Blueblood IC

[Aix]

 

An Original RP by Aix  and Fandom Workshops Inc.

Opening: Savior of Song

 

~ Episode I: Flight of the Ninth Fleet ~

 

BGM - Army of the King

Row upon row they marched, the rhythmic clamour of footsteps in unison shaking the earth. One thousand battalions of fifty, in full uniform, and proudly wearing their hard-earned insignias proving them alas as soldiers of the Empire, assembled on the vast training grounds of Academy 9. High upon his watcher's dais, Lonn watched as the his Fleet came to a halt, standing at attention for their Admiral and a rare sense of pride and elation came over him. Slowly, and ceremoniously, Lonn raised his hand to his head in salute while the Imperial Ninth Fleet followed suit.
 
"Hail Emperor Siegfried Alfadir, Rightful Ruler of the Universe!"
 
"Hail the Alfadir Dynasty! May it reign on for eternity!"
 
The Fleet spoke as one, their unity practised and flawless. Those words had been uttered upon these grounds every day for the last eight years and re-uttered again until perfect. They opened their mouths, once more, for the final utterance.
 
"Hail Archduke Lonn Alfadir, Admiral of the Ninth Fleet!"
 
Indeed, everything was perfect. Standing here at this moment, with his fifty thousand strong, he was ready to set off even to conquer the Universe in the Emperor's, his stepfather's, name... or otherwise, in the name of that person, whose ship descended upon them now.
 
An elevated red carpeted path extended from the dais and bisected the training grounds in two, at the other end of the scarlet path was a landing pad, large enough even for a hundred-meter-long flagship to dock. Instead, a beautiful twenty-meter private transport lowered itself gracefully upon the platform, its door sliding open to let a staircase unfold. At this moment, six large holoscreens opened up across the training grounds, three to each side projecting this incident up close and zooming in to the beautiful rose-haired girl stepping out of the craft. Even the disciplined Ninth Fleet could not resist a reaction to their honoured visitor in full regal dress.
 
A squeal or two was heard amongst the ranks of soldiers, though quickly stifled before trouble was had. The girl, however, ignored her station and etiquette to smile and wave to them. Wisely this time, they managed to not respond. Instead, remembering themselves, they quickly kneeled. All fifty thousand of them kneeled, together, before this one girl, bowing to the authority of the diamond diadem upon her head.
 
"Bow before the radiance of the Crown Princess, Freya Alfadir, Heir to the Spiral Throne!" cried the girl's escort and the hidden speakers magnified his voice for all, though they all knew full well who she was. Her face was everywhere, upon posters, bulletins, adverts, and she starred in numerous movies. Her name spanned the stars themselves, and reached appeal even in the Intergalactic Federation light years away. Most of all, however, was her voice, a heavenly tone that struck the soul, her song warming the coldest of hearts. An exaggeration or not, it wasn't too far from the truth. This girl was an idol, a goddess. Lonn's eyes were fixated on her, it had been over a year since they had met. She was the trueborn daughter of the Emperor and his elder sister and mentor.
 
In awed silence, the Fleet stayed on one knee as Freya traversed the scarlet walkway. She held a powerful royal aura, she may be the greatest pop idol in the Universe, but at this moment, she was the almighty Princess of the Alfar Empire. At her approach, Lonn and the soldiers behind him, too, fell onto a knee. In a smooth gesture, she extended a hand and he kissed it.
 
"You may rise," she said. "All of you." Yet even her solemn tone held a certain warm radiance and Lonn smiled politely and gratefully at her.
 
"Your Majesty, we are most honoured to have you join us today." Lonn took two steps forward so that he was in view of the crowd. "Us of the Ninth Fleet are bound life and death to the glory of the Alfadir Dynasty. These past years, we have toiled and trained so that we may render our utmost service. Today is the day finally of our ascension, where our efforts are recognized, our proper initiation into the ranks of the Imperial Fleet. On this marked day, I, your Admiral, shall swear our power and service to the Empire and to the Princess Heir. Her will is our highest command. Until we breathe our last, the enemy shall not harm a hair upon her head. Let this be so!"

The Fleet echoed strongly. "Let this be so!"

Again, Lonn kneeled before the Princess. The Ninth Fleet was to be special, it will not fall directly under Imperial command, but it shall instead only act the Princess's will upon the Universe. This had been agreed upon and arranged beforehand. With this, Lonn was bestowed increased freedom in his activities as the Princess permitted. "Princess," he said, prompting her.
 
"Admiral Lonn Alfadir, son of Sigmund and honoured stepson of Siegfried, I bear upon you the duty of leading this Fleet to victory. With this sword, I recognize the Ninth Fleet as a true member of the strength of the Empire!" Lifting a ceremonial sword taken from her attendant into the air, she brought it down onto each of Lonn's shoulders once. "Rise, oh mighty commander, and take to the helm. Let the flight of the Ninth Fleet be marked with honour and glory!" A thunderous cheer ensued.

[Raine]

                BGM

 

Lucius’s tear struck the steel tile of his cabin. A small bioluminescent shone on Lucius’s body, bareback and kneeling as he struggled to regain his composure.  “Forgive me for my actions,” he whispered into the shallow light of his quarters.  His breathing was frantic, “I will finally do what you require of me.”

 

Lucius raised his head to the only area sufficiently lit, a charm from his childhood and a mirror tinted in the gold of the lamp. His eyes were bloodshot and his expression desperate. Lucius took a moment and came to his feet. With a wave, white florescent light filled his room. It was bare military standard the exception being a small makeshift shrine in the corner.

 

He took a moment to check the time on holographic display built into the wall. He was about to be late for the arrival ceremony. He checked the mirror; his body’s scars were visible on his shirtless attire. After washing his face to clear the tears and redness, it took him mere moments to dress himself in his formals. The holographic screen had now switched to the live broadcast of the ceremonial area being prepared by the empire’s acolytes and a countdown to her arrival. “All hail the princess,” he recited to himself.

 

Lucius arrived on site of the ceremony about 5 minutes prior to the start and started to tie his hair back, the area was filled with bustling soldiers hurrying orders and preparations. Lucius felt a bit of relief that academy graduates would be relieved of standard duties since they had to attend. Luckily, he found his group in time. “Good morning. Yes, sir. Excited as always. Yes, it is an honor.” These words flowed out of Lucius as easily as his breathing, rehearsed and accompanied with a smile. He went into his row and awaited his new master and his sponsor.  "Hail Archduke Lonn Alfadir, Admiral of the Ninth Fleet!"

 

It wasn’t long before a royal transport flew into view, and its precious cargo made her appearance. She was dazzling, a personification of grace and divinity. Oh, how he loathed her. False idol, this world has no place for someone of such ambition. Lucius couldn’t help but clench his fist during the ceremony but his face was steady. He will return the world to God soon enough.

 

“Let it be so!” He said in chorus with the crowd.

 

The Ninth fleet is different. The Ninth Fleet is going to change the galaxy, in what way has yet to be known. Lucius was where he needed to be, and smile creep back onto his face

[Lunar Origins]

 

Adora watched in awe as her idol stood so close.  To serve her was Adora's one true desire; to do her will upon the galaxy brought  small smile to her face, which was quite rare these days.  Nothing simply pleased Adora anymore, not since her accomplishments began to become recognized across the entire Empire.  Things she had written were gaining more and more momentum in the scientific community, both Federal and Imperial, but she wasn't very impressed with her own fame.  It wouldn't bring her any closer to the crown princess.

 

Two hours earlier...

 

Adora sat at her computer, furiously pecking at the keys of her primitive computer in a futile attempt to finish this post and start the glorious tale of a courageous human...

[hr]

 

THE HOLY ADVENTURES OF TIM TIM - CHAPTER 1:  RISE OF THE ROBOT BARBARIANS FROM SYSTEM 7

 

Tim Tim stood on the precipice of defeat, blood trickling from his left eye.  Thousands of robot barbarians - robarbarians, if you will - lay behind him, their bodies letting out their last breaths of electric crackles.  The scene was utterly fantastical, but Tim Tim had no time for fantastical things.  Tim Tim was better than that.

