Super Robot Wars ∀: Deep Space IC Thread - Part 2: Of Dire Tides

[Xinnidy]

A Grain of Salt

Roxanna had managed to parse the meeting's topics well enough, but her mind had been busy on her own thoughts since entering the room, casting perhaps a few glances towards Jessica. What Tristan had said in the bridge had really stuck with her, leading Roxanna's mind to struggle in a web of possibilities, none any more likely than the next. Why is she the captain, after all? As much as she tried, it seemed to hit strongly that Jessica's forte was not communication every time she stuttered throughout the meeting. Roxanna tried to mentally keep count, but had given up somewhere in the last two answers. She's not the leading type, after all, but she could work as a head gunner... The way this girl worked was indeed mysterious.

"There is a possibility that the video was tampered with somewhere during its spread in media, but its source ID has been confirmed as a Velite model from that base. Either Apotheosis hijacked the machine during their invasion, or messed with the video during broadcast, which would be... an achievement." She tilted her head, frowning, it wasn't impossible, but a bit ludicrous. They had the technology, but that also required foresight and a good idea of what was going to be recorded. "It's best to assume we've got a dangerous enemy up north, and stay alert for signals coming from that direction." As for the call signs... it didn't seem like the topic caught Roxanna's interest much

Will of Chance

Makoto had taken Megumi's suggestion with much surprise, not having even entertained the thought since. In truth, he had no idea what to say to the doctor. To the best of his memory, he muttered an "Ah... maybe," and left the thought at that until she left for her own business. It did get him thinking in the end, and with such thoughts the boy sat down at a chair for the moment, conflicted. I don't have the slightest idea of what they expect in a curriculum... how do I get credit to enlist as a pilot? Military jobs were very much not the same as enrolling for university or scholarships... truly mystifying.

Well... that was enough of questioning things for now. Sighing, Makoto got up and walked aimlessly for a little bit. Looking up at the mechs, Makoto wondered what he could pull off... he'd been watching the pilots for a while now. Surely he'd be able to learn something by copying what he'd seen? Shouldn't there be a simulation machine for this kind of stuff? Was there? Would he even be able to use it? Hmm...

[riariadne]

"... It is baffling," Dwight commented on the footage. He had been content with letting the younger pilots ask questions, but this was different. "If this is not a sort of tampering, then it appalls me as to what our enemies are capable of. How did they get this far? The sort of technology this is, to trivialize the ANF's defenses like so, it has to have been in development for years, if not decades. And yet we knew very little about them... it is concerning, and appalling, that this is the scenario we are in now. This is unlike anything I have ever seen before..."

[Nanami Touko]

Important Information

Jess wasn't quite sure where to start. She hadn't planned on sharing this information until it had been confirmed by... Well, anyone, but it was the best way to answer Elaine's question. Answering what followed, though... Well, Jess didn't have a clue.

Christina did.

She finally figured out what to say, having remained quiet during the first reactions, and during the video. "Th-That... I'm sorry. I... I never mentioned this because, it was just, so inane. That mech, moves like one of Apotheosis' lieutenants." She knew that wouldn't make any sense without context, and she didn't exactly enjoy remembering her time spent at their base... But it had to be done, didn't it? "Not Vera... Her name is Louise. I don't know her last name, b-but... She's got this, giant, ridiculous, metallic... prosthetic snake tail. From her waist down. I know it sounds stupid, like something out of a sci-fi movie, but... I can only imagine she lost her legs, or something, and, and a few screws, too. But... I've seen her punish initiates." She shivered, grabbing at her arm.

"And the way that machine was dealing with those Velites, it's the same way she'd choke out or knock around anyone that stepped out of line... I don't know what tech was used to make her tail, or to make this machine, but... It's obvious to me that, if this is real? They got something that integrated her nervous system into the machine." Which meant that it would respond to her movements and wishes almost like a real body... It was a terrifying prospect. Like she'd said, something out of a sci-fi, or some cheesy cartoon. But, deadly in real life. A robot was able to be defeated because it could only respond as fast as the pilot, and move as fast as its servos. A robot that had instincts... Was too much to think about.

