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


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Floating again.

It was a curious feeling. Nikolai was certain that he'd felt his body, so heavy and cumbersome, had landed on something vaguely soft. A mattress of dust and dirt, gently kicked up around him and filling his lungs. 

We're floating now.

The ebbing and flowing thing that vaguely resembled Nikolai's consciousness tried to make something out of the hazy, milky darkness. It was clear that he'd been roused from the earth, removed from the earthen womb and exposed to the air. He couldn't quite bring himself to open his eyes, not that it would be possible with the one that had seemingly fused shut. Sparks of cool air stung the naked, vulnerable nerves that had been dragged to the surface of his form as he felt the world move under his back despite himself.


It's okay, we're going to wherever my psyche's going to be best tortured to make up for everything I need to take responsibility for.
It tastes like iron. There's blood in my hair. My fingernails hurt.
Yes Nikolai, I think we're dead even if we tried.

He missed the dirt. The dirt was certain.
This was fucked.

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Tarquin's attempts at firefighting had gone poorly, his extinguisher was already reduced to a pathetic dribble by the time the mechanic had reached him. Anything other than the flames had faded away into his peripheral vision, it was only when he felt the hand on his shoulder that brought him back to reality. Was he really that powerless? No matter how clever or talented he was a pilot, he'd been unable to prevent Nikolai's fate. He looked up at the mechanic, his eyes wide with horror, completely lost for words to respond with. It didn't feel real, the team swarming around him, the gushing of the hoses, it all seemed so far away. What was he even fighting for? All combat had done was deprive him of his only real friend, what did he even have to show for it. His tongue sat in his mouth, weighed down by the gravity of the situation. His mind couldn't think of anything to say either, the only thing he had decided on that was he didn't want to cry.

He turned suddenly as the crew called out, carrying Nikolai, or what was left of him away. He was torn between relief and sheer horror. Nikolai appeared to be alive, but for how long and in what state was down to Dr Amparo. He knew she'd essentially reattached Kim's arm, but Nikolai was on a whole different level.

"Nikolai." He muttered weakly, his eyes followed his toasted comrade as he was carried away. His legs wouldn't let him move, effectively fused to the ground beneath him. He was powerless yet again, his friend had done so much for him... and all he could do was watch.

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Astin collapsed back against their seat as the machines warped away, the legs of the sniper's machine left behind. Once again, they'd manage to claim parts of Apotheosis technology for the crew, but once again it felt useless. Last time, they'd barely done anything to Vera. This time, they'd done something but it had been too late. Niko... Astin couldn't say they liked the boy very much. But that didn't mean this is what they wanted. He'd been abrasive and rude but he'd been a willing contributor to their cause and he had seemed to maybe be getting better. And now... Focus on something else. Come on.

Flipping the comm to directly talk to Avery, Astin called out, "Avery, we'll need a salvage team out here. Got... Uh, got the legs of their sniper machine. Just the legs. But I'm sure you can do something with them. Or Buck can. Or... Something. Do you... Do you have any news on Niko? All we can see is he went down..." So much for focusing on something else. The problem was there really wasn't anything else to focus on. Letting out a deep sigh, they turned the Ceres back towards the Riese. Time to go deal with the fallout from this as best as they all could.

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Megumi made her way over to the nearest of the SIEG tanks, and got the thing fired up. It would only take about a minute to completely fill with its special fluid once a patient was prepped for it. After that, assuming the intended patient was even still alive, Megumi would have to stabilize him and decide how best to treat the injuries. The only thing she was sure of right now was head trauma and lots of broken bones, but it could be a lot worse if the cockpit caught on fire or something ...

"Hm?" It hadn't taken Olivia long to figure out what was bothering Chris, and with her treatment being rather low on their list of priorities, she asked if she could go search for Valerie. Better now than when the search and rescue made it back. "Yes, go," Megumi nodded, "and be quick about it." With that, she stepped away from the open SIEG tank and sighed. Hopefully Nikolai was going in here sometime in the next few minutes. Hopefully ...


Not quite forming up but it would do, Firmia supposed. The approach to the distress signal's location wasn't going to be the relatively quiet trip the Alkaev had been hoping, though. She needed time to think about everything that had happened, but she was beginning to realize she wouldn't be getting it until she hit the changing rooms. "They might be dead," Firmia admitted, "but we should still check. Speaking of which, depending on the situation, I might need you to put them in the Mantle's spare seat. Their escape pod might not be in any condition to carry back. We don't know, yet ..."

Galatea's input was a little helpful, but Firmia was quietly siding with Hannah in terms of how the situation felt. At best they were slowing the enemy down and upping their maintenance costs. Why wasn't Apotheosis coming down on them like a tidal wave, right now? They had the tech, the numbers, and more reasons than they really needed to do so. It seemed more and more that her theory of a ship takeover being in the works could be correct.

"This is Lieutenant Brant Abrams of the ANF vessel Heion Riese. Serial code HR-3234. Downed pilot, do you copy?"

"Downed pilot?" Firmia tilted her head.

Brant made a face at that, but like usual, Firmia couldn't see it. "What else am I going to call them ...? ... Ahem, we've picked up your distress signal and are currently inbound to your location. If you can hear this, please respond."

Edited by Phoenix
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Rush and Scout

At least, that seemed to be most of the issues with the new captive resolved, granting Ignatius some room to breathe. This 'Chris' was checked up and seemed to only be bruised, and the missing nurse was going to be checked on by the other already. Megumi's shift in priorities and need of a SIEG tank was a new cause for concern, however, and from her look, things weren't pretty. "Aye, I'll give the boys a message." The old man nodded, turning to the two mechanics he'd brought with him. "You two stay here and help the Doctor out if she needs it, alright? She calls the shots!" He pointed to accentuate a point that probably didn't need any. The two mechanics looked at each other for a moment, turning back and nodding quickly to their makeshift leader. First order of business, Ignatius opened his comm to send a message to the hangar, specifically, to Avery --bless her busy soul--.

'Boss, could you be a dear and give the mechanics a holler? Infirmary might get understaffed, so if one or two have any medical experience, tell them to take a ride here.'

Hopefully that wasn't asking too much. "I'll go ask the bridge while I can, you guys sit tight. Sad to say I don't know anything about this Timber lad you're missing. I'll be back shortly." With a quick nod, the old man made out of the infirmary. The bridge lift wasn't too far, thankfully, and in a short moment's notice he was already on his way up.

Out of the corner of the room, a curious patient seemed to be looking at the new visitors expectantly, slowly approaching the Doctor. It seemed that the plans for a wheelchair were true, clumsy as Mai was handling the directions, at least she'd managed to not crash into important equipment, yet. "Doctor..." Her voice was understandably reluctant, and it was likely an unnecessary intrusion to do. "Is there any help you think I would be able to do? My leg is still recovering, but I don't think anything bad can come out of it if I'm careful."

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The Heracles stepped into the hangar, once more. The mechanics, as usual, were all scattered, performing their usual jobs of repair and maintenance after a battle like this. There were fewer, though that was probably due to the team of mechanics that she passed by, now trying to get what they could from the wreckage, admittedly now less on fire than it was, previously. All the same, Elaine stepped carefully as she usually did, and walked her mech suit back into it's spot in the hangar, before powering down.

