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

[Dandragon]

In the ten seconds that he had given the mystery pilot, they had not only refused to turn on their own speakers, they had aimed they're guns at her and beckoned her. "Alright, asshole..." She said, speaking not into the speakers or the comm device within her own mech. "You wanna go?! Let's dance, motherfucker!"

Elaine cast Accel, move to 14,15, attack Heracles Custom with Beam Rifle

Edited June 17, 2016 by Dandragon

[Ether]

The main enemy's first shot against Astin had gone wide, and soon enough, the man began an exchange with the hothead, Elaine. Elaine had begun it verbally, to the Captain's chagrin, and the pilot responded simply with a gesture, though she could clearly feel that he wasn't nearly as calm as he appeared outwardly.

"First mistake... pay attention." Seung-Min noted to herself, as she engaged the thrusters on her Velite, and advanced, her TK Rippers whirring to life as she took a few shots with her rifle, unleashing the remote weapons alongside. She would do it perfectly, flawlessly this time. She'd never forgive herself if she messed up again on such a simple mission.

Kim activates Sense, moves to 16,13, attacks Heracles D with TK Ripper

[Nanami Touko]

"Yeah, yeah, that's what I want! Come get it!"

Elaine moves to 14,15, attacks Duane with her Beam Rifle!

Final Hit: 69
Final Crit: 2
Roll: 65,100
Hit
No crit
Final Damage: 54
 
Elaine gains +40 EXP, +3 Will
 
Duane Counters w/Gauss Rifle
 
Final Hit: 70
Final Crit: 18
Roll: 59,56
Hit
No crit
Final Damage: 52
 
Elaine gains +1 Will

"Huh? You want some too? Come get-- ah, shit!" Duane was thrown off balance by the sudden beam fire, not expecting such quick reflexes!

Kim casts Sense!

Kim moves to 16,13 to attack Duane with her TK Rippers!

Final Hit: 100!
Final Crit: 25
Roll: 92,13
Hit
Crit!
Final Damage: 74
Final Crit Damage: 118

Duane is downed!

Kim gains 240 EXP, +5 Will, +15 PP
Kim reaches Level 5! 3 stat points awarded.
Booster dropped, 165mm Gauss Rifle dropped.

"AAAGHHH, WHAT THE HELL!?"

Duane took a massive hit from both of them, only managing to score a glancing hit against the first target. His robot was smoking, warning lights flashing and every single emergency was going off in his cockpit. He could even feel a breeze, the blades having torn into some part of his cockpit, not that he knew where. But this wouldn't do... Would it just be best to die here, and let those smug assholes at command be right? Or would returning with his tail between his legs and suffering their punishment be better...

But he did feel something as sparks crackled; excitement. I want to do this again. "You got lucky, Feddies!" This, he did broadcast over his speakers, though it came out as little more than a garbled crackle due to the damage done to his machine. "The remaining three can cover me, I'll ditch the bot behind a ridge and rig it to self destruct... The last thing I'm becoming is a war prisoner." Thusters engaged. Heavily damaged and coming apart at the midsection, Duane boosted his Heracles as far as it would go away from everything, its legs actually collapsing under the pressure and breaking off. Whether or not the feddies would give chase after his cockpit was another thing, but they did have to deal with the three heracles still pressuring them.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Melissa

[Phoenix]

Brant didn't regret his decision to try and address the command structure issue ahead of time. Things could have gone downhill quickly without some precise coordination, and even then it wasn't a cakewalk. For now it was best not to move into range until he had both a target, and a reasonable chance of destroying said target. Since the human pilot was painfully obvious due to their machine's black paint scheme, Brant tried to carefully gather what data he could on him. The Accensus wasn't outfitted with any advanced scanning equipment, but it did have plenty of high resolution camera. Zooming in on the ebon enemy revealed some kind of rifle; that was definitely the biggest threat from that particular unit, and when the Heracles took aim with it, Mateus quickly warned Astin, the Heracles' target.

"Gauss rifle," Brant winced as the enemy pilot opened fire. He didn't know what model it was and didn't have time to find out through the usual technical wizardry, so he made an educated guess as to its effective range, and easily ruled out a direct attack on black Heracles. There was risky, and then there was downright stupid. Better to leave that one to the others and just try to keep the AIs from slipping through their lines and attacking the Heion Riese. They had absolutely no chance of downing the ship, but that wasn't what he was worried about. Regardless of who this pilot is, this is still a test for us. As long as no one gets shot down we've got a strong case for being an effective team. If we can't even keep the enemy away from our ship, though ...