Jess stared at her, mouth agape, but not sure what to say-- again! "That... Well, I-I can't say that that's i-important information that, y-you should've told us... But... I'm glad you, d-did now. Whatever th-that means for us, and fighting her... I can only hope that it, it's n-not true." It did look convincing, though... A machine interface with someone's nerves. It sounded like a full body T-Link... Wouldn't that injure the pilot if something went wrong with the machine? Did they even care? Ugh. Too many variables, too much to think about.

"I don't really kn-know what else to say about that, and... I-If people can't figure out anymore, uhm... Anymore call signs, then... I suppose th-that's all for the meeting. Again, if anyone has a s-stop to suggest on the way to HQ, please, l-let me know. Either now or later." She sighed, sinking back into her chair, with another thing to worry about. It just kept piling up... Solve one issue, two spring forward. It's like terrible coding, hah.

[scorri]

Astin fidgeted with the pin on the collar as the talk of Apotheosis went on, the implications of what Christina was saying not going over their head. To move like a pilot was moving... That was unheard of. If this was the sort of thing that they were facing, the chances of them winning were slowly fading. A thought occurred though and they spoke up.

"Do you know if this Louise is a TK? If not, that might be our advantage. Her bot might be faster but it can only react as quickly as she can. If we can react... Well if Kim and Brant can react faster, they may be able to stand up to this threat. The rest of us... Can hope that we're not targeted I guess."

[Shin]

Astin had raised an interesting theory, if anything there had to be at least some sort of connection between the pilot and machine. The pilot in question sounded surreal, some sort of snake-tailed monster from the tales of Perseus? His own creation seemed to push the boundaries of ethics within science, but whatever Louise had been subjected to, or had subjected herself to, was beyond anything. Apotheosis' technology exceeded their own on so many fronts, the number of great minds working within the organisation for their nefarious plots was troubling. If they'd managed to get a hold of the Professor's work... Tarquin didn't want to consider fighting an army of soldiers of the same standard as himself. He'd been fighting the urge to mention his own home, it had been difficult to justify revealing his association with it, but he had an opening.

"Captain, may I recommend contact with Corona Ten? It is a research facility within our operational range. Apotheosis have a plethora of technological advantages, it would perhaps be beneficial to ensure that they do not acquire any more." Tarquin suggested. There was a logical reasoning behind his request, hopefully one that would shield himself from any curiosity - he'd had enough of that from Thorvald. 

 

[Nanami Touko]

TK Taker

"Uh... I-I don't think so... But I don't know. I never got to see her much, or ever speak to her... I worked under Vera's detachment." If Louise was a TK in something like that, wouldn't she be impossible to defeat? Christina didn't know, and it was horrifying to think of. Just a giant machine tearing its way across the landscape with no way to counter or halt it. What a horror...

"W-We'll try to deal with that as it comes, i, if it's even real..." Jess didn't want to put too much effort into this situation when they didn't have all the details on it. Luckily enough, her second offer at visiting places along the way was answered... By Tarquin? Corona Ten? How does he know that's a research facility? "How do you... A-Anyway, you make a good point. We c-can stop there along the way to HQ. It's n, nearly a direct line there. We'll m-make sure their data is secure and backed up, a, and help anyone that needs it evacuate." It would be good to get the heads up on Apotheosis again.

[Ether]

Christina came to light with a bit of... interesting information regarding the snake mech. It resembled an odd prosthetic used by an Apotheosis Lieutenant, a Louise. The idea came up that it might be using some sort of neural interface, which made some degree of sense... trying to create movement with that using analog inputs from a pilot would be damn near impossible, but if they had found a way to connect this tail like a T-link, then those precise motions could be recreated with robotics rather easily. There were disadvantages that came with the increased range of motion though, as any of the Telekinetics on board could likely attest.

"Certain possible that can outmaneuver if this Louise not telekinetic... if use neural interface, might be able defeat even if can't proper damage mech armour..." Kim noted, scowling a bit still... something like that would be doable, but risky... definitely not something to do with Christina onboard, at any rate...

