Phoenix

Seung-Min clearly wasn't going to take no for an answer, and she had Christina's support as well. Still, unless they had to sortie again in the next few hours or so, Megumi didn't foresee a confrontation with the captain. Physically there wasn't anything wrong with the lieutenant, and Christina was well on her way to recovery. They just needed to understand what had happened and how it would affect Kim going forward. "For now, both of you need to focus on recovering," Megumi said, turning to set down the scanners nearby, "I don't want you leaving the infirmary until I decide how to monitor you." As far as making sure she wasn't alone, Christina would more than suffice, though the doctor had some fairly minor concerns with it. The tech side of things would be different since Megumi wanted an active feed or at the very least periodic recordings to follow and document the lieutenant's progress. If Megumi had the situation mostly under control then there was little Brant could do to help other than see if the Alkaev journal had any useful information. That would still have to wait until Firmia was feeling better, though. In the meantime, he could definitely see what Elaine needed, though he was certain it was related to Louise and the potential problems there. He could still hardly believe she had shown up here ... "Yeah," Brant nodded at Elaine, "we'll be here a bit longer I think. Not sure if we'll be at the debriefing, but ..." Frankly? Brant expected Firmia to order them back to the Avalon the second she was feeling better. He didn't really want to say that though ... Jessica arrived with Esther, which definitely changed the atmosphere in the infirmary. No one had to ask what Esther was doing out of her cage either, since her handler wasted no time in assigning Kim to the young jailbird. Come to think of it, Esther was kind of unusual. She hadn't accomplished much as an enemy, not that Brant knew of at any rate ... and yet she was only just now getting out of her cell? Moreover, with Kim being tasked with watching her, you'd think she was caught just a few hours ago. "I want to say it's a bad time," Megumi squinted, first at Jessica and then Esther, "but since you're here about the prisoner ... perhaps not. I'd actually like to have a word with Vera, but if Esther has anything more to share about Apotheosis' TKs, that could help." Firmia imagined how a loud argument between herself and Jessica would go and trying to factor in everything happening right now left the Alkaev unsure of the likely outcome, and even the context. There were certainly enough routes they could go down. Regardless, Firmia was willing to risk it this time. She had to explain at least part of the situation with the Athena to the rival captain anyway, so she might as well do it in person. Like minding the crew, handling security measures, and planning for every feasible situation, coming out the better captain required sharing important information in a timely manner. "She can't run away if I'm there in person," Firmia teased, though her expression was blank, "... and besides, this isn't a bad time to talk to some people." "I don't remember you making any friends over there," Sasha smirked, "other than the ones you took with you. But I'll come along, too. I can check the overrides once I get back." That was curious. Did Firmia not have any friends--using the standard definition and not her personal one--over on the Heion Riese? The only person that even came to mind was Christina, and that was admittedly one-sided at best. Originally, her main interest was gathering information for her grandfather as a thank you. Now there was an extroverted version of her attached to Brant at the hip. This was definitely more than she'd bargained for, but that wasn't Christina's fault ... So no, Firmia didn't have any friends aboard the Riese ... but she still had a small list of people she wanted to see coming together, and Christina was indeed on that mental list. "That's fine, then. Let's get going." "Nothing?! Are you serious?!" Then why the hell ... no, that was just like an Alkaev. Whether the place was safe or not was less important than having what you cared about within arm's reach. Firmia didn't have a property somewhere that she could keep the children safe in until the war was over. She carried her whole life with her. Thanks to the war, Brant was in a similar situation. And so was Rex. He let out a heavy, bitter sigh as Galatea returned to harassing May. "... we'll see. I'm not taking her word for it ... not yet. When we meet in person ... that's when I'll know ..." "Would you prefer things to go off without a hitch?" Stan asked, genuinely curious. He felt it a much better question than the last one. Rex huffed in amusement just thinking about it. "Yeah ... but I admit it'd really make my year if I managed to put down even one of you parasites ... a son though ... gonna have to change his name, first thing." "Ugh, that's so petty. Alkaev is a good name ... not sure about the first name yet, but we'll see." "No one gives a damn about your opinion, Stan." May spent the time on hold looking through her things for countermeasures but didn't find any devices with software stronger than what Merrygate already had installed before Galatea popped up again. ... and now she was wielding a hammer or something. "Oh my g-fine! Fine! Could have just put together some data for you and sent it to your boss in a little bit, but you just had to raid the place ..." "May!" Her comm lit up as one of the mechanics in the hangar called her, "May, get down here! We've got a hacker!" "Too late," May replied, "this is ... a mobile hacker ... ... blegh ..." "C-come again ...?! May, I'm serious here!"

Megumi sighed at the question. She couldn't answer it in confidence right now. "... probably, but that depends on the situation and how it develops. There's no physical damage that I can detect, which is a pretty good sign, but these symptoms are still affecting Kim strongly enough to affect her piloting. That's dangerous." There was no sugarcoating it. Having the lieutenant sortie under these conditions, if they persisted, was completely inadvisable. The next scan revealed some unique TK waves, which the doctor had been expecting. "For now I'm going to keep her under close observation and do some research to try and learn what I can. Hopefully we can solve this before the attack on Apotheosis' base." "Think Vera might know something?" Brant asked, "Apotheosis at least has some knowledge about TKs. They might even know more than the ANF if they're willing to experiment on their people. I doubt they've got strict rules ..." "I'll find out what I can from the prisoners," Megumi nodded, "but I'm also going to be contacting other medical officers in the ANF. I don't have nearly enough information to try anything, yet. In fact, there may not be anything wrong with the lieutenant necessarily. If this is just TK 'growing pains', then I don't think we should do anything other than treating the worst of her symptoms. My doubts come from this being so extreme. Reading minds doesn't seem like a natural development, or even I would have read about it somewhere." She sighed again. "... I need to confirm what's going on one way or the other ..." Firmia sighed at Hannah's request to go over to the Riese. "I always mind ... but that's not important.." She'd been trying to think of what she would do in the meantime, with things on the Avalon mostly taken care of. Making sure the Athena was ready to assist in the final battle wouldn't take very long on the Avalon's end, nor would writing up a contract for Troy to sign. Things during the battle had been hectic, but she still had two important things she needed to do. One, make sure the next episode with the Sacarians wouldn't endanger the crew in the hangar, and two, figure out the Abigail situation before the debriefing. As much as she would rather wait, by the time Jessica was ready to start, the issue would have been some kind of settled. Better to see what the Riese's whimsical captain was planning to do as early as possible, as well as make some recommendations if the Alkaev didn't like what she was hearing. Going to the Riese in person wasn't necessary, but a convoluted web of reasoning had her opting in this time. Since it was becoming increasingly likely that both crews would be bringing in help from the outside, Firmia couldn't overlook the potential similarities ... and the dissimilarities. Knowing Jessica, the Riese would be partnering up with the Colony One terrorists, while Firmia herself would be partnering up with a group of EU defectors. The Alkaev obviously felt she was making the better deal, but that was up for interpretation. Firmia was paying in credits while Jessica was paying in whatever passed for romance in her little world. Firmia was bringing in a warship with several powerful prototypes, while Jessica was bringing in the ANF's own stolen prototypes and maybe some sort of transport? Firmia chose to interpret her acquisition as the superior one. An amusing thought brought a smile to Firmia's lips as she addressed Hannah, again. "You really do get what you pay for. Okay, Hannah, I'm heading over there with you. I can work on the Athena business from my tablet, so it should be fine ... but I don't want any surprises at the debriefing. Sasha, make sure the funnels can't move or fire while they're inside the ship without some kind of override. Two overrides, one level for movement and another for firing." Sasha shrugged but acknowledged the order. He had the situation under control already, and his solution was similar enough. Still, the Alkaev's layered overrides were only slightly excessive, nothing Sasha disagreed with on principle. The chances of needing to use the funnels inside the ship were definitely small enough to shrug at, but it was still possible. As for the trip to the Riese ... it wasn't too late to join in and go see Cheryl, was it? He didn't have to be here in person for the updates to the TK weapons, only triple-check everyone's work. "You're welcome ..." Stan replied, his voice a tad conflicted. He didn't know what else to add with the lovechild situation ... at least not without getting viciously beaten. He couldn't hop from place to place the way Galatea could, so if Rex chose to crush him over one of the usual remarks, there was no escape. He really wanted to prod the guy in good fun, too, especially now that it was in vogue. "So ... how are you feeling?" Stan asked. It wasn't really worth asking in the end ... "... I need to get a hold of ... there's no way she'd answer ..." Rex was short on ideas, not even paying attention to Stan any longer. How could he after having the entirety of his life reframed in an instant? Just knowing he had a son put the largest chain on him that he'd ever felt, even larger than the one Dima had used to trap him and Brant with Rosa. Paternal instincts were all awakening after a long slumber, and the renewed sense of powerlessness gripping him was maddening. Was he really just supposed to wait until the rendezvous? What then? Why were his and Brant's children even on a warship bound for a combat zone? And what was Firmia going to do when Rex inevitably came for his son and tried to leave with him? Would she get in the way, try to put conditions on him, or deny him outright? Rex went straight for the nearest console. "Hey! Forget Merrygate! What's she planning to do with those kids?!" Maybe green really was out of fashion now if even a random pink lolita character was questioning the look. Today wasn't really a good day to begin with, either. "Okay, slow down," May said, trying to fully process the new information, "If we're allies then why are you trying to break into Merrygate? What's the rush?"

One of the Soldaats on the frontlines had been thoroughly clobbered by Linus as part of the team's opening gambit but wasn't going down. Two shots fired from Serval Sage's beam launcher failed to even connect, and the Soldaat Trooper managed to buy himself some time by hiding behind a formidable defense plate. It wasn't until one of the other tryouts, Flake, blew away the shield with a precisely placed M.A.C. round that Hitomi was able to make a decisive move. "Got'em!" Bronze Bullet twirled both of its beam pistols in an elaborate flourish before unleashing several blasts each that crippled the trooper. Not one to let the opportunity go to waste, Hitomi fired two more shots, one from each pistol, that set off a massive explosion where the trooper had been. She was aiming for style points that time. Being in one of the megasims made her feel ... somewhat obligated. Thankfully she wasn't the only one. Melanie--or Mewlanie at the moment--managed to bring down a trooper in three swift attacks. There was no countering at that distance, either. Keizerin also brought down an enemy in about the space of a breath before vanishing back into the Aether. She ... probably wasn't even showing off for the audience ...