Brant's thoughts were interrupted by an unexpected voice on the comms. Was that the enemy pilot? Captain Gefalscht reprimanded Elaine for her taunt, but Brant wondered if this wasn't a good opportunity to try to get some information. Oddly enough, his prediction about Elaine's temperament in battle being a potentially good thing might be proven correct if she could trick the man into giving them some clue as to his origins, but that was unlikely. Still, some clue would be better than nothing. If they just blew up the black Heracles and its pilot, it would be a long time before they figured out what had happened here. They might never learn the whole truth if they didn't at least take the pilot alive.

He was almost positive there wasn't going to be anymore chatter between his allies and the enemy pilot, which meant there was probably only one way to make sure they weren't left in the dark. "Stealth One to all units, try to avoid the cockpit!" Hopefully the implication would be enough. There wasn't time to explain between all the lethal shots flying left and right.

It looked like they were trying to avoid the cockpit, but Brant was almost certain they'd at least scuffed the thing when the garbled transmission came through. Suddenly, with all the grace of a runaway booster engine, the black Heracles blasted off toward the outer edges of the battlefield and beyond, leaving equipment and scrap metal in its wake. Brant grimaced. Was that a malfunction or the most hardcore escape burn ever? They could still catch him, but the AIs would slow them down. On second thought, with some careful plotting and a diversion, Brant himself could blow right past the remaining units and reestablish visual on the target. He didn't have to land his Accensus, hop out and detain the pilot, just not lose sight of him. It was now or never, and more importantly, the captain's decision. "Stealth One to Giant One, I can catch up and maintain visual on the pilot if a path's cleared for me. Should I give chase or are we letting him go?"

Edited June 17, 2016 by Phoenix

[Ether]

A direct hit, not only with the rippers, but one of the distracting volleys from her rifle had managed to clip the Heracles as well. Combined with Elaine's... not unexpected assault, the Heracles was heavily damaged, the distress of the pilot clear to her through the T-Link... followed by more excitement? Before Seung-Min could re-direct her rippers to intercept, the pilot had diverted all power to his thrusters, weaponry and parts falling off of the injured mech and clattering to the ground, some of them even appearing in decent shape. The man got over a hill in record time, legs falling off his Heracles and exploding as they impacted the ground.

"Enemy pilot... neutralized. Managed... to escape, could not... destroy thrusters. Pilot likely... to evacuate machine... before it explodes." Kim reported over her comms, watching in the distance for signs of an explosion, whilst scanning over the remaining Heracles with her systems.

[Nanami Touko]

Things were getting ridiculous. Elaine had fallen for the world's most obvious taunt, and even if the two women had managed to disable the machine, the cockpit had boosted itself away beyond the ridge, and now Brant wanted to run recon on it! "Wh-What, should-- I, I don't know-- but there's still... Some mechs, left, I--" Jess found herself stuttering as the situation turned and swerved in front of her. Snap decisions were not her forte, and her troops weren't listening to her-- Elaine had shown as much, was she already messing up, what should she-- "D-Do what you think is best, Stealth-1," she managed to get out, biting her lip and shrinking under her hat and into her seat.

Would it be best to send Brant off to keep an eye on their assailant? Would he catch the fighter pilot with a sneak attack, and shoot him out of the sky with his already damaged plane? Would he already be gone? Would Brant get stuck in the explosion from the mech if it was rigged, would it blow up anyway from its damage, would-- "Hnnnnnnn..." Jess whimpered in her chair, running too many what ifs through her head, starting to get a headache over it...

[Phoenix]

Brant felt his brow furrow momentarily. She's too rattled, he noted to himself, realizing his maneuver, while simple enough, wouldn't be nearly as simple with the team in its current state. They needed a coordinated effort right this instant if he was going to catch up to the pilot, but Elaine was just as likely to blast off after him herself as stay back and help clear a path for Brant to give chase. On top of that, with the captain unable to back up the suggestion with that oh so crucial air of authority, it probably wasn't going to pan out quite like he'd envisioned A slight grunt made it onto the airways. "... standing by," he said, deciding not to push their luck any further. "Will protect the ship and engage remaining targets if they come in range." An audible sigh followed the reply. "Over."

