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

[Phoenix]

[spoiler=Not the Person You're Looking For]Brant eventually found a phone on the base while wandering the grounds. It had a monitor, too, which might have been a bonus, all things considered. it could just as easily be a bad thing depending on Firmia's mood. After beginning the call, a prompt informed him that the system was attempting to connect. She hadn't answered yet. After a few seconds, he began to wonder if she was busy, then the prompt vanished. The whole monitor flashed and resolved itself into a crisp image. Brant couldn't hide his disappointment from the person he saw on the other end.

"Ah, Brant," an older, cordial looking woman greeted him with a grin, "I'm surprised you found a spare moment."

It was Rosa Alkaev, Firmia's mother, and quite literally the last person Brant wanted to be stuck on the phone with. If she had picked up Firmia's phone, then she was with her daughter right now ... "Where's your daughter?" he asked, being as kind as he could manage, but it fell flat.

Rosa glanced to her right, a pitying but loving smile forming over her more reserved grin. "She's asleep, dear. I came out here to pick her up myself because I had news for her. Father wants to continue her training. He's got something special in mind for her, and since we don't have access to many telekinetics ..." The Alkaevs were rapidly approaching zero telekinetics, Brant mentally noted, "it's especially suited to her."

Rosa's shoulder seemed to shift back and forth, as if her arm was gently stroking something offscreen. Brant could only assume that was Firmia she was touching. "She didn't take well to the news and drank herself into a deep sleep. I gave her a little something before she nodded off to deal with the hangover she was undoubtedly setting herself up for."

"I'm surprised you'd let her drink," Brant scowled.

"She looked like she needed it," Rosa shrugged, "besides, it will likely be the last chance she has. Father won't approve of any alcohol going forward, not with so much riding on her young mind." Brant assumed her vagueness was due to where he was calling her from, and not just her teasing him. "We haven't touched down yet, but we appear to be back in civilization. Why don't you tell me how things are going so far?"

"I'd rather not," Brant admitted.

Rosa chuckled. "Very well, Brant. I suppose I'll let you return to your duties. Is there anything you wanted me to pass along to Firmia?"

"Thanks, but I'll just try again, tomorrow," Brant shook his head, finally putting up a passable front, though just barely.

"Take care, then. <Goodbye,>" she said, ending in russian as the monitor cut off from her end.

Brant took a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to find a state of equilibrium. He didn't want to be seen this agitated, not when there wasn't any context he could give to explain much of it. He wanted to throttle that woman, but he'd have to touch her to do it, and more importantly, she was Firmia's mother. He stepped away from the phone, pocketed both his hands, and strolled off, putting up a facade of casualness until he could accomplish the real thing, again.

Brant didn't arrive in the cafeteria until he was finally hungry, and settled for a couple of sandwiches. Once he'd finished putting those away, he went back to the hangar to check on his Accensus. He wasn't surprised to find it completely fixed. He spent much of the rest of the day in the hangar, watching the mechanics tinker and ironing out some ideas he had regarding his machine.

Day 2

The day started a bit too early for Brant's tastes, but he was used to that. What was different about this morning was that he'd woken up far too early. When he realized it was 4:20 in the morning, he turned over and tried to go back to bed. His body wanted him up for some reason or other, though, and he never managed to get back to sleep, instead spending over and hour just thinking in bed. Eventually, the captain's call came, and Brant was glad to have something official to do.

Yesterday he didn't really care about looking formal since he wasn't wearing a uniform anyway, but today he combed his hair as straight as he could before tying it into a ponytail. A few locks hung loose around the sides of his eyes, too short to be ensnared by a low ponytail, but too long to defy gravity without any hair products, which Brant typically avoided. He made sure they didn't detract from the more official look he was going for and then left his temporary room to meet the captain and the others in the hangar.

There was more emotion in the air than Brant could ignore this time around. In particular the captain seemed like she was expecting to be rolled up in a rug and kicked off into the desert after yesterday's fiasco. Considering everything that had happened for the third or fourth time, he couldn't remember which, Brant supposed her fears were warranted. The Alkaevs certainly wouldn't have shown any mercy. Rosa might have, he reminded himself, but not for any legitimate reasons ...

Brant stopped worrying for the captain before the Admiral's stern facade was dropped, but only just before. After wading through the fear and apprehension he noticed something he could only describe a sense of pride or satisfaction, and it seemed to be split between someone in the group and the Admiral himself. Nothing to worry about, then, he decided, just before the Admiral swept away Captain Gefalscht's fears with a simple but highly effective 'Good work, Captain.'

He introduced himself as Admiral Alphonse Martison, and then congratulated them as one group. It wasn't long before he'd offered to answer any questions they had; that seemed to be standard ANF procedure, Brant noted. Roxanna revealed a surprising connection to the Admiral. She was quickly but gently shut down. Things obviously hadn't gone the way she was expecting. This probably wouldn't be a proper unit in her eyes until the captain was no longer apart of it, or at the very least filling a significantly lesser role. Admiral Martison clearly had different plans for them, though.

Brant didn't have any questions, himself; the Admiral's introduction and congratulations had been answer enough for most of them, and made any outliers irrelevant. No, there was one new question he had now that he thought about it, but it would inevitably be answered soon enough. They had a new assignment, and he wanted to know what it was. He kept at attention and waited, figuring the Admiral would cut to the chase once the questioning phase was over. The sooner the better, Brant thought. The captain in particular seemed to work best when she had a real goal in front of her.