[Phoenix]

The two Russians and the Ukrainian doubted the video was altered, at least to the extent of exaggerating the massive lamia machine's capabilities. If anything, it could have been shot a little better, but that was Sasha's personal contention with the footage. As far as he was concerned, today's battle results needed to be distributed to the world, and quickly. If all anyone ever saw or heard about Apotheosis was the usual unstoppable strike force that materializes out of thin air, and just as quickly disappears, and that abomination, the world's morale would plummet to the point where the whole situation would snowball in Apotheosis' favor.

There was an even worse scenario coming to mind in the wake of that machine's rampage. What if Apotheosis started offering the opposition an easy out? What if entire sectors were offered the chance to surrender their assets and manpower? With the threat of that beast looming just over the horizon, Sasha could think of quite a few groups that would take that offer and save themselves. Even the Kremlin could see the writing on the wall if their heads were pushed close enough. All the more reason to smear things with their own data. "Well, you're the Anti-Apotheosis unit," Sasha grinned somberly, "We can leave the strategies up to you. Still ... you need to get this and any other video we have on the net, and fast. Don't let Medusa over there be the thing people think about when Apotheosis comes up, Captain."

Firmia had watched the video carefully, but was more angered by it than anything. She'd trained with Brant for quite some time, and was used to unwinnable battles. Seeing the real thing just made her want to destroy it that much more, physically possible or no. Unfortunately, the initial suggestions were based on speculation alone. It was good that Christina added to what little information there was, though the fact she even could add anything was something Firmia would have to look into a little later. The problem with this whole line of reasoning was relying on TK abilities to address a tech disparity. In her experience, TK abilities made a big difference, but only when enemy numbers were relatively small, and the enemy's equipment was comparable to the TK's. The ANF didn't have anything comparable to that beast, nor could they expect to face it in isolation. If anything had been edited in the footage, it was likely the giant lamia's allies. Removing them to make it look like a simple test drive was one way to make things even more terrifying, indeed.

With her own speculation and evaluation done, Firmia could only conclude that it was a little too early to even be strategizing. They really did need more data, first. Putting too much on the TKs' shoulders would just mean the ANF would be short a few TKs when all was said and done ... and Firmia would be short a good friend and her only remaining tie to this world ... "You can't just throw TKs at that thing and expect better results," Firmia bit out all of a sudden. She was too annoyed to hide anything, and looked about ready to smack someone, likely the bastard that designed the lamia mech. "The best way to handle this is to send the video to your engineers and let them give you some parameter estimates. Then you can put those numbers in a simulator and have your pilots practice against it. Raise the numbers each time it dies until it's impossible to beat. THEN you come up with a plan of attack and retreat based on THAT data. NOT some stupid random video."

Firmia's rant snapped Brant out of his thoughts. That was when he noticed his alpha tool was blinking. There was no noise because he'd muted the thing as a precaution. He didn't bother to check it just yet, since it was either Rosa trying to get through--there was never going to be a rush to speak with her again, or it was just email notifications he could tackle later on. He looked to Firmia instead, wondering what had her so interested in all this ANF business. His first guess was that as long as she was on this ship, her life was in their hands, as were the Alkaev suits. He granted she probably cared enough about him to want to make sure he wasn't just fielded as a last desperate measure along with Kim. It may have been all of those things, really. Firmia was far from one track when she wasn't under fire. He could sense a strong bitterness from her, which wasn't surprising after everything she'd been through.

"Just show the engineers the video and focus on Corona Ten or whatever for now," Firmia concluded, irritable as when she started, but with a good deal of energy expended.

[scorri]

Astin crossed their arms and glared at Firmia, clearly annoyed. "That's why the first thing I asked was if the mechanics had seen the video. I never said we would only throw our TKs at them. In fact, I think I was pretty clear about the implication that the rest of us would be out there too." Who even was this girl? She was a guest on their ship after they'd risked their lives to save her and now she was treating them like idiots?

