RP XSDF Roleplay Thread: Vanguard of Forseti

[DarkGemini24601]

XSDF Stellar Mission
Enemy Battleship Assault
Operation Little Dipper

System: Dapsilis
Planet: Forseti
Location: Slipstream Hijacker Battleship "Rhamphorhynchus”
Date: May 17th, 2044
Time: 0015 Hours

Mission Briefing:

Our fighter pilots are busy fending off the enemy ships, but they can't do it all alone. The Einherjar has fire specialty EMP torpedoes to take out the shields of the Slipstream battleship, but at this very moment it is moving behind the large battleship of the TFD. We cannot give the enemy time to get their systems back online.

Your goal is simple, Strike One. While the robotic squad defending the site the team forcibly docks, your goal is to blitz your way to the bridge, and force a surrender of the crew. Failing that, head to the engine room and set it to blow, and then get out of there.

Number of Soldiers on this Mission: One Squad of Eight (8) XSDF Troopers + 2 Seekers; One Squad of Eight (8) Combat Droids + 4 Repair Drones

Soldier's Names:

**{United Kingdom, M} LCPL Blackbourne, Geoff [Knight]
*{Thailand, F} LCPL Metharom, Nyo-Kwang [Domineer] (Manipulation Receptor: T1 Arms w/ Medsprayer/Alloy Knife Protrusion, Bionic Link - C-mu “Niki”)
{Costa Rica, F} SPC Ramirez, Cynthia [Assault] (Ocular Receptor: T2 Eye)
{Congo, F} SPC Mbanefe, Jomaphie [Engineer] (Depth Perception)
{Novum, F} SPC Armbrüster, Ludwiga [Rocketeer] (Aerobic Respiration Boost, Muscle Fiber Density)
{France, F} SPC François, Noire [Paratrooper] (Physical Enhancement)
1{Sihan 2, M} SPC Arcwright, Hermes [Paratrooper] (Thermokinesis, Psi Lance, Destructokinesis) (Tier 2 Cybernetic Limbs and Eyes)
{United States, F} SPC Blackbourne, Leah [Shadow Operative] (Ultraviolet Vision)

**Squad Leader
*Second in Command
Italics are player characters.

Gear: (link)

Spoiler: Strike One's Loadout

LCPL Blackbourne, Geoff [Knight] {Plasma Ravager, MEC-4 Dauntless P2, Flamethrower, Electropulse; Alloy Carbide Plating, Holo-Targeter, Battle Computer, Smartshell Pod}
LCPL Metharom, Nyo-Kwang [Domineer] (Manipulation Receptor: T1 Arms w/ Medsprayer/Alloy Knife Protrusion) {Fusion Carbine, Particle Pistol, Seraph Armor P1; Extended Clip, Alloy Plating, Mind Shield, Pulse Las-G, EMP G, Arc Thrower x2}
SPC Ramirez, Cynthia [Assault] (Ocular Receptor: T2 Eye) {Antimatter Blaster, Fusion Pistol, Vanquisher Armor P2; Breaching Nozzle, Impact Vest, Mind Shield, Flashbang, Chem G, Arc Thrower, HF Sword}
SPC Mbanefe, Jomaphie [Engineer] (Depth Perception) {Fragment Ray, STAB, Servo Armor P2; Breaching Nozzle, Walker Servos, Pulse Las-G x2, Alloy G x2, Medkit x2}
SPC Armbrüster, Ludwiga [Rocketeer] (Aerobic Respiration Boost, Muscle Fiber Density) {Fusion Heavy Rifle, Fusion Heavy Pistol, Archangel Armor P2; Alignment Servos, Walker Servos, Chem G, Smoke G, Medkit x2}
SPC François, Noire [Paratrooper] (Physical Enhancement) {Fusion Rifle, Fusion Pistol, Nova Armor P2; Extended Clip, Chameleon Suit, Neural Gunlink, (Plasma Grenade x2, Medkit, Combat Knife}
SPC Arcwright, Hermes [Paratrooper] (Thermokinesis, Psi Lance, Destructokinesis) (Tier 2 Cybernetic Limbs and Eyes) {Fusion Heavy Rifle, Fusion Pistol, Seraph Armor Equiv. P2; Extended Clip, Reinforced Plating, Neural Gunlink, Battle Scanner, Combat Knife}
SPC Blackbourne, Leah [Shadow Operative] (Ultraviolet Vision) {Particle Rifle, Particle Heavy Pistol, Ghoul Armor P2; Illuminator Gunsight, Walker Servos, Shadow G x2, Mimic Beacon, HF Sword}

C-mu “Niki” (Particle Rifle, Hacking Port, Repair Beam)

Terrain:

The ship will dock at a side hallway of the ship. The path from there will lead to an armory that also serves as a defensive checkpoint for the pirates with barricades and boxes for cover.

An access hallway with crates strewn across the corridor will have a long side path leading to the ship's power core, or the squad can take a roundabout set of hallways passing through a canteen before arriving at an official security checkpoint and then an elevator up to the bridge.

Enemies:

(Slipstream Hijackers)

One Group of Ten (10) Troopers
Two (2) Groups of Four (4) Troopers and Two (2) Supports (Hyper-Reactive Pupils, Adaptive Bone Marrow T)
One Group of Two (2) Assaults (Magnified Bicep Structure, Muscle Fiber Density), Two (2) Gunners (Sturdy Bone Structure), and Three (3) Paratroopers
One Group of Four (4) Troopers, Four (4) Paratroopers, and Two (2) Supports
One Group of One (1) Elite Support [Archangel Armor and Plasma Rifle](Adaptive Bone Marrow T, Flexible Bone Structure), Two (2) Elite Assaults [Titan Armor w/ Pulse Jets](Aerobic Respiration Boost, Adrenal Neurosympathy), and 3 Elite Paratroopers [Plasma Weapons]
One Group of One (1) Gunner (Hyper-Reactive Pupils, Neural Dampening, and Secondary Heart) and Four (4) Paratroopers (Adaptive Bone Marrow T)

-One Elite Group of Two (2) Balmadaar Blade Wardens [Alloy Sword, Titan Armor (P1)](Depth Perception, Magnified Bicep Structure, Iron Skin)
-Two (2) Balmadaar Destroyers [Particle Rifle, Archangel Armor (P1)](Secondary Heart, Adrenal Neurosympathy, Sturdy Bone Structure)
-Two (2) Replitan Snipers [Reflex Rifle, Seraph Armor (P1)](Depth Perception, Adaptive Bone Marrow B)

Ardenian Engineering Chief [Laser Pistol, Carapace Armor]
Tamearin First Officer [Plasma Rifle, Corsair Armor (P1)](ESP, Physical Enhancement/Mind Control, Mind Merge)
Human Captain [Particle Strike Rifle, Archangel Armor (P1)](T3 Cybernetic Right Eye, T3 Cybernetic Left Arm)

Special Enemy Notes –

-Human/Replitan Trooper [Beam Weapons, Alloy Suits/Cleric Armor]
-Human Assault [Pulse SMG/Shotgun, Aegis/Heater Armor]
-Replitan Support [Pulse Carbine/Rifle, Banshee/Seraph Armor]
-Human Gunner [Pulse Heavy Rifle/SAW, Corsair/Heater Armor]
-Human Paratrooper [Pulse Rifle/SAW/Strike Rifle, Seraph/Archangel Armor]

- Heater Armor is Aegis Armor with weak pulse jets, only useful in zero gravity

Mission Objectives:

(1) Defeat of enemy forces on the -ship
(2) Capture of the ship OR destruction of the ship.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and Dahlexpert:
“Operation Little Dipper, Part 1”

Hermes sat anxiously in his chair, his mind too preoccupied to permit a gaze around the confines of the dropship. Despite his best efforts, lately the memories he had been trying to unlock had stopped coming to him, and Vindicta had insisted her take a break. How can I keep my mind off my time with Slipstream at a time like this? he thought dourly. I can see how Korra must have felt fighting fellow Tamearins now… I feel like I’m stabbing an old friend in the back.

Noire put her hand on Hermes’ shoulders, almost to comfort him. “You feeling alright man? You're not getting too nervous are you?”

Hermes jumped slightly in surprise. “Nervous? No…” He sighed. “Just making considerations that one should not make before having to take lives.”

“You know I haven’t fought that much, but if this helps just think of this like you're in the holo room. Just pretend that your training in the holo room, only with live rounds.” Noire said trying to be supportive.

“I doubt I can create such a dissonance between reality and imagination… but I appreciate the sentiment, nevertheless.” Hermes straightened his shoulders, taking a deep breath even though he didn’t require air. “I will not forget my duty though. The XSDF rescued me from rusting away into nothingness on a desert world… I owe the organization my life, and will do my best to repay that debt.”

“That’s all we ask for, just do your best out there and protect who you can. But don’t act stupid though, don’t run across the battlefield trying to help someone you can’t save so just be careful.”

“I understand,” Hermes replied.

“Get ready,” the squad leader, the MEC Knight Geoff Blackbourne spoke up. “We’re about to force a docking procedure on the side of the Slipstream Hijacker battleship! Be prepared for them to have flight armor and laser weapons.” He stood up, able to do so thanks to inertial dampeners within the Vanguard Dropship, but the squad still found themselves a bit unsteady as the dropship slowed down and came to a halt beside the EMPed battlecruiser.

On the side were three docking ports for small ships, likely meant for fighters or scouts. Today, they would be admitting enemies into the Slipstream Hijacker capital ship. The Vanguards angled themselves so their side exit doors linked with the offline connections. Geoff forced a manual override - meaning he grabbed the handle and turned with mechanical might. “Steady… steady… now!” He unlatched the handle and rammed the hatch open, bowling over an unfortunate Slipstream Trooper that had been inspecting the turning mechanism. There were nine other troopers in the room - four in phalanx armor and five in cleric armor - that were all equipped with laser rifle variants. They opened fire, but Geoff’s shields held for just long enough for his team to back him up.

Leah and Jomaphie slid out to either side of the MEC Trooper, and opened fire. The former’s particle rifle disintegrated a hole through one of the fliers before they could get airborne, and the latter managed to at least ground another by destroying his jetpack. Flying out above the MEC Trooper were Hermes, Noire, and Nyo-Kwang. The Domineer in the middle downed an enemy in an alloy suit with her fusion carbine, blasting apart his helmet.

Hermes, seeing that the weak enemies were of no real consequence, opted for a less lethal solution. He drained one laser rifle of its heat energy, rendering the wielder harmless, and pushed the energy into the gun of another, causing the weapon to explode and knock the Slipstream operative over. That’s three incapacitated… and two dead, Hermes thought with a measure of resignation.

Noire fired her fusion rifle at the enemies wearing the Cleric Armor which her fusion rifle went through like it was practically wet tissue. “-(Whistle) Nice gun. This thing is amazing, it’s tearing them apart.” Noire continued to fire at the enemies as they tried to get to cover. Noired kept shooting until she and the squad had taken down the rest of the enemy forces in the hallway. “Wow this thing took these guys out like they were nothing. Noire looked at her commander “Sir, what’s our next plan of attack?”

Geoff quickly knocked out the disarmed but conscious enemy, and then turned to Noire. “We head ship south. There’s an armory, and then we can cut to the side and set up some explosives around the power core.”

Hermes tensed. “Sir… wouldn’t it be more prudent to head to the bridge, as was the other option? Not only would we be able to capture an intact battleship for ourselves… but we wouldn’t have to kill everyone aboard the ship to do so.”

“If we have time, we will,” Blackbourne replied. “If this ship comes back online and aims to starts shooting at our fighter pilots we can’t let it stay in the sky.” There was a metallic clang as the other docking panel was sheared off by the pulse weaponry of the robotic team, and then stepped out to guard the dropships. Two security droids showed up, only to be gunned down by the superior XSDF models.

“We shall defend the landing zone as per orders,” one intoned mechanically. “Complete your mission, Strike One.”

Leah rolled her eyes. “We were already going to do that… but whatever you say, metal man.” Her eyes darted to Hermes. “No offense to you, of course. There’s a difference between those things and an android…”

“None taken,” Hermes said quickly, his concerns still lying with the prospect of the ship being detonated. “Let’s press forward quickly so we don’t have to take the quicker route.”

Strike One quickly advanced to the armory, which had weapon racks empty enough to suggest the ship’s troops were on high alert. This was confirmed a few seconds later as a group of four troopers in carapace armor opened fire on the team, their shots combined with the pulse carbines of two Slipstream Supports biting into the male Blackbourne’s Dauntless Suit. He returned fire with a set of shots from his Plasma Ravager, mowing down two enemy soldiers through their cover, but quickly exhausting most of his ammunition.

Metharom backed him up, the Domineer firing a shot just above one of the support’s heads, forcing them to duck. Her C-mu, “Niki”, added to the gunfire that was coming from the other members of the squad, though it floated high into the air, securing a kill on the enemy its partner had targeted.

With only one support and two troopers left, the situation seemed dire for the Slipstream group. However, they were quickly reinforced by the other team in the area, consisting of two Slipstream Assaults with Scatter Blasters and Aegis Armor, two Slipstream Gunners with Pulse Heavy Rifles and Corsair Armor, and three Paratroopers with simple Pulse Rifles and Seraph Armor. Their combined firepower forced the XSDF soldiers to duck behind cover.

Geoff, who couldn’t do so, was hit by the brunt of the two gunner’s lasers, his armor taking moderate damage. Niki ducked behind him, using its repair beam to patch up holes in the metal with material synthesized from oxygen, but it wouldn’t be able to keep up with the damage he was taking for long - especially not damage like a pulse rifle shot that severed a few circuits in the MEC Trooper’s arm.

“I couldn’t think of a better time for a plasma grenade,” Nyo-Kwang growled. “Blast apart their cover, Francois.”

Cynthia glanced at Hermes and Leah. “And when she does we’ve better stop those two assaults,” she warned, pointing carefully at the two that were advancing with an airborne paratrooper. Leah nodded, and cloaked, while Hermes got ready alongside the XSDF assault.

Noire looked at the flying Paratrooper “Ou a flying enemy, this is where my training comes in handy.” Noire pointed her fusion rifle at the paratrooper and shot him in his leg blowing it off “ Damn well he’s off balance now, which means he’s dead.” Noire aimed her gun at the Paratrooper again and shot him in the chest, leaving a hole in his armor; the paratrooper fell to the ground with his jet pack deactivated. “Hey, the flying bastard is down! I’ll give you some cover with those gunners.” Noire started to fire at the enemy gunners. As she continued to fire at the gunners, she remembered that she had a plasma grenade and where they were heading she most likely wouldn't need it. Noire threw the grenade at the gunners destroying their cover.

