Imminent Dawn: Callisto

[Nanami Touko]

"Whoa, there she goes... And already injured, ahhhh... I'll never catch up with her, geez..." Azame sighed, watching Kazue rocket off like a living projectile, Junkyard doing its best to follow along.

Azame to 30,15

[TheRoon]

"Wait please listen-" And just like that communications were cut. "FUCK!" He slammed his fist on the panel, completely frustrated with everything at this point. "Why the hell won't she listen?! Argh this blows..." He can't call out the situation on comms now, half the crew wouldn't believe him. But they will believe one person. So he sent Sia a message.

"Ensign Kazue is going to do something 'unpredictable' to throw off Toki, I've tried to talk her out of it but she won't listen to me. I'm sorry."

Whatever would happen from there was left in the captain's hands. I don't care who hates me, I will stop her no matter what. I can't let someone else I like die right in front of me.

[Mercenary on the Winds]

Exactly as expected... This has to be a test of some sort. She has no reason to tell us anything, or even to continue playing on the same playing field. She could have crushed us, set us up with Arielle, or any other number of things... What is this all for?

As she expected, the call for surrender, and dialogue were met with complete silence, and a continuation of the attack. The pilots were already out in the field, so this was going to be a fight one way or the other. Sia flicked her communicator on, "They've ignored my request for engagement, and they are already in the midst of conflict, so all pilots are--"

Her command was subsequently cut into by Kazue's immediate rocketing ahead into one of the snipers on the ridge, "...I suppose that will take care of that one. Heed Lieutenant Park's warnings--those rifles will deal serious damage even to your superior armor. Also, to the best of your ability, I would like some of the attackers kept alive. We're going to have to start getting our own answers." Sia clicked out, and turned to Tristan, "Navigator, take us forward, we're going to provide the ensign with covering fire."

She turned her attention back to the map in front of her, when her communicator buzzed. Private message at this moment? From who...?

Sia opened the communicator, and flipped through her messages to find that it was from Leon. Sia's eyes narrowed as she opened it, and then grimaced, a simple twitch of the mouth.

[This is the part where you tell me that you're only just learning this, right? If not, why am I only learning about this now?]

Imminent Dawn moves to 29, 12!

[TheRoon]

[I thought I could handle it, I didn't want to ruin whatever trust she had in me. But she's completely shut me out. You can reprimand me as soon as I get back on the ship but I cannot let Kazue kill herself no matter what. I know if I tell the crew they won't believe me, but you do.]

[Mercenary on the Winds]

Sia rubbed her eyes at Leon's response was immediate. Sia's foot tapping the bridge's floor in a rhythmic pace as she considered her words, slowly watering them down through each iteration.

[Did you not consider this outcome at all? Leon, Kazue's machine is the fastest in our unit, and if she were to genuinely attempt to escape, and execute whatever plan she's up to, there are not a lot of people who could stop her, bar shooting her down. Do you. Realize. Exactly how few options I am left with in this moment? The point of which to have said something to me was before now!]

Sia sent that message, and stewed in her frustrations for a moment before returning to her keyboard.

[I'll figure out something. Risking it all like this is not something we can handle right now. Focus on the battle, and pray that the only thing I have to do to you after this is all over is reprimand you.]

Sia snapped her communicator shut, and then moved to her console. As infuriating as it was to be left out of this very important loop until now, they needed an immediate response. Of course, Leon didn't mention what it was, so she was unsure exactly how best to handle it. Directly contacting Kazue herself could cause Kazue to try to execute her plan early, placing her in more danger than her plan already was, and while Kazue wasn't a soldier, she carried a martial artist's intuition--she'd almost definitely notice the extra attention on her if she warned the other pilots to keep an eye on her. Then there was the nuclear option, rendering Kazue's machine inoperable. Without a doubt the last resort, but even that carried outsized risk--if Kazue escaped far enough to where shooting her down was the only option, then their enemies could easily pounce upon the opportunity, and turn a disabling into a lethal attack. Losing a machine before they'd cleared out the enemy also wasn't a viable option as they'd have to cover her, and the security forces...

"Damn it, Leon... Damn it, Kazue..."

Sia flipped her communicator, and pressed three names, Louise, Iskra and Bonner.

[Attention, you three. I have it on a relatively reliable source that Kazue may try to attempt something terribly reckless. At this point, I don't exactly know how I want to proceed. All I ask is that the three of you keep a close eye on Kazue, and notify me immediately of concerning activity. For the time being, just the three of you need to be aware. I'll be watching her, and perhaps engaging as I can...]