New information was coming in fast, and with Christina having just woken up, Megumi had to pick up the pace on her data gathering. So, Nina's set of memories was based on Chris and not Christina. Chris had Christina's memories, but her own 'native' memories were all that the second clone had inherited from her. Whatever was going on was likely limited--at least for the most part--to the mental realm. When Christina came to, Chris was quick to try and bring her up to speed. That put a hopeful smile on Brant's face. Given how frustrating the situation was, she could use the distraction, and Christina definitely needed to know that it really wasn't her fault. Thinking about it more, both Christina and Seung-Min had it pretty rough in this war. Brant wondered if there would be time for them to de-stress as a group. Something like a double date would give them a chance to catch up and maybe even laugh together for a change. Valerie took a moment to answer Seung-Min regarding Esther. "Esther was having problems, but not like this. She needs medicine to keep her symptoms under control." "Right," Megumi nodded as she started the second scan. Fortunately, the infirmary had a scanner capable of analyzing TK waves. It was likely the only thing that could help clear up some of the confusion here ... "She's taking Triexanth for it. I was hoping we could address your symptoms the same way, but ... I don't have enough data to recommend that. I don't even have a reason to suspect it would help you, yet. It's just wishful thinking since we're well outside my field." There was no doubt in Firmia's mind that Troy was a homicidal maniac just itching to throttle some poor sap to death with his own bare hands ... just the same ... that was less troublesome than some other things she'd had to deal with. At least a man like that thrived on the battlefield, unlike Firmia herself or Brant, who both had serious reservations in certain situations. Hannah did mention Jessica, and even when making a comparison like this, Firmia found herself leaning toward the maniac ... Trying her best to be lighthearted about the whole thing for Hannah's sake, Firmia said, "Someone I can actually hold accountable for their actions ... and someone you're willing and able to smack down? ... Captain Lanzer is almost perfect ... I'm glad I thought of this." Sasha chuckled. "She just can't win." "So they aren't clones?" Stan was surprised but didn't show it nearly as much as Rex did. If Dima had managed to save three of those children, and Firmia managed to get ahold of them all, then what was going on back in Russia? What had been developing behind the scenes all these years? What was coming next? 'Curious' didn't do the situation justice. Rex's head hit the wall this time as his arms fell to his sides. He let himself lean into it, and stayed there for a moment, still frustrated, still angry, still confused. "This ... ju-tch! ... Dima ..." Rex pushed himself off the wall and quickly threw another punch into it with all of his pent up rage. "DIMAAAA!!!" "Well, if Firmia's goal was to ruin Rex's day ..." Stan eyed Rex pityingly, "... masterfully done." As for Merrygate, Stan imagined that machine's mechanics were working overtime now to try and protect its secrets from the intruder. Then again, May had access to quite a few interesting programs that she might have implemented herself. He was curious enough to find out which was the case here. "May, are you there? It's Stan. We have a friend--friend?--friend, I suppose--trying to access Merrygate. If one of your programs is keeping her out, could you shut it down for a moment?" There was the sound of a glass being set down quickly, just rough enough to make a loud glassy 'bop' sound. "There is no way I've had that much to drink--what did you just say?"

Allied Battle Phase (HP decreases don't show up in the logs yet because I don't have the macros finished so this will be a rough rundown. You'll still be able to check the logs later and workout per move HP losses, though. I'm just being lazy.) Sicarius Engages Soldaat Trooper 22! (Serval Sage and BB join in) Sic attacks with the Howitzer and then the Caduceus (second is a crit and full roll is 4,4,2) SS attacks with the Beam Launcher and misses both times! [Sicarius gains 230 XP] Mewlanie Engages Soldaat Trooper 23! She attacks with the Heavy MAC and then the Karasawa Mk1 (Trooper 23 uses his Defense Plate which is destroyed by the Karasawa) Mewlanie attacks with the Karasawa again for a critical KO! (full roll is 5,5,2) [Mewlanie +300 XP] Keizerin Engages Soldaat Trooper 26! Attacks with HEAT Stake twice using Flurry! Second is a crit as per usual and Trooper 26 goes down (full roll is 6,6,3) Cloak reactivated. [Keizerin +300 XP] Fire Miko Engages Soldaat Trooper 14! (Trooper 15 is relevant due to AoE) Fire Miko attacks with the Spread Missiles 4 times! 1 misses, 2 hits and crits (full roll is 5,5,6), third hits, and fourth misses! [Fire Miko +225 XP] Aska Engages Soldaat Soldier 14! Attacks with Cluster Bomb and then Stealth Missile! Bomb misses but the Stealth missiles hit! Soldaat 14 makes history by being the first mook to shoot back! His weapon of choice, the Battle Rifle! [Aska +45 XP] Flake (Faust) Engages Soldaat Soldier 22! Flake attacks with a Heavy MAC but Trooper 22 puts up his shield ... which is promptly blown to smithereens ... Reinstall (WildChild) Engages Soldaat Trooper 14! Attacks with the Battle Rifle! Trooper 14 counters with its Battle Rifle! Reinstall keeps on shooting ... Trooper 14 switches to Explosive Rounds and resumes shooting back! Tea Time. Bronze Bullet Engages Soldaat Soldier 22! Trooper 22 counters early with the Battle Rifle! BB uses Full Defense! KE type weapons are useless for the moment ... Trooper 22 switches to Explosive Rounds and counters again twice! Almost no damage ... BB finally attacks with her Beam Gun and disables Trooper 22! She shoots him again for Style Points! [BB + 30 XP]

Brant chuckled silently and nodded at Chris. Someday they had to tease the unlucky damsel about that. First scan finished, and Megumi wasn't sure what to make of it initially. The minds of TKs were only comprehensible to her in as much as they were identical to the minds of ordinary people. The biggest anomaly from Kim's brain so far was coming from the amygdala. The doctor tried to slap together some kind of theoretical mechanism for the emotion center of a TK's brain being involved in the interpretation of other people's thoughts. What she knew so far was that the lieutenant's mind reading only worked on Christina and Chris. It may or may not work on Nina, but either way, there was enough similarity between the former two to make them just about indistinguishable to Kim, at least subconsciously, or unconsciously. It could have been something like tuning into certain radio frequencies. Each person was wholly unique, except in this case. ... now, as for how the lieutenant was listening in on Chris' 'broadcast'? Megumi didn't have a clue, and she wasn't about to offer a half-baked theory with her near total lack of experience. "Time for the next scan, but I can tell you right now that the emotion center of your brain is showing very high activity right now. There's more showing up, but nothing I wouldn't expect after the fight you just had. Unfortunately, about all I can do right now is gather data and try to manage your symptoms. This is nothing like dealing with Esther." Brant frowned at that, wondering if he'd be giving Firmia a call soon to check the journal. He could probably check it himself, but Firmia would be furious if he did something like that from here on the Riese ... 'Rebellion'? Firmia had heard about that machine but didn't know much about it. It was essentially a mobile suit designed for Rex by Alkaev company specifications, and built by the EU. It was just one mobile suit, so whether it was an ally or an enemy, it didn't warrant too much of a reaction from her unless it was armed with a nuke or something. The Armadura on the other hand did. Scooping this group up before the ANF wouldn't give her any kind of technological advantage, but pure firepower was important, too. Equally important was the fact that the more equipment they acquired directly, the fewer they would have to build all on their own. There was still plenty of work involved, however. Firmia was serious about bringing the Athena and her machines up to ANF standards, or better yet, up to her standards. "I'll be sure to introduce myself to your pilots as well, Captain Lanzer," Firmia bid the man farewell. She felt good once the call ended. The thought of saving face was long gone. She'd managed to recruit Troy and his crew--for the most part--which effectively pulled the rug out from under Rex and definitely threw a wrench in any upcoming plans he had. Then, to kick the bastard while he was down, Firmia hit him with the news that he had a son with the person he hated most in the world. That ought to keep him good and distressed for a while, and Troy's laughter was icing on the cake. Firmia hated what Rosa did, but if using it was the only way to punish Rex for getting her people killed, then so be it. Hannah couldn't help but wonder if this had been the right move, but it was too late to turn back now, anyway. Troy seemed to be about on Louise's level in terms of homicidal gleefulness, and so it was natural the Avalon crew had a bad impression. Firmia still held to the belief that it was better for him to work for her ... keep people like that on a leash instead of letting them run wild or worse. Admittedly, the young captain was still trying to figure out right from wrong in war and in life, and this was one of those times when what seemed optimal to her probably looked dubious from the outside. "I won't say it was the best move I could have made," Firmia said slowly, trying to put more of her feelings into words, "but ... don't forget, it's not just about this war. One ship and some mobile suits were never going to be enough." "There's no way ..." Rex was only beginning to fully process what he'd heard when Troy ended the call and started laughing. It may have been amusing for him, but for Rex it was downright impossible. Rosa couldn't have possibly brought a child into the world without anyone knowing, much less three of them, and she was never far enough along in any of her pregnancies for a child to be safely removed and gestated elsewhere. She never had so much as a 'baby bump.' This was literally impossible! "How, dammit?! How could she--grgh!" Rex's fist met the nearest wall. Stan winced, but Rex felt nothing but confused rage. Keeping his fist firmly planted on the wall, he sighed. "... it doesn't ... make ... any sense. You-... don't understand, Captain." "Firmia doesn't tell big lies like these," Stan noted cautiously, "We clearly don't know the whole story ... but I bet my father-in-law had a hand in this. Wasn't he the one forcing Rosa to keep 'breeding' with you and your little brother? Maybe he sampled some zygote DNA to create a few clones. They would still technically be your child ... and nieces." That ... made sense ... and it went a long way toward calming Rex down, though he was still severely frustrated. "Yeah ... that could be it. Firmia probably left that detail out on purpose just to mess with me ... ... still ....

Mission Start Turn 1 Movement Phase Monika right 2, up 2, right 2 Soldaat Trooper left 4 Melanie up 3, right 1 Soldaat Trooper left 4 Venitus up 2, right 4 Soldaat Trooper up 3, left 1 Aska right 2, down 3 Soldaat Trooper up 3, left 1 Sicarius right 4 Soldaat Gunner left 4 Karina down 1, right 8 All remaining Soldaats PASS ... Helena Transform up 8, right 4 SS (Serval) PASS Makala usesIntVerns right 7 Zeke right 3, up 1 Flake (Faust) PASS Aliens (Xeno) right 2 GramSlam (GS) right 3, up 2, right 1 Motherloader (Zero) right 3 SleepyBot (Majestic) down 1, right 4 Reinstall (Wildchild) down 1, right 2 BB (BB) right 2, up 3