“About time,” Ludwiga muttered, her personal shield having been popped by the other two enemy Paratroopers and the remaining support. She didn’t waste the opportunity, blowing away one of them with her Fusion Heavy Rifle in a single shot, the fission blast creating a fiery rumble as it impacted and pierced the armor of the Slipstream trooper.

“Advance,” Cynthia said simply, fixing her third eye - visible through red glass on her customized helmet - on the two enemy assaults.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and Dahlexpert:
“Operation Little Dipper, Part 2”

Disarm them with your swords if you can, Hermes suggested, activating his jetpack and jettisoning into the air. To himself, he added, No time like this one to test out that ability I’ve been working on… On the side of his wrist, a red disc of energy formed, shaping into the likliness of a gear. It spun quickly, and Hermes jettisoned forward, striking a paratrooper’s rifle with destrucokinetic apparatus. As he destroyed their weapon and kicked them into the ground, he turned slightly, taking out the other in a similar fashion.

As he did so, Cynthia and Leah drew their swords. The XSDF Assault charged in boldly, her extra eye adding to her reaction times and allowing her to anticipate the trajectory of a shotgun blast. She danced to the side, and swung her sword down, the high-frequency blade cleaving through the barrel and rendering the weapon inert. Leah appeared out of stealth and decked the disarmed enemy from behind, and then punctured the other Slipstream Assault through the chest with her own sword as he turned to fire at her.

The remaining three Slipstream soldiers, seeing that they were clearly outmatched, promptly surrendered, and were rendered unconscious by fistcuffs; the arc thrower charges that Nyo-Kwang had were needed to repair the damage to Geoff’s suit.
“Great so now that that’s done, we're heading to the ship’s generator right?” Noire asked.

Geoff activated his comms. “Central, what’s our status?” After listening for a bit, he nodded slowly. “Might need to. It sounds like things are heating up out there, and the ship…” he noted the lights starting to brighten “might be approaching combat capability again.”

“No, we can still make it if we press forward, take some risks!” Hermes insisted. “There’s no need to kill noncombat personnel…”

“They are combat personnel if they’re assisting in the fight,” Geoff responded as the squad began to advance. “I’m not a huge fan of it either, but the lives of our own outweigh the lives of the enemy.”

Nyo-Kwang narrowed her eyes. “Why are you so adamant about not taking the quicker, safer route for us, anyway?” As the group entered another hallway, they took cover from the fire of another set of four troopers and two supports, the troopers having cleric armor and pulse carbines this time, while the supports had seraph and rifles.

Hermes took aim with his fusion rifle, and downed one of the enemy supports before they could duck behind cover. “Because… they’re sentients too. We can’t just treat their lives as if they are nothing.”

Niki blasted another trooper. “Don’t give me that ‘don’t become your enemy’ bullshit,” Metharom spat, taking a few potshots to force an enemy soldier to hide behind a particularly large crate. “We’re the defenders here. They don’t have to fight us.”

“Sometimes you don’t have a choice…” Hermes responded.

“And how the hell would you know?”

“I was…” Hermes was interrupted as the zero-gravity abruptly shut off. The XSDF troops were caught unprepared as they began to float up, taking hits to their personal shielding from the enemy - who knew to activate their jetpacks just before.

“Dammit, seriously?” Cynthia complained, taking a wild shot with her shotgun that managed to clip the jetpack of an enemy and blow it up, incapacitating the trooper and taking the enemy strength down to 50%.

“You have got to be kidding me, of all the things that could have happened they do this.” Noire grabbed her fusion rifle and started shooting at the Enemy soldiers. but do to the zero gravity her shot caused her to slam into a wall. “Damn it this is really uncomfortable and with not everyone having jetpacks we’re kinda vulnerable out here.”

Hermes fired off a psi lance - the psi bolt unaffected by the lack of gravity - and took down a fourth enemy, the other two pulling back towards the hallway going towards the engine room. “Anyone with jetpacks should activate them, and the rest should magnetize to the ship’s floor,” he offered, and the others did so. Geoff seemed to have a bit of trouble with his heavy suit, but he managed. Those without jetpacks had a severe mobility disadvantage at the moment though. “Do we really want to attempt to set up explosives in this condition, or are we going to just press on to the bridge?” he pressed.

“All we would need to do is program Ludwiga’s blaster rocket to explode after a prescribed amount of time…” Leah responded.

“So you can kill innocents?” Hermes said, aghast. Noting Nyo-Kwang’s rising suspicion, he admitted, “I… have been learning more about my memories. At a time… I was bought by a Slipstream crew. I came to know them, and they are not much different from us… many simply just have nowhere left to do. And those that are just maintaining a ship, the engineers… they shouldn’t have to face death for simply keeping a ship running.”

“So you’re a goddamn criminal?” Nyo-Kwang spat out.

“Arcwright’s got a point,” Cynthia cut in like a knife. “Engineers are noncombatents. We should press on to the bridge. I can manage.” She experimentally jumped into the air, briefly shutting off her magnetic boots to land as if she were moonwalking.

Geoff seemed to mull it over, and then nodded. “We press on. But after this I think you’re going to have to have a talk with command about that record of yours, Arcwright.”

Hermes nodded. “If that is the price I pay for sparing civilians, then I will accept it.”

Noire put her hand on Hermes shoulder “Personally I don’t care if you were a criminal. It’s in the past, and the past doesn't defy a person or and android.” Noire shook her head. “Point is you're here now and you're with us trying to save people even if they're the enemy and that counts for something.”

Hermes smiled weakly. “Thank you, Noire. And I am still considered property, so they couldn’t exactly prosecute me.” Not unless the goal the other two want to accomplish is reached.

Strike One continued through the hallways. As they neared a new room, their way was blocked by four more Carbine Clerics, four more Rifle Seraphs, and two more Slipstream Supports. Ludwiga seemed to have had enough. “That tears it,” she said, pulling out her blaster launcher and firing off the blaster bomb she had been saving. It collided with the group, blasting apart the Troopers and dealing heavy damage to the other enemies - enough that they immediately surrendered.

Hermes looked on in awe for a moment before managing to say, “Well… done, Armbruster.”

Ludwiga didn’t reply, joining the others into the charge into the canteen ahead of them.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and Dahlexpert:
“Operation Little Dipper, Part 3”

Waiting for them were a more confident group of enemies. There was an elite support with a plasma rifle, two elite assaults in Titan Armor that had attached pulse jets to keep them afloat, and three elite paratroopers with plasma carbines. “I suggest we start blowing our equipment, we don’t have much time to lose,” Geoff warned, taking his own advice by applying an electropulse that took the enemy fliers’ jets away from them temporarily.

Hermes nodded, draining the heat energy from his two Pulse Las-Grenades. He directed the energy into the Paratroopers’ carbines, causing them to overheat and be temporarily disabled, but not explode. “Damn coolant systems.” He rocketed forward, delivering a downstroke with his heel that knocked out one, and a backwards backhand to knock another out. “Shoot at the others!” he suggested.

“Got it.” Noire set her sights on the enemy support “Today seems to be my lucky day: a bunch of flying enemies to take down are lining up for me.” Noire charged her fusion rifle. Her first shot missed her target. Noticing Noire, the support started to fire back at Noire causing her to go for cover. As Noire was in cover she continued to fire at the support, though his jet pack made it a little hard for Noire to hit him. The support continued to rain plasma at Noire, actually getting some good shots on her arm.

Noire reloaded her fusion rifle, and pointed her gun at the support trooper actually getting a hit in his ribs. Noire aimed again and managed to shoot the support in the head dropping him.

As Noire dueled the elite support, the others were engaging the two superheavily-armored Slipstream Assaults. They kept the others from landing any shots by firing off calculated shotgun blasts, but one made the mistake of getting too close to the XSDF Knight. Geoff briefly let his gun float, swinging forward with a blow that knocked the enemy into the air. This gave Nyo-Kwang, Jomaphie, and Ludwiga the chance to incinerate him with combined fire. The other attempted to back off, only for Leah to decloak behind him and fire a shot at his head.

The helmet withstood the blast, and the assault turned around to blow a hole in Leah’s shield, and damage her armor. Geoff’s eyes widened in anger, and he grabbed his gun again, moving to the side a few magnetic paces and then taking off the offender’s head with a burst of plasma.

Geoff went to check on Leah, having Nyo-Kwang instruct her drone to repair his armor. He was brought back to reality by his comms. “We’ve nearly out of time. The ship’s starting to move into position to fire upon the Einherjar, and…” Geoff’s eyes widened. “The Einherjar has a hole breach directed at its power core. We can’t let them take any shots!”

Hermes knocked the last Paratrooper unconscious. “Understood.” He and the others dashed forward through a door and a narrow hallway, exiting a second doorway into a security station. A pulse LMG popped up out of the ground and fired upon Ramirez, damaging her armor as Strike One sought cover. Accompanying the automated defense were four Slipstream Paratroopers and a Gunner with an Autoblaster.

Leah shook her head. “We have to end this quickly. When you go invisible take positions up around them and execute them.” She pulled out her two shadow grenades, tossing one across the way to half of the group, and another at her feet. All of the XSDF troops vanished, and moved. They created noise, and the enemy fired wildly, only scoring glancing blows on armor or personal shielding. The XSDF fire was not so inaccurate. The noise stopped, and the intruders, having taken up ideal positions, fired off their powerful weapons. The action decloaked them, but it didn’t matter, as the turret was blown up, and the five Slipstream soldiers were dropped by antimatter and fission gunfire.

Hermes’s mind was clear now. He didn’t waste any more time contemplating the fallen enemies, rushing forward into the elevator with the others. They ascended a floor, and came out to face their final compliment of enemies.

Two Balmadaar stood at the base of a low set of stairs, holding high-frequency swords similar to that of the XSDF team’s Shadow Operative and Assault, though they wore Titan Armor completed with P1 Shield Generators - making them formidable opponents. The males were backed up by two female destroyers in P1 Archangel Armor wielding Particle Rifles, and two Replitan Snipers with P2 Shield Generators, Reflex Rifles, and some gene mods.

At the captain’s chair was a middle-aged human woman with a particle strike rifle who wore P1 Archangel Armor as well. She had a distinctive T3 Cybernetic Left arm and T3 Cybernetic Right Eye that were most assuredly supplied by the TFD. By her side was a male Tamearin First Officer with Plasma Rifle and P1 Seraph Armor. The former spoke up. “Take them out,” she said, not being one for idle chatter.

As soon as the words were uttered, Jomaphie was tossing an alloy and pulse grenade from the engineer’s hands. They landed amongst the Balmadaar, close together, and blasted open their shields. “Hit them hard!” he called out.

“Good thinking!’ Ludwiga congratulated, answering the request with a fusion rifle shot that damaged the armor of one of the destroyers. Leah finished that enemy off with her particle rifle combined with the carbine of Nyo-Kwang’s C-mu. A flashbang and chem from Cynthia distracted the snipers, giving Hermes a chance to attack.

The android paratrooper created his destructokinesis gear again, getting in close to one of the Balmadaar. The psionic weapon met with the high-frequency blade, slicing it in half after a few seconds of resistance, and Hermes carried his strike through, cutting down one of the Blade Wardens. With his other hand, he formed a lancelike psi lance, and shot it into the armor of the other, not killing him but forcing him back.

Nyo-Kwang and Geoff finished him off with a fiery combination of plasma and fusion energy, while Leah briefly cloaked to avoid a shot from one of the Destroyers. She reappeared, firing off a shot from her particle rifle, then let it float while she drew her alloy sword and lunged forward, finishing off the Destroyer.

The captain opened fire, punching through Hermes’s shielding. The android managed to dodge enough to avoid subsequent damage to his armor, the particle stream narrowly missing him. The First Officer went after Noire, avoiding her retaliatory shots as if able to predict them.

“Damn it, it’s like he can see my shot’s coming alright then sorry mom & dad I have to break my promise to you guys.” Noire put her gun on her back and lunged forward at the first officer and punched his jaw actual, stunning the Tamearin. Noire landed a few more punches on the Tamearin before using all her strength to kick the man away from her. “Pretty sure I broke something there…”

The captain glanced back to watch her first officer fall. “Dammit… acting unpredictable, huh? I should have expected the XSDF to know precognition’s weaknesses…” She turned her attention back to an advancing Hermes, switching to a sidearm and firing at him, getting a bit anxious at his proximity. “Stay back, damn you!”

Hermes narrowly dodged the shot, the change of weapons giving him a chance to predict and dodge the ensuing particle beam. “You have the power to end this… aren’t the lives of your crew members more important than pleasing that Pirate Queen?”

“She is forgiving… but not that forgiving. Our lives are forfeit if we become turncoats!” The Captain replied, managing to land a hit on Hermes’s arm and destroy some of the armor there.

“Not if you stand with us. Surrender, and I might be able to arrange an amnesty for your civilian crew!” Hermes pressed.

“You couldn’t…”

Hermes paused, not caring about the gun aimed at him, and contacted the bridge. “Commander… I realize that’s a lot to ask, but if you could at least let this ship continue to be manned… we could turn it to our side.”

Frederick was silent for awhile on his end. “...possibly. I can’t promise the combatent personnel will be let off the hook, but I can promise their engineering team won’t be penalized. They won’t be part of the XSDF… but they could be conscripted defenders. We could use another battleship in orbit. You have my permission.” Hermes let the captain here all of this.

“How about it?” the android asked.

The captain glanced at the now four dead Balmadaar, and sighed. They were mercenaries, and their deaths didn’t affect her than much, but she wasn’t willing to let more of her crew members die. “Fine.” She held up a hand to her own comms. “Attention, crew of the Rhamphorhynchus. We are standing down. I repeat, we are surrendering to the XSDF. They have agreed to let the engineering staff switch sides and be under their protection, and our soldiers remaining will have to see.”

With that, the fighting aboard the ship ceased. The captain held out her hand. “We have a deal.”

Hermes shook it, his shoulders slumping in relief. “Glad to hear it, Captain…?”

“Wilson. Olivia Wilson,” she replied, giving her own sigh - one of resignation.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

XSDF Stellar Mission
Full Scale Engagement
Operation Big Dipper

System: Dapsilis
Planet: Forseti
Location: High Orbit over Forseti
Date: May 14th, 2044
Time: 0000 Hours

Mission Details:

The TFD has launched a full-scale aerial assault on the Einherjar and Forseti! Sensors are picking up multiple capital ships with fighter escort! All fighters are being deployed to respond to the threat. The Einherjar will be fighting alone for all intents and purposes. The Jupiter has joined with the moonbase to fight off a portion of the enemy diverting in an attempt to destroy the lunar outpost below the old XCOM battleship, so it’s up to us to fend off the main threat.