 

Tim Tim surveyed the field before him, his laser pointer vision pointing out various objectives that may have been of interest.  His laser pointer vision identified one last robot barbarian making a futile charge towards Tim Tim;  flexing his impossibly developed muscles, Tim Tim pointed at the robarbarian and spoke "I am going to make you dead like friends."  His thick Russian accent caused the dreadful machine to stop in its tracks and scratch its head.

 

Seizing this opportunity, Tim Tim activated his ultimate laser pointer vision powers and looked directly into the robot's optical sensors, blinding it.  He made a mad dash towards and did a pirouette, producing a massive sniper rifle and firing it.  The bullet pierced through the helpless robot's cranium, leaving a sparking husk to fall down.  Tim Tim walked through the smoke, looking like a badass.

[hr]

Adora pet her little hamster and let out a yawn, reaching for a hair curler. "It's time for me to go now!" 

 

Present

 

"Let this be so!"  Her voice, quite light, resonated in unison with the rest of the fleet.  She breathed a sigh of relief.  For the first time in a long while, she felt just at home.

[hr]

 

Rose stood next to Lucius throughout the ceremony.  She hadn't meant to get shuffled in with him and the rest of the humans, she had only made a small mistake during the organization.  No matter, she thought.  Rose's hair was done up and she was dressed in her relatively conservative finery.  She towered over many of the other people near her, making her feel a little out of place.

 

She nudged Lucius after the formalities of the ceremony were finished.  "Hey, you were talking about a mech earlier?  I think I know someone that can help about that."

[Mugendramon]

Meanwhile, inside the head of most of those present...

 

But not Herrman's. He had stuck to the schedule as programmed weeks prior, and now beheld on one knee as Princess Freya, the very light at the core of the Empire, graciously made her way to Admiral Lonn and his escort. Her words as the Admiral took her hand reached Herrman through pleased ears. It was a pleasure that stemmed not from the harmonious voice itself, or its words; it came from knowing he was carrying out his duty as he had been assigned.

 

Herrman answered in unison along with the rest of the now-graduated cadets. It had been a long road for them all, and now it would be time for them to prove their worth. And he would be there as well, supervising. Listening to everything, being everywhere... inconspicuously. This was Herrman's prime directive -stealth.

 

The robot took a single moment to shoot a glance at Lonn. He looked brighter than usual; this was good. A lot of responsibility was falling on his shoulders at this moment, and despite this being exactly what the admiral had craved throughout his life, Herrman could not help but feel the man was unprepared for it all. In a way, he was no different from the soldiers standing to the robot's sides -completely green, eager to do his duty; but looking only straight ahead, disregarding whatever may come from his flanks.

 

And that was why Herrman stood in formation that day. He would always be there by Lonn's side... just outside of view, watching the edge of the road.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

For several minutes now, a certain male who was to become part of the newly minted Admiral's own crew upon his flagship had been waiting as the ceremony progressed.  This young man stood well over six foot tall, possibly the tallest person in the entirety of the gathered graduates, and kept his glowing electric blue eyes on the happenings the entire time.  He said what he needed to when he needed to for the ceremony to go on, and now that the official commissioning of the Admiral had occurred he had little to do other than wait for things to happen.  Draegan was, among other things, patient but even this was a bit much for him.  The ceremony was dry, and honestly the whole thing felt less meaningful than when he had first joined Academy 9 to become a soldier for the Empire.  Well, the Crown Princess being present was a different and meaningful thing to be certain but she hardly figured into his personal life so things were getting quite boring and he soon found his gaze drifting up...

 

And that was when he saw it.  To the average civilian they merely looked like a few stars in the sky, but Draegan had been here eight times each year on this exact day and had seen that exact sky eight times and so he knew what it was supposed to look like.  Another few moment and he noticed that the lights he saw were beginning to move in a way that was far from natural, and so a conclusion was reached in his mind within mere moments.  An elbow went out to tap the person nearest him on the side to grab their attention, and he didn't rightly care whether they would be offended by it or not.

 

"There aren't supposed to be ships in orbit above us, are there?"  He didn't think there were, and he'd looked over the schedule for the ceremony several times and nowhere did it mention ships orbiting the planet during the commissioning of the admiral.  In just a few more moments he was desperately wishing that the Gerridon was close enough for him to get to, as a sour feeling was building rapidly in his stomach.

[Raine]

BGM

 

With the princess’s scheduled departure from the stage, the ceremony came to an anti-climactic close until the maiden voyage. Truth be told, this crowd was giving him a headache. The faster things calmed down, the better. Lucius leaned back to post to collect himself when he felt strong touch on his arm interrupt his peace. He should have recognized the muscular contact, it was Rose. She didn’t wait for his response before she inquired about his search for a personal Valkyrie.

 

Lucius sighed; he didn’t realize he was so carefree that even Rose caught wind through the grapevine. Though, what she said was true enough. Everyone else in his class had already has either acquired or are awaiting their personalized mechs for the 9^th Fleet. “Uhh, yes, I’ve been in the market. It would be a pleasure if you could arrange for the two of us to meet after take off.” Lucius was curious but wondered why he didn't know this contact of Rose’s, “Thank you, Madam D’anjinus”

[Super Chaos Sonic]

World's Most Epic Music ~ Earth

 

The Admiral of the Ninth Fleet had arrived, and the Crown Princess of the Alfar, tapping the ceremonial sword on the Admiral's shoulders. The crowd began to cheer and applaud, as they looked upon Lonn. Everyone was excited with this gathering...well...almost everyone.

 

=Enter Daiki Rikuto=

 

A small yawn overcame the young Mecha pilot as he covered his mouth, before resuming the applause. Truth of the matter: he didn't really sleep the night prior...why you may ask, well there are multiple reasons. Perhaps he was prepared to give out a speech to other graduates that came from Academy 9... Or perhaps that he was partying with his fellow pilots... Or even he was trying to get last minute training in in the Mecha-simulator...

 

Sadly, it was none of these...

 

Man...finally got the last few ideas down for D-Perado X's future customizations... he thought in a drowsy state. Yes, in fact he had been spending most of the night (and by most, meaning ALL night) sketching up and writing down different ideas for his Mecha. As one of the humans that was graduating Academy 9 (barely because of most of his piloting assignments with other Mechas), he had to up his game with his own Mecha especially when contending with the Alfar and their Valkyries...along with their Spiral Power...

 

Daiki took another yawn, as he looked up at the sky, hoping that he could wake up that way...but indeed he did: there he saw faintly some faint lights in the sky. Stars? What...no, not really possible. I mean...its the middle of the day. So if that's not it... he thought, as he crossed his arms. "Then what is it?" Daiki spoke aloud, still looking at the sky.

[Ren✧]

"Oh Roy! Oh RoY! OH ROYY!!!" The repetitive exclamations permeated the darkened cadet quarters. The bare back of Roy McQueen caught the candlelight as his face nuzzled the side of the beautiful girl's neck as he kissed her shoulder, moving his lips up to where the corner of her jaw met her neck. "Roy..." She muttered again, pleasure filling her voice. Roy flashed one of his trademark smiles, meeting the girls eyes before the two embraced again.

 

"Dear God, is she trying to swallow me." Roy thought to himself, making a mental note of the girl's inability to make out. Her mouth was open much to wide and her tongue was awkwardly probing around his mouth, much like how a dentist inspects his patients. "And that constant yammering..." He silently complained. The occasional exclamation was expected, even appreciated, but in the course of the last twenty minutes this girl had said his name at least a hundred times. Even he didn't enjoy his name that much. "ROY!" 

 

"There it is again." He thought spitefully, as the two rolled over in bed. As they did so, Roy caught sight of the digital clock that sat perched on his nightstand. The luminescent green lights shown dimly in the sensual candlelight, causing Roy's heart to skip a beat. "Oh SH*T!" Roy exclaimed, pulling away from the girl, whose name he could not remember.