Brant was in a relationship with Chris? Megumi almost felt guilty asking him to carry Christina over to a bed. Almost. Being a clone herself, she'd come to terms with the nuances--the same twins and triplets often did--well in advance. Chris was definitely being a good sport about it, so the doctor could enjoy the old joke one more time. They could only hope Christina would be fine for the rest of the war ... no issues with the Artemis, and no traitors on board to attack her directly. Brant could only sigh and comply as Chris addressed Seung-Min's new mind reading ability. By the time he'd scooped up Christina, the lieutenant had set herself up on a bed and was explaining the situation to the doctor. It was difficult to ignore Christina's bandages, even with everything else on display. Those used to be gunshot wounds. "Man ... Avery's going to pay for this ..." Brant brought Christina over to the bed and gently set her down, making sure not to let the towel go to waste. After that, he pulled the covers over her and placed a hand on her forehead. "Glad you're still with us, Christina ..." Heh ... she's so damp right now I can't help but think of that sweaty dough chat. A big amused grin crept onto Brant's face as he stepped away from the bed. Megumi listened intently to Kim's explanation, hoping she would be able to figure out a solution based on that and the scanning results. She started working on those about halfway through the lieutenant's story. The mind reading part was ... strange, but she'd been prepared for strange, at least in part. The doctor wondered if being able to pick up on the thoughts of particular individuals had something to do with their relationship. Megumi could preempt her sisters--and vice versa--quite easily due to familiarity. That was just one example that sprang to mind. Wasn't Chris stationed on the Avalon now, though? Kim's copilot was Christina, not Chris. The stress of war and combat did bring individuals together much faster ... so either they were close in spite of the apparent distance, or ... Christina and Chris were a close enough physical match that they were both compatible. "I think this has more to do with Christina, actually," the doctor said, glancing over at her other patient resting peacefully in bed, "though I have absolutely no idea how this could have happened. Is there anything else you can tell me about this?" It was almost grating hearing the brutal honesty between Galatea and Troy. Even if the Alkaev did prefer openness and honesty to pent up feelings, she still had to find a way to mix water and oil, here. Troy had a good point, though. Galatea was a program, and however complex she was, her basic programming wasn't likely to change all on its own. It was uncertain how hardened and cold Troy himself had become, but he certainly wasn't going to be abandoning his bloodlust over the opinions of a handful of colleagues. As for Firmia ... she didn't know how much she could change going forward ... Anything else? Well, Troy was interested in getting a transponder signal or something similar from them. The better to rendezvous. Firmia's ever developing strategic instincts had some concerns, mainly that if this was an elaborate trap, that signal could be used to coordinate a massive counterattack against the Avalon and the Heion Riese. It probably wasn't a trap, even if Rex was there--wait ... ... Well, it probably wasn't a trap, but the vulnerability was still there. Fortunately, Galatea was already in the Athena's systems. That was extremely fortuitous if she could keep any leaks from getting out. Even Rex wouldn't be a problem, then ... and Firmia wouldn't have to make herself look paranoid, here ... "Go ahead and keep the Athena updated on our position, Galatea. I'm going to get started drawing up that contract," she smiled, "I prefer it when things are official. I should also have the Athena's systems figured out by then, which means we can start sending you some helpful data." Belated, Firmia realized there might be some way Rex could screw all of this up, though the Alkaev was doubtful he'd try it. Still ... there was some insurance she could use, come to think of it. "There is one more thing, Captain." Firmia's smile warped into something a tad cruel, "Please let Rex know that his lovechild with Rosa, as well as his two nieces, are safe and sound here on the Avalon. I'm certain they're looking forward to meeting him." "That's messed up," Sasha sighed and, admittedly, tried not to laugh. Troy was in charge, so Stan was happy to have him along when the bad(?) news came ... new news, maybe. The man didn't exactly mind the idea of working for his daughter. He didn't much mind anything as long as he wasn't being abused. Rex was definitely going to be more of a hassle than usual, at least until this 'mission' was over. "I appreciate your kindness, Captain," Stan said, almost jokingly. Rex shrugged. He was already here with them, and he had nothing better to do since Firmia wasn't even giving him the time of day. Still ... he had some things to figure out. ... and then Rex heard something jaw-dropping ... "Please let Rex know that his lovechild with Rosa, as well as his two nieces, are safe and sound here on the Avalon." "W-wait ... what ... did she say ... captain ...?"

"Actually," Megumi tried not to smirk, "if the lieutenant can get to a bed on her own, you can help us move Christina, Brant. Always trust experience." Again? Brant squinted. He'd had a comeback for Kim but lost it with the doctor's suggestion, which also felt like a joke, given the amusement he felt coming off of her. Her poker face was the stuff of legends, but there was no disguising her emotions from the TKs. Not the conscious ones at any rate. Speaking of which, Christina really wasn't wearing much, unfortunately ... just the essentials and two waterproof bandages. That made sense considering she'd just been in surgery. Maybe it was best if her sisters helped her this time. Brant was far from prudish, but with everything he and Chris had gone through, and to a smaller extent, what they were still going through, it was better not to be brazen or act oblivious. With a sigh, he said, "Sure but put a gown on her first." "There's no time," Megumi made one last attempt before eyeing her assistant, "Oh, and Bennet, swap with me. I'll perform the scans while you help with Christina. Lieutenant, I'm going to need you to lay down and relax. Tell me exactly what's going on." Hopefully focusing on the details of her ordeal wouldn't get in the way of her staying calm and relaxed. Firmia took an immediate interest in these rumors about her grandfather. A person or even a whole family's notoriety was something that could easily escape them in a situation like this. Firmia spent her life in remote parts of the world, chiefly Siberia. No small towns or anything of the sort. It was either an out of the way, almost completely self-sufficient mansion, or a large testing facility with very few roads leading to it, and not one of them paved. Firmia suppressed the urge to ask Troy what he'd heard and focused on the matter at hand, getting the Athena crew working for her rather than the ANF or for themselves. Captain Lanzer's condition turned out to be an odd one. Firmia thought she covered everything that would concern him personally, but apparently, the man had some interest in fighting on foot. Firmia was exactly the opposite. She wanted to be behind the controls of a mobile suit or commanding a warship at all times. If she had to fight on foot, her side had made some major errors along the way. Troy must have been one of those soldiers--warriors--that advanced a bit too quickly up the military chain of command, though the Alkaev wasn't aware of foot soldiers becoming naval officers. There was perhaps more going on there that she could look into later. As far as it being a condition of working for her, Firmia had no issue with it on principle. Vera came to mind every time she tried to picture someone actually enjoying that kind of work. "Ground work ... and infiltrations ... those are definitely inevitable," Firmia nodded with a resigned sigh. "If you want to take part in that, then that's fine by me." It was fine but somewhat cringeworthy in terms of the implied bloodlust. "As long as you can work well in small teams, there shouldn't be any problem. You have a deal, Captain. I'll get back to you with the details, soon." ... Stan meanwhile sighed at Troy's direction. "You're only sending me because no one's afraid to take their frustrations out on the new guy, aren't you ...?" "Working ... for Firmia ..." Rex was feeling a lot of emotions ... none of them positive, but if the little brat had made an offer Troy was happy with, then he couldn't fault the man for taking the better option. That did leave the elder Abrams with some things to consider. He might need to get a move on a lot sooner ...

Getting Christina's hair dry enough to get her onto a bed would take some effort. Chances were the inbound TKs and Elaine would get here first. Assuming they did, Megumi thought she'd let Nina take over the drying completely for a moment. Speaking of the TKs, that seemed like a good opportunity to amuse herself, assuming things weren't too serious. The only frustrating part about this manual drying business was getting the patient's hair out from behind and beneath her. Since Megumi's hair was even longer, she had plenty of experience caring for it, both with and without appliances. Dealing with someone else's was definitely an interesting take on things. This Troy Lanzer certainly was a character. Firmia wasn't sure whether to recoil at the idea of actually trying to recruit such a sly devil, or just appreciate his boorish honesty. Galatea wasn't a fan, though whether that was due to Troy's personality or the fact that her antics had little affect on him overall, Firmia wasn't sure. Admittedly being called 'little Alkaev' immediately put her off, as well. She kept her composure and stayed focused on her goal ... which she could actually sense morphing slightly even as Troy spoke ... "I wouldn't say favorable, but it looks like I won't have to shoot him after all," Firmia forced a bright smile, "as for working together," the Alkaev's smile faded quickly as she steeled herself for this next part, "I'd like for your crew to work for me. Part of the reason I needed to see the details on your ship is so we can decide on the necessary upgrades in preparation for the next mission ... among other things. Whether the Athena joins me or joins the ANF determines the nature of those upgrades and the data we forward to you." Sasha sighed in amusement. Firmia did not come up with this after some long deliberation; she didn't have that kind of time. No, she'd thought it up on the way down here and it was a good approach in Sasha's view, especially for something yanked out of the ether. Whether Troy bought into the Alkaev portraying herself as overprepared or not, she was clearly framing things in a way a survivalist could appreciate. Sasha personally wasn't sure about working with a man like this in the long term, but in the short term, it could definitely serve their group's goals. The 'military' wing of this new Alkaev group needed to grow, and quickly, if it was going to be taking on the kinds of challenges Firmia had in mind. "We're a close ally of the ANF, but we have our own goals, and after this operation, we'll be operating independently for the foreseeable future." Now, why were they on the run, again? Firmia was missing a few pieces, but if they were hoping to defect--some of them at least--dissatisfaction of some degree had to be involved. Likely very terrible survival odds if Troy's latest quip was anything to go by. "We don't do suicide missions or give our people more than they've proven they can handle. I can also promise you far more autonomy than the ANF can, especially after such a huge loss of material and personnel. And of course, you would be paid quite well for your work. That's my offer, Captain Lanzer. We can discuss the details in private if you're interested." Brant could see where Kim was going with this, but until they had some sort of idea of what was going on, they couldn't just assume that the pilots affected by the Sacarians to this degree were better suited to fighting them, even Kim, who was apparently handling the telekinetic interplay better than before. Just the same, what if it turned out to be the opposite of mere adjustment? What if it was more like attunement, and the more powerful Sacarians could use it to influence the lieutenant, subtly or more directly? That could get her or Christina killed in the thick of it. If Brant had to make a wager right now, he'd be in favor of Kim's theory, but they needed more information. "Maybe if we had more time to figure out exactly what's happening to you," Brant offered, "but there's no way we can plan fighting the Sacarians around this yet. Think about it, Kim. If you're right about that resistance, then unless the same thing starts happening to the rest of us, you're our only way of understanding how it works and making it work for us. We can't just throw you at the Sacarians and hope they'll keep taking us lightly. In fact ..." Brant couldn't help but wonder what Firmia would think of all of this, and if there was any useful data on it in the Alkaev Journal. He hadn't heard back from Hannah or Galatea yet, so Brant assumed Firmia wasn't quite back up to speed yet. He supposed waiting until things were sorted out in the infirmary was a good idea. It wouldn't hurt to get Doctor Amparo's opinion on this, too. "... yeah, I think we should see if Firmia can find anything useful in the archives once things settle down over there. I don't think the Sacarians are coming back today , so all we need to focus on is figuring this out. We can worry about fighting them once the alarms go off."

With Linus picking the colony mission, they would be fighting primarily on foot. Sightlines would be important, but it was nothing they couldn't handle as a team. Hitomi just hoped she was near the front of the pack, not just for the sake of appeasing the now thoroughly expectant viewers, but to make sure no one got taken out. Losing anyone early in the fight was just terrible optics. Client: Patriarch Cygnus Mission: Liberation of Destin Colony Location: Destin Colony, Jovian Sphere - Cyberspace Primary Objective: Eliminate the Soldaat Squadron Occupying Destin Secondary Objectives: Optional Time: 18:07 Conditions: Clear Since this was a Battlenet campaign, the location was Cyberspace, which was essentially a virtual mirror of the real world, only overrun with AIs and odd parodies. With the briefing about to begin, Hitomi was pretty certain the scenario had fully loaded. There was actually something going on outside the ship's launch bay now. She could have sworn she felt the rumbling of cannon fire as they drew closer to the colony and the enemies occupying it. Suddenly a bearded man, greenish blue all over, and standing in a room to match, appeared in front of her, as well as every other participant. It was briefing time. "I'm Patriarch Cygnus' assistant, Berk. Let me first begin this briefing by thanking the Odyssey group for taking on this mission. The assistance of your affiliates is also greatly appreciated in this time of crisis. Destin Colony is one of our industrial islands and try as we have, those soldaats are dug in deep. We need your help to edge out a victory for us. The battle has already begun, and we'll be bringing you in close enough to infiltrate the colony. While our ships and fighters engage the enemy squadrons defending Destin's outer shell, your people will fly in and take out the enemies dug in there. Keep in mind that Destin's still operating normally, and the soldaats are experts at tricking passive sensors in urban areas, so you'll have to rely more on your eyes. Normally we would just have you hunt down their leaders and let the grunts retreat, but they took things too far during the initial invasion, and everyone agrees ... they deserve no mercy. Killing cybercitizens is inexcusable. Wipe out every last soldaat you find, and help us retake the island. We should be able to gain remote access to Destin's systems once there are fewer enemies around, so we'll be able to provide you with some additional support if need be. That is all. We're looking forward to a swift and overwhelming victory." Killing cybercivvies was horrible. All they wanted to do was live their lives. They probably didn't even put up much of a struggle. If there was a bosshog in command of this unit, that might explain why they were being so cruel. Of course, Berk didn't mention any bosshogs, so Hitomi doubted they would run into one. She had vague memories of this mission, and she didn't remember running into one. That meant this unit was operating independently, or the bosshog was outside, holding off Cygnus' forces. Either way, they had work to do, and tryouts to evaluate. "All pilots, standby for launch," a voice came over the comms, "We've marked a path for you straight into Destin. Once you clear the catapult, follow the designated path on your HUD to the infiltration point. We're preparing to send the override command to the hatch; it will open by the time you arrive. It's a straight shot to the interior from there. ETA is thirty seconds. Launching sequence begins now. Good luck." Hitomi gripped her controls tightly, almost completely oblivious to the fact that she was being watched. "Bronze Bullet, launching!"