The cockpit door opened, and out stepped the red head, now removing her helmet as she controlled the lift to lower her down to the floor. Elaine let out a small sigh, still unable to get the somber feeling out of her system. They had taken their sweet time getting to the downed pilot, and it left her unsure if they were even still alive, and it worried her that they might of failed their mission. Even the consolation of massively messing up an Ace Pilot of Apotheosis didn't do much for consolation. Not to mention that Elaine's own antics regarding the Colony Robot might of slowed the crew down, if only slightly. It was going to be one hell of a briefing for her if Brant found the pilot dead.

Elaine stepped off the lift, then looked towards the robot that Kim had spared. Repairs were still being worked on, but she imagined that it was less of a priority than the others. But, it felt like a miracle that it was still in one piece. She had wanted to keep it in tact as much as possible, to preserve the memory she had of it. Even now, as she looked on, it's paint job ruined thanks to the attacks it took, it's shape still resembled the same robot from two years ago, that stood proudly among the ruined base torn apart by terrorists, symbolizing a beacon of hope for those that still survived the stolen mech's rampage across the Colony. ...At least before it had indirectly caused the death of those it's pilot had tried to save.

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Quickly

Nikolai was carted back onto the skimmer, some of the crew staying behind to take care of the Umbra's wreck. They'd be spending a while picking those pieces up. The mechanic in charge tried to smile at Tarquin, not really sure what to say. They must've been friends. "Far as I'm concerned," he started, trying to make this the least condescending he could, "kids like you should be hangin' out playin' games. Doesn't matter how smart you are, or what you were trained for. War just... Ain't the place for people your age, or his." He sighed, but the situation wasn't as bad as it could've been.

"He'll live. Long as he's still breathin' when he gets to the infirmary, he'll live. Don't think he's gonna wanna pilot any time soon, though... Don't spend too much time out here, alright?" He tipped his hat, turning back to the skimmer. "But, you can be sad. Ain't gonna tell you to get over it. Just take it easy, little guy." The skimmer headed off, boosting itself up towards the top of the ship. They could've carted Nikolai through the hangar and up an elevator, but the quickest way to the infirmary would be through the bridge connection ramp... Which was luckily not destroyed in the fight.

Daze

Jess looked around the bridge, things seemed so slow. Was Nikolai dead? Did he survive the crash? Would it matter...? Him going down like that at all was enough of the truth she'd needed.

They'd been getting lucky.

Apotheosis had always been able to kill them. It should've clicked when Kim was nearly murdered by the Luna, it wasn't that they were too strong to be beaten entirely, it was that Apotheosis had simply just... Been missing. Their pilots were good enough to dodge, dip, block things with some implement, but... As soon as someone took a direct hit, this was going to be the result. "We're just lucky..."

It was too sobering, Jess suddenly felt rather nauseated. The bridge was focused on fixing up the Riese with the boat staff they had on hand. That Hyperion and the enemy machine had done a swell number to their front section, one of the beam cannons had been entirely mangled by that last blast. They'd be out some firepower until that could get fixed... At least Central was close, but...

"I... I need to, I..." What do you need to do? You're not even here, right now. What could you possibly get done? "D-Debrief. Setup... Set, that up..." Jess slowly got out of the chair and made for the elevator, looking at nothing. She didn't clue back in until she'd ran her head into the closed elevator doors, squeaking and realizing she was even walking. "Uh... S-Sorry..." Doors opened properly, the dazed captain started to head down.

Popular

"Whuh, oh, Astin, hey... Seriously!? Shit, that's th'best news I've gotten today. An'... No. Ain't got no word on boy wonder. Sent a crew out t'get 'im, but they ain't come back yet. Carver's pro'ly goin' up t'the top deck directly. Faster'n gettin' 'im t'the infirmary iffin he's still alive..." Avery sighed, what a big, bad mess. It would've happened eventually, but with how long it took to happen, maybe some of the crew had thought it wouldn't. "Get'churself back t'the boat, Astin. Let's see how our little bet went, huh? Get somethin' positive outta this."

A message from Ignatius came in next, asking for some medical hands, not that Avery could think of many... 'The crew I sent out to collect Nikolai should have enough people to help the doctor.' She sent that back and stared in frustration at the Artemis' screen. She'd been able to make sense of what this system did, but that it was installed at all, or the things it did to the machine on the outside... Just what was this prototype? "The hell'd you give me, dad?"

Search Quest

"Right away," Olivia said, not missing a beat and heading out of the infirmary. She had a pretty good idea where Valerie was, right now...

That just left Chris, the doctor, some lady, and two mechanics. It seemed the calm atmosphere was eating at the blonde, who looked over at the doctor, trying to form a question. "Why... Are you people so nice? Isn't this war? I'm an enemy pilot. I should be in your brig, or, on a firing line... But no one's yelling at me. No one's trying to shoot me. Even the old man didn't taze me when I pushed the envelope... What's wrong with you people?" It felt so off. This didn't feel like a military vessel, just felt like a bunch of friends hanging out, playing hero. It wasn't what she'd been shown since waking up for the first time...

Collection

With no respond from the pilot, Hannah brought the Mantle in close, the inner cockpit of a Velite finally coming into view. Considering that was all that was left, the machine must've been hit with something terrifying. Hannah let Brant continue his communications as she opened up the Mantle and hopped out, making her way over to the orb. "Firmia," she radioed up to the Regalia, "should I open it up myself? I would be able to force the door, if the pilot cannot respond..."

 

Edited by SnakeMomMelissa
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Pilot

"Got it. Heading back now." Astin stared sheepishly at the readings on the Ceres and added, "Yeah, I uh... Pretty sure you won. Sorry." Somehow they suspected she was going to be less than impressed with the damages. They'd been doing so well too... Shaking their head, they made their way back to the Riese, docking the Ceres in the usual spot. "Alright Juria. Time for a break before debrief. Go take a breather, alright?"

Heading down the lift, they landed with a slight thud and sighed, leaning against the legs of the robot. Infirmary wasn't the right place to go now. It would be busy most likely with Kim and Christina and potentially Niko. Maybe just resting here for a few moments wasn't the worst idea. Slowly sliding down into a sitting position, they leaned their head back against the leg of the robot and closed their eyes. Just a few seconds to relax was all they needed...

Physician

Finally, Val peeked her head out from under her covers, staring at the cracked screen of her communicator. Seeing the time, she bit back a curse. While she'd been sulking, things had been moving on. She was almost certainly being missed in the infirmary right now, though with how few patients they'd had recently, maybe not. Still, time for the pity party was over. Scrambling around getting dressed, she strapped the communicator back in place, even if it was almost impossible to read it properly now. Gonna have to find a replacement somehow... Pushing it to the back of her mind, she headed for the door, ready to get back to the work she'd chosen to sign up for. Shouldn't have done it after... Ugh, just stop it and be an adult.

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Black Storm (Somewhere in the near vicinity, current time)

Spoiler

The Rhea crashed. The boosters could only send it up so far until the aerodynamic imbalance send its upper body dunking down to the ground. The damaged machine had escaped, but for how long, was anyone's guess. After bracing for impact, Carlos' first order of action was checking if the jamming system was still operational. Affirmative. He sighed, feeling a shivering cold escape him. "Good. I'm safe, I think... Intermediate Dunch, Nivas, do you hear me?" It had been a chaotic escape, but thankfully he hadn't lost track of the Saturns, they followed through successfully, and seemed in much better shape than his machine. "One of you is going to have to carry me... sorry. Nothing we can do about that. We're supposed to meet the rest of the group still." It was going to be bothersome for sure, to attack the ANF HQ with such reduced numbers, but they were running out of time.