 

"Oh baby it's okay, I'm more than satisfied. Come on now, lay back down with me and I'll gi-"

 

"What? No...no, it isn't that!" He declared, disgusted with the idea that she could think that he could possibly be done yet, they hadn't even gotten to the kinky stuff yet. But, unfortunately, it seemed as if that would have to wait. "I'm late!" He continued, hopping out of bed. 

 

"Seems to me you were just on time." The girl said, obviously not understanding the situation. She eyed his bare, toned body as he dashed around the room, gathering various articles of clothing. "Now stop playing around, let's finish this thi-" She never got to finished. The light hiss of the automatic door opening revealed the silhouette of Roy's frame as he dashed out of his own quarters. Down the hallway she could hear him call, "Feel free to finish on your own!" 

 

Roy now dashed down the mostly deserted corridors of Academy 9 in his boxer briefs, attempting to pull on his cadet's uniform as he went. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He grumbled to himself. "You're a f*cking dumbass, you know that?" He told himself. "...but...she WAS hot." He then congratulated himself. Happy with the resolution of the internal argument, he finished pulling on his uniform and quickly made his way to the training ground where the ceremony was taking place.

 

"Let this be so!" The fifty thousand cadet chanted as one, just as Roy stumbled into the group. Making his way to the end of the line up, he tried not to draw any more attention to himself. Instead, he surveyed the scene. A few rows in front of him he caught sight of Daiki Rikuto, Roy's one and only true friend. The young mecha pilot paused his own applause to let out a ferocious yawn. Roy let out a wistful smile. He had roomed with Daiki in their first few years at the Academy, before Roy had petitioned for his own room. He knew that Daiki was probably up working on some hair-brained design or something. It was totally something that S.O.B would do.

 

His attention moved from his friend to what was supposed to be the main event. However, as his eyes slid to where the members of the royal Alfar family stood, something in the sky caught his attention. For a moment he was ready to pass it off as a shooting star, but slowly more lights began to make themselves apparent. These were not celestial bodies. Which could only mean that they were ships. Roy did not remember there being anything about a full armada being overhead in the details that had been sent out about the ceremony. Roy's gut clenched in worry as he suspected something was wrong. And apparently he wasn't the only one.

 

"There aren't supposed to be ships in orbit above us, are there?" Someone quite a few rows in front of him asked aloud. No sh*t, sherlock. Roy thought to himself. He looked down at his side where the standard cadet pistol hung in its holster. His hand moved to touch the butt of the gun. He had a feeling this was gonna get ugly really fast.

[a bad post]

 

Ismina Rivaille stood at rigid attention in front of her unit watching as the beautiful personal starship of the Crown Princess touched down, revealing the jewel of the Alfadir family herself, Freya Alfadir. A few hoots came from behind her from some of her men, but were silenced with a sharp glare from Ismina. She would not be embarrassed by her subordinates.

 

The Crown Princess responded waving back at her adoring fans, this time though they were wise enough to keep their bearing, kneeling as she walked passed. Ismina had to admit she was much impressed by the Princess' ability to captivate the hearts of so many, not only that, but she always noticed the way Lonn spoke of her, and now the way he looked at her in awed silence. For that the Princess had her respect, and loyalty, as few could capture the Admiral's emotions so. Still she couldn't make him any less of a brainwashed drone, though that could probably be blamed mostly on his parent's death.

 

So much potential... gone in an instant, Ismina mused, and almost missed the Princess' cue to stand. She listened to the carefully prepared words, though she wasn't much for loud ceremonies such as this, the Princess' had at least shown she deserved people's attention if nothing else.

 

"Let this be so!" Ismina parroted at the top of her lungs, though the individual voices were drowned out into one singular voice due to the volume. The Princess in swift motion brought the ceremonial sword down on each of the Admiral's shoulders, and thunderous applause echoed throughout the area, with overjoyed screams of the Academy 9 graduating students.

 

Ismina's revelry was quickly interrupted, as she was approached by one of the Academy technicians a worried look on her face, though it took only a moment to figure out way catch a gleam in the sky above.

 

"Captain Rivaille, we have reports of small force-" the technician yelled close to her,"we've sent others to inform the other Unit Captains as well as Admiral Alfadir."

 

"I see are you aware if they are hostile or not?"

 

"No, ma'am, but the no ships were scheduled to be in the air at this time," the technician continued a small panic in her voice.

 

"Alright, return to your station, perhaps it is nothing, but I shall take the issue up with the other unit captains as well as the Admiral." Normally she would be hesitant to approach the Admiral in front of such a large group, and at a ceremony such as this it was even harder, but the fact her fellow soldiers were lost in their cheers made it easier.

 

"Admiral. M'lady," Ismina said with a deep bow, "I apologize for interrupting you, but a small for has been sighted gathering above the Academy, and I thought it may be a security issue."

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Tobias stood among the crowd with the rest, wearing a grin that he could only imagine looked truly idiotic. Looking up at the Admiral, his smile turned genuine, if only for a moment. You have done well, Lonn. You deserve this position. Hearing the communion of voices surrounding him, he sighed silently as he put the mask of cheerfulness back on, speaking along with them. "Hail Archduke Lonn Alfadir, Admiral of the Ninth Fleet..." He shook his head slightly, wondering if everyone else in the crowd was truly as robotic as they sounded. No. To say robotic isn't fair. Robots know of their purpose... Or so I should hope.

 

Before he could continue the thought, his inner snarking was interrupted by the appearance of one much more important than everyone else in the area. Freya... I must say it has been a while. You certainly have aged well. Tobias had not encountered the princess since they were both young, and seeing her in such a position of power was... Mystifying, to say the least... The sudden movement surrounding him jarred him from his thoughts as he bowed down with the rest of them. Once he was given 'permission' to rise, he did so, and looked back toward the princess before he felt a nudge on his arm. Glancing to his side, he say Draegan, the... What is his race called again..? Oh well, it isn't of consequence.

 

"There aren't supposed to be ships in orbit above us, are there?"

 

Tobias broke out laughing, trying to conceal his sudden panic, "Don't worry, kid, I'm sure it isn't anything! Probably fireworks or something!" Looking to the same area as Draegan, he knew that what he saw was nothing of the sort. Ships? One would think the place would be better guarded... Perhaps this is some form of test?

 

Once again, his musings were interrupted, and yet again by a woman. but this time it was one far less pleasant to see. Ismina? Don't tell me this is about... Her words quickly confirmed his suspicion. Draegan was right. Well, this ought to be... "Fun!"

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

Eryn had been waiting for today for what seemed like an eternity. "Graduation day." The words seemed to carry an added feeling of grandeur in her head as they played in her mind over and over again at a steady interval. Perhaps it was the fact that, for one sweet moment in her life, she'd get to be one of many. An equal, and not an outcast. Or maybe it was the intense sense of accomplishment that she felt from finally making it through years of grueling training, sharpening her shooting and piloting skills to a razor's edge. Despite everything that her mother had always told her, Eryn had accomplished one of her goals. As she looked at her face in the mirror after her shower that morning, she couldn't help but feel a little bit vindicated. That was a new sensation, for sure. It wasn't often she considered herself a victor. The more familiar sensation of her mouth widening into a smile followed this thought, and the negative emotions associated with her female parent were quickly and thankfully forgotten.

 

They were replaced by thoughts of her crew-mates on board the soon-to-be Admiral's flagship. Crew-mates, since she couldn't safely refer to them all as friends, despite the fact that Eryn desperately wanted to do so. That said, all of them were in the same position today. Each and every cadet was about to become a full-fledged soldier, and the thought of all of the people she cared about aspiring to something greater made Eryn positively giddy. Today was going to be wondrous, she could feel it.

 

As she was getting her uniform out from her closet, Eryn's mind began to wander back to some seven years ago, to one of her first days at academy nine. Back then, she was but twelve years old, in the midst of what her mixed genetics decided to call puberty....