"Normally patients are awake when it's time to move them out of the SIEG tank," Megumi noted, "Shorter hair, too." She wasn't going to fault Christina for the look, even if it was a little inconvenient ... even if she was the classic damsel in distress. As for the hairdryer, Megumi didn't know of one, unfortunately. It was fine if Christina's hair was a little damp when they put her in the bed, but they had to at least dry it partway to keep the diluted SIEG solution from soaking into the sheets and making a big mess. "Just help me dry her off enough to get into bed, then we'll move her." Too late ... Firmia grit her teeth, but had to shelf her reply momentarily. It sounded like Bonner and Lynx were back already. Hopefully, that meant the salvage operation was going smoothly. She didn't have any new orders in mind for them if the area was safe, though admittedly the Alkaev felt a tad vulnerable with all her suits docked somewhere or another. There were much bigger problems to worry about, though. "You're both fine for now. I'll let you know if the situation changes." With that, Firmia tried to think of how to salvage the situation. She had absolutely no business interfering with the EU's potential defectors, and coming up with a positive spin on Galatea's shenanigans was probably going to take a lot of posturing. There was no way to react in time to Hannah picking her up and carrying her off to the hangar. Some form of protest seemed fitting, something along the lines of 'I can walk,' but the Alkaev was too focused on figuring out what to say to the potential help to bother. The only things worrying her beside that was the potential of being seen being carried like this--not the best image for being taken seriously--and arriving before she came up with something. Hannah wasn't exactly taking her sweet time delivering her to the hangar ... Fortunately, by the time they arrived, Firmia had a plan. She doubted the front she was going to put up would get any tangible results, only help her save face, but that was the primary goal anyway. If anything else came of it, that would just be a bonus. The fledgling captain owed the idea in part to Buck, her 'mark' in whatever the post-war world looked like, and in part to Vance, who used a similar tactic on her when they met. By this point, Stan had opened up a bottle of scotch and was pouring himself a glass right onscreen. "Conquered instantly by such a cute--and potent--AI ... I suppose that's appropriate. I can only wonder what my daughter has in mind." "We just want to make sure you won't be dead weight," Sasha put in mildly. It wasn't long before Troy came onto the screen and only a couple of seconds after that when Sasha spotted Hannah entering the hangar with Firmia. "The name's Sasha, but can you hold for just one moment? Our captain just got here and you'll want to get this all sorted out with her." "All grown up~" Stan mused aloud before knocking back a glass. Rex appeared right behind him and snatched the glass from him. "What the hell is going on now?" "Oh, you are not going to approve," Stan smiled apologetically. Firmia approached the monitor, having already donned her business face. The crying from a few minutes prior wasn't helping, as there were still telltale signs of it, but there was nothing the Athena's captain, Stan, or even Rex could do to coax any of that out of her. Instead, she pulled up the information Galatea had copied on when she reached the console. "You're the captain of the Athena, right? I'm the captain of the Avalon, Firmia Alkaev. I apologize for looking into your systems without your consent, but we're short on time and there is a lot we need to do to prepare. That was part of it. ... that aside, I have a proposition for you, if you're interested." "A proposition for us? What are you-" "I didn't give you permission to talk to me, you crispr botched beta Brant." Firmia viciously cut Rex off, first verbally and then literally, shutting down the call between the Avalon's console and Stan's. "I apologize again. He still hasn't learned his lesson from before. Anyway ..." So what was really happening here? From the sound of things, this might be something a bit removed from the Artemis' T-Link. Chris' outlook on the situation was understandably grim if Seung-Min was in danger from this. Again, Brant helped Elaine to pick up the pace until they reached the lift. He was even the one to get the thing starting up to the main deck. "An hour, you said? You'll be sure it's not just the T-Link after that?" More and more Brant was wondering what could be going on here. If the Sacarians had caused this somehow, then Kim wasn't the only one in danger. When those overconfident cats were around, he could feel it, and the aura about them was oppressive. Brant's paternal instincts were extremely sensitive to danger, and the thought of Akilina winding up like this was way too much for him to deal with right now. "We need to figure out what's causing this ... and I'm just hoping against hope we're not just going to wind up like this from being too close to the Sacarians. How can we fight them if we wind up with sensory overloads like this ...?" What would happen to his youngest if she wound up in Kim's situation? The Kids Are Alright (3/3)

The SIEG tank tended to drain only a bit slower than it filled, but there was still some waiting involved. The machine took care of some of the cleanup along the way, in particular the IV case, which disconnected and applied a small patch to Christina's arm. Megumi opened up the SIEG tank to manually remove the case from her patient's arm since the integrated arms had already retracted into their little hiding places. Next came the hard part. "Time to dry her off," the doctor warned, removing the breathing mask. Lingering SIEG solution wasn't difficult to get off of someone, no more difficult than water at any rate, but with how much hair Christina sported ... Hannah was right; Galatea had already gotten their prospective helpers back on the line. As annoying as it was, the feisty AI was too helpful 95% of the time to berate her for it, especially when chances were Galatea was doing what Firmia was about to ask her to do, anyway. The real issue was her methods, which the Alkaev was in no way sure about. "Galatea, if you're doing what I think you're doing, make sure they don't detect you. I want information on their ship and suits, but if you get caught it will make us look bad." Did 'looking bad' matter if Galatea pulled off something major and took over their systems? Maybe. If the Athena had ANF defectors, this was some massive interference on their part, and not at all justified. On the other hand, maybe the ANF could justify hijacking an EU ship, depending on the situation. As for right here and now, Firmia wasn't worried solely about military politics. If the Athena crew panicked, they might see fit to pull some asset denial and wipe their systems--whether with a few keystrokes or firearms would be up to them. Either way, Firmia didn't want to risk botching the whole situation. "Entry?" Stan looked mildly surprised, almost unfitting given the situation. "Oh, are we being infiltrated?" "... да," Sasha said blankly. He was genuinely surprised, but not sure how to respond, now. He figured Galatea would be retrieving data. He didn't expect her to be so brazen about it. When Brant learned what had emotions running high with Chris and Seung-Min, he picked up his pace, gently encouraging Elaine up to speed. "You mean like a psychic? What happened with the Artemis' T-link?" Or maybe it had something to do with the Sacarians? Maybe being around much stronger TKs was having an effect on them. Brant had certainly burned through his stamina more quickly than usual, and even had a faint headache. He definitely wasn't picking up anyone else's thoughts, though. Maybe some combination of factors allowed Kim to--temporarily or otherwise--leech abilities from the Sacarians? Could they read minds? If so then that was Abrams' theory for the time being.

With her minions both getting to work again, and Nina showing quite a bit of enthusiasm for helping out, Megumi felt a comforting wave traverse her entire body. It was a nice feeling, and once she didn't experience all that often. "Alright, as soon as the SIEG tank finishes draining, I'm going to open it and I'll need you to help me move Christina to that bed," the doctor indicated the one at the end of the row. Visitors might just appreciate that, but who knows? Firmia hoped it was luck. The last thing they needed was Akilina clones shooting at them somewhere down the road ... As for her father, Rex, and this EU thing in general, Firmia supposed it would be a good idea to contact Galatea sooner rather than later. Hannah made it seem like a more urgent suggestion, though, almost as if ... "Wait, you don't think-" Without waiting for a response or even finishing the question, Firmia tried to contact the wily program. Sasha couldn't help but scowl as Galatea got Stan back on the monitor. "That was awfully quick," Stan grinned widely in greeting, "Did you want to have a word with our captain? Oh right, where's Firmia?"

The amount of energy in a closed spaceship seemed to remain constant, since as Elaine began to calm down somewhat, things ahead of them were seeming more and more frantic. Maybe Chris had figured out what was wrong with Kim and was explaining it to her. Brant wasn't quite close enough to hear them clearly, not while they were in the hangar. He'd just have to get filled in once they reached the lifts. There was also clearly something going on behind them but Brant didn't want to focus on too many things at once. He was already mentally worn out from the fighting. Brant was kind of surprised to be thanked over something like this. He may have been living on and sortieing from the Avalon now, but he hadn't forgotten about her and B1A2. Elaine must have felt fairly isolated by this point. A bit strange with all the new people running around, but maybe she wasn't as good at making friends. Not everyone was as extroverted as Brant was or as magnetic as Firmia. "No problem, and sorry I haven't stopped by in a while or called. Still some bad memories with this place I'm working through. For now let's get up to the infirmary."