[Ether]

Kim herself was more than situated with the whole early rising expected of military personnel thing... after all, it had been rather strictly enforced in the academy, and was nothing new for the Lieutenant. Standing prim and proper in line as the Admiral arrived, Seung-Min waited for him to finish his introductions, and open the field to question and comment from the crew. Now was the time, she supposed. Stepping forward with a well-practiced, model salute, she began to speak.

"Lieutenant Kim Seung-Min, Admiral. Failed to... properly disable enemy unit. Accept... full responsibility... for fail... capture." Kim noted, keeping her voice clear and distinct, despite the pauses in her speech... she had hoped that the apology for her language was implicit... they had said at the academy that bothering to apologize for it would be a waste of the higher up's time during official business, after all.

[Shin]

After his... football experience with Mateus, Tarquin had focused on his own notes, recounting his own experiences. It didn't appear that their captain required formal reports from him, but it was a habit he was used to nonetheless. So far, things had gone smoothly, far better than the simulations with the other teenagers. Perhaps it wasn't him after all? Things had been fine when he had people he could depend on in battle... but then again, there were the likes of Elaine and Astin. He'd have to be cautious, otherwise it would be a repeat of his training.

The Admiral was the kind of seniority was more accustomed with. Imposing, confident and gruelling... but personable enough when he wanted to be. He appeared satisfied with their performance, Tarquin didn't care too much about the unexpected intruders, it didn't change the exercise. Even the prospect of the next assignment was just another hoop to jump through, he didn't much care what it was.

Tarquin remained silent as the Admiral inspected them, the man towering over the boy. He felt some strange feeling of sympathy towards their Executive Officer, a little twang in his chest. He certainly knew what that felt like, but it wasn't enough for him to dwell too long, or act on it.

[riariadne]

Waking up early was nothing unusual to Dwight, but the visit from the Admiral was a unexpected. Little seemed to have changed in the years it had been since their last meeting- he was professional, but amicable, a similar standard that the ex-Vice Admiral held himself to. "Admiral Martinson! It's been quite a while," he spoke with some surprise after his introduction, offering a salute of his own briefly. "The pilots and Captain are quite critical of themselves. While they are still learning, the training mission went rather well from my own observation." The Executive Officer's relation to the Admiral had been something Dwight was unaware of, mentally noting the information to perhaps think over more later.

[Dandragon]

Elaine stood away from the group as they spoke to what was the head honcho in the flesh, her back on the wall and her arms folded. Perhaps if she stayed quiet, Jess would forget about asking anything about her. Of course, it wasn't like her to try and stay quiet, but laying low was most likely her best option at this point, now that she let slip the information that she was technically a convict. Well...there was no technically about it. She was. And this probably meant her time here wasn't going to last as long as she hoped. If anything, she was definitely anxious about what might happen, but Elaine did her best to hide it with a blank face. A very uncharacteristically blank face.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Dandragon

[scorri]

Astin was seemingly barely paying attention, dressed in the standard pants and jacket uniform, though the pants appeared as if they may have slept in them and the jacket was hanging open. They were still wearing the small leaf pin on the coat, though it was slightly askew today. The Admiral was talking to them and at the mention of a new assignment, Astin stirred slightly, seemingly more interested now. They stayed quiet but were clearly paying more attention than normal to the conversation, not that that required a lot of effort.

[Juliette]

Many of the pilots and staff were rather adverse to being up so early. Juria nearly seemed to make up for all of them on her own.

From the moment she was awake, the young engineer was practically bouncing around the base. After entirely too much coffee, she was darting about the hangar and chatting with almost all the other engineers she could find until she was reminded of the meeting. She bowed after Admiral Martinson's speech- Reo was elsewhere, and she was dressed actually quite respectably compared to her usual labcoat getup. "Honor meeting Admiral sir! Name Mizushima Juria, engineer on leviathan ship Heion Riese! Hoping expectations meeting it is at the now moment!"

[Balcerzak]

Things had wrapped up more or less as expected in the workout room. The ladies had apparently just been finishing up with the punching bags, and were headed to the pool. The only one to actually respond to him had been the Korean girl, whose fragmented English was actually kind of endearing. It was hard to think that'd he'd somehow managed to upset Elaine already, his suggestions during the deployment had been rather inoffensive and strategically sound and they hadn't really interacted much yet outside of that, so he just chalked up the lack of reply to the girl simply not seeing a need to echo what had already been said. Paying that no further attention, Thorvald went about the rest of his exercises alone, musing over some of the current troubling issues the whole time.

After his workout, gotten some food at the mess, and then retired to his room for a nice private shower. He'd not actually come up with any really useful ideas for trying to figure out how to handle the feud between the XO and the captain, but it would have honestly been more surprising if he'd hit upon a silver bullet solution immediately anyway. It'd probably be best to have a couple more one-on-one, or small group engagements with both of them over the coming week to more fully get a feel for things, and there really shouldn't be much need to rush the matter, seeing as they were stationed in the middle of nowhere to begin with.

The ring of the phone as he was toweling off caught him a little by surprise, but in hindsight Thorvald really should have expected it. "So, how'd the big first day go," the melodic voice on the other end of the line began when he'd picked up, skipping past any sort of preamble.

"Big first day?" He couldn't help but laugh a little at her choice of phrasing. "Anya, you make it sound like I got promoted or something, rather than..." Rather than making a mess of things one too many times because I refused to break a promise, which ended with our family getting uprooted and transferred to a desert in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh please, dear, stop beating yourself up over it. I told you before but I don't blame you, and Holly doesn't either. That said, our little angel has been giving me some nervous looks ever since dinner."