"It's not like we're going to just run out against that mech with no plan. But what you're suggesting takes time. And if we run into this Louise before we have time to do that, if they decide we're suddenly the number one priority for some reason," like a propaganda video showing us easily defeating them, "we could be thrown into the deep end before we have a chance to run your plan. So coming up with something basic before we do all the other stuff isn't wasting time. It's called being smart." They knew they were probably being a bit unreasonable but they hadn't raised their voice and as far as anyone could tell, TKs included, they hadn't gotten angry. Just irritated at having essentially been ignored and then blatantly misinterpreted. 

[Phoenix]

"I didn't say you were just throwing the TKs at them, either," Firmia glared right back. Not that it would really surprise her if they did resort to that. A lone machine, piloted by two TKs had been sent out ahead of the rest of the group, and the initial battle conditions had forced them to rely on said TKs in spite of whatever their 'plan' had been. In fact, the whole situation, plus the reaction to the video told Firmia that this squadron was just really really good at adapting on the fly, and not at actual battle preparation. It seemed like they had been outsmarted by Apotheosis, and simply wrestled free in the ensuing scuffle. First they had been lured into an obvious trap and surrounded, and then they were hit on numerous fronts, the base and the Heion Riese both. If not for the skills of the pilots involved, and their own advanced technology, it would have been a slaughter. Maybe she was being a little harsh, but Firmia couldn't justify leaving things to chance with these people, their strange roster of pilots, and their unsteady, stuttering captain. Everything that mattered to her was on this damn ship ... and the world outside was now some kind of sci-fi dark realm where malicious mobile suits lurked, waiting to strike them at anytime and at any place.

"If your ship isn't their 'number one' priority," Firmia continued, thinking of the destruction of the Deimos, "then I guess they haven't blown up your HQ, yet? Still, I don't see how this basic 'plan' of hoping the regular pilots don't get shot at is even a plan at all. If that thing showed up right now, you wouldn't even make it back to the hangar before the ship went down, so there's no point in worrying about how long simulations will take. You have to do what you do can while you can still do it."

<"Ugh,"> Sasha groaned as he eased into his native tongue, <"and right after I said we'd let the ANF handle the strategies."> It would have been amusing to Sasha if not for that, really. No one liked being contradicted, no, not even him.

Edited September 22, 2017 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

Excuse Me?

Jess was thinking that everything was sorted, about to send things off to the necessary parties, when one of their guests started barking out... Orders? It sounded like orders. Well, that wouldn't do. Astin spoke up against them, good job, Sergeant, but they kept going as if they were running the place. Jess wasn't about to let someone that wasn't even affiliated start speaking up like they knew better! As, stuttering and shaky as she was.

"Look, Ms. A-Alkaev," she tried, taking a breath to hope her stutter would calm down for a bit. "While you're free to be here as a guest, and y-you can offer your opinion on things, talking with that s-sort of authority is not going to be tolerated. You're n, not a soldier on this ship, and you're telling us to do things that, w-were already on the cards. No one's making any plans based on any of this v, v-video, and we wouldn't jump into a fight with that, w-without any level of training the pilots to fight it. Just because it isn't mentioned d-doesn't mean it won't be done. This isn't a boat full of P-Privates, after all..." She bit back a sigh, knowing she'd be met with some sort of retort. She hadn't expected to deal with this sort of attitude, so she wasn't the most up for more.

"For the sake of everyone here, now th-that we're all tired after a fight like that, I would appreciate i-if you would keep to yourself. There's no point in throwing things a-around and riling the others up. If you m, must share your thoughts, wait until the crew's had time to w-wind down. Understood? Otherwise, Abrams can keep an eye on you outside of m, meetings until you're c-compliant." Now she sighed, knowing she was stoking some fire, but having to be the captain, as much as it wasn't something she wished for, right now.

"And no, HQ h, hasn't been destroyed... That I know of. We received contact f-from Admiral Martinson a d, day ago, but haven't been able to establish c-contact since. So I can only hope that i-it's still standing, and all w-we can do for now is head there, while people p-plan for the unknown as best they can." Simulations were a good idea, but she couldn't force everyone to do that. When their time was so short, it was only fair to let people do what they felt was best for themselves. This situation was stressful enough.

"If that's all, then... I'd like t-to speak with our guests and Lieutenant A-Abrams." They still had to sort out lodgings and the situation with their machines, after all.