In response to his plea, one of the Saturns quickly picked up what was left of the Rhea. "Thank you, Dunch." Carlos remained fairly quiet as the Saturns started moving again, thinking back to the stinking failure of his mission. "Guess none of the clones survived. Neither did Joker, damn it. He was friends with that experiment girl, it's going to break her heart." Thanks to Apotheosis' big numbers disadvantage, many of their lower ranks had been filled with 'clones' ever since they managed a grasp on that technology. Compared to understanding the Sacarian's technology, it had been way easier, but they weren't perfect, they did not necessarily inherit the piloting talents of their donor's genetics, and were a Russian roulette when it came to their mental state. Ever since the rise of that technology and the casualties of war, most 'Novices' were really cloned pilots bolstering their numbers and passing the basic guidelines of 'subservient'. I wonder when we'll run so low that we'll have clones as Intermediates... what's the name of that doctor? Liebenwalde, guess ANF didn't pay him too much if he was willing. To see somebody like that work for the ANF was revolting, but expected. That the doctor was now their ally was even more revolting. Carlos couldn't help this sinking, empty feeling that he was possibly going to be cloned, and who knows to what extent?

"Dunch, remind me: When we drop down, I have to call Lieutenant Laine. Got one too many things to talk about." This whole situation with the Riese was messed up, Carlos was supposed to be one of the top Intermediates in Apotheosis, yet all he could do against the Riese was down one prototype suit. Hmm... if I had more ammo, maybe I could have sunk it. No, that wasn't even supposed to be where his brain should be going. The Sacarians just dipped and underestimated his unit's contribution, after taking their sweet time, somehow deciding the Riese was not worth it. I bet that ship is going to Central, only makes sense. No doubt they were going to meet again soon...

 

Why Are We Nice?

The two mechanics looked at each other, a bit puzzled by this other Christina's question. "Even if you were to make a fuss, we could stop you before you'd cause too much damage, I reckon." One of them finally spoke up, slowly looking at the girl with a neutral expression. "No point treating people worse when there's enough killing going on. If you were actually aggressive, maybe we'd have to. We're still not gonna put anything dangerous too close to you, you know, just... no need to go out of our way to treat you like garbage. Got a lot of baggage fixing mechs as is." She shrugged, and pointed at Chris. "Also, when you're dressed like that, we're not really afraid of you carrying hidden weapons. Would be a bit obvious."

"The people in this ship are quite hospitable. they even offered to share the load when the Colonies were attacked and there were too many injured to care for." Mai seemed to have took interest in the conversation, and turned herself to look at Chris. She seemed a bit puzzled by the question's host, however, tilting her head. "Wait... aren't you that girl my son was helping out yesterday? Why are you an enemy pilot now?" Was she helping Apotheosis all along? Oh no, what a bad influence for Makoto!

Let's Stop to Smell the Napalm

As the rescue group left back for the boat, a small machine approached the debris of what was the Umbra. Makoto's Phalanx had stopped a few steps from Tarquin, the hatch opening to reveal the pilot, whom looked pretty concerned himself. "Hey, is everything okay? I just... in the rush of the fight, I didn't even catch the moment when he got shot down, but that was Nikolai, right?  I hope he's going to be okay." The boy seemed to shiver, the dark thoughts that seemed to come when one was faced with their own mortality were quite heavy for the boy to handle. "I guess that could've been me back when the weird suits showed up... we can never be too careful." It seemed that Makoto was struggling to find more words, but as a short moment passed, he looked back at Tarquin with some concern. "So... they took him, right? Let's go back. Can't be healthy to stay here and take in all that smoke.'

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The soothing male voice that filled the pod after the distinctive crackle of the comms coming to life managed to rouse Jess from a near-surface stupor. It wasn't the first time she'd awakened since the crash; that had happened earlier, but had only lasted ever so briefly. She'd opened her eyes, but upon turning them to survey the damage she'd been assaulted by such agony that she hadn't even fought to remain conscious as the body's defense mechanisms shut her down again. This time she knew better, though. She knew not to trust the wreck that had been her right eye. Hell, not even to trust her good left eye, as turning one of them turns the other as well. So it was from the darkness behind closed lid that she groped around for the transceiver with her left hand--couldn't trust the right one of that pair either, not with the state of its wrist--and finding it mashed the button to transmit. A few moments of silence passed before she managed to croak out a reply.

"...Lieutenant. I'm reading you. Jess Barnes, ID C-44689. Advise EXTREME CAUTION on your approach. My whole squad's gone, some dangerous new weapon, weapons? Came out of nowhere, no time to react."

That was all the most important bits. Letting up on the transceiver for a moment to catch her breath, to try to piece more together from the fog, Jess paused. There was nothing. Not a single bit of useful information she could give. How pathetic. There should have been something, but...

"I've lasted this long, I'm stable. Don't rush on my account. Just the bubble, though, self-destructed the suit. Stay safe out there. Possible they can fire from beyond visible range?"

Groaning a little after disconnecting the second time, she waited for any further questions, tried to think about how make herself even a little more ready for the rescue. She felt useless. Was she still attached to that tree, to that miserable branch? She couldn't be, right? If she'd still been hanging from it, just the gravity alone would've... No, think about something else. As she frowned in frustration, she felt the crinkle of a crust on her cheek cracking open a little. Dried liquid, whether it was blood, or something worse. What a joke, she couldn't even change the subject of her morbid musing.

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Megumi nearly let a frown slip when Mai volunteered to help out. A mental image of the woman playing nurse in full health briefly floated across Megumi's vision. Maybe she'd been looking in the wrong place for minion number three. Even if that were the case, Mai's lap and hands were all Megumi could come up with uses for right that moment. "I suppose ... if you've got steady hands, it might beat moving around a regular tray." She shrugged, somewhat doubtfully. "Maybe ..."

The calm before the storm gave the wary prisoner plenty of time to notice just how screwed she ... wasn't. For some reason that didn't sit well with her, and she confronted the lot of them on the issue, wondering why she wasn't getting harsher treatment. One of the mechanics laid out a fairly decent explanation; she wasn't much of a threat anymore, and the crew--not just the mechanics--really did have more important things to worry about. Granted, there were probably one or two people that would just be dying to give her a hard time once the fires all got put out, but for now, lives were hanging in the balance.

Megumi was about to make a witty remark when Mai recognized Chris. Mistaking her for Christina was probably inevitable for the time being. "This is 'Chris,' Mrs. Watanabe. You're thinking of Christina, the one that joined us before we made it back to Earth," Megumi explained, glancing at Chris as dubiously as she had upon first seeing her. "I'm not sure which one of them is the clone and which is the original, or if either of them is the original." They had picked up both girls in more or less the same fashion, so it was definitely possible that they were both based on a template and simply came out differently. Megumi and her sisters, despite being clones, were also quite different from their template, and each other. "I'm sure we'll sort that all out soon enough."


"The pilot's alive and responsive," Firmia replied, opening a relay so Hannah and Galatea could both catch the rest of the exchange. "The Regalia will remain up here and cover you ... just in case."

Firmia casts Alert (10sp)!