For the second time in as many exchanges, Thorvald laughed, though there was a gulf of difference between these soft chuckles and harsh guffaw earlier. Far from the resigned self-derision of the first, this second came from a place of gentle patience.

"She can't seriously think I've forgotten, can she? You'd think I had a history of failing to deliver with how little faith she seems to have. When I said I'd make sure to tuck her in I meant it," he frowned a bit when he looked at his watch. "Though, bedtime might be a little later tonight than usual. There were some complications this afternoon, and it looks like I did lose track of time a little..."

"Oh my! Nothing serious I hope?"

"No, nothing like that. Nobody got hurt or anything, so there's no need to be worried. Just a little hiccup of unexpected."

The rest of the phonecall continued without much noteworthy being said, just your standard back and forth conversation covering various topics. Anya had had a fine day making acquaintance with some of the other military wives (and husbands) on base, and had been encouraged to try out for a musical production that would be put on in the near future, and discussing that took up a fair bit of the call. Thorvald fully encouraged her to go for it, it'd be a great way for her to spend her time and a fun way to get involved in the community here. Not to mention he'd always thought she'd had a lovely voice for that sort of thing, and weren't to bad a dancer neither..

It was a little over a two hour drive each way from Dry Lake to the Las Vegas living quarters, which meant Thorvald almost spent more time on the road than he'd end up sleeping, but that's just the life he'd chosen. He did make sure to break it to Holly that this wasn't going to be an every night affair (her disappointed sounding "I understand, Papa" almost broke his resolve though), and she'd have to do some serious growing up some over the coming months. He did promise a lot of video calls, though, and audio-only if video wasn't available. The truth of the matter was that things were going to be different from how they'd been at Caribou Cape, in a lot of ways.

Thorvald also made sure to grab a certain album to bring back to base with him from the family collection. It had always been one of Anya's favorites, and she'd honestly been rather upset when the lineup changes a few years back had drastically altered the group. For her and a lot of other fans F² had never been the same after. He hoped he could manage to wrangle up a surprise that would bring a bright smile to her face though, and it looked like all the ingredients would be in place to make that happen.

Thorvald was grateful the captain's automated message had mentioned being dressed to meet important personnel, which had meant he hadn't just hastily donned a flight suit or something for the morning meeting. That said, if she'd been a little more specific in exactly how important, and if the phrase "new personnel" hadn't been misleading enough to suggest simply another new pilot being added to the roster, perhaps he'd have taken greater that average effort in taming his mane and making himself fully presentable. At least he wasn't going to be an embarrassment, though.

The fact of the matter was, though, that the head admiral's appearance had thrown him for a pretty serious loop. He'd been all but certain this reassignment had been one destined to be a dead end of misfits and malcontents, kept safely out of the way were they wouldn't do anyone any harm, though there had been a few notable exceptions that had been shaking that suspicion. Dwight had probably been the biggest, though without some serious skeletons in his closet Brant had also seemed a bit of a question mark. Martison, though, appeared to put a veritable stake through the heart of that whole notion, though, meaning a serious re-evaluation of the facts was definitely in order.

Of course this meant there were plenty of questions he could conceivably ask in reply to the admiral's query, however next to none of them actually seemed appropriate for a public setting. Even the more innocuous ones like how Sergeant Barnes and the others from his old squad were getting on didn't really fit, considering he hadn't really been gone that long, nor heard of anything unusual that might have happened up there. It was hard to read exactly the reaction from all of the rest of his fellow pilots, though a good few seemed to be a little overwhelmed or awestruck.

In the end, Thorvald decided to opt for a slightly humorous icebreaker of a question. "Sir, I must admit it's an honor and a pleasure. I am pretty sure I'm not alone in saying that the question most on everybody's mind right now is probably 'How many squads do you meet with personally to give their next assignment?' It's quite likely all our other questions have been driven from our minds, so I apologize if we seem a little tongue-tied this morning."

[Xinnidy]

Rather surprising to the Admiral, the first comment was not a question. Rather, a young-looking woman introduced herself as Lieutenant Seung-Min, and owed up to the failure of catching the unexpected enemy. "Lieutenant, you said you failed, but there wasn't an order to capture the enemy. Unless your captain issued one and failed to add to the report." Alphonse interjected, returning to a more serious facial expression as he appraised the Lieutenant.

"This all happened during the frail period of your squad's first field test, which was also the first live combat experience for some, as I was informed. The point is, the potential risk was considerable, but you've expertly fended the intruder off, and made us reevaluate our expectations." The Admiral caught himself after saying that, casting another glance at the crew. It seemed like he was about to go on another tangent but a quick cough showed he was back to his senses. "Don't let the taste of failure haunt you, that's when you lose."

A familiar voice turned the Admiral's attention with a surprised face, which quickly transitioned to a delighted smile as he caught the individual. "Turner!" His tone turned slightly more casual, "That's excellent to know, I couldn't think of anyone better to supervise this! I hope you'll continue with your assessments." The cheeriness turned to a hearty guffaw at Thorvald's wit, the Admiral being rather accepting of levity. "I see! Well, that's alright. I will admit you shouldn't expect a visit from me every Tuesday, but I hope no one is feeling too overwhelmed! I guess I should get to the point of my visit, then. Who has been to space before, here? Raise a hand if you have." The Admiral started cheerily, but his expression quickly mellowed down in preparation of what he had to relay.