By the time they reached Megasim #2, the shape of the crowd was beginning to change, with some obvious Mewlanie fans arriving from every direction. After Motherloader introduced Hitomi to one of the service bots roaming about and making sure it kept the machine waiting, Hitomi rented a flightsuit on the spot and went to change into it. She didn't want to waste anymore time getting ready. That left the others to grab the closest available machines they could find. Along the way to what passed for a changing room--the ladies room, she got a few new messages, and Hitomi was thankful she'd thought to mark all of the Odyssey hopefuls as important. Otherwise she wouldn't have known to check Aska's message. Apparently he'd managed to get his hands on Megasim #3. That meant they would be playing right next to each other ... despite being a couple of hundred feet apart physically. Still interesting, and they had a more coherent slice of Stratus set aside for themselves this way, nothing like the scattered clusters she'd been expecting. A clerk handed Hitomi a flightsuit and helmet right outside her destination. Just like her Battlenet uniform and the compak she'd ridden to Batcon, the flightsuit had a bronze theme to it with emerald green and white accents. Hitomi got herself completely changed in about 90 seconds. Again, she didn't want to waste anymore time getting ready, and she was well practiced at this. She bolted out of the impromptu changing room and made a beeline for Megasim #2. "I'm back!" Addressing no one in particular, Hitomi let the serving bot direct her to a particular view port. That was when the simulator cockpit unfastened itself from the top of the megasim's inner chamber and silently drifted toward them in midair. The view port waited until the cockpit had reached it before a perfectly measured section of it dislodged itself and slid up into the ceiling above, leaving nothing but apprehension standing between Hitomi and the cockpit's controls. This was it. A lot of people were going to be watching her in particular. She didn't know how Mewlanie's fans would feel about her not using one of the megasims, while a relatively unknown like her got one. Maybe she could make it up to them by putting on a very good show of teamwork. Surely batting aside a few attacks meant for everyone's favorite catgirl would win over some folks. With a PR game plan coming together, Hitomi stepped into the cockpit and sat down. From the look of things, Stratus had already modified the control surfaces to more closely match her own. That data was mixed in with her Battlenet information, and so any affiliates could access it to tailor things for her. The serving bot took a moment to inspect the cockpit from the outside, a safety precaution before closing it and allowing the megasim to take over. Hitomi put her harness on a few seconds after sittng down, figuring the serving bot wouldn't have cleared her for sortie before that. Once the machine was satisfied and certain there wouldn't be any fatalities or lawsuits, it started off for parts unknown and the cockpit locked down. The viewport slid back into place, and once everything was locked in tight, the cockpit began to drift away from the gathering audience on the main floor, and toward the center of the inner chamber. Hitomi got a prompt from the cockpit asking her which of her frames she wanted to load up for the game. There was her classic Bronze Bullet from her first real attempt at professional play, and there was Bronze Bullet S2, her refined, yet incomplete variant. This one was meant for her second season in Battlenet, hence the S2 in the name. Despite not being complete, the frame was quite serviceable. More importantly it was a Shi Tou variant, unlike the original, which was based on the Alliance Integral. Anyone who noticed would likely peg her as either a team mom, a bodyguard, or a [REDACTED] duelist. Well, if she was going to put on a good show, she might as well give everyone her best. Hitomi selected the S2 version and as soon as she did, the megasim lit up around the cockpit as smart cells raced into the inner chamber from countless hidden nozzles. They raced up and around the cockpit propelled by unseen forces and began to take on the shape of a life sized frame. They only needed ten seconds to manifest the Bronze Bullet S2, rendering it at its true to life scale and with all of its current equipment. In addition to the smart cells forming the frame, the appearance of the simulator changed, giving off the impression that the S2 was standing on part of a warship's inner catapult mechanism. It seemed like she was ready to launch at any time. "Okay," Hitomi mused to herself as the others loaded up their own frames, "I guess I'll let Linus decide whether we fight inside the colony or in space." She switched on her comms to speak to the rest of the group. "How is everyone? Are you ready for this? Remember, this is about seeing how well we work together. Don't worry about how many kills you're getting." ... not that Soldaats were difficult to take down, but the numbers they would be facing here could see some casualties on their side, especially if anyone got reckless. "Ready on my end, Beebs! Let's [REDACTED] these monoeyed rejects!" Motherloader, of course. "Don't show off, okay?" She didn't know why, but Hitomi was the most worried about Motherloader. He thought highly of himself and this was an all too tempting opportunity for pride to creep in and get the better of someone. After thinking about it, she supposed her feelings came from the effort he was putting in. Despite being annoying, Motherloader was going out of his way to help. He even spent his 'bribing' funds securing Megasim #2 for her. If he couldn't perform in-game then that was that, but she did want to give him a fair shake going forward at the very least. Him making an amateur mistake just because they were facing Soldaats ... now that would just be sad. [Redactions courtesy of Eupraxia I.]

"In that case ..." Hitomi scanned her surroundings, wondering where she might get her hands on a flight suit. She hadn't been to Stratus last year or ever, really, so she didn't know her way around. Better to go find Motherloader first, anyway. "Right, need to make sure Motherloader doesn't lose the megasim, and then I'll worry about getting changed." Over by a serving desk, there were a few clerks working. Two were AIs, both male, and almost indistinguishable from humans despite a few subtle tells in their appearance. Their perfectly even hair and lack of complex, yet very tiny muscle movements in the face were giveaways for the observant. The third clerk was a human, also male, and also less impressive looking than his colleagues. One of the AIs was moving to address Aska, but the human clerk rushed over, and for one reason or another, forced the AI to go back to waiting around. "A timeslot you said? #3 or #7?" The clerk checked his monitor behind the console, his voice alone causing the thing to pull up some of the relevant information for him. "Huh, that's strange. Uh, yeah, no one's reserved the 18:00 ..." It was strange to him since while there did tend to be random timeslots available, this was a fairly large convention, and anything available within the next eight to ten hours just seemed unlikely, especially with only seven megasims available to start with. Someone probably cancelled, but the clerk doubted a guy who'd just whipped out a wallet was willing to wait another six and a half hours. Megasim #7 was a bit better but not much so, with two free times before Megasim #3's 18:00 timeslot, one at 14:30, and another at 16:00. The 14:30 one disappeared before the clerk could even tell Aska about it ... This was hopeless. "I've got a suggestion for you. Why not check the play times listed on the sim you want and see who's got it. Then you can call them up and make a bid for it. Otherwise, earliest I've got right now is #7 at 16:00 this afternoon. It's a bit after eleven right now, so ... yeah."

Megumi glanced over at Olivia, who'd just gone face first into a book. No, they were going to be a bit too busy for this. "It's not time for a break just yet. I need you to help me get Christina to a bed once the SIEG tank drains. After that, we'll need to get a couple of the scanners ready to see if there are any detectable changes in Kim's brain. If there's anything strange, I might be able to isolate the cause, and if not, then we'll have a few things ruled out, at least. Come on." The doctor glanced at Nina next. "Unless you want to help move her to a bed, that is ... though, Bennet, you can still get those scanners ready for me. And Tambre, get a sedative for Elaine ... just in case." 'Panicking' was the captain's description, which covered a good range, from shaky knees and chattering teeth to flailing and hysterical wailing. Just in case, indeed. Firmia frowned when Akilina asked after her. Angry was a bit of an understatement. She'd killed some people--aliens. There was also the situation with the Mark IIIs driving some of that fury. The mere fact that Jessica and Abigail were sharing a bed made those criminals untouchable until the war was over. Even the enemy couldn't even deal with them when all was said and done, and the diplomatic immunity they shared with Abigail was unassailable, regardless of who they killed to get those machines. Add to this that they needed all the manpower they could get for the assault on Apotheosis, and these people were in for a pardon. It didn't matter if it was Vance or Alphonse, Firmia could easily see both handwaving the incident for one reason or another. At least, this was how the pieces tended to fall in the Alkaev's mind as she explored the angles. Regardless of Colony One and the subsequent smash and grab, this wouldn't really be important until the debriefing, anyway. Right now Firmia was just remorseful for how out of control her emotions had gotten. First the funnels, then Vance, and then that damn miracle ... "I'm sorry, Aki," Firmia sighed at the floor as the girls started off, "We accomplished quite a bit, but ... it was still kind of a bad day. There's still a lot to go, too ... but I'll try to keep calm. I'll be fine." Once they had left the room, Firmia tried one more time to smile, only managing a faint grin that was just as brief as the first one. "I'm not sure how she was able to keep it hidden, but I don't think my grandfather anticipated us rescuing them, so it doesn't matte anymore. No matter how strong she gets, no one's going to be able to take advantage of her ... especially not with Brant around." Right, there was still work to do. "I need to figure out exactly what kind of help we'll be getting. Do you think Galatea can check their data covertly when I call them? We've got enough space to copy their data, so I want to do that if we can avoid getting caught in the act." In addition to understanding the capabilities of 'the help,' Firmia was also interested in getting a readout of the Rebellion in whatever its current state was. If things went south before, during, or after their final mission, they could use that data to more easily bring down Rex and put him in the cell next to Carlos. It felt like a pipe dream; Rex wasn't stupid enough to act while at a disadvantage ... but still, it was a nice thought, those two sitting in her brig, getting properly acquainted at long last~ And here was Galatea, ready for some good old fashioned cyber sleuthing. Or maybe she was going to get the information by just talking? "What's your hurry?" Sasha grinned apologetically. "Actually ..." he decided to pull that question out for a better one while he looked up the contact information on the console, "Are you going in there Alkaev Journal style or just going to ask for details? If it's the former--" There it was, the address Stan had used, "You mind doing me a favor and retrieving anything you can find on their mobile suits and weapons?" The ANF was ahead of the EU technologically, but cultures and design philosophy were unique, and every little bit of insight was potentially useful. Inspiration came in from all corners of the globe.