She sent the message on, and tented her hands. There was exactly one thing that she could rely on in this moment. Kazue wasn't going to turn away from the lab, nor her fellow pilots. It was likely that she was going to fight until things were mostly secured, and if her plan involved disappearing, making her move when most things were settled. She was an ally of justice after all...

[Nanami Touko]

"Incoming from..." Louise narrowed her eyes. Something with the Ensign, now? Terribly reckless... She's already being terribly reckless, what could she possibly have cooked up? Mmn... but it's from Sia. I don't know who informed her of this, but...

[Acknowledged, Captain.]

If all Louise had to do was keep her eyes on the Ensign, she'd do it. Hopefully this wasn't the sign of a sudden heel turn... but that likely wasn't it. Kazue was too dangerous, in practical execution, to turn on them mid fight... If she was a double agent she would've done something on foot, probably killed several of them on the ship before someone could get a lucky enough shot to stop her. Curious. Eyes are on you, Ensign. Do what you will...

"Sightlines established, Thunderbolt. Take care with incoming enemy fire... I'll have you covered."

 

Edited July 26 by Nanami Touko

[scorri]

Iskra had been staring at the field in front of her, frustration and indecision mounting slightly as her lack of targets became obvious, when a sudden message appeared from the Captain. She's doing... what? That doesn't... No. No that does make sense. She's shown that side of herself. But... why tell me? Looking over the battlefield, that answer soon became obvious. Kazue was fast, faster than any of the others, and there weren't many who were in position to do anything if she decided to make a break for it. Iskra was one of the few. If she pushed her mech now, forgoing any attempt at offense, she would be able to position herself near enough to the Ensign to potentially be able to intercept her before things went terrible wrong. She sighed, frustration replaced with anxiety. She had to try.

[Understood Captain. Moving forward, will keep an eye out.]

"S-silent Dusk moving to provide back up." She moved forward, hoping that this was all a false alarm and that Kazue was simply pushing ahead like she had last time.

Iskra to 29-7

[Xinnidy]

"...Oh?" Bonner had gotten the sudden message, told to watch over Kazue, holding back a sigh. "I just told Silvavolke it was his job... I hope he can at least try to keep up." Either way, the additional responsibility was not changing his plans drastically --he was planning to play vanguard at any rate. Bonner used the moment to charge ahead, adopting a defensive maneuver. The engine was far from overheating. "Immaculate. I'll have to give the engineers my thanks later." Now what was Kazue preparing to do... best to keep her private line ready, just in case.

Bonner doublemoves to (26, 9), autorifle equipped.

---

Esther could sense something was wrong. It was harder to tell at this distance, drowned out by many emotions. "Ugh, this again..." She gripped her console, slow breaths, machine still stable. "...No, the feedback is nowmal, it's just nerves." 

For now, it was  best to worry about the current dangers --there were enough of those, especially some of those sniper rifles. Esther kept moving her machine forward. Can't outrange those... can't keep getting harmed for no reason With a dry gulp, she focused on defensive maneuvers. She could worry about her feedback issues another time.

Esther doublemoves to (26,14)

[Ursali]

"Damn snipers..." Daeran swore under his breath as he kept his HEX moving, relieved that there hadn't been a second shot. It quickly became apparent why, the dust and debris from Kazue's charge up the ridge not yet settled. He moved towards the southern ridge, eager to take cover from any additional sniper fire and keep pace with the squad. "Thanks, 正義の味方!" He'd had to look up, first up all, what the characters in her callsign meant and, secondly, how to pronounce it. He couldn't help the small smirk, despite everything going on, that she had taken that as her callsign.

Daeran doublemoves to 26,10 with autorifle equipped. 

Edited July 27 by Ursali

[mcd900]

Selumine sets her sights on REM 2! 82/37/20
[6, 20] Critical! More than intended. 60 damage, 30 XP to Selumine. 

"No--" REM 2 destroyed.

Kazue closes in on Lancer S4. 98/3/15
[66, 60] 15 damage.
"Shit, where the hell did you--"
Lancer S4 hastily draws a pistol, firing up at Kazue from the ground. 30/9/15
[17, 67] 9 damage.
Kazue finishes the job, having taken a hit. 98/3/15
[70, 33] Lancer S4 goes down soft with a nonlethal down. 37XP to Kazue.
"Unnghh..."

Enemy Phase 2

Lancer 1 sets the missile pod alight! 100/0/0
"Got a lock! Get some!"
Catrin tanks it effortlessly. 1 damage (minimum).
Catrin levels her rifle's grenade launcher, blasting Lancer 1. 81/26/9
[36, 3] Critical! 27 damage, Lancer 1 destroyed. 33XP to Catrin.