"HQ has received distress signals from Colony 1 since the past night." Alphonse started, hands behind his back and tone back to that of authority. "Things turned for the worst very quickly, a rebel group has taken stronghold there, and the local forces are at a very precarious position to retaliate. There are many challenges that dissuade direct retaliation, none of the least being the colony's very structure." He continued with a grim frown, "A large portion of the civilians escaped in rescue shuttles, and headed to colonies 2 and 3, but a fair amount are still being held hostage. The surrounding airspace is guarded by a mixed force of rebel pilots and unmanned machines, which has made attempts to send reinforcements or surround the area very frustrating."

"The idea of outright destroying the colony was tossed out the window at first, but continued difficulties has made it gain some traction." The Admiral's face winced, the drawbacks of such a decision were quite obvious. "It hasn't gained that much favor to be a concern for now, so other options are being explored. I suggested a different approach: Sending a team to punch through the rebel's patrols and infiltrate Colony 1." He paused to allow the group some time to parse all the information, it would certainly hit some worse. "This would be a high risk operation. HQ has trusted me to assign the crew for this operation, my name will be on the line as well as the lives of the crew I choose. I hope you understand how serious this is." He mustered a faint smile, "I believe Dry Lake would be best fit for the task. I did not make this decision lightly."

Alphonse inhaled sharply. "On top of the results from the field test and the surprise attack during it, currently, Dry Lake base is the nearest to Colony 1's orbit. Taking into account the Heion Riese's capabilities, liftoff at 1 PM would mean you'd be taking a direct route to the colony as soon as you reached low Earth orbit."

[Phoenix]

Kim's apology prompted some more reassurance from Admiral Martison, though Brant was beginning to wonder if that had more to do with keeping the crew's moral high enough to make success in their first assignment feasible. It could have been a mix of both. From the look of things, Admiral Martison and Thorvald knew each other. It was soon cleared up that the admiral's presence here wasn't a normal occurrence or one they should necessarily expect more of in the coming days.

Finally, what Brant had been waiting for, was essentially a briefing on their assignment. He'd begun by asking how many of them had been to space before. Brant dutifully raised his hand when prompted, and then lowered it back to his side and continued to listen. The Admiral explained that Colony 1 had been taken over by a rebel group, and only some of the civilians had managed to evacuate in time. The rest were apparently hostages. The reason for this crew being picked was steadily beginning to come into focus. Save for dealing with hostages, the team had demonstrated the ability to deal with unexpected damage, unexpected enemy numbers, and adaptability. There were still some obvious problems with the chain of command, but with what they'd all learned from the field test, Brant didn't doubt everyone had taken that into account. At the very least, they would take this actual mission far more seriously.

When the time table finally came up, Brant realized he would have to handle his call to Firmia very early or postpone it altogether; he had work to do to make sure his Accensus would handle the way he needed it to in space, without him or his machine getting in each other's way. He also needed to check in with Avery to see if those funnels she'd mentioned would be available for the mission or not.

[Ether]

"Very well... Admiral." Seung-Min replied, saluting once again. There was no need to press things further if that was what the man had to say. He then asked of their experience in space, of which she herself had none, so she remained silent as he detailed the mission. Stopping a rebel hostage situation on a space colony... far more than what she might have expected for the first real assignment of their crew. A chance to redeem herself, Kim noted, cracking a smile.

[Nanami Touko]

First on Assignment

"S-Space?" Jess had never been to space, though part of her thought the environment to be a tad nostalgic-- not that she could place the feeling. But that wasn't important! What was important was the giant bomb of an assignment they had been handed, after only one field test... "A-Admiral, sir, if, if I may, I... Are you sure you want me leading this? You... You have to have read the report, while I trust the crew, I... I'm not..." It was difficult to find the right words to describe how Jess felt about herself when placed into the task at hand of leading a brilliant new spaceship on such an important mission. Colony 1 was for deep space travel development and they couldn't afford to have any of that fall into the hands of the rebels; them getting a means to make it to Mars would mean terrible things.

Still, Jess couldn't shake the feeling that someone like Dwight or Roxanna leading the mission would make things better for any prospective battles to come. She opened her mouth to speak again, but then shut it, waiting for a response. She'd probably said enough; reminding the Admiral of her actions during the ambush would set his decisions straight, surely...

[Dandragon]

Elaine gritted her teeth behind her lips when she heard about a suggested plan to blow up Earth Colony 1. Even if it wasn't what they were going to do at all, it still made her blood boil that officials could just decide when people aren't worth saving. However, her anger soon turned to curiosity once she thought about the situation for a bit. She looked at Jessica for a moment. If she brought it up, there was a high chance that she would bring up Elaine's status as a convict and her crime of wiping the criminal database of her sentence. Maybe in front of everyone. But she probably wasn't going to get another chance to ask.

Elaine stepped forward. " 'Scuse me, sir. Name's Elaine Hedrick. I was just wondering...well, the situation here sounds really similar to the incident on Earth Colony 2 two years ago. Do you think there's any connection?" Personally, Elaine had a small doubt. The rebels had taken people hostage as apposed to attempt to kill everyone outright, like what she had seen that time. But perhaps whoever had sent them had learned from their mistake and tried a new tactic.