Protect the Einherjar, protect Forseti, and watch the backs of your wingmates. SkyEye out.

Pilot Compliment: Atlantic Wing and Pacific Wing; Mantid Squadron supporting

Pilot’s Names:

Pacific Wing

Phoenix Squadron

[Flight A1, “Gold”]
**SSGT sen Ehutimo, Ramep (Augmentations Unknown)
SA Abrika, Bahija (Spatial Enhancer)
SA Oleastro, Consuela (Blackout)
SA Kader, Sukhrab

[Flight A2, “Bone Arrow”]
*SSGT Lindberg, Vincent
SA Nelson, Hayden
SA Jefferson (Mind-Merge, ESP)
SA Laforge, Lawrence
[Flight A3, “Titanium”]
*SSGT Horváth, Jakub
SA Bogomolov, Gavriil (Spatial Enhancer)
SA Nyugen, Mary
SA Harel, Yedidya

Penguin Squadron

[Flight B1, “Platinum”]
**SSGT Banks, Jayden (Iron Skin)
SA Feraoun, Shula
SA Gobos, Y’engtat
SA Clark, Hiwassee
[Flight B2, “Red Eye”]
*SSGT Appleton, Phoebe (Logic Module, Spatial Enhancer) {Callsign: Citrus}
SA Jollenbeck, Anja (ESP) {Callsign: River}
SA cin Menes, Shepsut (Aerobic Respiration Boost, Dextrous Muscle Fibers)(Reaction Time Overclocker, Manipulation Receptor, Ocular Receptor; 4 T1 Prosthetic Arms total, 2 T1 Prosthetic Eyes) {Callsign: Bast}
SA Bellrose, Narcisse {Callsign: Pinball}
[Flight B3, “Copper”]
*SSGT Minami, Yuuna {Callsign: Crane}
SA Thill, Dima
SA Pranav, Mahadeo
SA Johnston, David

Atlantic Wing

Pelican Squadron

[Flight T1, “Nebula”]
***SSGT Hideyoshi, Takigawa {Callsign: Turtle}
SA Shin’en (Psi Panic, Mindfray)
SA Weaver, Catherine.
SA Staika, Ivata (ESP)
[Flight T2, “Manganese”]
*SSGT Slament, Raharjo (Ultraviolet Vision)
SA Villalobos, Fidel
SA Llewellyn, Iwan (Logic Module)
SA Xi Han, Shun
[Flight T3, “Iron”]
*SSGT Balasubramanian, Rajani (Neural Feedback)
SA Noren, Lisbeth (T0 Prosthetic Legs)
SA Zambrano, Itzal
SA Iwan, Justyna

Marble Squadron

x12 Automated Electric Rays

Mantid Squadron

[Flight K1, “Gallium”]
**SSGT Csenge, Regina (Spatial Enhancer)
SA Wati, Tipah (Hyper-Reactive Pupils)
SA Madaki, Tamfiq
SA Teloen, Seris
[Flight K2, “Gray Ghost”]
4 Blueshirts
[Flight K3, “Baseball”]
2 Novahawks

***Wing Leader
**Squadron Leader
*Flight Leader

Italics are player characters.

Gear:

Weapons: Gauss, Pulse, or Plasma Cannons and Turrets for all airborne forces. Fusion or Particles Lances and Turrets for flight leaders. Plasma missiles now available for flight leaders as well.

Items: Defensive Matrix, Tracking Cortex, Uplink Targeting, Elerium Afterburner Fuel

Enemies:

Slipstream

x2 Carrier (1 Wing)
x1 Size 1 Battleship

Clay Kettle

x2 Carrier (1 Wing)
x1 Size 1 Battleship

Vanguard of Odin

x2 Carrier (1 Wing)
x1 Size 2 Battleship

Mission Objectives:

(1) Defeat, Surrender, or Withdrawal of all enemy forces.

 

[BMPixy]

DarkGemini24601 and BMPixy:
“Operation Big Dipper, Part 1”

As Pacific Wing - consisting of a dozen Firestorms and a dozen Seraphs - was escorted by two Novahawks and twelve Stingrays towards the two enemy battleships, Addington’s voice crackled over comms again. Briefly distracting them from the two relatively adjacent capital ships, the Fleet Coordinator informed the cluster of ships of an important piece of information. “Enemy fighters are deploying now. Looks like we’re dealing with Clay Kettle again… those are Sable craft. Be advised, the other enemy wing has weaponry on par with us if not better… I’m picking up fission and antimatter signatures from their craft, and the rest seem to have plasma. They’ll be coming in close.”

“And here I was just glad we had to deal with just two capital ships using only fighter craft and a couple destroyers,” Vincent deadpanned, idly ensuring that all of his weapons were hot and ready to fire.

“Bone Arrow 1, mind the chatter,” Ramep interrupted, tone indicating his lack of tolerance at the moment. “Bogeys entering strike range, count is… Munpwa above, two wings of bogeys.”

“Most of us are aces here,” Bahija replied. “Nothing to worry ‘bout regarding being a little outnumbered.”

Ramep gave a silent grunt of agreement, and began barking orders. “Novas, Stingrays, focus on the cap ships. Pacific will screen you from fighters, just make sure the triple-A doesn’t hit us. Phoenix, we’re going to pull a head on run, whilst Penguin gets a good position and provides a follow-up pass. All confirm?”

“Confirmed, we’ll harass the bigger foe while the Stingrays distract the smaller battleship,” Caeluma’ingem confirmed from aboard her Novahawk. “Good luck out there, Pacific Wing.”

“Ready to follow your run,” Platinum One - Jayden Banks - acknowledged.

“As are we,” Red Eye One - Phoebe Appleton - added.

“And us,” Yuuna Minami finished; Copper One was now piloting one of the four fresh Seraphs.

“Good,” Ramep replied. “Bahija, what was that English expression for entering one of these situations again?”

However, before Ramep’s wingmate could reply, Vincent cut in. “Let’s dance!” he said, as he slowly pushed his Firestorm’s engines harder, the rest of Bone Arrow - and moments later, Phoenix - pushing to keep pace with him as the rest of the craft broke off.

“Fancy toys must be getting to his head,” Hayden muttered, shaking her head absent-mindedly as target locks began to pop up on her HUD, along with the feminine warning of the enemies painting her craft with locks as well.

Any reply to Nelson’s comment was cut off as a flurry of pulse lasers, plasma rounds, fusion beams, and particle streams danced across the void, striking both Firestorm and Sable, sending up the tell-tale glimmer of weakening shields. However, the Odin craft’s reliance of plasma weaponry came back to bite them, as at the rather long range the initial engagement took place at the Firestorms were able to bank up slightly, avoiding the majority of the stream. And just a minute later, the XSDF and Pirate forces collided, a furball rapidly forming as Firestorms dueled with Hammers, Darts, Spears, and Nidhoggs - clashing for superiority.

Phoebe assessed the cluster of conflicting fighters for a few seconds before activating her comms. “Ironsides, the furball’s a bit closer to the Pirate Elite side of things, and I don’t like the gun batteries on the bigger battleship… I say we deal some damage to the clay battleship.”

Jayden nodded, even if Phoebe couldn’t see the gesture. “Sounds good to me. Turn favoring your port side, Seraphs, and let’s go after the big fish.”

“Oooh, I’ve always wanted to blow up a capital ship,” Anja said gleefully. “Can it count as multiple kills, or a superkill, or something?” No one answered, but regardless the German and the rest of Penguin Squadron accelerated towards the Clay Kettle battleship. Seeing this, several sable spears broke off in an attempt to waylay the speeding XSDF fighters, firing off pulse cannons and damaging shields.

“Should we take out the pursuers?” Narcisse asked, debating between slowing down or speeding up further.

“Negative. We’re faster than they are; let’s just focus on our primary target, and then we can turn around and send them careening into the void,” Citrus replied.

“And you say I gave you an unfitting callsign… that was pretty acidic,” Anja muttered.

“Save it, River,” Shepsut ordered, focusing her two organic eyes and her pair of cybernetic ones on her control systems, rapidly locating her Elerium Afterburners and activating them with the rest of the squadron. The XSDF craft blasted ahead even quicker than before, outpacing the Sable Spears and getting enough distance that their attention was turned towards a threat they were closing in on.

That threat was the Sable Battleship itself. It was armed with a dozen rapid pulse batteries, split into two naval warship-esque platforms on either side of the ship, and had two plasma cannon batteries - one on front and one in the back - accompanied by a pair of gauss slugger cannons each.

“Nasty,” Shula mumbled as her sensors picked up the ship in front of her. “Plan?” Platinum Two asked her flight leader.

“Stick to one side, come down from below so we only have to worry about some gauss fire with the plasma cannons at bad angles,” Platinum One ordered. “Six pulse batteries are still nasty, but rapid fire’s inaccurate.”

“Still’s smart against us,” Platinum Three groaned. “Sometimes I wonder if I should have stayed on Volos…” Y’engtat grumbled.

The Seraphs dove down, their boost having given them the time to come from an ideal angle without worrying about the Sable Spears catching up before they had a chance at an attack run. Pulse lasers streamed around them as the went under the Clay Kettle warship, bringing the shields of Copper Flight in particular down. “Red Eye, let’s slow down so we can bring up rear and protect Copper in the middle!” Phoebe called out, her flight briefly dropping in acceleration to change the arrangement of the twelve fighters before they inclined up into the fray.

First came Platinum, who angled their pulse cannons - and in the case of Jayden, his particle lance - and sent a barrage of fire that opened holes in the shields of the well-defended but mostly immobile battleship. As they began to close, half of Copper Flight - Yuuna and Dima - sprayed more pulse in a bid to open the shields back up again for the last Flight. They were luckier than they expected, the enemy battleship’s shields struggling to keep up. Copper Three and Four followed up One and Two’s assault by switching to missiles, sending a spray of gauss to weaken the warship’s hull integrity.

Then it was Red Eye’s turn. “Let’s take them apart, Pinball!” Anja shouted unnecessarily over comms.

“Copy… River…” Narcisse said quietly in reply.

The group of four Seraphs were free to open up with the best they had. Anja and Narcisse led the charge, firing off gauss cannons and missiles that dug deep gouges into the hull, while pulse fire from Shepsut kept the shields overtaxed for just a few moments longer. Phoebe didn’t waste this opportunity, taking aim with her two fusion lances and plasma missiles. She fired it all at once, blowing several holes - and a particularly large crater in the center of these - into the tortured hull of the Sable Battleship. With the destruction of part of its structure and three pulse turrets missing, Penguin was able to pull off safely.

“Ready for another run?” Yuuna inquired of the squadron leader.

“Not quite… looks like the Spears have caught up to us!” Jayden warned. “Looks like we’re going to have to defend ourselves from them.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and BMPixy:
“Operation Big Dipper, Part 2”

Addington looked over the status of the battle, his eyes darting between the swarm of fighters that Phoenix was trapped in and the bombardment Penguin Squadron was deploying against their target size 1 battleship. “Keep it up,” he said, mostly to himself. We can do this… His gaze found its way onto the status of the Einherjar itself. For the two large battleships were trading blows even as their proxy did. The Einherjar’s plasma batteries didn’t have the range, but calculated gauss and plasma bursts were exchanged, coming from both the Einherjar and the Vanguard of Odin capital ship.

Those weren’t the only blows being traded, as the shields of size 2 battleships could hold out for quite some time against railgun and laser shots. What kept Addington on edge was the particle and fusion lances sent the Einherjar’s way. They came from a set of massive double-cannons on the enemy ship: a particle one on the left wing and a fusion one on the right. All the Einherjar had to respond was their triple fusion cannon. Add that to my wishlist… more big guns on the Einherjar, Addington thought somberly as another particle burst sent violent ripples across the Einherjar’s shielding. That, or broadsides.

“Enemy bogeys detected,” intoned an androgynous voice from one of the Electric Rays. It sounded crystalline and smooth, but at the same time understandably electronic.

“From where?” Addington asked hurriedly, his private thoughts shattered.

“They appear to be from the Elite TFD capital ship,” the lead mechanical pilot responded. “Detecting four fusion-equipped fighters, two with particle, and the rest with plasma turrets.”

“Dammit!” Addington swore. “Gunners!” he yelled out to some of the bridge crew in charge of the targeting crew. “Turn on the plasma batteries and take aim at incoming fighters! Electric Rays, defensive positions!”

The twelve automated Stingray descendants did so, forming up into three Flights and preparing to meet the enemy. They were waylaid by Vanguard of Odin Nidhoggs, which used their heavy shielding speed to absorb the fire of the electric rays, while their more dangerously weaponized companions opened fire on the Einherjar. They seemed to be coordinating their shots in select places, and Addington’s eyes widened as he realized why.

It’s been nearly an interval between primary cannon blasts from the enemy… he realized. “Brace for impact!” Addington yelled in warning. Moments later, there was a worrying shudder in the ship’s metal as the hull was breached, a fusion-particle blast taking out a plasma battery and its accompanying four pulse guns and control center. As Addington steadied himself, he felt his gut sinking. They picked a battery that’s in line with our power core… do they know the Einherjar’s layout? Addington shook his head. This is no time to worry about that. “Electric Rays, disengage from the Nidhoggs and target anything designated as an enemy that has an antimatter or fission signature!”

The Electric Rays complied, pushing their engines to acceptable limits in order to break away from the troublesome shielded fighters and focus on the glass cannons. They unleashed their quadruple pulse slugger turret fire, spraying the enemy with reverberating lasers and bringing down some of the lighter-shielded craft to a level of vulnerablility. This accomplished, the Rays spat out a burst of fire from their primary pulse cannons, and then unleashed a spray of gauss missiles. The explosives collided with the enemy fighters that didn’t evade in time - those that didn’t have any shields left and had already suffered light damage - and blew them to pieces.

Addington couldn’t breath a sigh of relief. For as the Einherjar fired off its triple fusion cannon to score light damage to the enemy battleship before its shields compensated, he counted down the seconds. The next shot from the enemy’s primaries is in fifteen seconds, he silently acknowledged. The Einherjar’s shields would be up in time, but only if she suffered light hits. Anything more would bring down the right shields again.