Edited September 22, 2017 by SnakeMomMelissa

[scorri]

Astin had opened their mouth to retort back at this Russian woman who seemed to think that she was the smartest person in the room and the only one who understood the situation they were in, only to close it when the Captain spoke up, hitting back at the rant with her own small speech, one that had more authority behind it even with the stuttering. There was still more that they would have liked to say, but there was a heavily implied dismissal in her final sentence and rather than risk upsetting the captain for the second time that day, Astin instead stood up, gave Jess a brief salute, and headed out of the meeting room, into the hallway.

Muttering something about cocky Russian pilots under their breath, they stalked over to the elevators, pressing the button to call them, before leaning against the wall, a frown on their face. Avery is probably still upset and wanting to be alone... Or maybe back in the hangar already. And I did need to go talk to... Ugh. That wasn't a conversation they wanted to have, but given the nightmares they were having, and how frequent they were... Plus, the doctor's assistants had been extremely unhelpful. Guess I have no choice.

[Juliette]

Juria sat in shock through the footage, wishing Reo was there already for her to hold. So scary... She didn't look forward to facing anything like that at all, zoning out a bit through the rest of the conversation until she noticed Astin leaving. "Ah! Juria need follow Astin friend for training. Bye Jess captain and other friends." She did a clutzy salute in her best attempt at mimicking Astin before rushing out of the room towards the elevators. Fortunately, they hadn't gone very far yet. "Astin friend!" Juria shouted as she approached them. "In meeting, Jess captain say you show Juria how use training machines, for simulate, so that Juria get better at learn to co-pilot. If not too busy, can you being showing Juria that now?"

[Phoenix]

Firmia considered Jessica's warning, annoying as it was, and then slowly began to return to some semblance of normal, at least as far as her composure was concerned. Of course, to Brant, she seemed just as angry as before, only now, rather than a dark aura enveloping her, his sense of Firmia reminded him more of a hot coherent beam. That beam was getting extremely narrow as it focused in on the captain.

"I apologize, Captain," Firmia said, a slight but otherwise harmless edge to her tone, "I didn't realize your people could be 'riled up.'" That was another mark against the captain for the young Alkaev, in one sense. "I made some assumptions about this ship and its crew, and some are wrong ... so I'll quietly watch, and save my opinions for you, personally." Her eyes narrowed as the beam focused right on the spot between Jessica's eyes. "In fact, we can just speak in private from now on."

Sasha and Tonya both grimaced; the last thing anyone should want to hear was what an Alkaev had to say in private.

[Dandragon]

Whatever conversation was happening around her, Elaine had long since stopped paying attention, focusing on what Christina had said before. Louise. A lieutenant of Apotheosis. One that had given herself a cybernetic snake tail after the loss of her legs. And, without a doubt, the very same one that had offered her a position in Apotheosis earlier that day. Elaine's eyes were still widened and shaking, staring into the direction of the video that had stopped playing for a while, now, a stare of blank horror overtaking her face.

It wasn't paranoia. It was all true. Somehow, a lieutenant contacted her privately, within her own room, and spoke to her for several minutes. Somehow, the same lieutenant had spied on the Riese in the briefing room, and was most likely doing just that at this very moment. Somehow...Apotheosis had placed a mole inside of the Riese. Every bit of doubt she might have had about the conversation, and it's implications, were now gone from her mind, utterly and completely. There was no telling how they were spying on them, whether it was a bug on the mole, a discretely placed camera, or just the mole supplying Louise with info via word of mouth. Regardless of the method, Elaine knew that she was being spied on even as they spoke, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Elaine felt sick. There was no one she could talk to about this, not even Cheryl. Even she was a possible suspect. There were even less people she could confide in than she could even normally speak to. Not Astin, not Kim, not the captain, not even Makoto, for god sakes! Everyone around her was a possible suspect, and if she messed up, if she revealed it to the wrong person, her entire credibility, her life, everything that she had tried to build up ever since escaping from prison would be for nothing. She would be labeled a terrorist, imprisoned, and most likely executed. Hanging, firing squad, or any other diabolical way to kill terrorists the ANF had, and she could do nothing about it. ...Nothing but accept the offer in the most dire of circumstances.