[Terrador]

Bruno's hand slips into his pocket to discover the message Captain Gefalscht sent out. [Meeting today. 0730. New personnel, this soon? I expected a change of pace when I took this post, but the past few days have really been extraordinary.] The pilot had already been awake for an hour, reading the latest journals during breakfast. Nothing really interesting--the nth new anaerobic microbe discovered in Martian soil this week held little value to him professionally, nor did weak, narrow correlative studies. [One cannot expect a gem every day.]

A crisp hand rose to meet the Admiral's question, but Bruno's surprise at the summons was quickly eroded by suspicion. The very act of the visit, no whisper of a mission dossier, his relation to Executive Officer Martinson (and, to a lesser extent, his friendship with Vice Admiral Turner), sending a relative skeleton crew to a mission of such import... [Why not special forces? Why not an overwhelming deployment to communicate the hopelessness of resistance? Something dreadfully political must be happening here, or else the ANF's military situation is far more dire than I have had notice of.] Even looking at the assembled hands gave Bruno pause. More than half of their piloting staff had never been off-world! Judging by the youth of all but Dwight who raised their hands, that all but guaranteed that the most experienced off-world pilot was...

[Me. I suppose it was only a matter of time until I was looking after greenhorns again.]

Pausing for a moment to Elaine's question to draw to a close, Bruno takes it upon himself to speak.

"Bruno Tian, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Space Navy, reporting. Speaking on the assumption that I am to be the most experienced space pilot in direct combat for this mission, I request that all relevant strategic and tactical information be issued to the piloting staff immediately, Admiral." He stands at a firm salute, answering perceived politics with strict, practiced professionalism. "Off-world operations have a rancorous tendency to go awry; our success hinges upon being as prepared as possible, sir." If Bruno died in space chasing some senator's golden goose, the insurance would care for his extended family well enough, but there was simply no need for that... nor was there need to throw away the lives of this ragtag bunch.

[scorri]

Astin blinked in surprise. Space huh? This was... interesting news to be sure. They fidgeted slightly and then quietly spoke up. "About how long do you expect us to be out there, sir? I assume since we won't be leaving until 1, we can contact our families and let them know that communication will be unreliable until a certain point?"

[Xinnidy]

Answers

Roxanna was about as befuddled as any other, crossing her arms and giving the admiral a confused look. That wasn't just an incredibly risky mission for the Dry Lake personnel, it was their first. To her, either somebody in the top brass really had something against this group of people, or had their expectations inflated beyond belief. Uncle... what's that supposed to mean? Roxanna couldn't hide that she was a bit antsy.

Alphonse nodded at Jess' question without hesitation. "I believe the ship and crew are ideal for this mission, Captain. You're the most familiar to a ship as complex as the Riese that we have, and you count on a former Vice-Admiral and an ex-Captain of the ANF Space Navy backing you up." One could notice Roxanna flinching at the comment, very much not comfortable with being referred as an 'ex-Captain'. "There's a brief window where the cards are stacked in our favor --we just need not to lose momentum." Alphonse was truly confident in the group's capabilities, or at least insisted to believe.

One question came as a surprise, Alphonse slowly turned to face Elaine after she said her piece, for once stopping before giving a reply. "The incident two years ago... I can't say. I'd need to look into it. That's quite a memory." He remarked, "This group is much larger, however, and very organized. If they decided the Colony wasn't worth its value anymore, this would be a greater tragedy than the Colony 2 incident. I'm sure you can imagine."

The Admiral listened to Bruno's request, but shook his head slightly as he finished. "I can send a request to Central, they'll relay any relevant info to the Riese's Database. The rest will be on you and your peers, however. I'll need to leave shortly for Central myself." He explained, "Two days at max should be the expected duration of this mission. You'll rendezvous with Captain Miller of the Space Fleet at 4PM, then continue on a slight curve to match Colony 1's orbit. Your task is to get in and neutralize the rebels inside the colony. Captain Miller will debrief you on anything else." Alphonse's tone finally turned somewhat less serious after he'd finished his debriefing. "You can contact your families, just remember liftoff should be at 1 PM. You'll need to be here a fair bit earlier."

"Now then, I should leave shortly. Is there anything else that needs mention?"

[Balcerzak]

Who has been to space before?

The implications that question carried were dreadful, and Thorvald's previous cautiously upbeat attitude soured quickly, his face slipping into an unconscious frown. Of course the news only got worse as Martison continued. Hostage situation at Colony 1, and the total destruction of the facility was actually deemed a viable option (however tenuously) by some of the higher ups. It honestly wouldn't surprise him to learn Ratigan were a backer of that proposal. The admiral's ultimate plan though was significantly more palatable, though it still posed problems of its own.

"For an infiltration mission... is using the Heion Riese really the best choice? Wouldn't it be better if we went in with a retrofitted rebel ship of similar class, or if none are available, rather than our Legionaries and Velites, shouldn't we at the very least pilot mechs of the sort that were destroyed in our field test yesterday? Then at least we might feasibly raise the possibility of having 'liberated' the Heion from a green captain on her first sortie, no offense. Maybe yesterday's intruder was even testing the waters for just such a possibility?"

Several of the others were also putting forth good commentary, and Elaine had even drawn a pointed parallel to a previous incident, questioning for possible connections.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Balcerzak

[Shin]

A colony being held hostage? Space? Things were progressing rapidly, he'd barely completed his first land based training session and now they were going to be part of an attack on a base? The mission itself sounded like a death wish, unless the rebels were poorly armed their chances didn't sound fantastic. Surely there had to be some reason? It would be a miscalculation to send them if they were not suitable, the Admiral seemed to know what he was doing. Either they had been selected because of their location and supposed competence, or they were cannon fodder to gauge the rebel's might. All it would take was someone to snap or step out of formation, and there were a few candidates he could expect it from.