Lancer 2 charges at Selumine with a Heat Halberd. 66/0/5
Selumine defends.
[98] Miss, 1XP to Selumine.
"Oh, shit!"

Lancer 3 dashes in, spraying at Iskra with an SMG. 38/3/7
[45, 86] Miss!
Iskra lets her psychokinetic blades fly in retaliation. 96/35/11
[6, 8] Critical! 33 damage, Lancer 3 destroyed. 30XP to Iskra.

Lancer S-2 zooms in on Tank 5. 84/11/11
[8, 11] Critical! 33 damage, Tank 5 destroyed.
"Nice and easy."

Several enemies bear down on Markus!
"Lookie here, fellas, he's walking right at us. Why don't we show this idiot that a HEX's performance ain't the only thing that matters?"

Lancer S-3 gets Markus in his sights... 65/4/16
[80, 29] He defends, but the shot never connects! 1XP.

Lancer S-5 sets its sights... on the Dawn! 70/4/10
Two rounds alight on the wind!
[54, 23] Hit, 5 damage vs Defend.
[76, 31] Miss!
5 damage total, 1XP to Sia.

Arde 2 puts some rifle rounds Markus' way. 60/0/10
[25, 62] Markus goes evasive, but not well enough! 10 damage, 1XP.

Arde 3 gets in close with an SMG, before dashing just a bit away. 61/8/11
[11, 79] Markus braces, making the right choice! 5 damage, 1XP.

Arde 4 bears its massive cannon down on Markus. 48/2/16
[47, 28] He evades the reaper, for now! 1XP.

"You're shitting me, guys, he's standing right there!"

Arde 5 dashes in, daggers between the HEX's fingers! 77/4/9
"Let's see how you like this! Bet I can crack that damn armor of yours--"
[7, 95] Hit! 4 damage
[11, 18] Hit! 4 damage
8 damage in total, 1XP.
"It can't be... what is this thing made of?!"

Arde 6 picks Bonner to mess with. 60/0/6
[78, 14] Miss!
Bonner counters with a deft dagger.
[58, 87] Hit, 11 damage to Arde 6, 5XP.

REM 3 lumbers at Tank 4, rifle leveled. 5/3/6
[34, 97] 6 damage.

REM 4 joins the party. 74/3/5
[86, 41] Miss!
"Uh, guys... help?"

As does REM 5. 75/3/5
[3, 32] 5 damage.
"Uh oh."

Ally Phase 2

Tank 3 fires at the escaping Lancer S-1. 62/6/7
[49, 80] 7 damage!
<AI noises>

Tank 4 rolls menacingly towards REM 3, machine gun firing. 85/2/1
[53, 35] 1 damage!
REM 3 draws its knife and stabs as awkwardly as might be expected from a mining machine. 80/13/0
[35, 4] Critical! (Minimum 1 damage x 3), damage, Tank 4 destroyed!
"Ha, easy! I can't believe you missed. It's a tank."

Player Phase 3

That blur of a HEX had flown off even further into the distance, but from the way it had come to an abrupt halt - twice, now - Alrenne felt he had a feeling as to how the pilot was fighting. Knowing nothing of the discussion happening on the captain's private comm, his focus was dedicated totally to the tactical map and the cockpit camera footage, sighing as he watched Kazue's close in rapidly as she boosted uphill to swat one of the enemy snipers... almost too eager given her pacifist nature, though she'd done a clean job of only knocking out the enemy machine, admittedly. The captain hadn't even finished giving the order to engage.

The tank's IFF readings winked out one by one, but they had done a surprisingly good job of holding the enemy back, at least long enough for the non-automated facility defense forces to start making their stand. "Attack team, keep up the pressure. The enemy force is thinning..."

At least, so he'd thought, before what looked like an entire squad of HEXes started to bear down on Lt. Stewart, having moved forward of support in the name of drawing the enemy fire off Lt. Park - a noble intent, sure, but it didn't hold up under gunfire. "Support Lt. Stewart, the enemy force is bearing down from the north--"

The bridge shook as cannonfire struck the hull. "Damn it. Machine gunners, you're getting sloppy with the suppression fire! And someone get that sniper off his perch..."

Edited August 16 by mcd900

[Nanami Touko]

"These ones are better equipped than the last... Thunderbolt, I am providing cover fire. Nurse, patch him up once he retreats. Lucky Thirteen, Silent Dusk, do something about that sniper! We can't have the Dawn harried like this!" She didn't bother giving orders to Bonner; he knew plenty what he was doing.

Louise levelled her rifle at one of the incoming machines, squinting. Her eye was giving her some guff, trying to overcorrect for incoming movement... "Stop, dammit... Urgh, fucking technology." She shut her right eyes, trained sights on the model and fired...