And that was the furthest thing that she desired.

[scorri]

Astin was startled out of their thoughts by the enthusiastic engineer coming and asking for their help. "Wha? Oh, Juria. err, yeah. Sorry. I should have waited for you. I just needed to get out of there... I guess it's all fine though. You found me anyways!" And this gives me an excuse to put off an uncomfortable conversation. Perfect. "Well, good timing. The elevator just got here, so in we go."

Entering the elevator with their co-pilot, they pressed the button for the bottom floor and then waited for the doors to close. As the elevator began to descend, they explained, "The simulators are down in the gym. We can get you set up on some of the easier simulations to start. What all were you hoping to learn about?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Val fidgeted in her seat, before abruptly standing up and walking over to check on their single patient. It looked like she was sleeping for now, which was a good thing. But it did mean she had nothing to do except sit and listen to her music, which was getting extremely boring, talk to the doctor, who was still intimidating, or... Ugh. Come on Val. Have some balls and just do it. The voice in her head telling her to do things that she didn't want was still far too familiar. But it was right here. Closing her eyes briefly and letting out a sigh, resigning herself to likely frustration and possible headache later, she went over and sat back down next to Olivia.

Come on now. You know you still like her. You left, sure, but that never changed. Just... talk to her. "He-hey. I uh..." She stopped, tripping over her words, before quietly rushing through them. "I was hoping we could maybe talk some time? In private. You know. About... stuff." She would understand what she meant. Right? She was certainly smart enough... Though knowing her, she'd probably play dumb until Val actually said what she wanted to talk about... Ugh.

[Juliette]

"Oh! It is good thing Juria found you then, Astin friend, yay!" Juria missed any of Astin's distractedness entirely, following onto the elevator cheerfully. "What to train? Juria need to learn how focus better for battle... not know much about moving things and how stay track of them. So it hard for Juria to know what do at all without Astin saying, and that not very helpful. So learn basic thing first, then if other thing hard, learn that after! That make sense for Astin friend?"

[scorri]

Basics... Right then. Start simple. The elevator doors dinged and opened to reveal the bottom floor. Leading the way past countless doors, Astin first found their eyes drawn back towards Avery's room was hidden and then ahead to the daunting office they were doing their best to avoid. Focus. "Right. That makes perfect sense. In that case, I think just having you try out the most basic simulators at first is a good start. Learning basic controls, easy combat, that sort of thing. Once you get a handle on those, good scores, all that, then we can start moving you up in the simulations. Make sense?" There were various stock simulations that were set up for training, many of which Astin had used themself during training at the Academy. Nothing about the first few were overly complicated or anything that Astin thought would make Juria worry. "Any questions about the simulations in general?"

[Shin]

Firmia hadn't done much to improve Tarquin's impression of her, all she'd done was actually get called out by Jess and get a response from Astin - Tarquin hadn't even been sure if the latter were actually possible until now. There was a time and place to add to such disapproval but Tarquin decided his energy was best left to preparing for a return home. It had been a good few years since he was relocated from Corona Ten. The facility was the closest he'd ever had to a home, although that was because he'd never felt particularly settled anywhere else.

They'd been dismissed, Elaine and Astin had already made their escape, and he didn't see any reason to stay any longer. Standing himself up, he slowly walked towards the door, focused on Firmia for the moment. She'd showed that she was at least passable on the field, but the arrogance she showed seemed unfounded to Tarquin - even if the irony of his issue with it was lost on him. "I shall take my leave, Captain. I hope that your conversations with our guests remain productive." he remarked, pausing for a moment before stepping out of the door. He didn't feel the need to antagonise or confront her, but he had at least made himself heard.

-

Bill's day off had been productive, he'd cleaned out his room, fully constructed his Mayflower and patched the hole on his lucky sock. However, he hadn't been ready for a consequence of the previous battle, a slightly loose light fixture had attacked him in a way that dirt wished it could. An almighty knock on his noggin. His head felt like a coconut that had gone a round with a disgruntled mother kangaroo, and it was dripping enough to put Niagara Falls to shame... but at least his makeshift bandage had kept the floors clean on his way to the medbay.