 

-----Seven Years ago-----

 

It hurt like hell, to say the least.

 

Boots, fists. She'd lost count of the impacts minutes ago, much more focused on the pain and the blood coming from her fresh wounds now. She struggled remember how it even started. Was it something she'd said to them? No, it was that she was there, breathing their air. It was that feeling again, the one she always got from her mother. Disgust and revulsion.  She felt helpless and alone, completely unwanted and was despised for only being what she was: a half breed. The child of a nobleman and some half-human woman. It was her ears that gave her away constantly, small and rounded like those of the lesser races.  Everywhere she went the stares were there, and the poorly veiled whispers. "Look at that thing." she'd hear them say with disgust. They never even afforded her the luxury of a gender. Just a thing, an object to be mocked and ridiculed. Still, nothing like this had ever happened before. it was all just words until now.

 

Not this time. The hate she'd always felt was personified in the barrage of punches, kicks, and stomps that they kept delivering to her body. "Freak! Mutt! Animal!" All familiar insults, but each one this time punctuated by a new hit or the further opening of an already bleeding wound. It felt like an eternity, and it never ceased or even let up in intensity as Eryn tried desperately to protect her head with her bloody arms. She was wailing in pain as the cadets continued to beat her. "Please just stop! Stop it!" She could barely form the sentences at this point, since she'd lost too much wind from getting hit in the stomach and the pain and the tear-filled sobs made it that much harder to speak. She could taste her own violet blood in her mouth, too, and it made her feel sick.

 

Then, suddenly, it stopped. She heard a voice speak from outside the crowd, not that she could discern the words. Whatever the voice said, it made the group around her scatter. She rolled over onto her back, barely catching her breath, and standing above her was a girl about her own age, with, surprisingly enough, quite the concerned look on her face. It was the last thing she clearly remembered.

 

---

 

Everything was a bit foggy after that, but then next thing she remembered, Eryn was laying on a bed in academy nine's medic's office, her wounds bandaged but still bleeding, and the girl from before was there, too looking relived this time. Eryn's first response was to flash her trademark sweet smile. She almost did it automatically, too. At this point in her life, she'd learned to value any form of kindness afforded to her, and her smile was both an attempt to return that kindness and an attempt to make the bridge between her and the other person last ever so much longer. Friendship, however fleeting,  was a precious thing to her, after all.

 

"Thank goodness you're awake." Was the first thing out of the other girl's mouth.

 

"Th-thankyou... for whatever you did." Eryn spoke softly, and stuttered a bit due to her brain beginning to register the pain from her cuts, bruises, and what was most likely a cracked rib.

 

"You shouldn't really speak, since you're so banged up." The girl said with a smile of her own coming over her face. "I'm Rose, by the way."

 

----Present Day----

 

She didn't know it then, but that day had been the start of one of the most important friendships in Eryn's life. Rose D'anjinus had ever since been a constant source of support and was, quite likely, one of the main reasons that she was standing here in her room today fussing over a small wrinkle in her otherwise immaculate uniform.

 

It had been a tough road since that day (although thankfully the wretches who had savagely beaten her back then had all washed out of the academy at one time or another), and Eryn had had to wade through a lot of ridicule and ill will, but despite it all she'd managed to graduate. Along the way she'd learned to bake and to better socialize, and those skills in turn had made her precious friends. She still didn't fit in, but now, at least, there were some who didn't see her the way her mother did, and she was endless grateful for that. Not only that, but she;d managed ot get her skills recognized and she was  assigned to the mecha squadron aboard the flagship itself. She'd even been given a high end machine for her own personal use, something that was quite uncommon as far as she'd heard of. Her smile came over her face again as she reminisced about seeing her shiny, white Silver Bullet for the first time, and being presented with her wings that day in the hangar. Her father had even made an occasion of it and come to visit his daughter and congratulate her, despite his busy work schedule. However this was soon interrupted by a glance at her clock, and the realization that she was running late.

 

---

 

The voices of fifty thousand imperial soldiers filled the open air as their commander was anointed by the princess. Eryn stood at attention and watched in admiration. However, something caught her trained marksman's eye and she quickly looked up. What she saw horrified her.

 

Lights.

 

Not just any lights either. They moved and some grew brighter in a way that Eryn knew only too well. She remembered seeing this same pattern clearly during reconnaissance drills. Warp signatures, and thruster exhaust from several warships. She'd been trained to pick out this very pattern from the ground only but a year ago, in order to prepare her and many other pilots for fast ground-to-air interception missions. Words from Draegan, a friend and wingman of hers who was standing close by, seemed to confirm her fears. She turned and looked at him, very concerned. "Please tell me you aren't seeing what I'm seeing."

[Lunar Origins]

 

Rose frowned after she had left Lucius's side.  "Thank you," he had said in his trademark voice, a tinge of curiosity resting in his tone.  She let out a small sigh and, brushing her hair from her eyes, looked around in an attempt to find the person she'd introduce him to.  There, right across the way, and far closer to the front of the procession than the back.  This was how Rose preferred it with her incredibly disagreeable sibling;  fifty thousand soldiers separating them, one hundred thousand feet between them.

 

Her sister was beautiful, as usual.  Rose was always jealous over her looks; her fair skin and beautiful hair had always earned her much praise from her peers, where Rose was never complimented for her appearance.  Rose had to constantly remind herself that she, too, was more than a soldier, but also a woman.  Sadly, she was the only one to ever pay attention to this fact, as unlike her sister, she was never the center of one's affection.  The closest she had ever even been to another person of the opposite gender was, in fact, with the man standing before the thousands of soldiers separating Rose and Adora.  She chuckled.  How ironic was it that even in the most ceremonious and holy of events, he was closer to her?

[Cray-Crow]

 

A couple hours or so before today's ceremony had begun, Lore was awake steadily moving through her morning and beauty rituals. Currently, she was straightening her thick, curly black hair. She preferred it this way, thought it was much more attractive. Once satisfied, she put the straightener away and starting lightly slapping her cheekbones, bringing a 'natural' blush to her somewhat gray skin. After applying a light purple shade of eye shadow, black liner and mascara, and pale lip smear, she poised in front of her dresser's vanity glass. Today, you prove to everyone how worthy you are, how deserving. She smiled slightly, and retreated to her closet to retrieve the Academy 9 dress uniform. Slipping into a thin black undershirt, Lore put on the uniform's coat and left her room.

 

Now, the ceremony was scheduled to begin in half in hour and Lore was busy ensuring that every member of her troop was there and that they looked at least somewhat presentable. They were to be standing in ranks by the thousand, so any mishap would blend and be drowned by their sheer numbers. Besides, there wasn't much to be done with so little time before the graduation's commencement. So far, her cadets hadn't given her much reason to distress. One however, caused her to grate her teeth. His slacks were wrinkled and their crease nowhere near straight or in the center of his pant legs and his jacket had some smears on its sleeves. Most likely oil or blood, Lore knew. This one enjoyed engineering work as much as he did fights.

 

"Ay, Phenthom. Why is your uniform look look like crap? Forget to wake early?"

 

"Shaddup, Lore. It ain't a big deal."

 

"Pffa! We are a big deal! We graduate today, become soldiers for the Empire! The princess, she'll come, and you want her to see your crap uniform? Just switch places with Luger in center, so none see you."

 

~:~

 

Having left her unit just moments before, Lore was currently in the company of Admiral Lonn and his personal crew. Weeks before today, Lore had found out she was to accompany the Admiral along with a few other chosen individual from within the ranks of Academy 9 for the duration of the graduation. Lore was beyond elated. The entire training fleet would see her among those chosen few, walking behind the Admiral. She'd accomplished something that the vast majority could not. Pride had nearly overwhelmed Lore every day since.