Another Gullinbursti went down in flames, its alloy body shattering into superheated pieces - both from pulse fire and the detonation of its Elerium power core. Addington’s hopes began to rise. “Target eliminated,” the two Rays responsible said in unison, creating a melodic cadence in their voices. Marble Squadron regrouped as the Einherjar’s plasma cannons ate through a Nidhogg at last, but then the pirates did something daring with five seconds left before the next strike. The Nidhoggs and Gullinburstis mutually ignored the enemy even as their shields began to plummet from being fired upon. They both fired upon the shields, the combined fire of five gauss weaponry sets and two twin fusion lances lowering shield integrity on the Einherjar’s starboard side to 10%.

“Dammit, no! Brace for-” Addington didn’t even finish his sentence before a violent ripple passed through the ship, making loose objects rattle as another primary weapon burst hit in a spot nearby the the first, taking out a few gauss batteries. That wasn’t the only damage it dealt, though, the blast continuing far enough to rip a gouge through Hangar C. “Dammit, casualties?” Addington asked, his knuckles white from gripping his command console.

“The hangar was mostly clear of human personnel, but I think we lost an aerospace engineer or two,” one of the bridge monitors said grimly.

Addington let go of his console, clenching his fists. “I’ve had enough… Marble Squadron, prepare to scatter on my command.” He turned to the main gunner. “Switch our target to the enemy fighters!”

“That takes it close to our shields,” she warned fearfully.

“Our top shields are in better integrity, and I’m counting on you to not miss,” Addington replied with a coldness that masked his own anxiety.

“No pressure, huh…” she muttered, taking aim. The Fleet Coordinator counted down the seconds until they could fire again, adding an extra three to throw off the enemy and give the triple fusion cannon time to swivel around. From the final exchange of fire between fighters two mortally damaged Nidhoggs had crashed into a pulse battery and empty staff lounge, respectively.

“Now!” Addington shouted, breaking the tense silence on the bridge. The fusion cannon rotated, and the Electric Rays scattered, getting as much distance as possible. The Vanguard of Odin fighters remaining hesitated, and that was the knife that killed them. The Einherjar’s primary cannon fired, obliterating all three. “Now turn!” Addington pressed, the Einherjar putting all its engine power into it’s maneuvering thrusters so that the frontal shields would take the brunt of the next shot from the enemy Size 2. And they did, holding against the discordant team of fusion and particle energy.

The immediate threat to the Einherjar diminished, Addington turned back to his overview, seeing how the others were doing.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601, BMPixy, and Alzdude28:
“Operation Big Dipper, Part 3”

“Pelican, we could use a little help here… the other carrier’s woken up!” Regina warned the Stingray squadron over comms. “Penguin’s going after the battleship you’re messing with, so you can pull off and help us!” The game of cat and mouse between the four XSDF Stingrays and four Shifters and twelve Slipstream Hijacker Silverfish had taken a worrying turn for the eight XSDF starfighters. Before, they could handle the enemy, and even took out two of them - lowering the Silverfish count to 10 - but with eight Crimfeathers entering the fray they needed backup.

“Roger that, Mantid” Hide replied. “We’re on our way.” He flipped his craft around and pushed the throttle hard, seeing the rest of his squadron following him in close formation. He switched his radio to broadcast to his flight. “You guys know the drill. There’s no reason for this sortie to be any less successful than the previous one. And Sigourney, let’s get you that ace.”

The tight group of fighters closed the distance in a matter of seconds. 500 meters out, Hide finally made the call: “Break, GO!” then Iron and Manganese flights swung away to the left and right, moving to cut off any escaping enemies, while Nebula took on the Silverfish head on. Hide flipped the cover of his arming switch, and quickly fired a missile, watching it fly ahead, accompanied by a shot from Shin’en. Both hit the same Silverfish, Hide’s striking it on the wing, Shin’en’s hitting the cockpit. The Silverfish broke apart, then the XSDF fighters were past the rapidly cooling fireball and looping around to make a second attack.

Nebula soon reached the top of their loop, pulling 8G as the battle came back into their vision. It looked to be an even fight. Iron flight had taken down a Silverfish, but Grey Ghost had taken two casualties, and as they watched a Silverfish slid in behind Zambrano and shredded his spacecraft with a burst from its cannon.

Weaver watched the events unfolding coldly. She was no green fly-girl. She knew that panicking would get her killed. She locked onto the heat from the engines of the Silverfish that had just killed Zambrano and fired. “Fox two.” She called, watching the plume of fire as the rocket engines of her missile were ignited, accelerating it towards the doomed Silverfish.

Staika suddenly got the tingling feeling in the back of his mind whenever his ESP gave him a premonition. He glanced at his radar screen and, sure enough, there was a contact behind them. “Crimfeather on our six. Break.” The four spacecraft from Nebula split up, Weaver and Hide continuing towards the main fight. Staika and Shin’en turning in opposite directions to force the Crimfeather to focus on only one of them. The enemy pilot decided to turn after Shin’en, allowing Staika to pull a punishing 11G turn and get at his six. Staika moved in close, them when there was far less than 100 meters between the two of them he opened up with his newly installed plasma cannons, dispatching the attacker in two half-second bursts.

Meanwhile Hide pulled up alongside Weaver’s wing. He saw her turn to glance at him, and gave a curt nod. Then he returned his attention to the fight ahead. He dived at the first Silverfish, firing his cannons, the fusion rounds tearing it apart as if it was made of damp paper. Suddenly, an alarm came to life. Hostile radar lock. The alarm was replaced by a far more urgent one. Missile fired. He pulled the stick back going into a sharp turn, while dropping chaff and flares, successfully confusing the guidance systems, the hostile missile exploding harmlessly behind him. “Sigourney, a little help!”

“Copy, Turtle, I’m rolling in.” Weaver flew in to help out her commanding officer. She quickly singled out the pursuing ship and was about to go after it when she suddenly spotted that there were two. Shite… keep it together Cat… She thought to herself, before flying out to come behind the further back of the two. She quickly weighed up her options, knowing that if she took too long, Hide was in trouble, and that as soon as she shot down one, the other would soon turn to come after her, or call reinforcements. Then she had an idea. She flew in close behind and below the trailing spacecraft, hoping the pilot was too focused on hide to notice her, then she targeted her missiles on the leading fighter. As soon as she had a lock, she launched two missiles, then flicked her nose upwards and fired her cannons into the underside of the remaining pursuer. Blowing it apart. Unable to resist, she pulled off a victory roll “That’s the ace right there!” She yelled, triumphantly.

“Sigourney! Focus!” Hide reprimanded her. “Celebrate once the rest of them are dead.” It seemed that his warning was mistimed however, as Mantid squadron had downed three more Silverfish and a Crimfeather, while, despite losing Slament and Zambrano, the rest of Pelican squadron had cleaned up the remaining four enemies.

Hide checked his radar to be sure, then radioed in “Pelican to Einherjar, this sector’s clear, awaiting your orders.”

“This is SkyEye,” Addington acknowledged. “Good work… it looks like the carriers there aren’t much of a threat anymore, and the battleship’s on the verge of destruction or surrender. I suggest you come over to assist Pacific Wing at this point… they’re getting into trouble.”

 

[BMPixy]

DarkGemini24601, BMPixy, and Alzdude28:
“Operation Big Dipper, Part 4”

Meanwhile, the furball raged ever on. Despite their rather excessive outnumbering - even with the handful of Sable Spears breaking off - Phoenix was holding on rather admirably. However, the numbers they were faced with were slowly building an advantage over the Firestorm pilot’s skill, each percentage of shield lost counting more than ever.

It was here that Lawrence rabidly pursued a Nidhogg fighter, Hayden backing off slightly to ensure that no hostiles jumped on her wingmate’s tail while he was focused on the Odin fighter. Pulse lasers pounded at the Nidhogg’s shields, but despite the rapid bursts Lawrence put out, they refused to fail.

“Damn Nidhoggs,” Lawrence muttered as his lasers finally broke through the shielding and he pushed his craft forward slightly to get into effective gauss range. “Way too much shielding for their own good.” Having enough of this, Lawrence fired off a long burst of gauss rounds, punching through the hull of the Nidhogg. Yet despite the damage, the enemy fighter still kept maneuvering. Having enough of this, Laforge popped off a couple of missiles. The Odin fighter tried to dance away as it had before, but the range was simply too short, and it caught the missiles on its tail and detonated in a flash of red and green - the engines having exploded as well.

“How’s the sky looking, Don?” Lawrence asked, pulling up to meet his wingmate.

“Not good LaLa, Oleastra just punched out,” Nelson replied. “I thought Ramep told the Seraphs to provide a follow-up pass, not to go cap hunting. Now look at them, they’ve been caught by those Spears that broke off earlier.”

“More kills for us then!” Vincent chimed in, as a Hammer detonated behind him, courtesy of Jefferson.

“Jeez, what’s gotten into him?” Lawrence inquired. “Normally not this gung-ho ‘bout th- Shit!” In his moment of distraction, Lawrence nearly failed to notice the Dagger slipping onto his tail, the pilot quickly banking away before any of the pulse cannons could get a good angle on him. Hayden did the same, but she was slightly slower on the uptake and the enemy exploited that, snapping off a few beams that crashed into the Firestorm’s shields, taking them down a significant percentage. Sensing weakness, the Dagger pursued Hayden in her turn.

Laforge prepared to turn to cover Nelson, however another Nidhogg took this opportunity to drop onto his tail, letting out a long stream of fire from its gauss turret. The damage to Lawrence’s shields were minimal, but the evidence was there - ‘try to line up a shot on my friend, and I’ll have enough time to take you down’ the Nidhogg seemed to say.

“Again with this quadruple chase thing,” LaLa muttered annoyedly, still banking to get on Nelson’s pursuer, despite his own follower.

As this occurred, Ramep and Bahija found themselves in a bind - split off from each other, each with a pair of fighters on their tail, doing their damnedest to down the two pilots. Thankfully the Firestorms had enough of an edge over their pursuers to avoid the worst of their efforts, but slowly but surely, glances started to add up.

“Ozzy, ngh, have you ever played a game called ‘chicken’?” Bahija asked, as the Gs she was pulling started to add up.

“I am unfamiliar with the concept,” the Seikron replied. “Explain, ten words or less.”

“Two people run at each other, whoever dodges first loses,” Gold Two answered. “How ‘bout a little game, right now?”

“Point taken, moving in to pass,” Ramep affirmed, twisting her Firestorm in Bahija’s direction, the two crafts barreling directly towards each other.

“Trigger, trigger, trigger, trigger!” Abrika barked as she slammed hard on her guns, pulse and gauss rounds shooting forth at the craft on Ramep’s tail, as Ramep did the same for his wingmate’s pursuers. However, the four craft did not leave this unanswered, as plasma, gauss, and pulse struck home, depleting the two pilots’ shields significantly - even knocking a hole through Abrika’s and putting a small hole in her craft. But the XSDF craft’s gambit worked, and as the two dodged away to avoid collision, the four craft failed to do so, and crashed in one massive ball of wreckage and free-floating shrapnel.

“Jesus, nobody’s gonna believe that one!” Bahija cackled, even as a small portion of her atmosphere escaped before emergency shielding could pop into place over the hole.

“We have gun cameras, all we need is to show the video,” Ramep replied, taking the time to appraise the situation.

***

The Seraphs ripped through a Sable Spear. To be more specific, Jayden’s particle cut through one’s shields like a scythe, and a spray of gauss from Narcisse finished it. There were still five more, though, backed up by the remaining pulse turrets on the damaged size of the Sable Battleship. Jayden was beginning to realize the Spears were taking advantage of the limited maneuverability of the Seraphs; perhaps it was time to stop worrying about staying in the blindspot. This was his thought, but he was anxious to voice it and face the full might of the enemy battleship.

Anja did it for him. “Shit, Platinum Leader, we can’t stay like this!” She said as she was caught between two turret blasts and a gauss cannon. She avoided one of the pulse shots, but her shields still dropped from the other two attacks, bringing her percentages dangerously low. “We need to count on our speed, not our shields!”

“I’m with River,” Phoebe replied. “We need to move, Ironsides!”

“R-Right. Penguin Squadron, let’s do a revolution around the ship! Platinum will pull back and take out the enemy from behind when I indicate to do so, while the others will continue forward for another bombardment run!” he commanded as Phoebe managed to finish off a Sable Spear before accelerating on his order.

The Sable Spears pursued the accelerating ships as they rose above the Sable Battleship, the turrets lagging behind in their targeting, unable to keep up with the Seraphs as Penguin had hoped. The Sable Spears managed to land some hits, though, damaging Shepsut’s ship. “Permission to punch out, Citrus?” she requested.

“You won’t be able to,” Phoebe warned. “Just hold on, I’ll cover you.” The Englishwoman dropped behind her flightmate, and threw up a screen of countermeasures. “Now would be a good time to pull back, Jayden!”

Taking a deep breath to steel himself, Platinum One gave the order, and his flight dropped back, taking stray pulse hits from the batteries that caught up with them. Banks’ shields went down completely, and sweat beaded on his brow as he pulled behind a Sable Spear. “D-Die, damn you!” he sputtered, tightening his hand a bit on his ENSI interface and sending a flurry of particle fire and plasma missiles into his target, eviscerating it. His other flightmates managed to destroy or otherwise take their selected Sable Spears out of the game, but admittedly with less force.

As for Red Eye and Copper, they continued on unabated, shields slowly starting to regenerate on a few of them, including Shepsut, as they evaded enemy fire. They inclined downwards, then twisted as they came under the ship and prepared to run by the damaged side again. SkyEye’s voice crackled over comms.

“Penguin, you’re needed to assist Phoenix Squadron!” Addington said, a frantic edge in his tone. “Finish off that battleship and get back over there!”

“Roger that.” Phoebe reopened her channel to her seven allies with only a thought. “Alright… don’t waste all of your ordinance here… just half. Let’s blow this battleship away as Tanaka made these starfighters to do!”

“Hell yeah, Citrus!” Anja cheered, prepping her weapons.

“I can get behind that,” Shepsut added.

“Let’s do this,” Narcisse finished.

The eight Seraphs came up to their spot of running. Copper was first, and Minami and the others unleashed their cannons, pulse or gauss, and even sent a swarm of gauss missiles at the enemy’s shields. The gauss may not have done as much damage as the pulse, but they were giving it their all to bring down the shields. The gambit paid off, as the shields were weak enough to be shattered by the first flight’s attack.