That was ... good, Megumi thought. It was a bigger reaction than she was expecting, but ... good. "... good," the doctor put in, again. As for Christina and her condition, the doctor estimated she would be out for at least another twenty minutes if she wasn't deliberately woken up. There wasn't much need for it, but the option to resuscitate her was there. "I'm about finished here," Megumi began, "It could be as much as half an hour if I let her come to on her own, which I'd suggest doing. Otherwise I can wake her as soon as she's moved to a bed. As far as her pain levels, I'd like to think I did a good job. She shouldn't need painkillers unless I took too long. She will be a bit tender regardless, but likely nothing as bad as worrying everyone. That will probably bother her a lot more." And on went the last bandage. Reconstruction was complete, the surgery was over ... and more company was on the way, apparently. Word arrived from the captain on the doctor's comm that they had more people inbound. Elaine was panicking which sounded more like a Cheryl problem unless she needed sedating, and Seung-Min had a headache ... which sounded like more than just a headache if it was even worth mentioning. "Whether or not I did a good job, the timing was definitely good," Megumi said, disengaging the SIEG tank's surgical equipment after getting the bandage in place. The machine started taking some fresh readings on its own, so the doctor took a step back and started to think out loud. "I'm not sure what Louise Park is doing here or how she survived in the first place ... possibly another clone ... but Elaine is freaking out about it and is on the way here. So is Lieutenant Kim, for some reason. Be ready for that, I suppose ..." The lieutenant's issues occupied more of the doctors thoughts at the moment. What could be wrong with her exactly? She wished it was as simple as a headache. Then she'd just be handing out pills when the girl made time to stop by. Megumi knew it had to be more than just a simple headache, but until Kim showed up, she couldn't do much more than speculate. In her limited experience, the TKs having headaches usually had something to do with their abilities. Esther and her woes as a 'cyber' TK came to mind. Her headaches and other looming symptoms had been addressed with the Triexanth they threw together. "... it would be convenient if we could shoot two wolves with that silver bullet, but I need to examine her first ..." Firmia was almost afraid to make anymore calls today. Seriously, what next? Did Dima have a fresh challenge for the young heiress she needed to act on in the next ten minutes? Was Rosa dead too and the clock now ticking down to Brant's next big bout with depression? With the leader of the ANF dead and gone, Firmia wouldn't be surprised by anything that happened over the comms. "Herm ..." Firmia cleared her throat and then began trying to piece her schedule back together. She'd been planning to get everything ready for the debriefing ... but that was a ways off. Priorities were being shifted around again as the Alkaev rebuilt the agenda bit by bit. "A salvage operation in the ocean isn't going to work very well with just the six drones and the Riese's people, but we still have to save what we can." How much could they get before everything that didn't float fell to crush depth? Firmia supposed they were going to find out ... "Captain, it's Sasha. Hope I'm not interrupting anything." Sasha ought to be too busy to call at a time like this unless it was an emergency. Either he was the vector for the next round of bad news, or he was getting awfully good at delegating to the mechanics. "What is it?" Firmia asked, sighing in anticipation. She even frowned at her siblings and Hannah. "Stan just called a few minutes ago. And before you ask, I answered because it's about the war. Apparently he and Rex have been trying to reach us for days now." Rex had been trying to get through for about five days now, yes. Firmia made sure Galatea 'kept the ringer silent' on his calls. Using Stan instead was a smart play. The Alkaev's frown turned into a bitter scowl. "What do they want?" "To help us take down Apotheosis. EU's getting their asses handed to them so they want better odds of surviving. I'm pretty sure it's just one ship, but you can get back to them about the details." Firmia had to wonder if it was even worth it. If this group couldn't survive fighting Apotheosis by themselves, wouldn't they just die immediately when they went up against the best those monsters had left to offer? The idea made sense on paper, but it seemed to her they had far better odds of getting out of this alive if they just laid low. As things stood, they would be one more ally to have to look after in the final battle. Before she'd gotten a feel for warfare and some experience, Firmia would have seen an extra ship from a borderline enemy faction as mere cannon fodder, but now ...? This was a joint effort to take out Apotheosis with or without them, but seeing an allied ship go down would be devastating to morale. They couldn't let that happen. So the real problem with this idea was whether or not Stan's new friends and Rex could pull their own weight. Firmia didn't want to speculate on it when she could get actual information to work with, though. She had something in mind for that, too. "Oh and by the way, from what I gathered, some of them are defecting to the ANF, so at some point you're going to have to pass this along to the Riese." "Of course," Firmia sighed again. "I'll call my father back in a few minutes. You focus on getting everything in the hangar sorted because we're still running a salvage operation." "Right. Anything else?" "We're keeping the Luna, and it's staying in tact in case we find a way to deploy it in the next battle, so find a place for it." "I can already see our techs drooling. We'll take care of it." With that call ended, Firmia carefully stood up. "... help from my father ... Rex ... and the EU ... ... I'm not sure how I feel about this, honestly." Louise had been untouchable before, due to that barrier of hers, but now her entire body seemed at least Hannah grade, which meant they definitely had to put up with her this time. Of course that was only really a problem for Brant personally due to that cocky, too easily amused, personality of hers. Things were less grating when they were shooting at each other to be perfectly honest, but at least for now Jessica had a handle on things, and Brant, Chris, Elaine, and Kim could head up to the infirmary. And speaking of Elaine, she wasn't going to be easy to deal with right now. She looked scared, felt scared, and said as much. "Just breathe," Brant instructed, trying to simultaneously help her up and keep at least one reassuring hand on her shoulder, though he started with one on each. Even though the mole situation was just about resolved, the dust hadn't yet settled, and Brant realized that Elaine could still get caught up in that if the all too talkative Louise decided to comment on it. If there was a way to calm Elaine down more quickly, and just get through this without drawing more attention to her, Brant didn't know how. "It's not as bad as you think," he said, trying his best not to be specific. He wasn't sure if that was good enough with Louise right there. Even the distraction of Alriana trying to straight up take her out wouldn't be in effect for long. Elaine's best bet for now was to get up and get moving, so Brant focused most of his attention on guiding her to her feet and toward the lifts. Hopefully they would have the first lift up and Louise would take a separate one to the brig. After that ... well, it was up to Louise when and if she wanted to incriminate Elaine, but Brant was starting to wonder how Louise's revival contextualized the situation. He didn't get far in his musing however, as a somewhat more important thought struck him at roughly the same time. It was essentially what they were doing here. It wasn't much, but rather than wallowing in misery, Brant was taking on a task that needed doing, and Chris was doing the same. This situation sucked, especially with the Mark IIIs and that powerful Sacarian still out there somewhere, but their personal problems were out of the way, now. The havoc they could wreak over them was minimal. Things were far from resolved, but being an effective team on and off the battlefield and dealing with the rest in private would be worth writing a book about.

A promise? That was oddly comforting. It took a moment for Megumi to realize why. Siblings, whether clones or natural, looking after each in this way, that was certainly a good thing. Being a clone herself, the sentiment resonated with her. Even if Christina was the unluckiest person on the ship, she was far from alone or unimportant. "Don't forget that promise," Megumi grinned microscopically as she worked. "It doesn't seem likely they would try that again anyway," the doctor offered her assistant. Not much more to go now ... "Almost finished .... Don't bother crossing your fingers. We're beyond anything I'd consider life threatening or dangerous." Sure enough, the wound on Christina's leg was effectively closed. Only the dermal and epidermal layers needed resurfacing, now. Aftermath Just Sasha's luck ... "Finally, we've gotten through," Stan with a smile as his face appeared on Sasha's console, "Firmia must still be sore with Rex." "I'm still sore with you," Sasha scowled, "Now tell me what you two had in mind and I'll see if Firmia's interested." Stan took a moment to stroke his chin, leaving Sasha annoyed in silence. "Hmm ... well, there isn't much in the way of details. The crew I'm with is getting a bit tired of losing ground, and following things up with a suicide mission ... well that's been unanimously frowned on. The captain's interested in joining the ANF's assault on Apotheosis. There are some solid defectors in it for you. Myself included~" "Yeah, I'm still wondering how you people found out about that ..." Stan shrugged with an exaggerated expression. "You'd have to ask the captain. I think we're running out of time to set up a proper rendezvous. Rex has been trying to make contact for days now. If it's not too much trouble, I'd appreciate it if you could establish a line of communication between the Athena and the Riese, as well. Coordination looks like it's going to be key to making this all work." "Need to tell the boss first, but I'll see what I can do," Sasha agreed, "You people need to be ready for calls from us at any time, though." "Now that we've gone AWOL, there isn't much keeping us busy," Stan mused, "We'll be waiting." Sasha ended the call and leaned away from the console. "... EU defectors, huh? ... survivalists more like it." Firmia tried to smile, but couldn't find the energy for it this time. "Good ..." she said, narrowly above a whisper, "That's what I ... need from all of you." The thought still hounded her. Why were things like this? If there were any justice in the world, Vance would be alive, and people like her mother, grandfather, and those rebels from the attack on Colony One would all be ashes in the wind. Not to mention the Sacarians and their entire war machine. I need more ... more technology. More training. More power. Enough to finally be in control. Nothing else will help us ... The tears had stopped, but now Firmia felt more frustrated than anything. She wiped her face with her free had and tried to return her siblings' embraces as best she could. "... I'm wasting time ... I can't sit here crying ..." Well, at least they knew what was going on, but ... damn. "Louise ..." Brant exhaled irritably as thoughts of his awful day at the artificial beach and the battle that followed flashed in front of him. Brant didn't have a clue how Louise wound up like this, or if this was even truly Louise. Either way, the situation didn't look dangerous just yet, but between Elaine and Seung-Min, they had some serious lingering problems. In Elaine's case, the fear she was giving off likely had as much to do with her secret talks with Louise being exposed as the enemy pilot's unexpected revival. Louise certainly liked to talk, after all. In Seung-Min's case ... that T-Link she pressed on with during the battle, and whatever lingering effects had her practically on the ground ... "We need to get Kim to Doctor Amparo," Brant looked at Chris. He wasn't quite sure what to do for Elaine other than get some real distance between her and Louise ... after getting her up off the ground too, of course. "Elaine ..." Brant knelt down close to her, "Try to stay calm, alright? Relax and breathe." He really couldn't blame her for panicking; she'd just seen a ghost--been hugged by a ghost, even.

Closing up Christina's leg was proving much simpler than her chest, it being a somewhat less complicated part of the body. It likely wouldn't even feel tender for as long. The girl would certainly be able to walk out of the infirmary unassisted. If only ferreting out moles and smacking down invading aliens were so simple. "Be sure to keep a close eye on her," Megumi said. While it could have been taken as medical advice--and in part it was--the doctor meant in general. Clearly one person wasn't enough. The doctor thought about her assistant's comment for a moment, trying to come up with some fresh methods of attack. Nothing had been quite so effective as smashing the Almydis into the hull and having Alriana make a beeline for the bridge after boring into the ship. The automated defenses, along with Tiffany, just hadn't been enough. Not by a long shot. "Mmm ... I'd say three more stygusians ramming the ship and boarding would be the end of us." Honestly though, she was expecting an oversized cannon to down the Riese, not more costly boarding attempts. It was definitely Stan Alkaev trying to get in touch with him, Sasha realized. Stan's message wasn't even about Sasha beyond the pleasantries. He was more interested in the operation the ANF was conducting. The fact that he seemed to know something about it was suspicious, but he wouldn't get much in the way of answers without replying. Rather than calling the man, Sasha opted to send back a text of his own. Sasha kept it short and to the point, hoping Stan wouldn't waste too much of his time being chatty. A brief back and forth was definitely his preference with the man. "What are you up to ...?" Sasha squinted at the console as he sent his reply off onto the network. It felt strange for Firmia, hearing her siblings asking her what they could do to help. In the case of Vance, literally nothing. The pain of loss wasn't going away anytime soon, and the most important ally she had in the ANF was gone, completely redefining the organization and her alliance with it. Firmia was by no means going to change course now, but the fewer trustworthy people in the organization, the harder it would be to help steer the whole ship. This was far beyond her siblings. It was far beyond Firmia as well, for the time being. The Alkaev stared uselessly at the floor as she tried to find something she could say to everyone. As much as she tried to beat back the sudden flashes of an Avalon overwhelmed by war, they came, and they were relentless. "P-please just ... be careful. I can't ... protect everyone ... not even here ... not after the war ... There's just ... too much coming ..." She had to say something: Be careful. Know that in the future, the Avalon would be operating independently. They only had more enemies in front of them, not less, and so on. "I need everyone to survive ... please. If everyone close to me winds up dying, then ... why even ... what's the point of any of this ...?" Brant had a feeling, a hope, that at least partially mending Firmia's relationship with Rosa would take some of the heat off of Jessica, though not all of it. Until the threat of hot death was no longer looming over them, the Alkaev was going to be under a minimum amount of stress, and that didn't leave much room for error for the Riese's captain. Brant could feel Chris shifting unnaturally away from her anger and that was his cue that she needed something to focus on. That was why he wasn't going to bring up Rosa or anything else that would just make it tougher on her. There was still the matter of how to help Chris out with that problem, though. "I guess if they perfect the clones they'd be pretty dangerous, but I'm not as worried about a fight breaking out on the Riese now that the moles are gone." A small part of Brant wanted him to ask if Chris was sure there were only the three yet again, but that was pointless and probably insulting. There probably only were the three, and if there were any more than that, she had no way of knowing. "Plus, they've got basically four androids and Alriana if something did happen." ... and not much was coming to mind. As they landed and started down toward the hangar, Brant started mentally preparing himself for anything and everything he could possibly encounter here. They were mainly here to see Christina and maybe get some information, but between the Prioxis pilot and the aftermath of that brutal backstab--not to mention Abigail's crew being alive and active ... they were in for quite the circus. Once again, Brant was faced with the decision of where to sit the Regalia. He decided to get as far out of the way as possible, and knelt the machine down near a used dock. They were a bit far from anything noteworthy though, unfortunately. The rest of the way was going to be on foot. There was one thing that was a little noteworthy. The Avalon's six drones had just left the Luna where they'd brought it and were all awkwardly making their way toward the elevator. Their feet were extremely minimalist in design, and so their foot falls were loud and clanky, and each's individual gait was just downright childlike. They could hover with almost no effort, but were probably saving their energy. If that was the case, then either the Luna was staying on the Riese, or Firmia planned to get it later ... "Alright, let's go," Brant said, powering down the unneeded systems and opening the hatch and cockpit one after the other. The drones' footsteps got even louder as they passed and bunched up in the elevator. If that wasn't silly enough, Brant also had a good chuckle when the main monitor both visually and audibly began cleaning up behind him, locking out almost every system he'd neglected to shutdown. The Regalia hadn't transformed into a brick per se, but it wasn't moving again without at least one of its crew, or a good crane. No doubt Firmia had come up with and implemented these security blanket features in her sleep or something. They were better than the old manual lockouts but ... mostly just amusing. The pair of pilots rode down the lift together, reaching the ground floor in one smooth motion, and from there it was a straight shot to whatever craziness was unfolding on the Riese.