 

The graduating class, halted before the Admiral and his small group, saluting after his, and bellowed their academy's creed. This was truly invigorating, exhilarating. Lore could understand how and why Lonn's entire persona would change when he address and command he fleet. The entire feat was.. empowering. The princess, Freya Alfadir arrived in her personal flagship, with much elation to the ranks as soon as they caught sight of her. She was truly the visage of pure beauty, the utmost in royalty, and embodied the soldiers' devotion to their cause.

 

When called to kneel, the entire command did so, with Freya relieving Lonn and his company to return to standing. Lonn began a small speech illustrating Freya's importance to his fleet, as it was her will that commanded it. This entire command was hers, personally, and extension of her beliefs, her sword to defend her ideals and combat and defeat any she saw evil. Once finished, he knelt before her again, this time, his shoulders were met with a sword held by the princess, ceremoniously bonding Lonn with his company, the soldiers in their ranks, and their devotion.

 

Lore saw a few among the ranks gazing upwards intently. Following suit, she saw what had captivated them. Moments after, a graduating soldier, Ismina, presented herself to Lonn and her highness, giving a succinct brief of what was occurring. Lore's face become one of slight disgust and disapproval, but despite her malcontent with Ismina, it didn't make the possibility of danger any less real.

 

"Admiral Lonn, she is right. We must do something, before everything goes out of hand."

[Vector Nightmare]

A few feet away from the Admiral, a lithe, solemn figure observed the ceremony with focused, fervent eyes. Today was going to be a turning point. Today marked another stop in his long road.

Rygan just had no idea yet, just how much of a turning point it would prove to be.

Today was a day of glory and celebration, a day for a new path to be carved for the Ninth Fleet. A path in the service of Her Excellency, the Crown Princess Freya Alfadir. Most soldiers spent their lives, often ended their lives, in the service of something intangible - to satisfy someone's greed, someone's ambition, someone's ideal. The Ninth Fleet, on the other hand, would devote their entirety to the service of something they could see.

And that something was beautiful, thought Rygan, as he beheld the visage of the Crown Princess walking towards them.

That something was, perhaps, worth dying for.

He rose along with the others, ready for the honor of receiving his rank and duty from the princess herself, when something caught his trained eye. Lights...? They were too far away to be some part of the ceremony. Could it be more Imperial ships? But no... Even from what little he could see, he knew that these lights did not correspond to any official Imperial formation, military or otherwise. Using Spiral Power to enhance his vision was out of the question at this time, of course.

At that time, the ceremony was almost brought to its close. "Let it be so!" He almost absently echoed along with the others. The princess anointed Admiral Lonn Alfadir to his new position, and Rygan was able to direct his eyes upwards again. Are they... moving?

A quick glance around confirmed that many of the other cadets - no, now they were members of the Ninth Fleet - had already noticed something was off, and had begun to move. With the Admiral alerted, Rygan stood by on alert, ready to take action.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

"I'm a year older than you," was Draegan's immediate reply as he noticed it was Tobias that had called him a kid, and his eyes were locked on the lights of those ships appearing in the sky and apparently approaching their location.  He wasn't sure what was happening, but he was sure it wouldn't be good.  Another voice soon caught his attention, and the uniform-clad Kal'dar turned his electric blue eyes to Eryn, whom he saw as a friend, and he had to answer her truthfully.  "I think we're seeing the same thing."  His gaze turned about to the crowd, and in a few moments he could tell that they weren't the only ones to notice what was happening.  A certain officer of whom he was fond had gone up to relay the information to the Princess and the Admiral, and he was quick to realize that there wasn't time to wait for orders.  He just hoped there wouldn't be too severe a discipline for what he had planned.

 

"All pilots listen up!" he shouted to get everyone's attention.  "If I'm right, we need to get to our mechas and fighters as quickly as possible, so let's get moving and hope the things aren't in orbit yet!"  With that, he turned his attention back to Eryn and motioned for her to follow him.  Right now he had decided to damn the consequences, and turned about to face the path by which they had arrived on the grounds from the academy.  With any luck, their various pieces of large-sized equipment would still be in the various hanger bays and not on a ship somewhere in orbit just yet.  He used the fact that he was much larger than the majority of the others in the crowd to push his way through and clear a path for any of the pilots who were following behind him to make their way off.

 

True, this did technically constitute insubordination, but they'd all been trained to react quickly in the face of combat and so he was doing exactly that.  There wasn't much space between him and an open path through the crowd now, and all he needed to do was reach that before he could break into a run to get going there.  The possibility that he was wrong did occur to him, but there wasn't time to doubt and be indecisive.  If things turned out differently than he expected them to, he would accept whatever punishment was sent his way.  All that mattered right now was being ready in case worst came to worst.

[Astolfo]

Standing behind Lonn quietly, as she filed into line, Mithna stared ahead. She was fully ready for this, and wasn't going to mess up, no matter how excited she was, to be right in the close vicinity of Lonn, and she knew that the Crown Princess would soon arrive as well. As the breathtaking figure stepped out of the private transport vehicle, she kneeled, as did all the rest of the fifty thousand. Standing up as Lonn commanded of the safety for the Princess Heir, she opened her mouth, and in a loud and firm voice, she yelled out, "Let this be so!" Bowing respectfully as the princess officially gave Lonn the duty of leading the Ninth Fleet, she joined in on the loud cheers soon afterwards.

She narrowed her eyes curiously, when she noticed Ismina going over to the Admiral, and alerting him to a possible security issue. Glancing up, she locked onto the flying presences, ranging from warships to mechas. Staying calm, she tapped her left hair clip, glowing briefly green. "Jin, confirm relationship of unknown presences in air." In mere moments, a reply came, from what seemed to be her hair clip. "Foreign, permission for vehicles not attained, and judging from the patterns of flight and movement, they are almost certainly preparing to attack, and most likely very soon." Sighing, she knew moving over to the Admiral would be just another person wasted, essentially, as Ismina would've surely informed everything needed, and prepared her mind and body to battle if needed soon instead.

[Aix]

BGM - Dogfight

 
Twenty ships were in rapid descent into the atmosphere. Each three hundred meter long and streamlined in design, with gun ports open and mech hangars ready to launch, peace was the last thing on their minds, these were Federation warships on a secret mission. Swooping down like eagles, they were intent on quickly and efficiently destroying their prey and completing their objective. The ship’s cameras whirled and zoomed in, locking sight on their target - Freya, princess, pop idol and actor among many things, but they cared not, they were soldiers, only following their superior's orders.
 
“Pilots ready!” Came the call and the hangar doors slid open. Ten mechs dropped from each ship going on ahead to subdue the enemy.
 
 
Lonn rose from his kneeling position and surveyed his army proudly, when he was interrupted by a notice from his tactician. "I apologize for interrupting you, but a small for has been sighted gathering above the Academy, and I thought it may be a security issue."
 
The others behind him seemed quite distressed as well, one even attempting to alert everyone beneath in the crowd. Narrowing his eyes, he looked around and finally got sight of the lights in the sky. By his judgement, it was a significant fleet that waited above them, numbering somewhere around 1500 or more. But, the bigger danger was that he was able to make out some ships already swiftly descending towards them. Not even a second later were the resounding impacts of mecha landing all around them. In front, behind, they completely surrounded on all sides and a quick glance counted over one hundred. Some even landed amidst the crowd, crushing soldiers as they fell and knocking more back.
 
Lonn barely began formulating a plan of action when, without a word, the mechs opened fire. Cries ran out and soldiers fled towards the Academy while their comrades fell behind them, soaking the ground red and blue. Lonn clenched his teeth at the massacre, they were slaughtering defenceless men, but it struck him that none of the mechs cared to fire near the dais. Quickly, he turned to his sister. Utter horror registered across her face and she trembled with shock. Indeed, had Lonn not steeled himself thousand times before and seen similar scenes in battle simulations his reaction may well be the same, but there was no time to be disgusted. The timing of this attack... they must have been aiming for her, taking the rare opportunity where she would leave the Odin's impenetrable fortifications to kidnap her. Ignoring etiquette and his sister's attendants, he grabbed her hand intending to make a run, but that woke her up immediately.
 