There was no use in arguing or protesting, assignments were assignments - no matter how much or little Tarquin wanted to do them. The plans had been made and the orders had been given, all that was left was to ensure that he succeeded, mostly because failure seemed catastrophic for his own well-being.

[Nanami Touko]

Sending a Message

"Still, sir... Understood." Jess wanted to fight back and deny him, because while he was right on her knowledge of the ship, she still didn't believe she was the proper choice for the mission. But, he was the Admiral, and disagreeing with him openly would not be worth the repercussions of the action. There was one thing she could question, and try to chime in on. Thorvald's confusion at the use of the Riese. It made sense that a covert operation would perhaps be better in a situation with hostages, but that was the grim reality of it; if they had already considered the destruction of the station, then perhaps the hostages weren't worth enough to Central...

"I... Can maybe shed light on that, Eriksson," she began, deciding that it would be best to leave out the option of civilians being sacrificed as a first mention. "The Riese is the newest ship in the ANF's fleet, and while definitely not covert, it would be equipped to deal with all but the most well equipped rebel aces they might have to throw at us... Which they might have, considering their quick take over of the Colony. The Riese is suited to dealing with heavy firepower, so, sending it to quell anything quickly and without trouble would... Well, it would be a good decision. No offense taken either, Eriksson." She wasn't about to be bothered by someone calling her green.

"As for the mechs, the rebel forces in space, mostly, are using salvaged ANF robots from previous engagements. They have no facilities that we know of in space, so using newly built robots like that Heracles that attacked us yesterday would most likely be out of the question." She had no certainties in what she said, because the suggestion of the rebels taking an entire colony by themselves was something she hadn't even considered. Still, it was what they knew at the moment, so it was what she could go on. "If we wish to employ any level of surprise, it would be best to engage a scouting group of theirs, take it out, and color our current mechs to match what they're running. Once they see the Riese, it will likely kill any surprise we have, but it will at least give us a moment to get the mechs close. Especially if we can capture one of their men and get their transmission codes out of them."

That all made sense in her mind, maybe Alphonse has other things to add. Had she said too much? She didn't want to overshadow the Admiral, but it all clicked when she thought about it. Any transmissions sent back to the rebels from the scouting group they dealt with would probably tip them off to something happening, but there was a chance they could jam the signals long enough to deal with a smaller group. They'd have to do their best...

[Juliette]

"First colony!" Juria gasped, visibly distressed at the thought. "Nooo, home attack! Must stop takeover, keep everyone safe! But, but, Juria not pilot who can be much helping. Not sure what can do." She gave a long, drawn out sigh, trying and failing not to tear up a bit at the prospect of her home being captured or even worse, destroyed. So much for trying to be polite and presentable. "Have to save. Won't let home go away..." Where Reo? Soft fur help me, maybe...

[Dandragon]

Elaine did her best to keep a calm face, but inside she was ready to get moving already. This was the chance she needed to prove to the Captain that she wasn't just some unstable convict. No, she was a fully competent pilot ready to serve and save. She wasn't gonna let anybody tear up another colony on her watch. If only she had the Marionne with her, then she could really take on those rebels, but the Legionary would have to do.

[spoiler=Going for a swim]

Elaine and Kim had made their way over to the pool area, now with their swimsuits to change into. Elaine had a simple, dark blue, one-piece swimsuit for her. As much as she liked testing her limits, showing off her belly button was not one of those limits. Besides, she wasn't out to impress anyone. She simply wanted to have a good time. "So, where'd you learn to swim?" She asked as she was changing, once again forgetting to speak in Korean. While she was somewhat fluent in it, she still felt it easier to speak into her own language.

It certainly would seem that Elaine and Kim had far differing sets of... limits, at any rate. Seung-Min's swimsuit of choice was a rather minimalist two-piece affair in a lighter, somewhat pale blue, fully intended to accentuate the taut skin of her belly, stretched across her vaguely visible abdominal muscles, practically no visible fat in the area. As for the suit itself, it was fairly plain, cloth covering the necessary areas, the top a halter-neck and the bottom tied at the sides.

"We had... swim class. School."

"Yeah? Same here. Was part of the swim team at my school for a bit. Dropped out of that. Way too strict." Elaine had taken off her earrings and placed them inside her locker. She looked back at Kim for a moment before turning her head. "You uh...don't mind me speaking english?" Having an actual use for a second language was nice and all, but Elaine was hoping at some point that it wouldn't be necessary for communication between the two. At least, as long as communication lasted.

"Not team... part of... classes." Seung-Min replied, beginning to stretch a bit before walking towards the pool... it used a different set of muscles compared to boxing, after all. Looking over at Elaine mid-stretch as she asked her question, arms taut behind her back and chest pushed out, Kim gave her head a light shake.

"Understand... fine. Not good... speaking."

Elaine walked over to Kim as she stretched herself, cracking her neck a bit as it felt a little stiff. "Well, if it's alright with you then that's good. Maybe one day I can help teach ya." She backed up a bit, before running up to the edge and yelling "CANNONBALL!" as she jumped in.