It seemed like all of Christina's clones were TKs. Well that was a surefire way of mass producing TK pilots then, Megumi noted as she continued her work on her patient's leg. "She most certainly didn't. I don't know why this girl attracts so much bad luck ..." Maybe it balanced out with all the care and attention, but ... damn. The updated from Olivia was almost a relief, but she went on to mention more potential patients. That was always a possibility, but no word from Valerie about any additional injuries, so everything was probably fine. If the doctor had been keeping an eye on the console herself and seen the offline signal from the Heracles Custom, she would have had a much more difficult time wrapping up the surgery, so at least for the moment, a bit of ignorance was efficient. Her assistant's question about the bigger picture felt almost impossible to answer, now. Back when they were just dealing with Apotheosis, things were still iffy, and they hadn't learned where the group's headquarters was until after the big reveal, the Sacarians, and so it almost felt like things could drag on indefinitely. Unless they forced the Sacarians to surrender along with Apotheosis, what chance did they have of ending things anytime soon? The war with Apotheosis? Yes, that was just about wrapped up if the Sacarians were stepping up now, but it was bordering on irrelevant for that very reason. Megumi sighed ... "Hard to say. I just hope we can at least beat Apotheosis in one more go like we planned. After that, who knows." Needless to say, Sasha had to do a double take when Hannah hopped out of the Reign. That one was serious about courting the captain ... and looking the part of an Abrams, apparently. "... heh." Sasha would always be comfortable piloting, but as second in command, grunt work was best left to the grunts, so he motioned for one of the nearby mechanics to hop in and get the Reign back into position. Meanwhile, he put away the ship map and started checking on the other AMS units and the drones. That was around the time he noticed a notification, a text message addressed to him. That was ... an old turned new. It couldn't be Clara again. She was clingy but she knew when to give up and vanish. Cheryl was a bit more direct. That just left ... well, no one that came to mind, really. "Hmm ... wait, Stan? всерьез ...?" This ought to be good. And annoying. Hannah had already made it back? Firmia was still getting used to the voice, but what she hadn't been expecting--on top of being scooped up from the floor--was the all too familiar brown locks. For a split second, she thought she was hallucinating, and a hint of guilt struck her. It felt as if her mind was playing tricks on her, trying to swap Brant for Hannah in a vain and childish attempt to restore an idea--a plan--that hadn't survived so much as a pool invitation from the enemy. When her mind caught up with her, she realized that the situation was a lot less grim than that. Hannah was simply being Hannah. Firmia could have at least chuckled at the mounting changes if not for how awful the greater situation was. All she could manage was a microscopic grin that lasted all of a second ... Firmia could almost hear Vance's commentary and laughter. ... why did he have to die? Couldn't they protect someone as important as him? "I'm ... sorry ..." Firmia choked out as she rested her head against Hannah's shoulder. She was sorry indeed, sorry she couldn't win this war faster and save Vance in the process, sorry she couldn't handle all the stresses of said war, sorry she couldn't even articulate herself properly anymore, and sorry that at least part of her wasn't ready to let go of an old and, admittedly comforting future. As much as she wanted to embrace the change around her, Firmia knew she still needed a little more time, and obviously a few less enemies gunning for them all. "She's my friend too, you know," ... at least Brant thought so, "... even if she is your sister. Besides, I doubt Lily and Aki are going to let us head back out, today. That and I've got a feeling Firmia's going to start another fight with Jess as soon as Hannah's got her back up to speed. I'd say it's now or way, way later ..." As for why the Prioxis was landing on the Riese? Obviously Jessica had okay'd the move. It wouldn't be the first time an enemy got a free pass, not even the first time today, in fact. "You don't think another one of your sisters just landed, do you?" Brant tried to lighten the mood. Seeing another Prioxis did bring up some recent memories, and despite having fought them several times, he still associated that particular model with Christina. Without his helmet, Brant didn't have the range to sense who the pilot of the Prioxis was, or if they were even human. Now that it was docking with the Riese, and other minds would be clustering around them, there was no telling until they landed. Brant plopped back into his seat, gripped the controls, and put the Regalia on a fast approach to the Riese. They'd been out here pondering things long enough.

"She'll be fine," Megumi assured Nina. At last the doctor was at a point where she felt completely comfortable saying that. Even with the occasional bleeding from her patient's leg, there was no longer a risk of severe hemorrhaging or similar complications. The only thing that could screw this up now were the instruments, or more accurately, Megumi herself. In an environment like this, though ... not likely. That was some voice, somewhat androgynous. Was Hannah in the middle of another makeover? Either way, if the Reign was here for repairs, it was best to get his people on that right away. As for the captain's whereabouts ... "Let's see ..." Sasha hopped over from what he was doing to a map of the ship and found Firmia's signature in the port side hallway near the bridge. She wasn't moving, which was weird. That girl was always headed somewhere ... "She's in the hallway ... near the 'Garden of Avalon.'" He still found the nickname for the processor suites funny. This situation, less so. Things had been quite tense, and for some reason it didn't seem to be letting up just yet. Firmia definitely wasn't okay, and Chris' question was a good one. As much as he wanted to make sure Christina was okay, as well as make sure Chris was there in person, there was clearly something going on in their camp, too. Hannah all but answered the question by racing back to the Avalon ahead of them. Kind of a no brainer at that point. Brant could just see Chris and himself standing there while Hannah did all of the consoling. They probably weren't going to be much more 'useful' on the Riese, but at least Chris could see her sister in person and know for certain that everything was alright. "Hannah, Galatea, keep us updated ... with whatever's going on over there. We're going to go check on Christina and then we'll be back." It probably wouldn't hurt to make sure Kim made it out of the fight without any lasting damage, too. There was also that random Prioxis ... There was a lot to look into after their visit to the infirmary. Firmia could hardly move her body at all after her hand came down. She glanced up and over at Akilina, briefly wondering how much her younger sibling had heard. By the time Aki had taken a spot beside her, the elder sibling had resigned herself to at least trying to explain, though what to say and how were still beyond her for the moment. Liliana came as well, and she had similar questions. Naturally. "I ..." ... still nothing. On instinct, Firmia glanced at her tablet ... it was still just barely in arm's reach, but only just barely. She leaned over and pulled it back into her lap. Then she took a moment to add a new entry to her personal K.I.A. list. It was no easy feat with tears continuously getting in her way. Rote memorization of the keys was enough, though. Although Lily and Aki had plenty of time to figure out what was going on, Firmia still handed her tablet off to the latter once she was finished. As far Firmia knew, the list was up to date, again ... and she hated it. "I-I'm ... tired of this pain ..."

"It sure wasn't," Hitomi forced a big smile at Melanie, "So are we just going to head over to megasim two and wait for the fans to come charging in?" Come to think of it, if she was going into a megasim, she really ought to get changed into something more suitable. It wasn't her first time, and the cockpits they used for these machines were realistic. Even the control schemes were customizable just prior to a game, and not just the 'button layout.' Hitomi's rig at home could be approximated with a simple data sync. Kind of necessary for the Valkyrie pilots, but a big luxury all the same. Thankfully this wasn't just a feature of the megasims. Control mimics were becoming more affordable in general. Meanwhile ... "Bad timing," one of the male arcade goers said, shaking his head at Helena. He missed the part about 'tryouts' but wasted no time in pointing his thumb at Megasim #1 and all the action happening over there. Since they were on the main floor, what passed for the 'top floor' on this side, as anyone drew closer to the view ports, they would be able to see the simulated frame from roughly a sixty degree angle, depending on its height. Megasim #1 was currently in use, and quite crowded. The machine inside was a sleek, winged, sky blue terror, shooting it out with other frames in a space environment. There were also displays around showing more interesting angles, as well as a view into the cockpit. Anyone who wanted even more control over their viewing experience could always use their own devices or a nearby smartglass display to find just the angle they were looking for, either on the machine, or the girl piloting it. "Kirara's doing her thing but I think there's a servbot around here somewhere you can get a reservation with," the man said, scanning the room a little hoping he could find one to send her over to. No luck, but the traffic near the entrance was heavy, so that was no surprise. "It's Batcon though, so don't get your hopes up for playing at Stratus today," he added with a pitying smile.