"No, I can't run," she said. Uncertain for a moment, Lonn looked to her shoes, but they were not high-heeled. However, Freya promptly tore her hand from his and called out. "Soldiers of the Empire! Stop this instant!" The microphones on the stage caught her words and broadcasted them across the battlefield, the sound automatically adjusting to be louder than the surrounding clatter of screams, explosions and gunfire. There was a pause as the battle ceased and Freya took this opportunity to pull out a gun hidden in a compartment in her dress. Without an ounce of hesitation, she drew it up against her temple. "Stop this instant, or I will fire!"
 
"What are you...?" demanded Lonn. He reached to grab her hand again, but she didn't even turn to him and batted it aside.
 
"Soldiers of the Intergalactic Federation! You call yourselves men and women of justice? Is the murder of the unarmed what you call justice?" Those words, she knew, fell on deaf ears, the principle of the soldier, first and foremost, was to follow orders and follow their missions to completion. "Stop this massacre this instant or I will pull the trigger on this gun."
 
"This is madness!" cried Lonn. "You can't do..."
 
"I can and I will." There was no room for negotiation on her face, and with that grim, immutable expression, she brought the gun over and shot her other hand. Beautiful sapphire Alfadir blood splattered across the dais. This time, Lonn was the one to widen his eyes in shock. His sister was wincing, terribly, but even so there remained the adamant look in her eyes. It pained Lonn to see his idol harmed, in fact, of all people, Freya meant the most to him and yet he was helpless to do anything in this siutation.

"Admiral! We need to move out now! We can't risk the safety of either the Crown Princess or you!" Mithna's eyes widened as the princess shot her hand. "Your Majesty! What are you doing?! I plead you to stop!"

Mithna was right, Lonn reached for Freya again, careful to grab her wrist, but a mech, a massive navy blue machine separate from the rest, suddenly turned and fired at the ground before them. "She stays. She is our objective whom we need to capture alive, but all is for naught if she gets away," came the transmission from the mech. Lonn considered this. Would they really open fire if Freya attempted to leave? It was likely, a political hostage was not absolutely necessary in the Federation's plans and assassinating the Princess would still cause chaos in the Empire, but Lonn still could not let go.

"It's alright, Lonn," said Freya. She turned to him, and, despite the immense bleeding from her hand, she managed a smile.

"Like hell you're taking our Crown Princess!" However, the mech swung a massive barreled machine gun at Freya, and Mithna gritted her teeth. "Would you prefer if I killed her?" Unable to risk the princess' safety, the blue-haired girl reluctantly stood down.

"This is a direct order from the Crown Princess of the Alfar Empire! Run! Survive! Live this day out to see the next! Abandon me!" cried Freya.

"F-Freya!" Lonn attempted to reason with her again, but she turned to him with an intense glare. Her expression softened and then, raising her wounded hand, she used her wrist to push aside the hair covering her eye.

"Lonn." At that word her eye began to glow. Invisible to the others, the whole world seemed to swirl around that eye and strange spiral runes appeared across the sky. Freya leaned in close to his face, staring her eyes into his for what seemed like an eternity whilst everyone else stood frozen in time. Almost anticlimactically, she lifted her face and placed a kiss on Lonn's forehead. "Go, little brother of mine."

"W-What!" But before Lonn could stop her, Freya stepped off the dais and began walking towards the enemy mech.

"GO!" she called and like the child he once was obeying his sister, Lonn turned away.

 

"Shit. Shit! SHIT! Come, men," he said to his crew. "We set off, now." Then, without turning, he spoke louder with a grim voice meaning every word he said. "Very well, but I promise you, sister, that I will come for you!"

[a bad post]

 

 

"Incoming Federation mech!" Ismina yelled alerting those who weren't already aware, at the same time she instinctualy reached for the side arm strapped to her thigh before realizing she didn't have it with her.. Even though she should have expected it Ismina's eyes widened in shock when they began opening fire on the unarmed soldiers, nearly missed her lieutenant go for the knife 'she' had under her uniform. 

 

She gritted her teeth in frustration, imperceptibly shaking her head, Venus was good, but against all these mechs 'she' couldn't do a thing. The small 'girl' who one couldn't believe could possibly be a soldier with her delicate features, let alone a ranking officer, against her instincts turned tail and ran stopping at Ismina's side on the dais.

 

Before Ismina could even address her lieutenant a flash of grey brought her eyes back to the princess who had placed a gun against her forehead, threatening to pull the trigger should the Federation troops not stand down. She knew they might come for her, a dangerous but good plan indeed. The princess was more clever than she let on. She let them know she meant well on her promise as well despite the protests of her brother and his subordinates she aimed the gun horizontally from her hand and pulled the trigger.

 

A loud bang echoed across the courtyard, the smell of burnt flesh filing the air immediate area around the princess, blue blood dripping done her palm staining her dress and the stone of the dais.   

 

Unfortunately her plan was not good enough a blue mech, apparently the leader, would have none of it firing a round at the base of the dais threatening the princess to come forward, or they would continue to open fire upon the unarmed soldiers. It seems the princess' plan did not extend beyond that... Ismina's though did not.

 

"M'lady! Please reconsider!" Ismina screamed even as the Princess walked forward. She needed to stall, needed to buy just enough time for Venus to get a hold of the smoke grenade in her boot. Even as she attempted to stall, the princess still walked forward, even the Admiral seemed to giving up. "Wait! What do you plan to do to Princess Freya? M'lady, do not fall for their trickery, they may kill you anyway and your sacrifice would be for naught. Your life belongs to more than just yourself!"

 

A small black blur arced through the air detonating in midair sending a thick black smoke across the courtyard, causing panic to ensue once again.

 

"Students of Academy 9 make your way to the ship, and man your stations!" Ismina's clear voice cut through the madness, she then turned to Lonn in a softer voice, "you have exactly a minute to grab your sister before the smoke screen wears off, I suggest you hurry." 

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Laughing a surprisingly real laugh at Draegan's remark about age, Tobias stretched his shoulders, preparing for the coming action. Only physically, my friend. However, there was no sort of preparation he could do for what came. Even as the mecha landed around him, he was convinced that it was a clever test put on by Lonn, turning up to his childhood friend with a smile. A battle on graduation? Seems like a fair enough assessment. However, Tobias's smirk was wiped from his face the moment he saw the Admiral's own expression: not an expression of confidence, or amusement, or even Lann's typical apathy, but an expression of fear. Could it be that...

 

At that moment, the first shot was fired, followed by a second, which was then followed by many, many more. Tobias's eyes widened, his body briefly frozen in place. The world around him stopped, and he felt as if he was trapped within his own body.This isn't real. This isn't happening. We only just graduated moments ago... Freya even showed up... "FREYA!" Abandoning formality, he pushed through the crowd, trying to reach the dais. "Freya, run! They are here for you!" As he pulled himself, he heard a single shot. Though it was of smaller caliber, it rang out above all the others, as a blue ribbon extruded from the princess's hand. As much as time seemed to slow down before, it was speeding up now. He took a step toward her, but by the time his foot landed, she was gone, and smoke was falling down upon them. 

 

He heard a voice shouting near him and turned, seeing Ismina urging the princess to escape. So the smoke must be from her. Doesn't she know it is useless? Raising an arm and beckoning to her, he spoke, forgetting his persona completely in the moment. "Ismina. We need to leave. You have done well to protect Freya as well as Fleet 9, but now is the time for your own escape. We have a minute, so we ought to hurry." Despite his speech of hurrying, he hardly did more than walk as he began toward the academy, glancing over his shoulder to see if Ismina were to follow him.

[Lunar Origins]

 

Throughout the commotion of the graduation ceremony, the sisters D'anjinus eventually found themselves running rather than fighting. Adora was fleeing from the mechs firing upon the crowds in a fit of panic; Rose was carrying two injured students, their breathing slowing with each step. Her mind was singular at the moment, and she narrowly dodged a few beams shot in her direction. A forceful blow hit her shoulder, or, rather, the newly graduated soldier resting there. Crimson blood splattered on her face and a high pitched scream filled her ears. Rose's face contorted with horror before dropping the body to the ground with a large thud.