... maybe next time.

[scorri]

Astin growled in frustration, and just as Jess started to respond to Brant, they pushed their com button. "I'm going after him. I'm faster than him and I'm going after him. I'm not going to get shot down I can do this. Sorry captain."

Astin burn accel, get as far after the boss as they can

Edited June 18, 2016 by scorri

[Shin]

The enemy's leader had positioned himself poorly, he had literally banked his chances on a single shot - and that shot had not delivered. There was probably some sense in pursuing him, but Tarquin had neither been ordered nor felt the need to. Astin's action was foolish, there was no way to predict what was awaing them. His own objective was to complete the training exercise, not risk defeat in a foolhardy chance. There were still a few of the enemy units remaining, ones that certainly needed taking out.

"Steel-2, opening fire on remaining units." he announced, readying his rifle. The chances were that his shot wasn't lethal, but it would be sufficient enough to give one of the others a chance to finish it. Was this the teamwork Bruno had talked about? It seemed relatively straight forward, although it was common sense for multiple units to attack the same target to disable it.

Tarquin fires his Sniper Rifle at Heracles #5

[Nanami Touko]

What she wanted to do more than anything was to order Astin to stay put. What she did was remain silent with words caught in her throat as he burned his thrusters to chase after the escaped mech. They sped off without so much as a peep from Jess, mind running a mile a minute with throat unable to process any of it.

Meanwhile, Tarquin shows Heracles #5 WHAT FOR with SNIPES

Final Hit: 92
Final Crit: 27
Roll: 48,52
Hit
no crit
Final Damage: 83

Tarquin gains 15 EXP, +3 Will
 
Heracles counters w/AA Missiles
 
Final Hit: 69
Crit: 0
Roll: 78,74
Miss!
 
Tarquin gains +1 Will

[Balcerzak]

Thorvald had been about to revisit the offer of pulling pincer on the manned enemy craft with the fellow who'd suggested it originally, only before he could do so, the hothead and the idol ended up taking him out in an explosive one-two. As his potential pincer partner jetting after the escaping scraps, there was only one real choice left: Finish the remainder as soon as possible.

Thorvald stays put, uses Wrist Gatling on Heracles #5

Edited June 18, 2016 by Balcerzak

[SB.]

"Right then..." Mateus leaned forwards a little as his Velite charged back into the fray. One of the enemy crafts was trying to make an escape, but they weren't in a great position to chase as long as the other mechs were still breathing down their necks.

Mateus to (14,14), Impact Gunlance #4!

[Xinnidy]

Thorvald fires a few final shots at the opposing Heracles.

Target: Heracles #5
Weapon: Wrist Gatling
Final Hit: 96
Final Crit: 19
Roll: 70, 52
Hit!
No Crit.
Damage: 30
 
Heracles #5 is disabled!
Thorvald gains +240 EXP, + 5 Will, +5 PP.

Mateus decides to finish one of the worn down Heracles units in flashy fashion, but it seems the AI read his attack too quickly!

Target: Heracles #4
Weapon: Impact Gunlance
Final Hit: 83
Final Crit: 17
Roll: 93, 20
Miss!
 
Heracles #4 counters!
Weapon: Beam Sword
Final Hit: 79
Final Crit: 8
Roll: 10, 100
Hit!
No Crit.
Damage: 44
 
Mateus gains +1 Will.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Xinnidy

[Phoenix]

Hadn't Astin been the one to give some kind of positive feedback at the suggestion of having a squad leader? Brant found himself second guessing his memories of that pre-sortie conversation. The captain wasn't in any condition to stop the rash pilot, and Thorvald was in the middle of a firefight, which meant it was out of their hands. He might have gone after them if not for his decision to keep the AIs from getting too close to the ship. There wasn't much he was going to accomplish by deviating now and flying straight into a crossfire.

Brant began circling around the Heion Riese, staying far enough away to intercept anything getting too close to the ship, but close enough to benefit from cover fire from the ship if that became necessary. The Heion Riese was close enough to the fighting that Brant found himself close enough to take a shot at the enemy machines without breaking away. Without hesitation, he lined up his craft with one of the targets and fired the beam rifle, then, he immediately began evasive maneuvers in order to minimize the chances of being struck by any return fire that might come his way.