The cold water was not a new feeling to Elaine at all, but it was still a shocking feeling to have such a change in temperature so quickly. She had curled herself up into a ball as she jumped in, and was still in that formation as she tried to open her eyes, remembering she didn't really put on any goggles. Whoops. She swam back up to the surface as she gasped for air, letting herself wade in the water for a moment. "Aaaah... The waters great, Kim! Come on in!" She said, backstroking herself across the pool.

"Maybe." Seung-Min replied with a light grin, climbing up one of the diving boards before entering the pool herself, jettisoning herself from the board in diving formation before she hit the water. The water always felt colder than it really was at first, and this time was no exception... she supposed there must have been some sort of science behind it, but she hadn't read up on it personally. Coming back to the surface after a little while, Kim gave her head a shake, floating in place for a moment.

She was floating around on her back, letting the water guide her around the pool for a moment. Then, with a quick grab for air, she dove straight under the pool, and began swimming around with no real destination in mind. It was one of the few things that could get her mind to relax, to let her thoughts drift off to some place as she began to go into a world of her own underwater. If she wasn't so obligated to exercise and swim, she could easily just fall asleep in a pool, but that's dangerous of course. Elaine was having a great time.

If anything, Elaine seemed far more relaxed in the water. It was a rather sharp departure from her usual demeanor, that was for certain. It was probably for the best not to bring it up at any rate, lest it come across as a beratement of her usual conduct. So instead, Kim opted to simply go under the water and begin swimming about as well

Elaine had already positioned herself at the edge of the pool, on a wall ready to kick off it and launch herself towards the other side. She used to do this all the time with her schoolmates, racing them to the end of the pool for no reason other than to have a competition. Always looking to push herself, she would always challenge the other students. As she pushed herself off the wall, she swam up to the surface and forward, But as she swam, she couldn't help but feel like something was off. Like she was just wasn't getting the same kick out of it anymore. Or maybe it was something else...

Elaine reached the other end of the pool and held on to ledge, breathing heavily as she had once again exerted herself. She wasn't getting the same rush as she used to from swimming around in the pool anymore, or at the very least not right now. She looked around. Was it because of the lack of people? Was she just not trying hard enough?

"Is... wrong, Elaine?" Kim asked, surfacing as she felt Elaine's change in mood spring to the forefront, shaking the water away from her eyes.

"It's...nothing...hah...Just thinking bout things, is all." Elaine didn't see much good coming from telling Kim about her problems, seeing as the last time she did that she pushed her own captain away. All the same, Jess's offer about seeing the psychiatrist seemed to be a good idea if she's getting bothered by things like this.

"Okay... if you say." Seung-Min replied, floating in place as she watched over Elaine. It did no good to have her concerned, as it might cloud her judgment in battle, but at the same time it wasn't her place to force the hotheaded pilot to divulge her personal problems, especially to someone she just met.

"Maybe... talk someone... trust."

"Someone I trust..." Do I even have anybody like that on this damn crew? Elaine had to wonder. She had barely talked to anyone here, and half of the ones she DID talk to probably wanted nothing to do with her. Elaine suddenly found herself feeling far more lonely than she had before, and it showed. She quickly went underwater to hide her face, not wanting to show off any feelings, but such actions were useless against a telekinetic. She began swimming around once more, this time with a far less happier attitude. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...Haven't been full of them lately.

Well, Elaine certainly seemed unhappy. Kim couldn't be sure if it was what she had said, or the other girl's general emotional state escalating.

"<We don't need to keep doing this if you're upset. My apologies if I brought out any... unpleasant feelings.>"

Elaine found it hard to understand Kim underwater, resurfacing facing away from her. "I'm fine, Kim. Really. Just having a bad day is all. Heh." Once again, she forgot to respond in Korean.

"<Elaine, I'm telekinetic. I know that you're lying.>" Seung-Min replied bluntly, it wasn't a secret, after all. She could only hope that by stopping the hothead from tiptoeing about the issue, she might be able to get her to help herself... or atleast seek the counsel of someone who could.

She gritted her teeth. She couldn't get anything past her. She thought hard how to say her next words. "...Kim, have you ever...made someone afraid of you? When you didn't want to? Make somebody not want to be around you?"

"<Afraid, no... not outwardly. Not want to be around me, yes. Plenty of people go out of their way to avoid... my kind. Can't stand the thought of being exposed, don't like the sight of someone different, someone who can do something they never could. I'm sure that it's scary enough to some... my answer to your first question should probably be yes.>" Kim began, figuring that their mixed-language conversation seemed to be going well enough that she'd not bother switching to English at this juncture.

"<I assume that you did something to make someone afraid of you, else you'd not be asking me that.>"

Elaine turned to face Kim, unable to hide the sadness in her face. "I fucked up Kim. I fucked up real bad. I was talking to Jess and my history came up and now she's scared of me. And I might not be here much longer. The second she gets, she's gonna send my ass far away from here. I fucked up, Kim. I fucked up. I fucked up." She spoke quickly, raising her voice slightly as she did, hitting the water with her hand whenever she said the word 'fuck' in her sentences.

"<So what are you going to do about it? I can't speak for your past, or for what it was you and the Captain disagreed on, but clearly what you're doing now isn't helping. If you don't want to let your past control you, then show that to the Captain, show her that she doesn't have anything to fear from you... I don't think that she'll be in such a rush to get rid of you, at any rate. She seemed to be mostly pre-occupied with her own situation... I think she's too worried about getting shipped off herself, to try to get rid of you anytime soon. So make it right before then, if you're that concerned about it.>" Seung-Min replied calmly, swimming over to the nearby edge of the pool and laying back against the wall. It wouldn't do any good to get heated along with Elaine, hopefully she could calm the girl down and get her to think things over before anything for worse.