A bitter smile formed as Brant thought back on the battle. The pilot they were retrieving hadn't gotten off easy, and neither had they ... "Don't worry, Jess ..." Brant paused, the name only registering after he'd actually said it. It was weird running into another Jessica. Or maybe it was just Jess? There was no way that was her whole given name. She hadn't mentioned her rank, either, but with the serial code she'd given, Firmia probably already had the answers to both those questions. Realizing he had about half a second before Firmia took over, Brant pressed on. "We've waited long enough, I think. Had to secure the whole area before we could even attempt a rescue. The enemy's fallen back, including whichever suit attacked your squad, so now's definitely the time. Can you pop the hatch, or do you need some outside help?" Brant wasn't one hundred percent certain they had the whole area perfectly secure now, but Apotheosis did tend to actually leave when they left. The team might still be eating fire from them again on the morrow ... probably before lunchtime, too.

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Niceties Extended

"Not a threat, huh..." The mechanics pointing out her suit caused Chris to curl up some, hugging her legs. It really was a stupid suit, why did she have to wear it again? Something about enhancing the T-Link... The damn machine didn't even have any TK weapons installed. What a farce. She'd been about to snap at the other woman, but the doctor came in... With some still less than pleasant words. "I'm the clone," she bit out, scowling holes into the bed sheets. "That brain dead idiot attached to your lieutenant is the original... She's the only one with disrupting abilities. They couldn't breed that out of her DNA, I guess..." Shuffling her feet a bit against the mattress, Chris sighed, but couldn't beat back her scowl... She was only upset at herself though.

"They're gonna make more of her... Of us, I guess," she mumbled, looking over at Mai again, her scowl fading away a bit, the woman hadn't known any better. "Once one of us gets shot down, they make a clone to replace them... The tech hasn't been great, though. Like how they managed to get an angry mess like me out of someone that wouldn't know how to fire a gun if her life depended on it." It may have seemed weird to Megumi, Chris talking about Christina like they'd known each other for a long time, yet they hadn't met before their stare down in the hangar.

"They're going to get better, though... That doctor we took from you. Liebenwalde, or whatever-- well, 'took'. He wanted on board. No restrictions for terrorists... They're going to get better. Figured out how to breed emotion out of the cloning process... Guess that's why they sent me along in a pretty target. Get rid of the old one and bring in the new model. Mother fuckers..." A balled fist punched the mattress, much better a target than the wall.

"Since I'm chop liver, you can ask whatever else you want. Wasn't told much, but I probably know enough to help you all... Don't mistake this as me caring. Just want to get back at the screwed up cunts who wanted to play with life and then threw it away when they got something better." For humanity's advancement, yeah, sure... For your own improvement, no matter the cost, you backwards assholes.

Checkup

With the ARES system at least powered down for now, the Artemis shutting its chest compartment, Avery hopped out in time to see the Ceres land, smiling and heading on over... Hmmm... Ain't clean, but that ain't more'n one hit. I'll give it to 'em. "Heyyy, darlin'. Ain't fallin' asleep on me, are ya? I know yer Ceres took somethin' of a beatin', but, looks like you tried yer best t'keep 'er outta danger. Even iffin it's a nasty hit, it ain't a huge mess. Y'can have me t'night. How'zzat sound?"

Opening Up

Hannah waited for the rest of the exchange to pass by, before nodding. "Affirmative, Firmia. I will be retrieving the pilot now. Please wait one moment." Hannah was aware that the screeching of metal could possible scare the pilot inside, but there was no easy way to get in there, especially if any mechanisms had been damaged in the crash. Stepping towards the orb containing things, Hannah jammed her fingers in between one of the gaps, and with some intense creaking, managed to get the door open all the way.

Scanning the pilot while she gave them a moment to calm down, she noticed their injuries. A broken wrist, tree branch jammed in the eye. One look up would explain that, an unlucky piece of wood had managed to jam itself through a part of the ejection pod while it was crash landing. Running name, Jess Barnes... No match. Running serial number, C-44689. Match. Jezebel Barnes. Hmm. "It appears Jess is a nickname," Hannah delivered up to the Regalia. "Her name is Jezebal Barnes. Records show relation to Specialist Eriksson through work." All of that hadn't been spoken, simply radioed in to the Regalia. Hannah wanted her first words to be more calming, though she kept transmitting it all to the Regalia.

"Hello. My name is Hannah Abrams. Please do not be alarmed by the noise. I opened your cockpit for the convenience of time. I am an android assigned to the Heion Riese, along with Lieutenant Abrams. All enemies have retreated from the area. You are safe, now. As for moving you, are you hurt elsewhere? My optics can only pickup the injuries to your wrist and eye. If those are your only injuries, I will assist you into my machine, and we will return you to the ship for intensive care. Would that be alright? I am gentle in moving injured people, so you do not have to worry about being jostled improperly." Hopefully that covered enough... It was a bit awkward, somehow, to be referring to herself as an android... But, that was the truth.

Edited by SnakeMomMelissa
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Drained

"Hu-wha oh... Avery." Astin rubbed their eyes and did their best to stand up, resulting in a slouch but fully up on their own two feet. "Mmm just needed a few seconds. That was a bit crazy out there. Too much adrenaline pumping I guess." They glanced back up at the Ceres, their cheeks pink as she started talking about their bet. "I uh... Yeah, I guess. Feels like you won more than me. Two hits only I guess, but that one was bad. Shoulda defended against it, coulda protected a bit more." They rubbed the back of their head looking back at Avery. "Yeah I uh... I mean, I guess if that's your ruling, it's what we'll go with." They still had no clue what they were doing with all of this, but Avery seemed happy and that was what was really important, right?

Late

Val rushed through the hallway, slipping slightly on the floor. It seemed like the janitor must have been through here recently, given the state of the floor, but there was no time to slow down. She was late enough already, no need to make it later just because the floor was a bit wet. The next corner was her second to last one and she skidded around it easily. She reached for her music player, only to realize she'd forgotten it. Dammit. Too late. Maybe later. Finally, last corner. Rounding it, she slipped, skidded, and then went flying right before she reached the elevator door. Perhaps luckily, the door opened just as she did, preventing her from flying face first into the cold steel, and instead resulted in her face planting straight into something soft and warm. "Bwah?"

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Tarquin stood there as the rescue crew lifted Nikolai away, his consciousness completely isolated from everything around him. There would have been countless situations like the one he was in now, was this how everyone who had allies shot down felt like? Standing right in front of the wreckage made it seem far closer than it did before. The wind swept across him, drawing a thick stream of smoke with it. Its heat was a juxtaposition to how he felt, his own arms and legs still felt frozen, separate from the rest of his body. He didn't turn to Makoto, his eyes were fixed on the flaming wreckage of the Umbra. This was the grown-up world that he'd been shielded from, it wasn't just an assignment that he was expected to complete... it was a war for survival. Nobody had asked him if he wanted to be part of it, quite the contrary, he had been created specifically to continue it. However he acted, his choices were going to prolong the lives of some people, and cut others drastically short. The thought of it was rather nihilistic, what actually mattered?

"Give me a little longer, Makoto." Tarquin replied, looking up at the smoke as it trailed into the air. As unpleasant a scene as it was for him, he took a surreal comfort in how far away he was from everyone else. Nikolai had avoided death, but how much of him that would remain, both physically and psychologically, was another question. "Es ist so kalt, selbst die Flammen können mich nicht wärmen."

He turned back to the Aria, staring up at the metal giant. It too had lost its companion, but it would take it better than Tarquin had. Was feeling happy really worth having to feel like this?

"Not a problem, I am sure we can handle anything that get thrown our way, right?"

If only Nikolai had been right. Tarquin had seen Nikolai as an un-killable survivor, a human imbued with the tenacity of a cockroach. Said cockroach had just been stepped on.