Brant moves to 13,10, activates Focus, and attacks Heracles #2 with the Beam Rifle

[Xinnidy]

Brant manages a clean rifle shot at the Heracles, its frame melting thanks to the beam's heat. Surprisingly, the Heracles was still in condition to fire a missile back!

Target: Heracles #2
Weapon: Beam Rifle
Final Hit: 100!
Final Crit: 11
Roll: 40, 34
Hit!
No Crit.
Damage: 59

Heracles #2 counters!
Target: Brant Abrams
Weapon: AA Missiles
Final Hit: 12
Final Crit: 0
Roll: 100, 77
Miss!

Brant gains + 15 EXP, + 3 Will.

"Is everything fine, Captain?"

The Heion Riese stays still for the turn!

----**Enemy Phase Incoming**---

Edited June 19, 2016 by Xinnidy

[Xinnidy]

Enemy Phase/Turn 4

The two Heracles are in near tatters, but the AI clearly doesn't seem programmed for self-preservation!

Heracles #2 charges at Kim with its beam sword out! Its pattern incredibly aggresive and with abandon, maybe the beam heat set something off?

Target: Kim Seung-Min
Weapon: Beam Sword
Final Hit: 49
Final Crit: 5
Roll: 13, 46
Hit!
No Crit.
Damage: 44

Kim counters!
Target: Heracles #2
Weapon: Plasma Rapier
Final Hit: 100
Final Crit: 55
Roll: 59, 44
Hit!
Crit!
Damage: 68

Heracles #2 is cut in half!
Kim gains 100 EXP, + 5 PP.

Kim made sure they were taken down and stayed down, at least!

Mateus' duel with the other Heracles continues...

Target: Mateus Lemos
Weapon: Beam Sword
Final Hit: 79
Final Crit: 8
Roll: 95, 51
Miss!

Mateus counters!
Target: Heracles #4
Weapon: Beam Sword
Final Hit: 93
Final Crit: 27
Roll: 23, 71
Hit!
No Crit.
Damage: 51

Heracles #4 is pierced through and disabled!
Mateus gains + 120 EXP, + 5 Will, + 5 PP.

All enemies are defeated!

Battle Mastery obtained!

Scenario Clear!

"That should be all of them, Captain... Mr. Turner? Should we call them back now?" A crewsman speaks up.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Xinnidy

[Ether]

That seemed to be the end of it... or it would have been, had one of the AI-controlled Heracles survived the cleanup, and charged into her with it's beam sword drawn. If they had been human, she'd have noticed them coming, but once again with the damn AI... Seung-Min drew her own plasma rapier, parrying the incoming blow away from her cockpit, the beam sword instead striking the head of her Velite with a glancing blow, her cameras lasting just long enough to see her own blade tear through the midsection of the Heracles and rip it into halves, before the visual feed cut.

"<Damn it!>" Kim swore, slamming her fist against the comms interface, the sound of her fist hitting the controls audible before her comms cut. She'd made another damn mistake...

[riariadne]

"Hmmm." Dwight watched the recruits as they maneuvered around the situation. "I'll have to match up the voices with the pilots when I meet them all, though they seem to have handled the situation acceptably, for the most part. I suppose with all that done, there's no need for them to stay out longer, yes? You can call them back- unless the Captain has any objections."

[Nanami Touko]

"Wh-What?" Jessica unfurled from her shrunken position just a bit, monitors displaying that things were actually fine. That calmed her down considerably, though she was still quiet. She had no objection to Dwight's commentary. "Y-Yes. Call them all back to the base," she managed, clearing her throat and sitting back up straight. "We'll take the ship back to the hangar and then... I'll deal with Roxanna." The Lieutenant slamming her fist into her comms gave her a bit of a jump-- perhaps more people were upset with this than just her. Would that make how she'd acted any better? Probably not. I'll just have to go over today and see where I broke down... Then I can learn on it, for next time. She opened the comms one last time. "Everyone, move back towards the base. Park your mechs for repairs. We have to go over debriefing." She sounded a bit defeated, but she didn't stutter, or slur. This part, perhaps, was already routine to her.