“Copper, pull into a position to fire horizontally, we’re aiming for the ship’s center!” Phoebe brought Red Eye into a similar positon, the Seraph’s shields holding up for now as the pulse batteries began to target them. Eight sets of cannon fire - light-traced lines of rail-accelerated alloy bullets and glowing, pulsating beams indicating pulse lasers bolstering by a few fusion lances - impacted home on the Sable Battleship. The cannon fire, accompanied by a payload of gauss missiles and all of Yuuna’s plasma rockets - followed the deep gouges cut by the cannons, and found a new residence in the enemy ship’s power core. By the time they hit the Seraphs were already on the run, meeting up with Platinum above the ship as a large, centralized explosion rocked it and blew it to pieces.

Penguin Squadron dodged chunks of metal jettisoned from the destruction of the battleship as they accelerated. “On our way, Phoenix!” Appleton spoke over commns. “Just hold on a bit longer!”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601, BMPixy, and Alzdude28:
“Operation Big Dipper, Part 5”

“Understood,” Ramep replied, frantically banking and deploying counter-measures to drive away the missiles on her tail. “Enemy strength down to just under a wing, Titanium Two and Three are disabled,” he added, figuring the sitrep would be helpful.

Whilst this was happening, Bone Arrow had managed to link up once again, Jefferson and Vincent having cleared off their flightmates’ tails from their unwelcome pursuers. Now flying in formation once more, the Firestorms carefully scanned the environment, looking for any of their comrades that were in particularly major trouble. Spotting that the remainder of Titanium was under pressure from a flight of Hammers, the XSDF pilots banked, ready to make a pass.

“Edge, you and I take the lead one; LaLa and Don, nail the trailing one,” Vincent ordered, lining up his guns.

“Wilco,” Hayden replied, gently pulling the nose of her craft down to get a bead on her target, Lawrence doing the same. The Hammers noticed the new arrivals, and began to bank away, but by then it was too late. A stream of pulse and fusion cracked the two targets’ shields, and follow-up shots crippled and destroyed, respectively, the bogeys. The two unharmed Hammers broke off, evidently seeking easier targets, but Jakub was not so eager to forgive and forget. With a volley of plasma missiles, another Hammer went down, and the fourth pilot decided to try their luck with the void, ejecting rather than being destroyed.

This was the scene that Penguin Squadron arrived to, and they added to the crescendo of destruction. Narcisse and Phoebe fired of a shot in unison that bit through a Sable Dart, blasting it into pieces, while Platinum Three and Copper Four tore apart a Gullinbursti after its shields were weakened by Jayden’s particle cannon.

“Say… Narcisse,” Phoebe intoned over comms. “Weren’t you at 4.5 just a minute ago? I think you just made it to ace.”

Narcisse’s eyes widened slightly. “So I did…”

Anja fired off a blast of missiles that took out another Dart. “Gotcha!” Her excitement was dampened by the fact that she was still a partial kill off from catching up to Narcisse.

Although not meant for direct combat, the two Vanguard of Odin carriers and the pair of fighter transports that had been escorting the now-destroyed Sable Battleship converged on the furball. Powering up on them were particle cannons for the Odin ships and pulse cannons for the Sable Carriers, respectively. Plasma and gauss missiles were also an apparent threat based off the missile batteries on their sides.

Ramep cursed in his native tongue as the four carriers approached, quickly formulating a plan. “Platinum, Red Eye, accompany Gold to deal with the carriers. Copper, remain here to clean up with Bone Arrow and Titanium. Once they’re dealt with, turn attention to the carriers. Confirm orders?” the Seikron barked, as he disengaged from the furball - taking the time to cripple a lone Sable Spear on his way out.

“Confirmed,” Jayden spoke for his flight, and Phoebe echoed that acknowledgement. The Seraphs joined Gold in running by one of the more dangerous Vanguard carriers. They all opened fire with their primary guns, while Platinum expended what remained of their missiles to detonate the first one. Even so, Platinum Three and Four were hit by missile barrages. Y’engtat was forced to eject, while Hiwassee had to break off.

“This is not good…” Shula growled. “How many more things do we have to blow up before they’ll take a hint!”

“Pelican should be coming in to assist soon,” Addington’s voice cut in. “Novahawks,” he instructed to the destroyers who had been causing havoc for the Size 2 Battleship’s gun batteries, but only to a select area, “regroup with the others Mantids once they get there, and help Pacific Wing finish this.”

They’re certainly eager to see their duty fulfilled, Jefferson mentally muttered, as a Nidhogg slowly chipped away at his shields, preventing them from recharging by sheer volume of fire.

“One second, I’ll clear your tail as soon as I deal with this- ngh, asshole,” Vincent replied, breaking hard to keep his guns on target as he downed the last Sable Dart in the area. With that out of the way, Lindberg rolled onto his wingmate’s tail, a burst of fusion fire alerting the bogey that his stay was no longer welcome, prompting the Odin fighter to break off. Unfortunately, the Nidhogg’s maneuverability worked against it here, as the sudden jerk proved too much for its frame to handle and it accidentally sheared itself apart, shrapnel shotgunning into the void.

“Pelican is arriving now! Novahawks, return!” Addington told Pacific and instructed Mantid’s destroyers. “You’re facing superior craft, Pelican… hit them as a group, and hit them hard,” he warned the Stingrays.

“Understood, Sky-Eye. Pelican flight, arrowhead formation.” The approaching reinforcements quickly fanned out, forming up with Hide on point. The stingrays dived towards a group of Hammers, each making an attack run, before breaking off to allow the craft behind to fire. They quickly destroyed three, then flew away from the fight to regroup.

“Thanks for the cover, Pelican!” Vincent called out, as he took this opportunity to close onto a Gullinbursti, a pair of plasma missiles easily removing the fighter from the picture. “One more pass like that, and we’re as good as clean, here!”

“See you in hell,” Anja said as she blew up a Sable Spear getting in her way. Below her, a carrier exploded thanks to the efforts of Narcisse, Phoebe, and Shepsut. Platinum took out a third one, and the fourth fell to Copper.

“Maybe we should give by-flight credit for these things,” Minami spoke, seeming pleased. “The fighters are just about cleaned up, let’s help the Einherjar blow this battleship away!”

Regrouping, Penguin were the first to descend upon the heavily-shielded battleship, weaving through the gunfire of its defensive batteries and starting to whittle down its shields. “Might take a bit…” Narcisse warned.

“Gray Ghost,” Addington began to the two that remained, “Disengage and pick up the pilots of Titanium Two and Three, whether they’re still breathing or not.” The two Stingrays carried out their duty, using weak tractor beams to magnetize the dislodged capsules to their undersides. They jettisoned off to return to the Einherjar as the others began their attack runs.

Then, the TFD threw in a wrench. With three bursts of light, another carrier appeared, releasing a composite Squadron of Sable Spears and Sable Hammers, while the two flanking Vanguard of Odin destroyers powered up their weapons.

“Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me,” Anja growled, veering off to avoid the fire of the incoming fighters. “How much more can they afford to throw at us?”

“The scientists did say that Clay Kettle’s forces appeared to be clones,” Shepsut deadpanned.

“Great…” Anja muttered in reply.

 

[BMPixy]

DarkGemini24601, BMPixy, and Alzdude28:
“Operation Big Dipper, Part 6”

Ramep scanned the engagement area, noting that the last of the initial wave of fighters had finally been down. “Small blessings,” the Wahada muttered. Speaking up, he ordered, “Phoenix, Penguin, we’re maneuvering to approach from underneath. Pelican, recommend you focus on the carrier, whilst we handle to fighters and destroyers. Understood?”

“Got it, Ozzy,” Vincent replied.

“Copy. Moving to attack the carrier.” Hide answered, accelerating towards the huge capital ship.

Another carrier warped in, this one releasing twelve Venom Grinders. Their fire forced Anja and the remained of Platinum to disengage or be destroyed, lowering the number of fighters that could combat the now fresh-wing.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Addington repeated helplessly. “How are we supposed to deal with this…”

As Pacific Wing and Atlantic Wing began to be dragged deeper into a predicament, a new transmission came over comms as a fresh pair of light-bursts hearkened the arrival of two carriers. “Well, damn… looks like we didn’t come a moment too soon,” one of the eight Shifters that ejected out of the first carrier transmitted.

“Talk about timely arrivals,” another said. “Ninta Tomoku, at your service. Gallium! Spook Squadron is now complete, and we brought the other shipment of ships.” The squadron leader of the Shifter squadron did not lie, as 12 Automated Electric Rays exited from the other carrier. Combined, the two fresh squadrons drastically changed the tide, swelling the XSDF’s numbers of the field and sending many of the Sable fighters into the void.

“Ha-ha, I didn’t doubt we’d lose for a second!” Vincent cheered, despite the Hildisvíni and Spear on his tail. However, that moment of distraction proved to be costly, as a barrage of antimatter ripped through his shields. Lindberg moved to break, and his flightmates dived down to try to force the bogeys off of his tail. But it was too late - a fusion lance smashed through the Firestorm’s cockpit, spearing through it and into the void.

“Vincent!” Nelson cried out as Drizzle’s craft tumbled out of control, the sudden death causing her to hesitate long enough on pulling the trigger to allow the Hildisvíni the chance to escape. Lawrence, to contrast, didn’t allow the enemy that luxury, and a barrage of pulse accompanied by a trio of missiles downed the Odin destroyer in a short-lived conflagration. Jefferson followed this up by crippling the Sable Spear as it tried to escape.

A torrent of vengeance accompanied the end of Bone Arrow Leader, Penguin Squadron ripping through more of the Sable fighters with the assistance of the new arrivals. Seeing their chances rapidly diminishing, the remaining fighters, carriers, destroyer, and battleship began to regroup, taking losses along the way. Ultimately, however, the surviving fighters disappeared into their transports, and four subspace bubbles formed. With a brilliant light, they were gone, leaving only the wrecks of more than 65 TFD starfighters and several capital ships lying just outside of Forseti’s orbit.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

"Those Left Behind" - Addington Khumalo

High Orbit over Forseti (May 14th, 2044)
The Einherjar (0246 Hours, A.S.T.)
Floor 1: Main Bridge

Damn you, Lindberg. The thought kept echoing in Addington's head as he sat at hia command console. Although knowing full well the Fleet Coordinator was not in the best frame of mind, Commander Mason had kept him on the bridge. The reason was one Addington was well aware of. With a hole im its side and quite a few gun batteries gone, the Einherjar was vulnerable to subsequent attack. The Fleet Coordinator was required to remain on alert if redeployment of the aerial forces was needed.

Despite his obedience, Addington severely doubted the enemy would be back soon. The retreat of their biggest battleship proved that much, he silently insisted. For all we know that could be their flagship, and we just scared off Trismegistus herself. Addington doubted that too, in all honesty.

And so he was confronted with a question he'd been asking himself all morning: what did Vincent's death mean? Was there any meaning in it? he wondered. Or was he just a damn fool.

Addington pondered whether he had been right about the flight leader of Bone Arrow from the start. He was reminded of Vega's - of Drizzle's - refusal to obey an order from the Fleet Coordinator in Operation White Star. How he had chastised Vincent for it, and how angry he had made the pilot.

Should I have stamped my foot down? Taught him restraint? Would that have made him more cautious? Addington's gaze fell from the viewscreen displaying some of the Einherjar's larger repair drones working on the breached staff lounge - a place Bone Arrow frequented.

No, he realized. Lindberg would have chafed under continued interference. Even if he had listened, Khumalo couldn't have given an order that would have saved Vincent from his own recklessness. Addington could not have continued along that path either. To do so would have denied him the friends he had in Red Eye. His ego might have recovered from the second stellar dogfight with disastrous results.

All and all, he helped set me along a better course, Addington admitted. Phoebe taught me how to recognize and correct my own mistakes, and Vincent taught me how to apologize sincerely.

And Addington began to wonder. He wondered if, given more time, he and Vincent could have become friends. Drizzle was a damn good pilot. That much Addington couldn't deny. Despite his foolishness - the fault lay in the ENSI, the South African was convinced - Vincent had possessed the potential to become a memorable ace. Now the only memory he was left in was a memorial.

Addington looked up to see a viewscreen displaying a recovery craft. It had begun to drag the shattered wreck of Drizzle's craft towards the Einherjar. "Damn you, Lindberg!" Addington vocalized, drawing more than a few confused looks from the bridge staff. He realized his knuckles were white, his fists clenched in anger. He relaxed them, seeming a bit shocked at his own outburst.

"Are you alright, sir?" one of the crew members spoke up.

"Just... fine," Addington replied unsteadily, not even sounding confident in a simple, everyday lie. Luckily for him, the woman didn't pry any further than that.

That left Addington back with his thoughts. Why am I so angry at him and not his killers? the Fleet Coordinator had to ask himself. Because they're just faceless enemy pilots that died impersonally? No, that isn't it.

Then what was the answer? That question required Addington to think for a good while as the damaged Firestorm was hauled into Hanger A. Am I angry at him leaving behind his friends, his family? Addington shook his head. Who knows who he left behind. Parents, grandparents, siblings? A wife, even? All because of overconfidence.

Even that wasn't the solution to Addington's impotent irritation. But the answer came to him a few seconds later. I'm angry at him for leaving me behind. That was the conclusion the Fleet Coordinator came to. He shakily held onto the guardrails for support. I get it now, Addington thought. He was taken back to his emotional state after losing a good portion of the Stingray pilots some time ago. No longer confident in himself, alone.

And he knew it would be wrong to go to the members of Red Eye for comfort. Nor could I, thanks to Mason! he silently screamed. He was left tortured by his own thoughts and guilt and fear. He reached down, opening a small cabinet and removing a small bottle of Jeremiah Weed.

"Sir, aren't you... not supposed to drink on duty?" one the crew members dared to protest.

"I'm damn well aware, and if you want to tell the Commander... his office is right over there." Addington pointed to his right, and tipped the foul-smelling liquor to his lips. "Damn you, Drizzle," he muttered, taking a swig as both an attempt to forget, and to honor the fallen ace.

 

[Frostlich1228]

Frostlich1228 & MarineAvenger: Horror Movie Night

Starship Einherjar, in orbit around Forseti.
Room of Camellia Cross.
1900 Hours, May 13th, 2044
(Before Operation Double Dipper)

Cammy stepped into her room after a long shift, that last mission caused a lot of mental scarring, especially with the unfortunate death of one of soldiers due to that Chryssalid. After spending time with most what seemed like most of the team that went on that mission, Winter rolled into bed. About an hour passed and the therapist sat up, unable to fall asleep for whatever reason, now just sitting in her room, she quickly looked around for something to do. After a second of thought, Cammy rolled halfway off the bed, a wicked smile on her face as she pulled a plain looking black trunk from under her bed, unlocking it as she heard something at the door.