Louise fires on Arde #3, Hit & Away to 28,12

"次!!"

Kazue charged past the machine that she'd downed, riding the cliff edges towards one of the far Lancer models!

Kazue activates Blitz!
Kazue to 24,8, heat halberd into Lancer #4!

---

"Tchhhh, so annoying... Rats with their knives, face justice for your crimes!"

Selu rockets around to 4,10, ram Arde #5 with her lance (last ammo)

[Mercenary on the Winds]

If anything was a sure sign that something was up, it was the fact that Kazue was off on a false start, well before she'd finished issuing the order to strike. Sia clicked her tongue, foot still tapping the floor trying to keep some sense of rhythm. A sniper round rattled the ship, but the Dawn was built to withstand far worse, so it was more of an annoyance than something serious--illustrated by Alrenne's only mildly annoyed barking at the machine gunner's. 

What was actually a serious problem was the force approaching from the north; 4 Arde units bearing down on Louise, and Markus, and in the motion of a pincer attack. While unlikely to pose serious problems, a pincer could allow for lucky hits from the enemy, and sometimes luck was all that was necessary. The enemy seemed to have some reasonable understanding of the range of the Dawn's weapons, so they were neatly out of range. The grouping of the enemy were near perfect for Sen and Aegean's new project, a spread cannon, giving the Dawn better ability to help deal with crowds. Speaking of which, Sia turned to the gunnery woman, 

"Aegean, I want the dispersion cannon charged and ready, nothing is in range at the moment, but with how the enemies are moving, it will be useful in the coming moments." She flipped the communicator back on, "Lieutenant Silvavolke, head north to support Lieutenants Park and Stewart, and Ensign Nishimiya. That named group, do not let them try to pincer us. The rest, break through the incoming pressure and secure the surround area of the lab." Sia kept an eye on her instruments, near the edges of the battlefield, eyes occasionally drifting up to look for herself. This isn't all they have... They're just waiting to make their real move, but when... where? What's your game, Tokiwa...?

"Tristan, take us to the cliffs to the support the forward unit, and be ready for evasive maneuvers at any moment--these machines are better armed than the ones from before, and I don't plan on testing the ship's armor." Simmering still, but that didn't mean she could be reckless, not with Tokiwa still out there, and probably watching.

Dawn to 8, 27, and activates Alert! (If Lancer-S 5 falls below 8 HP, engage with AA Cannons, no action otherwise) 

Edited August 14 by Mercenary on the Winds

[GoldsbroTSG]

"Tch...!" Markus did throw himself into danger without thinking again. But it was for a purpose, it kept cover for an ally. All the Ardes came in on him, and despite the hail of fire he suffered, he was able to make it through, and his gambit was proven to be worth doing. Louise immediately fired and one of the Ardes was already down. He smirked, but a call from Louise did alert him into making a quick withdrawal.

"Understood Bright Eyes. Adjusting position." But not before getting my lick back, you little bastards. Markus calmly armed his machine with the revolver cannon. His machine was pretty beaten up, but it could still move. It was all he needed. As he made his withdrawal, he started his slow count, "One, two, three... Fire!"

Markus takes a shot with the 180mm Revolver Cannon at Arde 2, then H/As to 30,14

[mcd900]

"Yes, Captain. Plotting the Dawn's, course... Incoming machine...? At this speed...!?" Tristan was monitoring the radars while inputting the Captain's commands, his eyes unable to believe what he was seeing. "Captain! Incoming unknown at high speeds!"

Edited August 18 by mcd900

[Ether]

Despite the system telling her that the enemy had gotten a lock on her Vanguard, Catrin simply raised her rifle in the direction of the machine opposite her, firing off a rocket-propelled grenade instead of making any attempt to evade. The missile slammed into her armour, doing little more than scuffing the paint, however the grenade struck centre-mass on her opponent, their suit detonating in place. Had the pilot ejected? She hadn't noticed if they had. Seeing Selumine wheel around and strike at what appeared to be the leader of this small contingent and purge the Kn's armour after the engagement, it seemed they didn't really have any time to take things at a measured pace...

"Oi then, y'want t'see what we're workin' on 'ere so badly? Moi pleasure then." Catrin let a small grin slip as the rush of battle hit her, the thrusters on the V lurching the heavy weapons platform into motion as she wheeled around the Arde, taking aim with her rifle and flipping the switch to turn off her alt-fire, the generator forcing power into the rifle until it unleashed a flurry of beam rounds into the target.

Catrin to 7,11, Heavy Beam Assault Arde 5