradigm shift, or a new raw material is discovered, making the previously impossible possible. Either one of them could certainly still kickstart a wave of new advances."

 

Brig Watch

This doctor was certainly the interesting one, Abigail had to give her that. She couldn't really make heads or tails of why someone would be making the kind of inquiries she was, while claiming to have not really thought about some of the aspects that were intimately connected to them. Unless... that had to be it, she clearly didn't care really about rebels and their motives, but was solely interested in the mercenary aspect. But why? It was still a puzzle, and not one she'd be likely to unravel anytime soon, given her position.

That was especially true when Megumi's next thrust in the conversation was to point out the unfortunate excesses and collateral damage Abigail had expended a lot of time and energy to prevent or minimize. Efforts that had ultimately likely been responsible for costing the lives of many of her men, and turning the mission into a grand flop of a failure. Well, technically their client may have gotten what they were after, but in the wake of all the fallout, even attempting to brand that as a success was downright unthinkable.

"Look, I know you won't really believe me, but I have to say this anyway," Abigil objected, fierce to defend herself even though, or perhaps even the moreso because of the fact that there was a lack of any judgemental tone in the way she was being condemned. "The only civilians 'targeted' were scientists under contract with the ANF. Civilians in name only really. A lot of the other damage was unintended, unfortunate, and happened despite best efforts to avoid it. Frustrations, accidents, and instigation on the part of some of the members of the group we were working with jointly were responsible for much of that... though that really absolves nothing in the end, doesn't it?" She concluded with a look of bitter disappointment on her face, unable to look directly at the doctor.

Edited March 30, 2017 by Balcerzak

[Nanami Touko]

Everyone Chill

Avery started flailing her hands as everyone went off in different directions on what was supposed to be happening and then finally ushered out a "Quiet!" She took a breath and sighed. "I was just groggy. Christ... Ain't gotten real sleep. Yeah we're s'posed to get that robot, just... Let me wake up-- again." She yawned, sitting up and waving towards Elaine and Buck both. "Sure, take the kid 'round the hangar, show 'im the robots. Jus' don't break nothin', an... Buck, get down that lift. Jus' let me have a minute, I'll be awake in a minute." With another groan, Avery started fishing around her pockets for some form of headache relief.

"Yes ma'am! There we go. Avery's like a robot herself sometimes, takes a minute to turn on after waking up. Just give her a sec and she'll be back in running order!" Speaking of running orders, Buck was already running off to the lift, starting it up. And as soon as he was clear enough of the ship to see below, he smiled.

"Hey! Heyyyyyyy!" He shouted down at the robot, wondering who had driven it over. Either way, that was definitely a Phalanx model, and it looked to be an improved one as well. This would be wonderful~

Security Detail

"There should be no more remaining security functioning within the facility. I have disposed of all
those in the main area. As for access, if there is anything that you wish to access within the facility
I have permission to open up every area. As you are all ANF personnel, as well as the captain of
an ANF ship, it would not be outside of your bounds to request use of the materials in the facility."

"Then, can we see what's up with that Ceres model?" Jess piped up at that, wanting to know if there was anything in the building that wasn't actually going to be used. Since they were on active duty, anything stuck in storage would be better served on the Riese.

Meanwhile, Christina bounded back over after parking the Phalanx again, sighing and taking a moment to catch her breath. "How exciting, huh? Maybe, uh... T-Too exciting. Hah... I wouldn't mind a hot bath and no stress, after this."