The Map is Complete! Everyone gains +10 PP for completing the Battle Mastery.

----------

The flight back to the hangar was short, incredibly so. It didn't give Jess much time to prepare for what she was about to get from Roxanna, but that was fine. She had to apologize to more than her XO. Her behaviour in the face of an enemy ambush had been unacceptable, and whether they had won or not, in a real battle scenario, where none of those were A.I., getting so flustered and frustrated wasn't going to make her better as a captain-- or a leader. The ship sat itself down into the hangar, the squad catching up after it. The mechs wouldn't take long to repair-- some of them. Mateus had gotten hit fairly hard, and so had Brant's wing.

"Mr. Turner, you're free to get off the ship with me, if you'd like to meet the squad. I have to speak to some of them, and... I have to apologize for my own behaviour. Otherwise, you're free to remain on board the ship and oversee that everything with take off was fine." She sighed, shaking her head and taking off her captain's hat. With a slow rise, and a heaviness weighing on her shoulders, Jess left the bridge and made for the elevator off the ship.

[scorri]

Astin had managed to catch up to the group though they kept their silence for the short bit of the trip to the hanger. As the group parked their mechs, Astin slipped out of their mech. They knew that they would have to answer for their actions, so they waited at the base of the mechs for presumably the captain and potentially others to come and talk to them.

[Juliette]

Not that long after the ship took off, it returned to the hangar. Juria was relieved it hadn't taken any damage, that might have been tough to handle, running off to the elevator quickly to see Jess. "Hooray, first leviathan-ship voyage success! Good maneuvering from Captain made things ok past emergency! Reo surely must have brought good luck." She clapped excitedly, looking around for the robot cat. "Oh no, you leave cat friend back! Was such emergency that you forgot?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Juria, hello... Yes, it's really good that the ship performed so well, even without proper testing. It's all due to you and your engineers. So, thank you for doing such an amazing job..." Unlike myself.... This is a good place to start. "I'm sorry." Jess quickly bowed a bit, biting her lip, but letting it go quick as to try and crush the habit slightly. "I panicked, a lot. I didn't give proper warning to the crew on take off. And I should have gone on the speakers to tell everyone else that we were taking off. It won't happen again, I assure you. Hopefully the squad will give me another chance, if Roxanna doesn't lobby for my removal as soon as I hit the ground." She smiled, wryly, and stood facing the elevator--

"Oh, Reo! I'm so sorry... I'm just, very shaken, so-- ah, oh..." A fuzzy feeling brushed against her leg, a mechanical purring echoing quietly up from the floor. "I suppose Reo didn't forget himself. There you are. Go see Juria, go on."

[riariadne]

"I think it'd be best I get to meet them before anything else," Dwight confirmed, following after the captain at a more leisurely pace. The training had went mostly well, so he was significantly less stressed about the situation than Jess was. When he arrived with the Captain speaking to the engineer who had been visiting earlier- Juria, he recalled- she was already having a hard time. "For your first time with this group, you performed well enough. It takes time to become acclimated to real battles as opposed to lectures, and with time comes more experience. It's natural to make plenty of errors early on. You should work towards correcting them slowly rather than attempt to tackle all of them at once so it becomes much less of a daunting task." He smiled reassuringly.

[Juliette]

"No need for sorrying!" Juria pat Jess on her now hatless-hair in an attempt to help. "Leviathan ship would be ready if engineering faster prepared for battle. Also, you made avoiding of damage after my asking too, so all was good still. Pilots will be ok remaining with Jess Captain for sure!"

And sure enough, Reo jumped up to her arms rather quickly. "Silly Reo! See, followed Captain from bridge to here. So he likes you! Here, cat friend help Jess Captain feel better." She held out the robot cat in her arms towards Jess, Reo mewling curiously.

[Nanami Touko]

The reassurance from both of them helped things, making her smile just a bit, nodding at some of what Dwight had said. "You make it sound easy. I'm glad we're not on the front lines so I have that chance to learn. I'll make sure to go over today, and correct what I can. Thank you-- both. The cat will have to wait, though, Juria." The elevator had arrived, and Jess hesitantly got onto it. "Going down, anyone? Haha..." Making light of things would help her calm down, for sure, and stay calm enough to weather the coming storm.