 

Adora was making her way away from the podium, making her way back to the academy. “f***, f***, f***, f***, f*** me...” She could only muster up the energy to focus on running and silently cursing herself for being so out of shape. A mecha turned on her and raised its gun; alarmed, Adora stopped, looking upon the mecha, fully trying to understand the situation she was now in. Without mercy, the mecha, a smaller model, fired upon her.

 

Searing pain filled her head, and then... nothing.

 

Adora woke up a few minutes later, the battle having come to a standstill. A heavenly voice had filled the air, followed by a gunshot, but she was not paying attention. She attempted to push herself up with her arms, but only one touched the ground. She looked down. It may have been the adrenaline wearing off, or maybe it was simply the shock, but there was no pain. No pain emanating from her bleeding stump of an arm; no pain filling her head, wondering how her life would be now that her most precious of body parts was now missing. No, she continued to push herself up, wrapping her mangled arm up in her dress, wincing in the process. The adrenaline began to wear off and the searing pain from before came back, and Adora cried out. She continued to run, a trail of brilliant blue blood following her. What she did not see, however, was her blood running together with the others, both red and blue, to form a black, viscous pool, one of many throughout the stadium. Life was indeed cruel and ironic in its many mysterious ways.

 

Rose, however, was escaping relatively unharmed. She had dropped both students she had picked up before; one had perished and the other simply fell from her grasp, but she was running too fast now. To go back and pick them up would be to commit suicide, and, as mortified as she was, she couldn't bring herself to take that risk. As she ran, she canned the distance for anyone she knew personally. Absolutely no one was to be found; all had already started making a mad dash for the academy, where Lonn's ship would be located, or were tending to the wounded. Those tending to the wounded were being shot down without mercy. “You've got to be kidding me... this is... criminal..."

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Draegan was unfortunately prevented from going much of anywhere once the Mechs touched down, unfortunately blocking the path he had intended to take back into the Academy.  He didn't have much time to react either, as his attempts at calling out to the other pilots again were cut short by the sudden sound of gunfire.  While he had the right combination of speed on his feet and luck to avoid most of the fire, many around him did not and soon he looked back in horror to see his classmates laying on the ground.  Most that were down were dead, many were not, and the sight was to be forever burned into his retinas.  It brought him to a standstill, long enough to hear a single voice and a gunshot pierce the sound of what was becoming a massacre.

 

His electric blue glowing eyes were drawn back to the Dais where the Admiral and the Crown Princess were standing.  He watched, in a mixture of horror and rage, as the Princess gave herself up to save the lot of them from being slaughtered.  The order was then given by Lonn to retreat, and as much as Draegan was feeling bloodlust like he never had before he had to agree with his Admiral's decision.  The smoke screen dropped there on the Dais seemed to distract at least the apparent leader of the force, and gave the Kal'dar time to gather his thoughts again.

 

"Pilots!  With me!"  He called out, and turned to bolt into the Academy and once inside to where he hoped that the Admiral's flagship was docked.  Certainly it took him a fair amount of time to reach, but reach the ship he did and presumably the other mech pilots were close in behind him.  He didn't bother looking back to check, as he was certain he wouldn't like what he saw.

 

One might think that the somewhat enclosed quarters of the flagship would slow someone as big as him down, but this was not the case.  He kept running full tilt, and knew exactly where it was he intended to reach.  His goal was the Hangar, where the KAS Gerridon was waiting for him and was ready to make its place on the battlefield known.  All the same, when he finally reached his objective he managed to force his anger down for the moment.  What he needed to do in the immediate future was be patient, integrating with his Symbiotic Armor was a delicate process and furthermore even once that was done he would need to wait for the order to engage the enemy.  All the same, he immediately scaled the platform beside the Gerridon which brought him alongside the "cockpit" in the back of its neck.  The armor slid apart at his touch, and he stepped forward into the utterly dark place beyond while it shut behind him.  Now all he could do was wait.

[Mugendramon]

While I do feel bad for using Bleach soundtrack...

 

 

The entire ceremony exploded into chaos much too quickly for Herrman to stay ahead. Many graduates began looking up, though Herrman had at first paid no mind. He was very well aware that an aviation display was scheduled... and because of this, he never suspected the incoming federation combat units until their approaching engines were within hearing range. He reacted quickly enough to understand the proximity of Ismina to the royal family and the increasing panic of those around him.

 

But even his thought process could not make him move any faster. He knew all too well what was about to happen, but could do nothing about it. His positronic brain screamed internally, during an interval much too brief for a human to notice, while it struggled to move the carcass at full speed. The only movement it could allow: a sprint.

 

Herrman knew a lot of lives would be lost, and this had considerable weight on his reaction speed. He knew all too well that it was not within his capabilities to prevent casualties; this enabled him to prioritize the life of his assigned target. Without even so much as having a conscious thought, the robot was madly dashing toward Lonn through the most direct route -the middle of the courtyard.

 

He could feel a small stab of pain and something akin to grief course his circuitry for every corpse or dying individual his legs made him run past. But stronger than this grief were his prime directive, and the Three Laws.

 

The third law was particularly useful in this instance: he had to protect himself from a constant onslaught of laser fire. His nimble composition allowed him for rather skillful dodging, and given the general state of panic it was doubtful that anyone would recognize him or associate the superalfar capabilities he was displaying.

 

Not that it would have mattered at this point, his cover was altogether less important and near irrelevant in comparison to the life of the Admiral. Tears were being artificially shed in accordance to the pattern that the signals in Herrman's positronic brain displayed. He could now see the princess, her gunshot barely audible due to the intense firing all around it it, had a gaping wound in her hand and blood dripped from it. She had once been his assigned target, and a feeling of tenderness lingered around her person for Herrman. He did not wish to let her stay, contrary to her encouraging words.

 

He felt the weight of the First Law apply to both Lonn and Freiya at once. It thus came down to the Second Law to decide the priority of his actions... and Freiya had given a clear order, as he had heard even throughout the commotion of the ambush. He could not bring himself to disobey, and once again Herrman followed behind Lonn, now keeping up to him and the others following him.

 

Herrman's voice as he addressed the admiral was loud in accordance with the level of noise around the group, and his tone communicated nothing but discipline. Though it did no doubt seem completely inappropriate for a common squad member to run up the the Admiral and addressing him this directly.

 

"Sir, this is nothing short of a boundless catastrophe. The current situation is not salvageable. Most of the squads have been anhihilated already, and there is no way to discern a clear number of casualties. By the time our forces were allowed to assemble a response team, this attack squad will no doubt have already cleared its objective.

 

I suggest holding our position as long as possible so as to allow as many survivors to gather at the flagship... then escape at full throttle. We will win nothing by fighting a battle that is... already lost."

[Raine]

Shin Sekai Yori - OST (Sad Seperation)

 

 

The hail of bullets came suddenly and reaped. Lucius couldn’t process his surroundings fast enough at the beginning of the attack and fell victim to the concussive blast of a nearby shell knocking him back 3 meters. He finally came to his senses; his ears were deafened by ringing and the sound of screams. Lucius rose to his feet with vigor, his eyes ablaze with anger. He took quick notice at the bodies near his boot. His eyes gaped in horror and he knelt down to examine the deceased. “I don’t know you,” he whispered to himself. Her eyes were now permanently darkened. Quickly, his anger matured into hate.

               

Lucius was calm now, kept steady by his bottomless hate. A pale green mech landed behind Lucius. He couldn’t quite make out what it was saying due to hearing damage except the word surrender. Lucius scoffed, “You took life that was God’s.” In a single motion, he turned and pulled his small arm, “You are not he!” One, two, three shots struck the metal shell of the mech with no effect. The mech was quick to respond and fired towards Lucius. The bullet missed and kicked up enough dust for Lucius to evade into and find cover.