Of course she would say that. It's what Uncle Rob had said ever since she got back from Colony 2. It's what everyone had said in her home in Florance, Italy. At least, everyone she spoke to. She remembered the welcome she had gotten back. All her friends from both school, training, and just on the streets had come to welcome her home. The memory made her smile a little, bettering her mood. "You really think so? You really think that'll work?"

"<I don't see why it wouldn't. Captain Gefalscht is human, just like you or me, I think you might have just caught her in a stressful time. Admittedly you can be a bit... brash at times, from the looks of it, but I don't think you're a bad person. I'd say you're both reasonable enough that you should be able to work things out if you both approach it with a cool head. It's not like the history you mentioned was murdering her family or something... or so I'd hope.>" Seung-Min replied, gently floating in the water as she did so, giving Elaine a light wave at the end to signify that no, she didn't actually think that was what happened.

"Alright. I gotta do my best then." She said, swimming over to the edge where Kim was. She felt much better than before. "Thanks, Kim. I uh...I really needed this talk."

"<Glad I was able to help. It doesn't do any of us good if you two are at odds, after all... I think that Captain Gefalscht has enough on her plate, that it'd help a lot if you two could make up and get past this whole kerfuffle. And you'll obviously be a better pilot when you're not constantly worried about your job.>" Seung-Min replied, giving Elaine an assuring pat on the back as she swam over.

[Xinnidy]

Covert Ops

"...A covert operation would not be successful." Alphonse seemed to hesitate before the comment, shaking his head as his gaze turned distant. "There's a bit too much risk involved in sending a squad, and a large unit would be identified quickly." He sighed, "Rebels don't have their own ship models as far as we know, but use retrofitted EU ships. Taking one of them for our own use would be... it would alert the EU, which is problematic." All because of the sanctions between factions. Covert operations using weapon platforms and ships against their own factions were considered a war crime, it'd escalate tensions into a full blown war too quickly. While it would be used against the rebels, if the EU caught wind of the Federation officially using their ships for covert operations, they'd press the matter relentlessly. The rebels were certainly using that to their advantage...

"We've confirmed they have new mechs like the Heracles in their ranks this time, but this is actually the first time we've seen them used in space. Like Captain Gefalscht said, their previous operations in space relied on salvaged ANF mechs." The Admiral continued, still a bit uncomfortable over the subject. "We don't have any Heracles in possession of our Space Fleet, it'd depend on the Riese to carry any to orbit. You've been given the first few whose OS has been changed to ANF's standard... I hope your engineers can salvage one or two."

"You should iron out the details with Captain Miller, maybe matching colors with the rebels would give you a few moments of advantage, but don't underestimate how much punishment the Heion Riese can take. It is not only sturdier, but faster than our older models in space." Alphonse had some sense of pride as he spoke, the creation of the Riese was something he'd fiercely backed despite the other commanders, and he wasn't afraid to use it. "The rebels outside the colony won't be able to follow the Riese inside, or they'll have no way out. The Space Fleet would close in and completely block their escape route. Which is why we believe a blitz would be our most feasible option."

Edited July 6, 2016 by Xinnidy

[riariadne]

While pleased to see an old acquaintance again, the news that was brought was quite dire. "The first colony... rebels acquiring the technology there would be a disastrous consequence. Still, destroying it would be even worse to resort to. There are many innocents there, and we can't afford to do such a thing until it's the last possible option," Dwight observed. While many of the pilots seemed to have objections to the operation as rookies, the ex-Vice Admiral shook his head.

"I think this could be a good opportunity for everyone. It is a mission of great importance, but backing away from difficulties is no way to improve. Furthermore, the asset of the Riese is not to be undersold. A battleship backed by many skilled pilots is a powerful force, and we will have initiative with our counterattack. I agree with the Admiral that this team is perfectly well-suited to the task at hand," he reasoned.

[charlie_]

The comment about space travel made Mateus lower his eyebrows, although the nature of the general's visit became clear fairly quickly. Would they really blow the colony up just because some rebels got to it? He shook his head lightly. That can't be right... Especially when innocent people were involved, someone had to help them out! It was a little surprising to hear that they were the best squad for the job, but if that was what the admiral thought, then they weren't exactly there to argue. There was something that was bugging him a bit though.

"Do we know where the civs are being held, admiral?" he spoke up, biting into his lip a little. As far as he was concerned, this was as much of a rescue mission as a brawl with the rebels. He was actually pretty confident after how yesterday's training had went, and the idea of space travel wasn't too daunting to him either. As long as it was something like the sim, he was sure it'd be fine.

[Balcerzak]

The explanations weren't one hundred percent what he'd been looking for, but as bit by bit things fell into place Thorvald realized the plan made as much sense as anything could on the kind of timetable at play here.

"All right, you've sold me on it. This plan sure beats the alternative. We're not about to just give up on the colony, that's for sure," he strolled over to Juria, who was clearly distraught, and patted a comforting hand on her shoulder.

He hadn't been particularly thrilled about heading to space to begin with, as it would be taking him far from everything he'd known, and from those things most dear to him. But this mission wasn't an extended one, and many other families' happiness hung in the balance. There was no way he could look himself in the mirror if he backed down from it.

Edited July 7, 2016 by Balcerzak