Approaching the desk, Bill looked down at the pair. Other than a bit of an ache and a red drizzle, he wasn't feeling too bad, but it was worth getting himself checked over. 

"G'Day ladies. Hate to cause you trouble but one of the lamps decided it wanted to try its hat at being a floor light." Bill laughed, his demeanour a stark contrast with his injury. "Probably ain't much to save in an ocker's noggin, but mind giving it a Captain Cook?"

[Juliette]

Juria followed Astin to the gym, which was obviously not a place she had visited very much on the Riese before, especially considering she hadn't known the training modules were located here at all. "Start easy for learning! Juria think she understand. Training lots easier than try in big fight like real flying." She looked over at the simulators, excited to begin and learn, moving onto one of the chairs and smiling when it started. "It just like real robot seat! Ah... which one Juria start with? Is first program easy one for learning?"

[scorri]

Astin chuckled as Juria quickly jumped into the simulator, before moving over to the external controls where they started to flip through options. "I can control the settings out here, or you can from the control panel in front of you. So if you want to try this out in the future, you won't need me here. Now then..." Well, location was easy enough. Just a simple plain, nothing fancy or complicated. Basic. "I think to start out, we'll pit you against two enemies, similar to the mechs we pilots faced back in our original outing back at home base. A Neupanzer is a good first test. They're not overly sturdy, but should give you a good shot at figuring out how to move things." Plugging that into the system and selecting two enemies, they nodded. Final thing... weapons.

"Right. Even though I don't use guns, it's a good idea for you to do some basic training on them. Even I know how to use them. So..." Picking out a pre-made kit, they punched in the final settings. "Right. You have a mix of weapons, two enemies to face, and just basic terrain, nothing fancy. Any last questions? If not, there should be a button glowing red in there. Hit it to start the simulation."

[Xinnidy]

A Closer Look

Now who did this girl think she was? Alkaev or not, her tone and demands certainly hadn't come across that well to the crew present... and Roxanna was no exception. The XO had to raise an eyebrow as Jess finally found her guts to shut down that line of argument, despite the stuttering, and the sooner that was dealt with the better. With no heated arguments seeming to come from that, even Roxanna knew there was no point in interjecting.

And with that the meeting was quickly coming to an end. There wasn't much productive they could conclude without knowing the HQ's status and alone as far as they knew --the base's current state certainly could not have come at a worse time. Even with their strength, if they were isolated for too long, that also meant Apotheosis could take out all of the ANF but them, and at that point there wouldn't be much of a Federation to take orders from. Another surprise was Tarquin's disclosure of a research base not too far from there, Corona Ten. That was decidedly not a place a young boy like him should know...

Roxanna blinked, seeming to lose focus, eyes lazily watching the well-mannered boy. After a few moments, Roxanna shook her head following a depressing sigh, a bit of distress able to be picked up. "Corona Ten is a bit out of the way, but considering Great Lake, it'd be worth a shot to try to make contact. We know that Apotheosis' area of influence has spread this far, but knowing whether that facility is still safe would give us a better outline of their operations." From the current trends, a place like that was likely under Apotheosis' scope of interest. "And Captain," One more thing, "If it is... admissible, I'd like to stay for this conversation as well." Asking Jess for permission just felt wrong, but Roxanna wasn't liking the odds of leaving her alone with Firmia. Roxanna could berate Jess, but not this civilian.

[Juliette]

Juria carefully looked at all the buttons as Astin explained them to her, memorizing them- this would certainly not be the last time she used the training modules. "Juria understand. Even if not used by Astin, may find using them in future... and learn how use make for better learning how to go against too! That why it important for practice all things." She pressed the red button after settling into the seat and taking a deep breath. "Two of them..." She watched the enemy movements for a bit, trying to keep track of where they were at first, not even going for her weapons while she mostly avoided them. When she did that until she was comfortable, she started to use the simulation robot's guns while keeping up her evasive maneuvers. It certainly wasn't a perfect display of accuracy, and she took some damage, but it didn't take too long for her to defeat them and lean her head back. "Yay! It lot easier for Juria to keep track when in more focus spot. Not as many, too."