-

Talia had sat through the entire mission under her covers, cowering every time the Riese was bombarded. After a while, there was silence. Had it stopped, was the mission over? She crawled out from underneath them, cautiously escaping from her fabric cocoon. She couldn't help but be disappointed in herself, everyone else had rushed to deploy... and she hadn't even got out of bed. She stepped out of bed, leaning agains the mirror on the wall. Looking at herself in the mirror made her feel sick, she almost wished the loser looking back at her was someone else. 

"Don't look at me like that... you're making me hate you too." she muttered, averting her gaze. She needed to get better, being so pathetic for so long, she couldn't go on like this. It was a bold ambition, but how could she even approach it? She only acted when she felt she was in danger, like back at the facility or when she was in the Umbra. Her knees started to shake, perhaps she needed to start smaller... flying a metal coffin wasn't going to help her at all. "Maybe if I just go for a walk... then I've gone out of my room... that's progress, right?"

It was awful, such a tiny step and she was already having second thoughts. The bed was starting to look like a tempting option again.

 

 

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Well, that was a wrap. Doyle had pulled through and managed an excellent assault on that enemy sniper, and she'd helped. Abby was feeling a little better, now that some small manner of vengeance had been exacted. It was a shame it had still managed to warp away, but some things couldn't be helped. The crew pretty much splintered off after that, heading wherever their priorities took them: the mission proper, rescuing that distress signal; mourning Nikolai; or just heading back to the boat.

One of their members though seemed maybe lost in thought. Steering her Crescent Moon over to the newbie in her Mk IV, she clapped a big robot hand onto its big robot shoulder. "Hey, Aliza, still holding up all right? You did some pretty good work out here today. Probably about time we head back though, no?"

 


 

Thorvald was torn in several directions at once, but once his head caught up and decided he ought to follow his heart, things became a little bit easier. Even this newer Legionary simply wasn't going to keep pace with the shifting MS/plane hybrids, so they were the clear choice for SAR work anyway. Which left the matter of their big loss to handle...

Coming around to location, stopping behind Makoto's phalanx and sliding down his lift to the ground, Thorvald arrived just in time to hear Tarquin say, "Give me a little longer," and then some words in a language he didn't understand. The squad of mechanics had already left, and while he appreciated the boy's wish for some time alone, he wasn't going to leave. Watching silently from a ways back was the best compromise he would offer. Looking up at the boy from Colony 1 instead, he nodded, as if to thank him for also sticking by Tarquin's side, but also to release him if he needed to go. If not, well, they could wait around together.




 

When this Brant fellow mentioned they'd already secured the area, Jess sighed, and the tension left her body. She could only hope nothing had escaped them, lying in wait, but there wasn't anything she could do but trust they'd been thorough. Part of her felt like crying, just dropping everything, burying her face in her hands and letting it all out. It was for the best she didn't, though, it wouldn't have been a good idea, for obvious reasons.

"I'm afraid I really can't help with anything, pretty much completely worthless right now," Jess confessed, when asked how much assistance she needed. "My wrist is broken and my... I can't see."

Scarcely after she had finished relaying the state of affairs though, a loud, squealing noise intruded into her awareness, like that of twisting metal, much closer, not coming from the transmitter but from directly around her. Then some moments of uncomfortable silence, before a second voice made itself heard. It was colder, less human, and understandably so. Identifying itself as an android, its mannerisms and choices of words were a bit peculiar. For all of that though, its intentions seemed pure and good.

"I honestly couldn't tell you if that's everything, but those certainly hurt enough to drown out whatever else there might be. So... sure, just... do what you think best." Jess turned her head, a bit embarrassed and ashamed to look her rescuer in the face, even if she wasn't actually looking, and winced as a small flare of pain rewarded her for her efforts. Unsure what else she should actually do, she simply held her arms out awkwardly, in what would hopefully be a helpful manner for the android to lift and carry her.

Edited by Balcerzak
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That was it...the battlearrow-10x10.png was done. "...." Aliza took a huge breath of relief. "Aaah...I'm not a religious person but this all worked out so I believe in some kind of god now..." Nervous laugh to herself. Then in came an answer from Abby and the robotic pat on the back, something that made her smile. "Oh, Abby. You think I did good?" She grinned. "Hee hee thanks, you did better though. But I'm glad to watch your back." To be complemented by a girl was the best thing to hear after a rough battlearrow-10x10.png. "And sure, maybe we can grab a bite when we get back too!"

Edited by TheRoon
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Contest

"Hey, I won, so I get t'say what happens, don't I? An' I think y'did good enough. I'll make sure stuff's all fixed up before eight PM hits us, an' let you have me fer the night. No sleepin' in a machine... An' no sleepin' here fer you, either! Prolly gonna be a meetin' soon. So... Yeah. Prolly gonna be real important. Hope Nikolai's alright..." Avery tipped her hat some, and silently wished their belligerent ally the best... And if the worst had happened, Avery could only hope it wasn't his legs. It's always the legs, Avery... Always.

Crash Course

Olivia had been right to check the bottom floor, at least. The doors opened and Valeria crashed into her without missing a beat, making her giggle a bit. "If you wanted to get close to me, you just had to..." Ask... Shit. She was still just as cute and useless as she'd been before, wasn't she? Why was she playing hard to get? Olivia hated giving into these things, it was so painfully obvious by her drunken messages that she still wanted to be together. She's scared... I don't blame her. I don't know if I've changed enough to make this work, but for fuck's sake I want to try. "...Kiss me." It was just a whisper, and they had better things to do right now, but Olivia wanted this much. She gently pressed the button to go up while she waited, knowing that the doctor would be incredibly upset if they stalled on this because of some silly emotions.

Collected

"Of course~ Please stay calm. I will say, though, that your file says you worked with Thorvald Eriksson. He is currently stationed on the Riese, so I believe he will be pleased that you are alright... Unless the two of you did not get along? Only your working with him was stated in your file, Miss Barnes." Hopefully this would be a positive thing to relay to the damaged pilot. It would likely be very painful to remove that shard from her eye, even if Hannah could do so surgically enough... The doctor would be better off putting her under or numbing her before doing so.

"Up we go," Hannah mumbled, sweeping arms under Jezebel's back and legs, and slowly cradling her out of her seat. "Firmia and Brant, I have the pilot. Bringing her back to the Mantle now, we should have a straight shot at returning to the Riese. I would ask Brant to switch to MS mode and carry her capsule back with us. Perhaps there is useful flight data that we can use to ascertain what happened to her past what she can tell us."

Hannah hurried back over to the Mantle as best as she could, settling Jezebel into the copilot seat and setting her seat belt. "Please remain calm. You will be back to good health soon."

"Good, Gods, what happened to her?"

Hannah turned and scowled back at her screen, the tiny AI shutting up quick. "She has been through enough today than to need your observations, Galatea. Please refrain."

"Yes, ma'am..."


0945, August 2nd, Skies Above Southern Utah

Quiet Meeting

Jess didn't look at all happy about their victory, despite them successfully bringing in the S.O.S. pilot, and stopping Apotheosis forces. Nikolai was alive, but he'd been more damaged than she'd been ready to see. Both of his legs had been severed below the knee, his entirely upper body was charred and burnt. The fact that he was still breathing was likely some testament to the horrific experiments that he'd been through before they'd rescued him, and now this had happened to him. Was fate just angry at this child for something? She shuddered to think if something else could happen to him. He'd been through far more than enough...