Leo stood with his arms crossed, the time rather late but he knew Cammy wouldn't mind if it was him, the IT worker mostly staying in the background, doing what his job required and going throughout his day. He had been spending some time with his older brother lately, the duo playing pool and sharing a few beers, though it was one of those nights his relationship got in the way, not that he minded, Leo just wished deep down it was him. Stopping his rather selfish line of thinking, he knocked again, wondering if the woman was just sleeping.

Camellia gave a surprised look towards the door, from behind her bed, then looked down at her less than reserved outfit, "U-Uh... Hello...?"

"You know, I can leave if you want, I don't have to stand outside your door in the middle of the night if I didn't want to." Leo's familiar voice replied back. "Come on, open the door Cross, it is freezing, I'm lonely... There is the possibility I am being stalked... Not a pleasant time outside in the hallway."

"I uh... Fine..." Cammy rolled her eyes as she pushed the trunk back under her bed, "Just give me a minute..."

Winter quickly threw on a T-shirt and shorts, putting her reveal clothing underneath the trunk for now as she went to open the door. "Hey Leo, so, what do you want exactly?"

When she opened the door, no one stood in the doorway, the darkened hallway showing no sign anyone was there. After a few moments passed, something jumped from the side, a figure with a horribly distorted scarecrow like features, brandishing a hatchet, roaring as it reached out for Cammy.

Winter fell backwards into her room screaming as she instinctively reached out with her right hand, sending a twisting swirl of psionic energy stretching out and connecting with the figure's head.

"Agh! Fuck, fuck, fuck, stop it!" The figure said, dropping to his knees, the voice clearly Leo's.

"What..." Winter questioned for a split second before realizing fully, "Really, Leo!?"

He let out a loud groan, rolling around on the floor. "Not my fault your sense of humor shriveled and died..." Leo laid his head back down, something catching his eye as he took the mask off. "What's that under your bed?"

"That? That's not anything, just some extra clothes." Cammy waved off as nonchalantly as she could, "And it's not my fault you decided to jump out at a person with mind powers! You're lucky that wasn't a mind control or I'd be making you slap yourself right now!"

Leo tapped his own cheeks, as it coming out of sleep and shook his head. "Well sorry... Wanted to live the glory days..." Leo chuckled and sat up. "Why don't you show me what's in there then? You made me sit through all those clothing discussions you and Beth had that it seems improper if I don't inquire."

"Listen Leo, it's lady stuff, you just wouldn't get it..." Winter explained.

"Yes, because that really doesn't make me even more curious..." The IT guy noted.

"Leo, you're not looking in there, end of discussion." She replied sternly, "Now did you want anything, other than, you know, to scare me?"

"I didn't scare you just cause... Me and you are going to connect back to our old selves." He smiled mischeviously. "Oh yeah... Horror movie night."

Cammy's eyes lit up, "What, really!? What movies did you bring? Aliens? Pleeease tell me you brought Aliens!"

"Ah ba ba... Don't want to ruin the surprise." He said with a smile, getting up and going to be door, reaching outside and grabbing a bag. "Got everything we would need... Soda, popcorn, assorted candy and a bunch of scary movies. Just like old times." He began taking off the costume he was wearing, showing he just had on an old pair of pajamas, with a cheesy tech pun shirt and pajama bottoms. Stuffing the costume in the bag, he took out his laptop. "Now... Just me, you, and hours worth of binge watching to do." Leo smiled widely.

"Hang on, let me see if I have any pajamas to wear!" Winter ran back in, searching through her closet, finding a cozy looking one-sy and taking into the bathroom to change.

Chuckling to himself, Leo went to the bed and sat down on it, opening it and proceeding to get everything ready, being sure to put Aliens in the last spot.

Cammy stepped out in her light purple pajama's, taking a second to look at herself before hopping on the bed, "So, what're we watching first?"

"Relatively new one that came out about a month ago, I think it's called Driller. Basically big guy running around with a massive drill all slasher style. Heard it was stupid in some parts but we'll shot." He pressed play, putting an arm around Camellia. "You know..." Leo began saying as they slowly went through sixty seconds of logos. "I finally came out and told Sasha my feelings for her. Always said I would do it as a kid and I kept to it."

"Really? You and Sash?" She smiled, "That's great, she needs someone to help her right now, through this war, you'll have to be her guiding light when things get bleakest, do you think you can handle that?"

"Handle a Dragomirov? No way... But let it be known Leo Walker doesn't back down from a challenge." The man smiled as he rubbed Cammy's arm as the movie began with a monologue from most likely the main character. "Just like old times huh? We used to do this whenever you came over, every night you were at my house. If it wasn't then we would screen share, but then you couldn't cower into my shoulder every time something creeped you out." He teased.

"I can handle it now though, I don't need to.. cuddle all over you..." Cammy said, intrigued by the monologue.

"Mhmm." He said, removing his arm with a smirk from her and scooting away a bit, only a few moments passing after the monolouging ended and a jump scare occured, moments later a man having his gut being ripped into by a giant drill.

"Would a drill really be a useful weapon? I mean, wouldn't the mechanism get clogged up with gore after a while?"" Winter questioned, looking over to him.

"Are you really questioning the reasoning of a horror movie?" Leo asked with a raised eyebrow as the scene shifted to a news report, and eventually the group of teens. "I'm surprised... Five minutes in and you aren't pissing yourself... Progress Cross."

"Please, I'm a psychiatrist, It's my job to work though other people's scary stories, I've heard hundreds of them over the years." Winter explained, grabbing a candy bar and munching on it.

Leo rolled his eyes as he grabbed a soda, cracking the top open. "Remember when we were ten and we got that psychological thriller movie, and about an hour in we both pissed the bed that night... Man, I couldn't sleep for a week after that, and was grounded."

"That movie gave me nightmares for years!" Camellia laughed, "But after I got into college I rewatched it and it became one of my favorites."

Leo chuckled evily. "Good..." After awhile, the teens arrived at the destination, and like any good (or argueably bad) horror movie, two of them were were doing it. "So... Taking bets, which bites it first?"

"Black Guy, it's always the black guy." Cammy responded, "Those two are going to make it to the end, then in a climatic twist one of them is going to die for the other. Five bucks says I'm right."

"Alright... Ten bucks the two lovers right now bite it." Five minutes later, sure enough, one was killed by a flying rail spike and the other girl was hung by an old electrical wire. "Yes, and like that, the two porkers are ended. I expect my money by the end of the week." The IT guy said triumphantly. "Alright... Black guy or blonde bimbo number 2? I got bimbo, you choose reward again."

Camellia pouted, "Fine... I'll go with the black guy... For... Another five."

 

[Frostlich1228]

Part 2

Another 25 minutes of movie passed, and the black guy was the next one killed, having his head crushed by a falling mine cart in an all too real fashion. "Fine... That makes our last one void. Let's make this interesting." Leo went over to Cammy and put his arm around her again. "I will bet they all die in the end, and if I win... You have to spill what is in that trunk under your bed."

"Really? You don't think they'll beat the killer?" Camellia considered carefully, "Fine, but if I win I get to mind control you and make you run around the halls in your undies."

"No mind control." He said plainly. "But I will run around in my undies." He watched the movie in silence from then on, the realism of movies these days being creepy, and by the time the final showdown came, no one was left alive, even the killer in a heroic sacrifice by the main female character. "Everyone's dead, I win."

"But the dog lived! Probably!" Winter contested, "That counts!"

"Nope, it does not." He poked her side. "Come on, is it really that personal you can't share with your closest friend?" Leo teased.

"Okay Fine!" Winter stood up and pulled the chest out from under the bed, picking up the lingerie under it and placing it to the side before opening the chest and revealing a plethora of fancy toys of all colors and sizes, but a particularly expensive looking one caught the eye more than the others, Cammy's going away present from Mary.

Leo fell over backwards, holding his gut as he laughed loudly."You have an entire chest that size dedicated to that? You really are lonely!"

"My Aunt's been giving me one every birthday and christmas ever since I was sixteen, plus there are some I bought personally." Winter picked up an opaque blue toy, around six inches long that included slots for different attachments.

"I picked this on up on a trip down to Forseti, it's got thirty different vibration modes!" She said, actually kind of enjoying talking about them with someone other than her Aunt, it all felt wrong and right at the same time.

"Okay, okay, put them away, I don't need to know about you touching yourself. That puts an image in my head I would prefer remain dead." Leo shook his head, not so much embarressed as disappointed it wasn't something more funny. "You better not have imparted any of that knowledge onto my sister if you know what is good for you."

"Please, I keep a big separation between psychiatrist Cammy, and bedroom Cammy... Besides, it's scientifically proven that masturbation relieves stress and calms people down, maybe she could use one of these." She closed the trunk, flipping it over to the other side where Leo saw another zipper, "Want to see how deep this rabbit hole goes? You've come this far..."

Leo watched his best friend with a 'really?' look and said, "If there is any bondage stuff in there I am leaving and taking my movies with me."

"There's a lot you don't know about me Leo, I have... Interesting tastes..." Winter sighed, "That's why I make sure to keep my more... Deviant side... Locked up in this room... I don't want people looking at their therapist, someone they should trust, like some sex crazed freak."

"Well... Have you ever even had a boyfriend, or are you completely devoid of relationship experience?" He asked, sitting up on the bed.

"I've had two, neither of them really worked out though... " Camellia responded, "Both of them just wanted me for my connection with Cross Tech. One of them wanted his family's business to join up, and the other wanted to parade me around like some sort of trophy wife,"

"Well... Three technically, but our one night stand when we were 17 doesn't count. To be fair, we shouldn't have drank that night." Leo chuckled, that night being a funny blur when he looked back. "I had no idea what I was doing."

"There's... Actually something I never did tell you about that night Leo... Something I was always afraid you'd hate me for..." She said, might as well add this confession along with the other reveal.

"What?" He said a little wearily, laughing nervously. "I know there ain't no baby so it can't be that." Even though Leo jested, he was clearly confused.

"Well... I wasn't... Actually drunk that night..." Cammy bit her lip, "I don't drink, I don't even like alcohol that much..."

"W-What? Why would you...?" Leo paused. "You faked being drunk so you could sleep with me? No wonder it was your idea!" He shook his head, feeling a bit betrayed.

"No No! I didn't... Fake being drunk... I just wasn't drunk... I thought you wanted to normally, I didn't know you were drunk until after we did it... And I... Was admittedly a little excited... The way Mary talked about it, I couldn't wait... So... I guess I wasn't thinking clearly..." Camellia stammered out, "I didn't tell you cause I thought you'd hate me for using you while you were drunk, even if I didn't mean it... So I just said I was drunk too..."

"Fuck me..." Leo rubbed his eyes, putting his head back. "Come on, you could have at least told me Cam!" He pressed. "I would have been less mad then than I am now. I thought it was just some foolish... Mistake but now you are telling me it was intentional?"

"I'm so sorry Leo... I wish I had realized you were so drunk... If I did I wouldn't have gone through with it... I'd just been looking forward to the moment for a while... I felt so bad after I found out what I did...And I should've told you but... I was a dumb teenager..." Winter lowered her head a little, "I... I took a risk... And it backfired..."

Leo took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. After a while, he asked, "Did you enjoy it?"

"Did I enjoy it?" Winter repeated, looking back up at him, "I... Uh... Yes... I Did..."

After staring at the woman for a while, the IT guy shook his head. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of the best nights I had, though I guess considering how low the actual number is, that could be subjective." Leo's look softened a bit. "Look... I'm... I am still mad at you, but I guess there is no harm done. We both had fun, and it was better doing it with a close friend than a stranger. Unfortunately though... I love Sasha, and that was a fling. I like things just the way they are between us, being close with one another, and flirting, it is fun, and not something a lot of girls would be up for."

"Yeah, I'm happy about where we are too... Now... We could... Watch the next movie if you like..." She smiled, looking over at the laptop screen.

Leo rolled his eyes as he laughed, holding his arm open to her as he grabbed some popcorn for the next flick.

Leo could feel something creep up behind them, he felt a looming presence standing just overhead. As he look up, he saw the tall, black sillouette of a girl standing ominously above them.

 

[Frostlich1228]

Part 3

"Whoa!" Leo jumped back, nearly falling off the bed. "Who the fuck is that?"

Cammy gave him a confused look before turning around, falling backwards at the sight of the creature, "What the fuck!"

"That 'movie' was interesting... I was looking to get a closer view this time..." The being replied.

"N-No way! Who are you!?" Leo yelled.

The figure tilted it's head before reaching up and pulling the flesh on it's head back to reveal a cracked skull, "What's wrong? Am I Scary?"

"Just tell us who or what hell you are!" Leo pressed angrily, glancing at Cammy. Oh sure... I scare her and she frays me immediately... Way to take your sweet time Cross! He thought to himself.

"Wait..." Camellia said, looking at the creature, "I think... I know you..."

The creature grinned, "Oh really?"

"You're... The... robot that we picked up off that Humiliata ship right? Along with those other test subjects?" Camellia asked.

"You're right, glad one of you has been paying attention to the goings on around the base." It replied.

"But, Why are you here? In my room?" She asked slowly.

"I saw that man walking up to your door with that costume and wanted to see what would happen, then after you started to watch your movies, I decided to stay for awhile..." 37 explained.

Leo shook his head, stunned a bit. "So... Wait... You... You heard... Everything we talked about? All of it?"

"Indeed, but I already knew about what's in the little chest from... Another session..." 37 answered.

Winter blushed brightly, "You were... Watching me..."

"Human biology is interesting..." The android smiled.

He glanced at Cammy for a brief few seconds. "Well... Um..." He scratched his head, not really sure what to say. "You must be embarresed." He blurted out to his friend.

"Yeah... A little.." She scratched her head."

"Also, I invited guests to watch with us... I hope you don't mind..." As she said that, a disturbing white doll woman clanked into the room along with a little girl, covered with what seemed like hundreds of spiders.

Why did you bring us here machine, it's not like you to want to have 'fun' with organics like us... A voice spoke in both their heads.

"Is it so wrong of me to want to spend time with my roommates?" 37 replied.

"Don't worry Dolly, I think Bubbles does want to have some fun, she doesn't have many other friends." The little girl responded.

Leo took a step back to Cammy and whispered to her. "It's like we stumbled into our own horror movie..."

"You said it... But I think these are those others I was talking about..." Winter whispered back.

Because it's not like you... You have to have some alterior motive here... The voice returned.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't, just know that it involves no threat to you." The machine shrugged.