[scorri]

"So that's the basic simulator. You can actually control all of it from inside if you want. The number of enemies, their difficulty, where you're fighting... All of that. The best way to learn more about it is to practice more and more." They flipped through some of the settings, picking out two Velites to be Juria's enemies this time and placing them in a more forested zone, which would hopefully force her to account for cover and the like. "Here, try this one. If there's anything that you find challenging, let me know. We can focus on specifics that way."

[Dandragon]

Elaine had since dashed out of the briefing room and into the nearest bathroom. She was currently in the process of splashing cold water onto her face, for all the good it would do her. She was already wide awake, she could feel the cold on her face and all the slight irritations and pains that it brought, and she knew for certain that everything was real. Her eyes opened slowly, expecting, or perhaps wanting, to see some sort of bizarre occurrence around her. A person with a gun to her head, a moving camera, some fucking devil on her shoulder, anything that she could visibly see and fight back against. However, all that greeted her was the sight of her face, dripping wet from the tap water that flowed through the faucet, staring back at her with the same look of despair and uncertainty.

It felt like a horror movie to her. No one around her was suffering the same way as she was, at least not to her immediate knowledge. Even if they were all dealing with the fight against terrorists in their own way, no one was going through what she was. And no one could know, either. Should she ever bring it up, all it would take was for whatever mole was in the ship to step up and play whatever bits of the recording that they needed to, and suspicion about her would rise tremendously, even more so than it already was. She had already made the fucking stupidest mistake of telling the captain that she was never truly pardoned, a decision that she looked back upon and could never figure out what came over her in that moment, and if there even a hint of involvement with terrorists, that would make her look even worse.

I can't believe I was such a fucking idiot! God fucking dammit! Hell, there were many decisions she made that were questionable at best. She could have easily just turned off the communicator when Louise revealed herself and gone running to the captain. Even if she wasn't believed, there wasn't anything incriminating that she had said before than, right? That said, her mind, thinking so fast and so much, wandered to the many other decisions she made that weren't even related to Louise. Her decision to join a military ship of the ANF, of all things, as a damn native EU citizen. Her decision never apologize to Tarquin for the way she had acted. Her dumbest decision to steal-

Elaine slapped the sides of her head with both hands. Stop it, you dumb bitch! This isn't the fucking time! She caught herself breathing heavily, and took several moments to regulate it, her hand on top of her tightened chest as she felt her elevated heartbeat slow down. Deep breaths...Deep breaths. That's what Uncle taught you. 

A momentary step back, diving deep into the parts of her mind where she could think properly. It wasn't often that she did this, only during engineering and mechanical projects, but if she was going figure this mystery out, she had to use it for other means. Out of the numerous members of the staff aboard the Heion Riese, she only knew and recognized a mere fraction of them by face and name. Each of the pilots, Avery, Buck, Dr. Cheryl, Dr. Megumi, Captain Jessica, XO Roxanna, Christina, and Juria were the only names she could come up with at the time, though she knew there were more that she had seen. Without sufficient knowledge of all of their backgrounds, there was little reason she would be able to trust any of them. There was no telling who, out of any of them, could be the mole that had spied on them. There was also the possibility that there was more than one, which things even more complicated. Her original plan of getting to know everyone was still a possible solution, but with so many people on board, so many she couldn't call out by name, so many that she probably hadn't even seen yet, it would take years to get fully acquainted with every single one of them. Corners had to be cut, shortcuts needed to be taken. There had to be-

*grooooooowl*

Elaine's eyes opened once more, and her gaze was down at her belly. "*sigh* ...Okay. Food first." Christina never did come back with that lunch they were supposed to eat together. Elaine took a towel to dry off her face, still dripping slightly from the faucet, which she promptly turned off, as well. Elaine slipped her gloves into some pockets of her suit, and proceeded to open up the door and leave the women's washroom, intent on going to the cafeteria on the bottom deck.