 

The smell of death and dirt stung Lucius’s nostrils and throat. He spent the next few minutes, evading enemy contact and working his way towards the fleet. It was too chaotic, and he had no extra-communication to contact any sort of command. He arrived near the metallic walls of the Academy exhausted and breathing heavily. He took a momentary reprieve to reload his pistol and continued into facility.

 

Lucius kept thinking of his options, he needed to collect a communication device. Lucius’s boot smashed the emergency panel of a weapon’s closet. The inside was mostly anti-civilian weaponry, useless against this kind of force. There was an earpiece however. The communication was filled with static, he wondered if the confederation brought jamming equipment. Just then, he heard a familiar voice, “All –ilots, with m-“. It was indirect; he was probably listening to a dead man’s communicator picking up voices on the field. Still, if pilots are assembling a force to rescue survivors, it would be worth looking into.

 

Lucius looted the closet for a second pistol and explosive charges. The sound of footsteps echoes through the hall. Survivors? No, the steps were coordinates. Lucius grinned and his hatred flared. He leaned against the wall and listened for their position. Two of them? Scouting the interior? It was instantaneous, Lucius bashed the butt of his pistol into the throat of one of the hurried soldiers, stunning one. His opposite hand took steady at the second man, his hands already searching for his assault weapon. Speed won and Lucius’s bullet ripped into his body twice leaving him cold. The stunned man recovered but Lucius pinned his forearm on his throat and shot his right arm.

 

The soldier gasped for air to yelp in pain. Lucius pressed his firearm to his temple. “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy, my brothers.” Lucius gazed down at his second victim, his stomach was churning. He was not particularly mentally apt at killing. It took a minute for Lucius to steady himself and wipe the blood off his face. “God, please guide me…” Lucius began towards the hangar. 

[Aix]

"I... I can't make choices out of emotion," said Lonn. "The moment they realize she's getting away, they'll shoot us down. They have the complete advantage here, they can simply lay ruin to the Academy and cut off our escape." He pointed to the ships now fully descended. Their gun ports were open, almost daring them to make a move.

"Ismina. We need to leave. You have done well to protect Freya as well as Fleet 9, but now is the time for your own escape. We have a minute, so we ought to hurry."

Lonn looked, surprisedly at Tobias, but then back to Ismina. "He’s right. Let's go, Ismina." With that he headed off.

Herrman came behind him as he ran.

"Sir, this is nothing short of a boundless catastrophe. The current situation is not salvageable. Most of the squads have been anhihilated already, and there is no way to discern a clear number of casualties. By the time our forces were allowed to assemble a response team, this attack squad will no doubt have already cleared its objective.

I suggest holding our position as long as possible so as to allow as many survivors to gather at the flagship... then escape at full throttle. We will win nothing by fighting a battle that is... already lost."

“They have already cleared their objective,” Lonn said with a grimace, thinking back to Freya behind him. “They shouldn’t bother us much more, though it is also possible that despite Freya’s threats, they may take this easy opportunity to annihilate us early on.” He paused to think. “Indeed, our objective will be to get out of here alive, count the dead and missing, and lick our wounds when we get somewhere safe. If they think we will be an easy prey, they are in for a surprise, but we’ll avoid engaging them if at all possible, they by far hold the upper hand.” He was really just thinking out loud at this point, there was little use in relaying his plans now and to a robot no less, but at this point, he felt good for just releasing whatever he held inside him.

Reaching the interior, he made his way to the main hangar where the Mjolnir was docked in its full glory, but there was no time to appreciate it and he made his way in immediately, ignoring what the rest of his crew went up to.

Lonn entered the bridge and with a snap of his fingers, all the lights turned on and the system activated. The room was massive and dome-shaped, but only dimly lit, instead there was a large screen plastered across almost the room’s entirety with exception of the ground, providing a high-definition live footage from the ship’s many cameras to give a 360 view of the space around the ship. In the center of the room upon a raised platform was a throne of sorts, meant for the commander to sit. Immediately as he leaned back into his chair, feeling its familiarity, Lonn felt his muscles relax. The system dialogue came up in the form of a holographic screen in front of him and he pointed to the option to make a fleet announcement. “All soldiers report to your ships and stations, we set off in ten minutes.”

Ten minutes may have been cutting it tight due to the mass of the wounded, but he expected no less from the crew he had nurtured over the years. They were no longer mere cadets now, they were true members of the Imperial Fleet and, more importantly, his fleet. Speed and yet disciplined was the base tenets for the efficiency of the Empire as a whole and they were to embody that. He had no use for anything less. The detached expression returned to Lonn's face as operation returned as usual.

[Ren✧]

Roy continued to watch the lights in the sky as they grew closer and closer. He had already started moving. His first thought was to move towards those that would be the most obvious targets, the royal family. However, he stopped himself as he heard the familiar whine of mechs dropping from the ships that finally made it to a clearly visible distance. Against mechs he would be useless. Still...he could save the princess and admiral. 

 

His internal conflict was rendered null as the first mech touched down, opening fire upon the newly inducted cadets. His reflexes kicked in, throwing all reason and logic aside, forced to yield to the base need to survive. He dove for the ground, executing a perfect combat roll. Bullets peppered the ground behind, kicking up bits of earth and stone that stung as they hit him. Luckily, it didn't seem as if the mech that was firing was targeting him specifically and Roy gained a quick reprieve from the hail of fire that had previously been biting at his backside.

 

"Son of a b****!" Roy shouted as more mechs hit the ground, a spray of red and blue accompanying their arrival. "F*ck it!" He muttered, abandoning the hope of getting the royal brats out of harm's way. It seemed that several other members of the fleet were already on that task. Right now they needed fire power. He needed to get to the Hangar. Unfortunately, a couple tons of excessively aggressive heaps of metal stood between him and his goal. "This is some stupid s***." He chastised himself as he drew his gun. The small sidearm would be effectively useless against the mechs, but it still offered Roy a small sense of comfort.

 

Roy left where he had momentarily ducked for cover, reentering the throngs of panicked cadets. As he ran, he thought he caught a flash of Daiki's blonde hair, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. He wanted more than anything to make sure that his friend made it out of this unharmed, but he knew that pausing, even for a moment, could result in his death. He had to trust that Daiki would be able to make it on his own.

 

Roy had nearly made it across the grounds when one of the mechs noticed him. It was sheer luck that the bullets didn't hit him. That was the thing with battle. No matter how skilled you were or unskilled you were, many things came down to luck. It wasn't skill that had saved Roy's life just now, it was luck that had safe guarded his life. He had a feeling it wouldn't take his side again. With renewed effort, Roy sprinted for the Academy doors that would lead to the Hangar. Bullets whizzed passed him, slamming into the walls of the Academy and pocketing the ground where they hit. "Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!" Roy yelled as he ran. Just as he reached the doors, a bullet grazed his left bicep. Roy roared in pain, but didn't stop to examine the wound. He crashed the doors, immediately gaining cover.

 

Only then did look to see what damage had been done. The wound throbbed as tears of blood streamed down his arm. "Dammit!" He cursed. It was merely a flesh wound, but still, it would be troublesome and annoying for quite some time. Ripping off the hem of his shirt, he fastened it around his arm as a makeshift bandage. There would be time for proper medical treatment later.

 

Roy sent out a silent prayer that he hadn't loaded his ship onto the Admiral's flagship before the ceremony. If he had, he would have had to wait for the flagship to launch before taking the helm of his Brynhildr X-Class 3. As luck would have it, Roy had neglected that duty, resulting in quite the fortunate happenstance. 

 

Climbing into the cockpit of the small aircraft, he powered the sleek machine up. The engines hummed with energy as various lights appeared through out the cabin. After a quick check that everything was in order, Roy pressed a button that opened the hangar door in which the Brynhildr was parked. He wasn't about to wait for the Admiral's orders to attack. That wasn't his style. Besides, there was a time for planning and a time for action. This was the latter. "Let's go get'em, girl."