"See Dolly? She doesn't want to hurt us, let's just have a good time together!" Spoke the child.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... This is a private thing... You can't just invite yourselves in after your... Friend here broke into my friend's room." Leo protested.

I'll have you know, it invited us here... The doll looked in their direction, But I do apologize for the intrusion...

"It's not your fault I guess, but this was just supposed to be thing between me and Cam... Privately." He accentuated to make his point.

We can leave if you'd like, there's no reason for us to intrude on your private party... The doll said.

Camellia looked over at Leo, whispering, "Do you really want them to leave? I can't imagine they have many friends on this ship... They were all experimented on by the Ethereals, this could be the first time they've seen a movie with friends in a long time..."

"Yeah but... I mean come on Cam... I mean..." Leo shook his head, his conciousness getting to him. "Fine... Alright? Fine..." Leo sat back on the bed, looking it over. "There isn't enough room for everyone on the bed..." He said slowly.

The little girl ran up to hug Leo, "Thank you! You're so nice!"

"U-Uh..." Leo said, not only caught off guard by the hug but the spiders too.

"Oh, these are my babies, they're friendly." She replied, "So, what's your name? My name's Arachne."

"My name is Leo..." The IT guy said slowly. "Look... I get they are your... Your babies but could they... You know... Stay somewhere else."

"Oh, right, sorry...." Arachne replied, her spiders retreating back into her body.

"I would have preferred not to see that..." Leo mumbled, saying, "So...how are we all supposed to fit?"

We could sit on the floor, if that's okay...

"That's fine, uh... Make yourselves comfortable?" Winter smiled awkwardly.

Leo looked around, just sort of letting his shoulders slump. "Look... The girl can sit on my lap, you..." He pointed at the Doll faced woman. "Will just have to sit in between me and Cammy. If you can... Take a small shape, and just sit on Cammy. It is the only way all of us will be comfortable while watching the movies. I got... Snacks and drinks so..."

"Thanks Mr. Leo." The girl smiled as 37 morphed into the shape of a Sectoid.

"I'm looking forward to this!" The machine exclaimed.

Thank you two for being so welcoming towards us, it means a lot... Lanore sat down, looking between them.

"No problem... You guys... Don't uh... Mention it..." Winter laughed, rubbing her shoulder.

 

[Frostlich1228]

Part 4

Leo wrapped his arm around Arachne's stomach, holding her close to him so he could look at the movie as it started, reaching behind Lanore as he squeezed Camelia's shoulder, shrugging his shoulders with an awkward look.

"The being from the third dimension..." Camellia read out, "I think I've heard of this one, some sort of psychological thriller right?"

"Never seen it." Leo noted, a little uncomfortable with the small girl on his lap. "How old are you?"

"Hum?" The girl looked up, "Oh, I'm nine, why?"

"So... You have no parents?" Leo asked slowly.

"Uh no... I'm a clone..." Arachne answered, "Though my original had parents... But they aren't around anymore..."

Leo tapped his teeth together and he slowly reached up, putting a hand on her head. "Who raises you?"

"Uh... I guess you could say Master raised me... But he isn't around anymore, so, no one..." She responded.

Leo rubbed Arachne's head as he watched the movie. "Well that won't do. Everyone should at least have a single parent..."

She giggled, "Even a mommy like me?"

"No, you are too young to be a real mommy." Leo stopped his rubbing. "Would you like a parent?"

"What do you mean?! I am a real mommy!" Arachne pouted, "My babies need me to protect them!"

"Well... Okay then... But what about my question?" Leo asked, wondering if he just shouldn't bother.

"I dunno... Who're you suggesting?" The girl asked.

"Who do you think?" Leo asked. "My Dad did it during his war... Why can't I during mine?"

"Really? You're so kind Mr. Leo..." She snuggled him.

"Yeah... Don't... Mention it." Leo pat the girl on the arm, trying to get back into the movie. "You sure this isn't scary for you?"

"Not when I have my babies and my new daddy watching over me!" Arachne exclaimed.

Lanore looked away from the movie for a second to look over at Leo. Good Luck, she can be quite a handful...

"Oh I'm sure..." Leo mumbled to himself, petting the girl on the head again. "I'm going to regret this aren't I?" Leo asked Lanore as he gave Arachne a candy bar.

I hope you like her 'babies', I'm sure she'll even name some after you... Lanore let out a chuckle, then a look of surprise grew on her face, forgetting that she could after her surgery.

"Well... Not exactly a fan of spiders... But I am sure we can compromise..." Leo looked over at how Cam was doing.

Winter was sitting her head in her hands, obviously very into the movie. The Sectoid in her lap reached up to grab some popcorn, flicking the pieces towards Leo's head.

He seemed to get annoyed quickly. "What?" He asked 37.

37 turned to face back towards the Tv, but one of her arms turned into a tentacle and stealthily reached around to Winter's ear as a voice mimicking Leo's spoke from it, "Hey, wanna roll around later?" Winter's eyes widened as she looked in Leo's direction, but 37's limb retracted just before it was seen.

He looked at her confused. "What?"

"You wanna do what with me? I thought you had Sasha!" She whispered, her look full of confusion.

"What... Are you talking about? Shifter over there was throwing popcorn at me..." Leo said, his look just as confused.

"I'm not going to do that while you're with Sasha! I can't believe you!" Winter said, looking away.

"Do what? I didn't say anything to you, you nut." Leo said, chuckling. "I think you are losing it Cross."

"Huh... But..." Camellia shook her head, "Maybe this movie's getting to me..."

"Maybe." Leo said, looking back himself.

"A being from another dimension would have no reason to steal people's life forces by making them insane, realistically, if he was that powerful he could find a much more suitable race to harvest, perhaps from another dimension even." 37 questioned.

First rule of horror movies... Never question them. Just sort of enjoy them without thinking too much on them." Leo told 37 as he looked some popcorn into Arachne's mouth, taking a sip of his own soda.

As the movie continued the eldrich horror began to unravel the universe with the power he was gaining, demons walked the lands freely and all hope seemed lost, however thanks to the action of the Saints of the Light, a secret society made to keep and preserve the most pure hearted of individuals in all of history, the hero had the tools he needed to repel the evil abomination, however, the cost was that he had to sacrifice the greatest men human kind had produced to absorb and neutralize the foul magic, seeping in from the third dimension.

However, after millions of years, those pure hearted people would become the next horror to ravage the lands and the cycle would start all over again. After a heart wrenching choice, the fact that one of the pure hearted people was the main character's own sister only making it more so, the hero did what he had to do, banishing the great evil and bringing the age of darkness to an end, but at what cost?

As the credits rolled, Cammy nodded her head, "That movie was awesome! I loved the moral dilemma of the needs of the many versus the needs of the few. How about you Leo?"

"Not exactly what I expected, that's for sure. I really just grab bagged these movies, didn't really hand pick any." That was a lie, but he didn't want to ruin the Alien surprise.

That was an interesting take on sacrifice... I thought that the main character was one of the pure hearted individuals, however, the fact that he hesitated and almost doomed humanity for selfish reasons proved that he wasn't a perfectly pure person in the end, so it wouldn't have worked with him. Lanore explained.

"Yeah, I thought that was a cool touch too." Winter replied.

"I dunno if I could do that to my own sister... Even if it would save the world." Arachne added, not having enjoyed the final choice as much as the others.

"Well you won't ever have to make that choice, so don't worry about it." Leo assured the girl, smiling as he saw the next movie autoplay. "Oh, hey look Cam... Alien... Your favorite."

 

[Frostlich1228]

Part 5

Camellia gasped, instantly moving as close as she could to the screen, "You amazing man that's my best friend!

Leo laughed. "What? How long since we last did this and you think I wouldn't leave the best for last?"

"Shut up! It's starting!" Winter waved in his direction. Leo rolled his eyes, laying back for the show.

As the movie progressed 37's mouth was agape, "What... Those computers are... What are those... You'd be better off flying a starship with chewing gum and a windmill..."

"It's a very old movie... More than fifty human years, I'd not more, am I right?" Leo asked Cammelia.

"I think it was... 1992?" She answered.

"My point still stands, could they honestly picture themselves working a starship with such primitive tech? They couldn't... I don't know... Make up more advanced looking technology for such a production? This is unbelievably unrealistic..." The machine said.

"Stop questioning it... It is very old and they didn't know what we do now. Don't ruin the movie for yourself." Leo told 37 quickly, not wanting to interrupt too much.

"Hey Leo, do you think Chryssalid are better or worse than Xenomorphs?" Winter looked back during a slow moment of the movie.

"Better by far. Xenomorphs are smarter, blend in more, and have more ways to kill you. At least Chrissies are stupid." Leo noted, shrugging his shoulders.

"But don't Chryssalid turn you into one almost instantly? They can become a problem a lot faster." She stated.

"Two words... Chest... Burster." Leo said slowly.

"But Chryssalid do that too!" Camellia protested, but then stopped as a particularly tense scene began. He shut up, Leo knowing it would be no use argueing as he sat back and watched.

Arachne looked up, "Why are they running away from the alien? Maybe he just wants to be friends."

"He wants to eat them, that's why." Leo answered simply. "Not all things are capable of compassion."

"Maybe he has babies he needs to feed, he can't be all bad..." She responded.

"No... Their only role is to kill everything." He told her, rubbing her arm. "Just keep quiet and enjoy the movie.

As the movie came to a close and the credits rolled, Camellia sat up, "That movie was just as good as the last time I saw it, but what're we going to do now?"

Leo glanced at the clock, it being the middle of the morning, around 3. "It is really late." The IT guy let out a yawn. "You mind if I stay the night Cam? Not the first time we've slept in each other's room after a long night of movies."

"We can all stay!" Arachne replied energetically.

"Wait, all of you?" Winter responded hesitantly.

"Well... We can't all sleep in the bed..." Leo added slowly. "You should have extra sheets and pillows in the closet, right?" He asked Cammy.

"Yeah... Let me get them..." Winter said, heading towards her closet.

"Don't bother getting one for me, organic needs such as sleep don't apply to me." The amorphous machine added.

"Fine, then you can leave now." Leo told 37 simply, tapping Arachne on the arm to get up and sleep with Lanore.

"Very well, thank you for having me, your reactions and this movie were, interesting..." The machine said as it turned into a snake as slithered out of the room.

Leo let out a relieved sigh, moving next to Cam. "There... Now we can actually sleep without her able to do whatever she wanted or watch us."

"Yeah... She's a little creepy..." Winter agreed.

That is an understatement, it has no understanding of concepts such as privacy or personal space. Lanore added, emphasizing the word 'It'.

"Well... Let's just try and get some sleep. We had a long night, right?" Leo asked, pulling the covers out from under the pillows.

"Yeah..." Camellia smiled, "Long but fun..."

"Mhmm." Leo crawled next to Cammy and out his arm under her, sleeping together like the two usually did. "Night." He said to everyone.

"Night!"

Goodnight.

"Night, Leo." Winter spoke, "Best movie night ever..."

"Why do you say that? What made it so better than the other ones?" He asked with a smirk.

"I dunno... Maybe... Company?" She smiled at the Doll.

This was a wonderful... First... Movie night together... 19 stated, a sense of happiness being conveyed through the thought.

He shrugged. "And I got my equivalent of Brigid when she was younger... like father like son, huh?"

I don't think she likes that way you think about the world... Lanore explained, Telling her that the monster only wishes to kill was a poor start from you, even if it wasn't real, 24 tries to see the good in all things, even things that seem inherently evil... Such as... Spiders...

"It's not how I look at the world, was just making a note of the fake alien. Can't really analyze a one dimensional creature because no matter what, it never changes. Like... slamming a hammer against your head and expecting a different result than... 'ow'. A xenomorph will always be a xenomorph. Just the reality of the movie, where as in real life... I guess you could see the good in everything as not everything is one dimensional. See what I mean?" Leo asked.

Perhaps... But if you wish to be her father-figure, then you will have to learn to love her 'children', they are more important to her than anything in this world... Even her own life... Try to be comfortable around them, or she'll likely choose someone else...Lanore continued.

"I'm... just sort of neutral on spiders. I don't hate them, but don't exactly want them crawling all over the place... or on me unless I consent. Nothing against them, I would just prefer not waking up with an army on the bed."

Then perhaps you are not the best for her... Tell me, have you even raised a child before? 19 asked.

"No." Leo answered. "Look, I was just trying to be nice to the kid. I don't really care for her long list of requirements for a guardian, I just want to help her, you know?" Leo rolled his eyes. "That doesn't sound right, it isn't I don't care, it is I am trying to be a nice guy, and if she wants to pass that up because I am not perfect, well than she will be hard pressed to find someone like that to meet her standards. I'm an optimist, and I like helping others, but if she or you wants to throw that in my face, well... not really my loss, more hers."

I will give you a chance... I will watch her when she's with you, if I deem you worthy, I will continue to let her see you... But if you hurt a hair on her head or break the leg of a single one of her children... I'll make sure you regret it... Do you understand? 19 said in a defensive tone, after all, she was growing to care for the girl greatly.

"O... kay... but warn her not to leave them around carelessly. Not my fault if I wake up and step on a real tiny one on the way to the bathroom, she has to have some semblance of caution and restraint with her 'babies'." He wasn't so much feeling threatened by her as he was just really confused his act of kindness may have backfired on him. "I have to work tomorrow, so she can come with me on a few house calls. Maybe I will take her out to lunch, we will see how my schedule is." He added as he snuggled back into bed.

Good... Perhaps I am being too distrustful again... You all have done me good so far, I suppose part of me is steeling myself if that trend happens to break... Lanore said getting as comfortable as she could, My name is Lanore, by the way...

"Leo if you didn't pick that up. And loosen up. I doubt anyone here actually wishes you harm, just don't be so uptight about everything. People make mistakes, and even though it may seem intentional, a lot of the times it is not. I have no reason to hurt Arachne, I just want to help the poor girl at least have some sort of normality in all of this. I am willing to help her, I really am, but just have her be prepared, I am going to go the whole nine yards with her."

I don't think 'normal' is really her cup of tea... 19 said, laughing a little.

Leo laughed as well. "As normal as we can get."

Good night friend... Lanore said happily, before rolling over.

 

[Dahlexpert]

Dhalexpert & ZombieSplitter53 Family issues

High Orbit over Forseti (May 15th, 2044)

The Einherjar 0246 Hours, the cafeteria

Noire grabs a tray of food, and heads over to her table to eat. Her body is fully healed after her last mission so she decided how to increase her training.

"Ugh that fusion rifle was pretty good,I can't believe that it tore through some of the enemy armor but it's best I don't rely too heavily on it. But god it's going to be a pain to clean, sigh ou well on to more important things. How can I increase my training after my last mission."