"We've recovered Nikolai, a-and the Umbra's wreckage... He's alive, for now. Doctor Amparo is attending to him and seeing to it that she keeps things that way. We've brought in the distress signal pilot as well, a Jezebel Barnes. She's in the infirmary, I'm sure the doctor will get to her once she's done attending to Niko... And..."

Jess looked over at the elephant in the room. The real Christina had made it to the meeting, having woken up Kim when the announcement came through the ship's speakers, bringing her up the short way... And sitting next to Jess, was their new one. One of the ship's mechanics was there, making sure they had their tazer at the ready, but the girl looked incredibly harmless... Well, to Jess, at least. Christina felt rather awkward about this, and she was feeling Chris' eyes on her through that new set of glasses.

"I've been informed that this is Chris. She was piloting the machine that we managed to bring in. I... I have not been given all the details of why there's another Christina, but--"

"My name's Chris!" she bit out suddenly, Jess jumping at the surprise outrage.

"I... I'm sorry?"

"It's Chris. Don't... Don't call me her name." She shuffled a bit in her chair, pulling her knees up, still keeping a glare going at Christina, who felt even more awkward now.

"...A-Anyway... Chris. Can you explain to us... What's going on?"

The blonde sighed, lifting her chin onto her knee and fumbling with her glasses for a second. "Apotheosis is making clones of all pilots that get shot down. That's why they have so many low ranking machines to throw around. They aren't expensive to produce, and whenever one explodes, they can just... Make a new version of the same person. Not hard to get material with how many people they're killing, anyway..."

"That... What!?" Jess knew clones had to have been involved, Christina didn't have family past her parents, but that was... Horrifying.

"Yeah, gawk at the freak of nature, thanks... You asked. That's what they're doing. They got your doctor, Liebenwalde or whatever. He's making them even better, so I guess they threw me out like trash for a better version. Have fun shooting her down, Kimmy~" The venom was palpable.

"I... Uhm... A-Any, questions...?" This wasn't exactly the revelation Jess had been expecting... While she knew Christina didn't have anymore family, she was hoping for something like long lost twins, not... Not clones, readily available. How many times had they shot down the same person?

//All PCs may post during the meeting! If you wish to have NPCs attend, please ask me first! Nikolai no longer counts as a PC!

Edited by SnakeMomMelissa
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Astin sat relatively near to the Captain, getting a close up and personal view of the newest prisoner. What next, we'll let her pilot too? The news about Nikolai was good but but at the same time, same with the news about the rescued pilot. From the way Jess was making it sound, neither of them would be up and about any time soon. Which was to be expected if they thought about it. Everything that was going on was just too much. Apotheosis is using clones? Impossible. They would... But they did take the doctor. And apparently humans are his specialty given Tarquin... But still. How could they do such a thing?

And then there were those... things. Those monster machines. Those were as important as anything with this 'Chris' person. Shifting slightly, they glanced around and then spoke up. "Yeah, I have a question, Captain. Those two machines that grabbed Kim. Look, the sniper we fought was bad enough. But those two things... What were they?" They knew Avery had to be worried about them. Even the with the technology they were capturing from enemy bots, they still seemed ages behind what Apotheosis was throwing at them, and it was her job to make sure they could keep up. A feat that was seeming more impossible by the hour. It almost made them feel guilty for the promise they'd gotten from her earlier. Were they risking the lives of other pilots just so they could have a relaxing night? She needed a night of rest too but maybe now wasn't the best time for it...

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Elaine’s eyes widened at the mention of clones, as she stared at Chris with a horrified look. Her voice had made her suspicious, and her appearance hadn’t done much to comfirm or deny, but never in her wildest dreams did Elaine even consider that she was looking at another Christina. Perhaps she should of realized it, seeing as Tarquin and Talia were born from a similar process, but even then, those two looked different enough. Here, despite differing personalities, Chris and Christina looked exactly the same. 

Her gaze slowly shifted to the floor as Elaine became lost in her own thoughts. Clones? This was what they had been fighting all this time? Clones of people Apotheosis had shot down, captured, and forced into working for them as cannon fodder? They were creating human life only to use it for their own gains, disposable to them in nearly every sense. How many had the pilots shot down and killed? How many had she killed, herself? And how many of those were just clones of people who were just slaves to this group? ...How many were the original?

...Elaine felt sick just thinking about it.

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One of the worst things that can happen for a person's mood is being woken up early. Woken up early to learn that another member of your squad had gotten his legs chopped off and set on fire? Even if you weren't particularly close to that squadmate, even worse. But being confronted by an angry clone of your girlfriend who absolutely hates your guts, whilst the chemical imbalance in your brain is probably severe enough to be considered radioactive? Now that's just a recipe for failure on all fronts. Unfortunately, that was reality for Kim Seung-Min in their current debrief meeting, having only gotten about 20 minutes of shuteye before they were all called in for the meeting. By all accounts she looked like an absolute wreck, and if the Doctor hadn't been thrust with massive other priorities, she would have surely been shipped to the infirmary. Bags beneath her eyes that one shouldn't have unless they hadn't a moment of sleep in a fortnight, skin bleached white as a ghost, and despite being wrapped in Christina's coat, uncontrollable shivers wracking her frame every several seconds, accompanied by sweat rolling down her brow and face.

Bluntly put, she was a total mess. A total mess who was still afflicted by lingering chemicals in her brain that screamed for conflict. No one knew that better than the stress ball she had grabbed when thrust into this position... the poor thing had already stopped springing back properly under the sheer pressure, and it had only been about 15 minutes... and now this clone was going to taunt her. If looks could kill, she would have certainly dropped dead, the sheer hatred pouring out from Kim's mind impossible to miss for the other telekinetics in the room... or for anyone else if they bothered looking at her face. To loose enmity of that magnitude... something was certainly amiss with Kim's head.

"You're nothing... like my Chrissy. Even if... you have her face, her voice. Chris-ti-na~" Kim retorted, making sure to emphasize the latter part of her name that this clone oh so hated.

"If every clone... is going to be as much of a... colossal bitch as you. I'll gladly... shoot them all down." Seung-Min concluded, slinging her own venom directly back at this clone. Not just that, as the aggression welling in her mind caused Kim's fist to slam down onto the meeting table as she leered at the clone, an almost feral growl escaping her throat. Of course, she had to shake her head after a moment, trying to clear it. Astin had asked about the unknown machines... it was important, she had to answer... she just hadn't expected them to come up so early in the meeting.

"R-right, they... those machines. They were piloted by... telekinetics. Stronger than anything I've... ever felt. They were able to communicate... telepathically. Claimed to not be... human, insisted humans were... nothing but insects before them." That was enough to at least get the ludicrous alien business out into the open. There would surely be follow-up questions, but those could be dealt with in due time.

Edited by Ether
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Deciding whether or not to attend the briefing had been a difficult choice for Tarquin. Part of him had wanted to visit Nikolai in the medbay, but now was a vital time for his friend's treatment - he would have only gotten in the way being there. His crippled friend aside, there was another oddity that was very quickly explained. A second Christina was sitting in the room with them. Whilst on a superficial level they were almost identical, there was something offputting about the second one that put her apart from the other. Cloning was a valid explanation, although Apotheosis seemed rather poor at making anyone too adept at piloting. That was likely to change with his Professor working with them. Tarquin himself was proof that a capable pilot could be genetically crafted and trained in a fraction of the time of an ordinary one. It had still taken 14 years for him to get to where he was now, could Apotheosis speed up the process?