Megumi had already tuned out everything else going on, and was well into the most difficult part of the surgery, mending and replacing everything Avery's bullet had ruined on its way through Christina's chest. The bleeding was intermittent, with the doctor reconnecting everything from severed muscle to bone, starting from the center and working her way out from both ends in fixed stages. It was laborious, but Megumi wasn't keeping track of time anymore, either. Once Christina's chest wound had been closed up, the doctor applied two patches, one to each of the areas. That would keep things nice and contained while they healed fully, and discourage any pointless poking by the patient. Onto the leg wound. And what a pointless injury that was. Megumi didn't know what order these wounds occurred in, but she hoped this one had happened first. Otherwise Avery was just ... well, she was a filthy traitor at the very least. Not much point dwelling on it beyond that. "We're about two thirds of the way there," Megumi said, mostly for the sake of her assistants and Nina. She hadn't spoken a word to any of them since she got started restoring her patient's chest. "Let me know when the fight's over," she threw in a second later. She couldn't help but wonder about that since the infirmary was almost completely isolated from the battlefield, now. The doctor wouldn't complain about that, though. It was nice working on something this intricate without being under fire, with very little equipment, and fighting the elements all the while. Firmia's target when down in flames, and more and more she was beginning to think the distraction of a phone call would be a bit much. She needed this information in full before the debriefing, however, so once the Sacarian was dealt with, the Alkaev turned her attention to her tablet and tried to connect directly to Commander Vance. Just as she was about to pat herself on the back for thinking ahead and getting a direct line to the man, she was ... transferred? "ANF headquarters, state your name and how you have this line." An impatient sounding woman had replied to Firmia, the sounds of shouting and clamoring sounding off in the background. The woman in question seemed to be moving herself, and hurriedly, with how all the voices around her were changing in volume, and her breathing was slightly taxed. "Hurry up!" What was going on here? Was this one of Vance's secretaries? "Er-This is Captain Firmia Alkaev. I'm with the Heion Riese group. There's a situation Commander Vance needs to know about." It wasn't her first idea, but if she had the time, Firmia definitely thought it would be a good idea to let Vance know what had just happened out here. Abigail's group was trouble, but the Sacarians were a much bigger problem. The voices suddenly cut off, a door shut and sounded off. A hefty sigh and grumbling followed, a lengthy pause... "Commander Vance is dead. Admiral Alphonse has currently assumed leadership of Central while we try and get things sorted from the attack. Firmia Alkaev, right? I'm second lieutenant Haley Jefferson. Whatever's happened, please relay it to me, so that I may let Alphonse know." ... dead? For a brief moment, Firmia couldn't speak. She couldn't even breathe. Vance was gone? How? Who could have ... Try as she did, Firmia could barely rein herself in to reply to the lieutenant. It had been bad enough, what Firmia was planning for and what she had to be prepared to deal with ... but not this. "I-..." It was only when she managed to speak again that Firmia realized there were tears running down her face. The lieutenant probably wouldn't understand. Even Tonya looked confused, and her attitude probably wouldn't change once she knew what was going on. Alphonse definitely ought to know what was going on, though. He was in Vance's position now, apparently, so Firmia had a duty to respond accordingly. Pushing down her feelings as best she could, for as long as she could, the fledgling captain said, "We've been ambushed on our way to the next mission target. We're holding out, but the Riese has been damaged. The moles we were looking for made their move and escaped in the fighting. Also ... there's another group that showed up. They were piloting Velite Mark IIIs. One was just destroyed by the enemy but the rest are falling back. I was hoping to get more information on where those suits came from ..." So much more to add, but Firmia's thoughts were racing, her eyes were almost burning, and the danger outside was entering her mind more and more. "... I see. Thank you for letting us know. I'll make sure to relay all of this to Admiral Alphonse, and get him to contact Captain Gefalscht about those suits. He would be the only one to have access to something specific like that... As for being ambushed, I'll relay that directly to the squadron of ships you were all meant to rendezvous with, and they'll adjust their travel speed accordingly." The lieutenant paused again to sigh, sniffling some herself. "This is hitting all of us, Firmia," she began, choking back a sob. "Commander Vance was a wonderful person, an effective leader, and someone you could rightly trust in this organization. It's devastating that he's gone... But we have to keep going, until this war is over. You understand, right?" Another pause followed, Haley composed herself. "My apologies for speaking out of line. You already know what to do. Thank you for contacting us, Captain Alkaev. Over and out." The call ended, leaving Firmia to her thoughts. "What happened?" Tonya finally asked, unable to contain her curiosity any longer. Firmia stayed put and stayed quiet for a long moment. Fresh tears came down, in no small part due to the lieutenant's affirmation of everything Firmia already knew. It was unbearable, especially now, here in the final stretch of the war. The Alkaev barely cared about getting more details on the Mark IIIs, and with communications momentarily cut, there wasn't much chance of that until after the battle. Just briefly, Firmia looked over to her helmsman and said, "Commander Vance is gone. I didn't get the details but ... he's ... dead." "Oh dear ..." Tonya still looked a little confused. Why would Firmia be crying over the loss of the ANF's commander? She hadn't known him that long. "Are you going to be alright?" "I have to be," Firmia retorted, swiftly wiping her face and looking out the view port. There was still a battle to win. Things were turning in their favor, or seemed to be. That was right up until Abigail's machine was destroyed by the lead Sacarian. The feeling that washed over her wasn't something the Alkaev could describe, but it was so strong it had her leaning forward in her seat as her eyes searched the radar display for answers. What just happened? Had Abigail ejected or just died? There was no clue over the radio, and soon Firmia's feelings began to resolve into emotions she could actually recognize. One of those emotions was the sort she couldn't share with most people. It was hope. "Whoa, did we actually lose someone?" That was what Firmia wanted to know. Reaching out with the T-Link, she was quickly able to tell that there were now two people in one of the customized Mark IIIs. That hope she was feeling vanished, leaving behind a mix of frustration and grief. This was the kind of situation she hated the most. Commander Vance was dead, probably dying with his bodyguards to a foe above and beyond them ... but Abigail could charge one of the strongest opponents they had ever faced and survive even as her Heracles was destroyed. Frustration became fury as Firmia slammed her fist down on an armrest. "You stupid worthless house cats!" Jessica got off with everything. No decision was ever going to come back to bite her, but every connection Firmia made felt like another tragedy in the making ... Yelling at the cats probably wasn't helping anyone on the bridge figure out what was going on with their young captain, but Firmia couldn't care less, and she hadn't even shouted at the lead Sacarian over the radio. The thought of everything happening right now was just too much for her to handle. "Just die already! All of you die!" The Avalon's funnels were out of position for an attack on the target Seung-Min requested, so the Alkaev let her fury be expressed through a missile strike. Not long afterward, the ship's funnels began firing relentlessly on another Sacarian alongside the Regalia. The Sacarian managed to fire back, and there was no evading it in this situation, but the Sacarian died regardless. As for the damage, they would live. If only ... Firmia shook her head violently to try and stay focused as the fighting continued. The Sacarians were getting blasted to pieces now, and her own people were spending ammo and energy to chip in as much as they could. It was quickly becoming a slaughter, no longer a struggle to protect the Riese. It looked a lot more like their usual battles, a race to wipe out the enemy so they wouldn't have to face them again. They came awfully close too, but the last of the 'stupid worthless house cats' made his escape, and in a way that was almost confusing to Firmia. Since he was the last enemy, she'd taken a moment to try and read him. It didn't work, but the Alkaev doubted him fleeing had anything to do with being damaged. The other Sacarians hadn't lost their nerve even when while they were being whittle down to nothing ... so it must have been something else ... Someone with more tactical sense might have ordered their sole survivor home. That made more sense than their survival instincts kicking in this late in the fight. The battle was over, then. No ANF casualties ... well, not on this battlefield. By the time Firmia was standing, her vision was overwhelmed by fresh tears. All she could do was disengage the T-Link and remove her headpiece. Doing so shrunk her view of the world back to her immediate surroundings and some parts of the Avalon. She almost needed that, but even unplugging from the battle wouldn't get rid of this heartache. It was so ... unfair. "I'm ... going to the hangar." "Firmia, about Vance ..." "What about him?" Firmia said curtly. She was ready to head out. "I didn't know he meant that much to you, so I'm sorry about what happened." "... heh." Firmia didn't wipe her face this time. Her tears started falling freely as she tried to keep some sort of composure. "It's so unfair. Someone like Vance, putting his life and his sanity on the line to keep an organization like the ANF running in the middle of an alien invasion ... and now he's gone." Tonya was silent, but Firmia could read her expression and her emotions well enough. "The next time ... it seems like I'm being overprotective ... t-try to keep this in mind. Great Lake, too. Okay? I'm ... so tired of this." Firmia left the bridge after that. "... wilco." Firmia was only a few feet off the bridge, fiddling with her tablet in preparation to send out orders to her MS teams, when she got a call from Jessica. Firmia didn't know if the android had reached her limit before the battle had ended, and was just now coming back up, or if she'd managed to hold out the entire time. She didn't care all that much, but the curiosity was still there. What Jessica was calling about was one of the last things Firmia wanted to talk about right now. The Luna. Salvage. Sharing resources. Acting like she needed a reminder of everyone's hard work. The Alkaev gritted her teeth as she passed the processor suites and continued down the hall. The only good news seemed to be Jessica's promise to send the Luna back soon. In that case, Firmia didn't need her drones puppy guarding the wreck. She took a moment to send a command to them over the network. The sooner they were back to work, the better. "We have a lot to talk about after the debriefing," Firmia said, her voice just a tad shaky as she tried to stay composed, "If you need to work out something salvage related, talk to Sasha. I can't deal with any of this right now." She paused, trying to decide how to elaborate, and soon enough she settled for simply being blunt and straightforward. "Look, I don't know when or how it happened, but Commander Vance is dead- ... and Alphonse is in charge now." Just saying it aloud again had her choking up. "I need to get my people on their next assignments, so I'll talk to you again in a little while ..." Easier said than done. Brant was on the verge of a headache, though he couldn't be sure whether it was due to that strange presence the enemy was giving off, or due to the twists and turns emotions seemed to be taking all around him, and how insanely difficult it was to keep up with it all. Chris felt bad about how out of control things had gotten on her end, but he wasn't going to blame her for being human. She did her job and did it well, despite her sister being a possible casualty and then just barely being upgraded to 'still alive.' That was remarkable self control for someone behind the barrels of six guns. Brant ditched his helmet too, putting more trust than usual in their early warning systems. He couldn't quite get all the way back to her without abandoning control of the suit completely, but Brant made sure they could see each other face to face, with nothing but Chris' tears obscuring the view. "You did great, don't worry. Look who we were fighting and how we made out at the end?" There was still that oncoming headache and fatigue from such complicated flying, but again, not Chris' fault by any means. Brant tried to reach over and wipe away a tear or two, flashing the most reassuring smile he could manage. "I'm sure Firmia will be annoyed, but want to see if she'll let us go check on-" "AMS teams," Firmia's voice came in over the channel dedicated to the ship's communications, and all the AMS units opened that channel automatically if it wasn't already in use. "It's the Captain. Mantle Team, you're on perimeter duty. Protect the drones and salvage teams from the Riese. Reign Team, you can help with the salvage operation or return for repairs. Regalia Team. You can dock with the Riese, back up the Mantle, or help with the salvage operation. It's your choice. We'll talk later ..." Brant immediately regretted taking off his helmet, being too far away to sense what was going on with Firmia. She seemed upset before, but her voice over the radio was depressed beyond belief. It took so much away from the fact that she'd anticipated their desire to go check on Christina aboard the Riese. Had something happened? The Avalon did take a noticeable hit, but nothing that would endanger anyone on board; Brant would be the first to react to something that put his daughters in danger--he couldn't even help that. So what was wrong? Honestly, if not for the promise to talk later, Brant would have been extremely worried ... Firmia made it halfway to the hangar before finally collapsing against the wall. She slid to the cold and lifeless floor as hot tears fell from her face, hitting her coat and the suit beneath it. Visions of the commander, her and Hannah touring this very hallway haunted the captain as reality began to crush down on her. "... I came to that man asking for flying garbage and a few perks ..." Firmia easily recalled the mental image she held of what her first ship ought to look like. She pictured it being too small to carry mobile suits, so naturally she would need MS containers to hold them and their supplies. She expected a ship with few military grade weapons, and so she would need to upgrade it as the war progressed, and well beyond. She imagined a ship that was scrawny, and almost small enough for her to crew with just the people she had. The Avalon wasn't to be compared to what Firmia was willing to settle for in her weak bargaining position. Commander Vance then offered her a fully functional warship. "Not just a warship," Firmia shook her head at the thought. It's my base of operations. My stronghold. My ... home. Everything that matters to me is safe inside these walls ..." If only that were true, she thought. Firmia glanced down at her tablet, trying to decide whether to visit her personal K.I.A. list ... or wait and update it later. The man had shown so much faith in her, even more than she felt she deserved at the time ... and now she'd never get to show him that his faith was well placed. As soon as she saw the list of all the names already etched into the memorial wall, her composure was gone for good. "... just another name on a wall," hissed, shoving her tablet away and slamming her other hand against the wall, "I'll never forgive them ... never ..." Turning to face the opposite wall, Firmia rested with her back against it, her legs hardly moving at all as she turned. "... it's not fair ..." Slowly, and painfully, Firmia lifted up her right hand. "I'm sorry, Commander." And just barely, she managed a salute. "... rest in peace ... I'll ... we'll take care of the rest."