"You always talk to yourself like that?" A familiar Tamearin sat down across from her, a big smile on her face. "Makes it easy to eavesdrop, you know?"

"Ou sorry Korra it's kinda a old habit of mine, anyway hay it's been a while since I last talked to you. Hell the last time we talked you were carrying me to me room, again sorry about that."

"Not a problem." Korra looked Noire up and down. "You feeling okay? After that last mission..."

"Yea the benefits of being born with augmentations, is my augmentations are a part of my body. See my mom had this gen mod that gave her quick healing, so for me because it's a part of my body I heal faster so i'm fine.

"I admit, that does sound like it would come in handy." Korra poked at her food for a bit before suddenly asking, "What is she like?"

"What me being augmented, well I guess mine is different then normal gen mods. See my mom had this operation done to her, to were her blood was drained out of her and meld replaced it. Which means her heart is a well meld factory and i'm kinda the same. My heart pumps meld but not the kind the XSDF uses it's very special, but other then my enhanced strength i'm normal."

Korra look a bit embarrassed, again poking at her food. "I mean... what... what is your mom like... as a person. As a... mother."

Noire eyes widen in embarrassment, and she takes a bit out of her food to calm her self down. "Sorry about that, well if I we to describe my mom I would say she's a very loving person. My mom was amazing during earth holidays, like Halloween & Christmas. On Holloween she would dress us up in theses costumes, decorate the house with all kinds of sop key them. Then on Christmas her & my dad would help us make gingerbread men and houses, and we decreat the Christmas tree together.

Noire starters to tear up a bit. But over all she is a fantastic mom, when ever I got hurt she was right there to bandage me up, or when ever I was felling down she be there to lift my spirits even though I was her first born and she had no idea what she was doing at first. She be came the person I looked up to and inspire to be like, that's my mom.

Korra nodded, looking down at her tray. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I... I just like hearing about people's families. You... you said first born. You have siblings, than?"

Noire wipes her eyes " You didn't upset me I just miss her, but yes I have siblings. I have two brothers and a sister.

Korra starred down at her food for a bit, and asked, "What are they like? Do you get along with them too?"

"Ou yea we all get along great, I love my brothers. One is in my country navy,and my younger brother and sister are graduating high school in a few weeks, they all send me there support.

Noire bits into her food. So Korra why so curious about my family? Sorry it's just that you never shown interest

Korra shrugged. "It... it just so happens I've... been in contact... with some family of my own..."

Ou really that's great to hear, who is it ? Mom Dad who.

"Brother." Korra tapped her fork against her try and sighed. "We're not really all that close. I'm... a disappointment to him, and he's... well, a jackass to me. But... I still wonder if someday, the two of us might... I don't know, come to an understanding or something."

Noire takes another bit of her food "Hum well don't worry to much about it Korra i'm sure your brother can come around if you give him time, what's your brother like anyway?"

"Well... I guess you could say he's a typical Tamearin. By human standards, he's cold and unemotional. Very analytical. He tends to speak his mind with little regard for how he might come off. But..." Korra sighed. "I... I guess he's also pretty smart. He is quick on his feet, very logical, and can think well on his feet. And... I guess he's handsome, though I wouldn't know. Brother, after all."

"Hum do you mind if I meet him, I mean he can't be that bad right?"

Korra's eyes widened, and she rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. What... what he says something to piss you off?"

"Hum well then I will try and keep my anger in check, don't worry about me. Any way can I meet him maybe I can fix your relationship or at least get the ball rolling at least."

"Um... sure..." Korra noted a group of Tamearins in the corner of the room. "I'll go ask if anyone has seen him. Meet us at the bar in... I don't know, thirty minutes?"

"Great i'll meet you then." When Korra is out of sight Noire start's to think about what she just asked.

"Hum this may have been a mistake, if I remember correctly Aya told me to stay away from Tamearins. She said because of my up bringing and the Tamearins hatred of augmentations that things could go bad here, but I will endure this and try not to rip her brother in half as long as he doesn't call you a freak or an abomination etc you should be fine."

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 2

Thirty minutes later, Korra stepped into the rec room, dragging Geshtal by the arm towards the bar. "Why am I here again?" he asked.

"To meet one of my friends," Korra answered. "Just... please. I'm giving you a chance. Just please... be nice."

Geshtal scoffed. "I am always nice... enough."

"Well, that doesn't sound like much encouragement coming from you." Noire downs the rest of her drink and greets the Tamearins "Hi i'm Noire and you must be Korra older brother. Noire extends her hand "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Um... the pleasure... is mine?" Geshtal lightly shook her hand, looking confused. "I'm sorry, but who are you? You... appear to simply be one of the soldiers. Why did you want me to meet her?"

"She... wanted to meet you, actually," Korra answered.

"Yea I wanted to meet my friends brother, she speaks so highly of you I hear how much love she has for you and I just wanted to meet you."

Geshtal looked even more confused than before, and slowly took a seat. "Some how I doubt that, but... you have caught my interest. Tell me a bit about yourself, Ms. Noire. You are a soldier, correct? Have you been on many missions?"

I've been on two with the XSDF but a few my home planet, I'm also augmented however unlike most I was born with augmentations through my mother."

Geshtal sat in silence while Korra facepalmed. "Well... that lasted about thirty seconds... a whole ten seconds longer than I expected."

Geshtal motioned for the bartender, keeping his expression neutral. "Tell me, my dear... have you ever had Ferisanto ale?"

"No I haven't is it good, also I should warn you my body's immune system is very strong so if this stuff is poisons I will gag it up just to warn you." Noire calls the bartender for a buck just in case.

"Poison? Of course not. Ferisanto is my home. They make the greatest ale in all Tamear... or at least they advertise." The bartender handed Geshtal a bottle of ale, as well a bottle of what looked like a cherry soda and two glasses. Geshtal mixed the drinks, and offered one to Noire, lifting the other and taking a sip.

"Aw to hell with it." Noire drinks the ail the fact she didn't instantly vomited was a good sign "Huh it's not bad then again I haven't been drinking that long."

"Trust me... you Will find little that is better." Geshtal smiled, the cold smile that was off putting with his unchanging gaze. "Now... you were awfully quick to mention your augmentations. Most try to avoid that subject around Tamearins, but you went straight for it. Almost seems like that was the point."

"Yea I'm very proud of my augmentations and I will mention them especial to a Tamearin, because I personally don't care what your kind thinks of augmented people. But the main reason I called you here is I want to know about you and Korra relationship."

As if her hadn't heard the last part, Geshtal asked, "So you... inherited these gene mods? Meaning it is your mother's fault?"

Noire already knowing were this is going takes a deep breath to keep her self calm "No it's not my moms fault that i'm augmented, besides I like my enhanced strength and other functions." Noire put's on a what looks like a forced smile and looks at Geshtal.

"Now I sagest that you not mention my mother again, other wise something really bad will happen to you."

Geshtal raised an eyebrow. "Humans here are so touchy about their parents, aren't they? I only wish to understand the effect your mother altering the sanctity of her body had on you, her child. Please understand. I hold no I'll will against you."

"Sigh my mom is fully augmented with three different kinds of meld, one meld is human made long before the aliens showed up you could say it replaced her blood. The second is the meld the aliens came with and what's used to day, and the third is a very special meld that was made by the person that gave her the human made meld. Now as you can imagine that was passed to me at birth."

"And why would she alter herself in such a way before the Ethear... the Humiliata showed up?" Geshtal leaned forward, almost looking like he was genuinely interested. "I was under the impression that this was done to help fight the war. It was... much more forgivable that way."

"Well let's just say it was used for medicine and leave it at that, because I don't want to tell you the real reason why she was augmented before the war. Back to what I was saying what's the deal between you and your sister?"

Geshtal looked like he wouldn't drop it, but Korra nudged him, and he sighed. "What... is there to say about our relationship? I have tired many a time to rectify things, but my sister refuses to change. She prefers to do things that embarrass her family, and her people."

Family I understand but her people, isn't that going a little bit over bored. Yea Korra acts more human then Tamearin but to say she embarrass your entire race is going a little far."

"You... you do not understand." Geshtal leaned forward. "She is... angry. She is lustful, and irritable, and does nothing to up hold the prestigious Devolina name. And she does not care how much she makes us look bad. How our uncle ever allowed her in the palace..." He feel silent, wondering if there was any point trying to explain it.

"Did it ever occurred to you that saw something in her that you clearly can't, did that ever come to mind." Noire looks at Korra

"Don't get me wrong Korra is unbearable sometimes, hell my first day here we nearly fought each other and her and Brigid didn't get along ether. But she's come a long way since then don't you think?"

Geshtal looked between Korra and Noire, and tapped the counter for a minute. "So... so what you are saying is, she is willing to change for aliens, but not for her own people. Her own family. It is bad enough that she avoids other Tamearins, dates augmented humans..."

Korra rubbed her temples. "Just... leave Kallpa out of this. Noire is right. I've thought that maybe, some day, things could change between us. But that can't happen, because unless I do exactly what you say, you never believe that I am capable of change. Well, you're wrong!"

"Look I don't know Korra past but after what you said I can understand were she's coming from, let me asked you something. When Korra was having trouble did you or your family help her or did yell at her,you called her an embarrassment and shunned her out. You were thinking f your damn family name instead of helping family, because believe it or not she family she's the only sister you got and the only person in this hole galaxy that will stand by you."

 

[Dahlexpert]

Part 3

Geshtal looked a bit taken aback. "You... you obviously do not know who you are talking about. We are the Devolinas. Noble house of Ferisanto, keepers of the royal seal, and tasked with show the grace and dignity of our entire race as ambassadors. To disgrace us is to spit in the eye of the crown! Does that not mean anything to you... simple, gene mod obsessed, over emotional humans? Surely, you can understand pride."

Noire eyes starts to twitch in annoyance "God damn your annoying no I don't care about that or your family royalty, because guess what look around you your not on your home planet so your nobility means jack out here. And pride to hell with your pride this is your sister she is blood no matter what did it ever occurred to you she like this because of the way you treat her?"

"She is like this because of an illness. An illness she refuses to have treated, despite new innovations. She stays shackled to these... emotions of hers." Geshtal stood up. "You would not understand. You are shackled to them as well."

"That's because i'm human were emotional, we have fear anger love happiness we express all of these feelings it is not a sickness. What is a sickness is to feel nothing to show no emotion, to show no emotion you might as well be a robot that bleeds."

Geshtal rolled his eyes and turned his back. "Why do I even bother. Between your emotions, your natural soldier aggression, and the augmentations you inherited, I might as well be trying to talk to the angry child of a drug addict."

Korra's eyes widened, and she took a cautious step away for Noire.

"Drug addict, I'm going to give you one chance to take back what you said about my mother if not i'm going to break all of your ribs."

Geshtal scoffed. "If I am sorry for anything, it is comparing her to people with addictions. She has no excuse."

Korra stepped forward again. "Please, don't, Noire. H-he's a diplomat, and he isn't worth it."

"Korra this man calling my mom a worse then a drug addicts how do you think I should handle that, it's clear that his nobility has given him ball he doesn't deserve and I think he need to be taken down a peg with a few months in the hospital."

"Whoa! Hold on there, lady." Geshtal took several feet back, holding his hands up. "You should listen to Korra. Is this worth you striking a Tamearin ambassador and losing your position here?" His eyes darted to Korra for help. "Are you going to stop her?"

"Should I?" Korra placed her hands on her hips. "When are you going to learn that you can't talk to humans that way? What kind of ambassador can't learn that. This is... is just like how you never learned to treat me right!"

" Heh you know it's funny,you talk all this craps about you sister and yet when things are about to go bad for you you ask her to help.

"Of course I'm asking her for help. Some lunatic is threatening me! And... and regardless of what faults I might see her... I..."

Korra raised an eyebrow. "What?" When he brother remained silent, she said, "Say it or we'll both kick your ass!"

Geshtal's eyes darted away. "You... you're stronger than me, okay? I am not so blinded by disappointment that I can not see that... that you are skilled at... at being a soldier..."

Noire starts to calm herself down,and un bold her fist.

" Then maybe instead of bring up the past about her and constantly knocking her down,at leastr respect what she's doing now.

Geshtal looked away. "I... I don't know how. Everything she does, it..."

Korra closed her eyes. "Listen Geshtal. I... I understand that I'm not the perfect sister you want me to be. But maybe, if you stopped trying to change me, and instead tried to except me..."

"Like you except me?" Geshtal shot her a cold look. "Let's face it. You're just as ashamed of me as I am of you. You hate me, and... and maybe... I don't completely blame you for that..."

Noire rubes her head "Al right I can't fix this, this you twos problem so why not just talk. No yelling Korra No subject changing Jackass so you two go somewhere and just talk, like brother and sisters."

Geshtal gave her a look of disbelief. "Is... this why you wanted to meet me? So you could convince the two of us to... talk?"

"Yes you damn moron! But then you just had to in salt my mom, who you know nothing about or why she was augmented in thefirst place so as a word of warning. If you insult my mom again I don't care what happens I will send you to the hospital, AM I CLEAR!"

Geshtal stood in silence for a moment, than slowly nodded. "I understand. I... I apologize."

Korra's eyes widened. "You... what?"

"I said I apologize. She is right. I... I know nothing of your mother. Just because I can control my emotions, they are still present. I was angry. I'm sorry." Geshtal bowed his head slightly.

"Thank you for apologizing, and i'm sorry for treating you like that I rarely loose my temper but when people insult my family I tend to get angry so all is forgiven."

Geshtal adjusted his collar, and nodded. "I... I suppose we can... talk for a bit, Korra. If you'd like."

Korra nodded. "I-I'll... meet you in you room in a bit." She watched him walk out, and turned to Noire, giving her a shocked look. "How... how did you..."

Noire went to the bar and asked for a glass of brandy & looks at Korra "Hum what's up Korra is there something you want to ask me?"

Korra pounted to where Geshtal was. "That apology... sounded real. And... a-a-and he has never said something resembling a compliment to me. How did you do that?"

"Because i'm a magical fairy from the lands of butterfly and rainbows, and can crap out jelly beans."

Korra laughed, and quickly stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Noire. "Thank you."

"Aw don't worry about it, it was nothing now get to talking and don't start fighting."

"I won't. I promise." Korra bowed her head and rushed to the door, turning back to shout, "I owe you one," before taking off.

Noire rubs her head and takes a sip of her drink "Sigh i'm going to become a alcoholic after all this is said and done. But as long as my friend is happy then my job is done."