The revelation hadn't bothered him as much as he thought it would. After all, he'd been created for combat, the Professor couldn't have been the only one to have the idea. Chris' existence reminded him a lot of T-2, a failed copy with no real direction. Her hostility towards the original made sense, T-2 resented him for basically being a better version of her. He had several things he wanted to say, but Kim's talk of inhuman attackers was enough to keep him quiet for now. Were they facing alien invaders? It sounded like something out of a bad cartoon, but not too much stranger than what they had already faced.

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Nikolai continued to float, gently, on his tiny paper boat on the river Styx. 
If we died, why is this body still so heavy?
Why is there so much violence in your chest little boy?
No, dead things don't breathe. Dead hearts don't beat. We must be alive despite ourselves.
Unless Hell is more of the same, it wouldn't be a surprise would it?

His thoughts layered one on top of each other as he felt the soft jostling of something moving his body. A great big something moving his body, a strange supernatural thing perhaps, shoving the limp ragdoll of his physical body with ease. He was just a ghost haunting a children's toy. A toy that had been broken by large and violent fingers peeling him apart.

A single eyelid flickered enough to let in a thin slit light. He felt a viscous fluid pool and form around his body as he was submerged in the healing gel. A brand-new amniotic sac, a womb in which he would somehow be reborn, a naked and frightened frail little chick where once stood a mighty pheonix... or something like that. The image of a pheonix felt too grand for him... rather, maybe he would be another little lab rat put back together all wrong.
Wrong.
WRONG.

Nikolai's conscious, bleary and confused, slowly started taking an instinctive inventory of his functions. His skin still felt raw and open, nerves exposed and vulnerable for anyone to grind salt into. An eye, still incapable of opening, the butterfly's scales of his eyelids having melded together in a raised filigree of scarring. He desperately tried to move his limbs.
WRONG.
A finger twitched, like the leg of a smashed spider. The most minute sign that his brain still somehow had control of the functioning of the arms and their periphery. The other hand, his right one, was a more difficult task. Pain sang through the nervous trail of meat as he managed another fragment of a twitch. (Arms, two of them).
But there was a strange hollow feeling as he tried to move lower. Nothing. No response. Only pain. 
The aparatus in his head clamped down harder, tightening, contracting like the tightening in his chest.

Where are they?
(Legs, two of them?)
WRONG WRONG WRONG SOMETHING'S WRONG.

He wanted to scream, but it seemed impossible as the air got caught in his raw throat. The only thing that came out was a gentle, pathetic groan instead.
He missed the dirt.The Dirt was certain. This was fucked.

Edited by Balcerzak
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Chris' reasons for being so forthcoming weren't especially important. Wanting revenge on Apotheosis or wanting to help the Riese crew seemed like a distinction without a difference, right now. Megumi kept her questions brief and specific, wanting to know what their prisoner's estimate of the clones' numbers were, and what if anything she knew about the early and latter stages of the cloning process. She tested Chris' eyesight during the questioning before picking out a pair of prefabricated lenses that ought to match the girl's test results. They weren't fancy, but they ought to at least correct Chris' nearsightedness.

Not long before Nikolai was hauled in, Megumi snuck up on Chris with a small cylinder. The most noteworthy thing about it was the syringe housed inside it. It was quick, but not exactly painless. The doctor wasn't taking chances this time, nor was she being nice about it. She needed samples from these engineered humans for a whole host of reasons, and this might be her only opportunity to do so with Chris without making a scene.

After that, though, Nikolai arrived, and it wasn't pretty. Megumi hadn't gotten nearly far enough into her cybernetics studies to even make an attempt at replacing the boy's missing limbs. He wasn't going to be piloting again anytime soon, regardless. Thankfully, he was still breathing. As long as she had advanced enough notice, she could save anyone that was still alive when they reached the infirmary. That didn't mean it would be easy, or that Nikolai would ever be the same again, but at least he would live ...


((Note for Shin: If you wanted to retro any of this, let me know.))

Once Tonya arrived in Brant's room, she cleared up the misunderstanding about A1 to Bill, explaining that the Mini-Throne was built just last night. In a sense, it was a model kit that could run around on its own. After that had all been sorted out, she put A1 back in the gift box and stayed with the little AI, making sure it didn't try to wander off, again. With nothing else to do, and no interest in attending the debriefing, she fired up SSMO and tried to get in touch with Ellen. Pestering Firmia about the Reign could wait, she supposed.


Sasha slept.


Brant supposed there was no point in leaving the banged up cockpit out here. Once Hannah and Jezebel were safely inside the Mantle, Brant put the Regalia down on the ground to pick up the remains. It took them considerably longer to get back to the ship, but they weren't intercepted anywhere along the way. Apotheosis really was gone, it seemed. So was Firmia's aura of malice. That had been replaced by something different, a sense of uncertainty. It wasn't confusion or fear, but more like she was trying to puzzle something out. The lack of energy, or what Brant would normally interpret as urgency, didn't accompany his sense of her. Whatever she was thinking about, she didn't think she could address it right this minute.

When they arrived back on the ship, Brant carefully dropped off his cargo and maneuvered the Regalia to its own dock. They made it in place shortly after the Mantle, and at that moment, Firmia put Galatea's access to the Mantle's systems on suspension. It wasn't quite the same as taking her off of the registered users list altogether, but the result was the same, and easier to  undo. As far as the Alkaev was concerned, Galatea only needed full access during a mission. The rest of the time, it wasn't helpful or needful. After that, she disconnected her tablet from its docking arm, moved the larger monitor out of the way, and grabbed her coat.

"You did really good out there," Brant smiled, though the situation still weighed heavily on him, "We lost some funnels but the Regalia's just fine."

"You just wish Nikolai had that kind of help ... right?"

"... yeah." Brant glanced at the damage to the other suits in the hangar, wondering if Firmia's inclusion as his copilot had been especially good timing. "I know you don't trust Galatea just yet, but for Hannah's sake-"

"Don't worry so much," Firmia scowled, "She can keep helping Hannah with the Mantle. Until I know what to expect from her, though, no full time free access."

"Fair enough," Brant sighed. As long as Galatea could help out when it really mattered, he didn't have much to complain about. "Oh ..." There was one thing that came to mind. "What about the Reign? It's still completely locked down."

Firmia looked at the time. "It hasn't been long enough, yet. Maybe sometime after dinner."

"Man, that's messed up," Brant winced.


Jezebel's eye injury was no quick fix. Restoring her sight proper would take weeks, and she could need constant monitoring in that time to ensure her eyesight was restored to what it had originally been, which meant keeping her off active duty the entire time. For the moment, Megumi and her minions had managed to remove the branch and address the injuries. The woman's forearm wound up in a bulky SIEG filled brace to help heal her broken wrist. Her hand wouldn't be of much use to her for the time being. Naturally, Jezebel was also down to a single eye, the other completely bandaged up and hidden away. She'd definitely seen better days.

By this point, Nikolai had been both stabilized and heavily medicated. The debriefing began without much delay, as expected, and Megumi came back over to Nikolai to continue compiling her list of injuries and suggested fixes for the further ruined child soldier. Meanwhile, Olivia and Valerie were assigned to Jess. Rebuilding Nikolai was going to take time. Watching him groan through his breathing mask in that SIEG tank was like looking into the heart of war itself, and the doctor knew there were just some things she wouldn't be able to address here at all.

Megumi listened in on the post-mission debrief. She already had Chris' information, so she didn't learn anything new or interesting from the opening bits. In fact, the first pass seemed entirely unproductive, with things getting a little too personal with Lieutenant Kim. Thankfully the subject quickly changed to something useful, the two most advanced machines they had encountered to date. The lieutenant's revelation about them held drastic implications that could change the face of the war, as well as the Riese's place in it. The doctor's initial thought was 'aliens,' but she stopped to consider that they might be advanced engineered beings. That still left plenty of room for a superiority complex. Quickly though, Megumi found her way back to the aliens version of events, seeing as Apotheosis' technology was a lot easier to explain this way. If it was true though, figuring out the total strength of the enemy was going to be a major pain for the ANF.


With this one battle, so much seemed to fall neatly into place. Expendable clones. Technology borrowed from a more advanced alien race. It seemed Apotheosis had made First Contact, and now, with backing from interstellar travelers, they were trying to take over the world. As far as Firmia was concerned though, they were just repeating the same grand mistakes of the past, and would eventually suffer the same grand failure. Her uncertainty from earlier was gone now, though Brant couldn't have noticed. The whole atmosphere was different from before. In one direction, there was Seung-Min and her oddly tangible hostility toward the Christina clone. Right next to Firmia, there was Brant, and a depth of dread she had never felt from him before.

So that's how it is ... Brant could only maintain eye contact with Chris for so long before his energy left him and he hung his head, using his hand for support as he languished there. When I first thought about it, I was worried we were shooting down hostages, people like Christina. People who fought for Apotheosis because they didn't have a choice, that's who I was thinking of. This is ... this is so much worse. Brant managed a brief glance toward Chris, again, then returned to the pit of sorrow he'd dug for himself. He wasn't sure he wanted to know how many of them they had killed so far ... how many he had killed. The exact number was irrelevant. Apotheosis was using people like tools, growing them to be killing machines, all for their New World Order. It was beyond disgusting. What might have sparked anger in Brant at another time and place only led to an even deeper sadness. Knowing that his only possible role in all of this was that of a gun, Brant didn't have any room left for wrath. All he could do to address this threat, all he could ever hope to do to address it, was put down Apotheosis' pilots, the loyalists, and the clones alike. All of them. It was an overwhelming sense of impotence, one matched only by his training under the Alkaevs.

Not sure what the exact source of Brant's temporary depression was, Firmia decided to ignore it and focus on the meeting. Like usual, she didn't think much of the crew and wanted to limit her post-mission discussions to just the Captain and whoever else needed to be there for the exchange. People seemed to be asking the right questions, anyway. At least so far. With some clear and concise communication, they could probably get to the bottom of some things, this time. Probably.

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What the hell was wrong with Lieutenant Kim? That was what Thorvald wanted to know most of all, after her petty outburst which seemed rather out of character. Sure, she'd been quick to restrain Elaine that one time, but it had been warranted, and she had been moderate and well-tempered throughout. Completely unlike whatever... this... was. He found himself really hoping it was tied up with whatever had her looking like something the cat dragged in, maybe she shouldn't even be here right now?

Leaning over, he placed a worried hand on her shoulder and asked, "Are you feeling all right? This isn't like you." Hopefully that wasn't going to make things any worse, but hell if it did, Thorvald would be more comfortable handling Seung-Min snapping at him then giving in to provocations and going apeshit on the prisoner. Maybe the change of subject to the unknowns, possibly aliens, would be enough distraction to help her move on as well, but something just felt like she was one small shove away from a very big problem, and unlike the original Christina, this one didn't seem to have any qualms about pushing people around.


Abigail was one part amused, one part concerned, and all parts interested in the revelations connected to the Chris-Christina situation. "Heh, if you're really that upset about the name, you shoulda chose to go by Tina, sugar," she started off with a snort, after the clone got a little too uppity for her current situation. It's not that she wasn't sympathetic to the broader plight the poor girl was in, but Abby couldn't quite wrap her head around the stubborn fixation on this one little aspect of it.

The teasing probably wasn't her smartest plan, though, especially if she wanted to get a straight answer to a burning question that had risen up as a result of this briefing. "How much uh, stuff, contact, whatever, do they need to clone someone and make people like you?" Abby inquired, a little more gingerly this time. "Don't bother explaining any of the science, I don't much care. Just... starting to get worried the old devil's bargain I struck is gonna suck even worse for me. Do I need to worry about facing off with a Gail, myself? Or god forbid..." Calina, back from the grave.

Abigail couldn't finish that thought, just shivered and clammed up a little.

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Alien

"I'm not like yours. I'm better. Go on off to the infirmary before you collapse. You look about as intimidating as she does..." Chris couldn't let this mess of a lieutenant bark at her without any bite behind it. Whatever had happened to the girl was still taking its toll, and she looked about ready to keel over. I'd teach her a less or two if I could... Nothing like yours. I'd never want to be. Instead of go further, at least Kimmy had something useful to bring up to the class.

"They're called the Sacarians," she mumbled, scowling at the table instead of continuing to do so at Christina. "I'm not supposed to know that, but when the aliens themselves bust into the hangar demanding to see Apotheosis' leader, you can't exactly keep it a secret anymore... They're, like, cat people. Like... Just, that. I don't know how else to put it. They've got cat faces, they're insanely strong, they have telekinetic powers straight out of a comic book. Jean Grey, Professor Xavier. Not just this normal T-Link shit, either, they were doing that stuff without a machine... It was pretty terrifying, to be honest."

"So... Let me get this straight. You're a clone, and Apotheosis are working with real, honest to goodness Aliens." Jess was too skeptical of what she was hearing to stutter or be worried anymore, this was beyond what should've been real. "Guess that explains all the tech..."

"That's all I know... No, Abby, you're fine. They need direct skin samples or something like that... Probably cut a chunk out of blondie while she was passed out from her little crash." She sighed.

"Can... I can I not, get put in the brig? I'm... I'm being as helpful as I can. Just..."

Jess wasn't quite expecting that, but maybe there was more Christina in her than she'd thought. That aside... "I don't know if that's a good idea. This isn't exactly the same situation as her's... Or Nikolai's." Or Abby's... "You're a direct soldier working for them-- were, working for them. So..."

"You can lock me in a room, I don't care, I just... Don't want to get jailed for something I had no say in. I didn't even get to shoot at any of you before Kimmy turned off my robot, anyway."

Now Jess sighed. She wasn't exactly in a charitable mood after this Chris' former allies blew up one of their own, obnoxious as he was. A careful glance around the room landed on the XO. She'd been competent again today, once back on the side... Maybe she'd have some useful input on this.

Christina, meanwhile, remained silent. She didn't really know what to say under these circumstances. Really, she just wanted to leave, all this talk about her and this clone was incredibly awkward, and even if the spotlight wasn't on her, it felt like it. Chris seemed too familiar with her, did this cloning process keep old memories or something? She grabbed Kim's hand and gave it a squeeze, hoping the meeting wouldn't last much longer.

"If I may, Captain," Hannah spoke up, raising a hand and smiling, "I believe it wouldn't be harmful to keep her in a standard room with guards, if we are extra worried... I realize that it is not exactly military protocol, but neither is bringing rebels onto a ship and having them fight alongside your soldiers. She has been quiet enlightening on subjects we would have otherwise not known..."

"I suppose... Still, I want to hear others first. And, this... Alien nonsense. Ugh... You've told us a lot, Chris, but it's just another tangent we don't have enough information on."

Chris shrugged, growing a bit somber. "Better anything than nothing..."

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