Asriel Dreemurr Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 Johan smiled as he saw Melissa's reaction to the revelation that his family employed a chef, realizing that he'd never actually explained to the rest of the team where he and his brother came from. Sure, it wasn't exactly a secret but he'd never told anyone on the team, and as far as he was aware Heinreich hadn't either. Both twins had just kind of made the assumption that they were known, and they hadn't brought it up. "Well, that's certainly quite the tale indeed," he said with a smile as she recounted the story of her father having one of his shrimps stolen by a hawk, even laughing a little at it. Of course, shortly thereafter, he was asked about his own childhood and had to think up a story of his own to tell. "Well, my childhood wasn't quite so interesting as yours. My father hired all sorts of tutors for my brother and I, trying to get us ready to run the family business." He paused for a moment there, realizing he should probably explain what that was. Thus it was that he took a deep breath, and went about that explanation. "As for the family business, our father owns Von Drackenmoore Armaments. If you don't know, they're probably the single biggest manufacturer of combat frames and weapons for them in the shells. Dad wanted us to take over some day...guess we kinda mucked that up." He laughed to himself again, though there wasn't any humor in the laugh. It was just the sort of laughter one engages in when they're trying to distract themselves from less than pleasant memories. "Well, I guess mine and Heinreich's childhood was normal. Went to class, ran amok around the family estate when we could get away from the tutors for a bit. I remember we always used to get so excited when dad came home from a business trip, and he'd always be excited to see us. When he was home, we'd usually spend the whole day just going about Shell Asgard. I remember this park we'd go to, it had this huge lake and dad would just let us swim around in it for hours." He went silent after that, the reminiscence reminding him just how much he missed home. A bit of shaking his head, and he turned his attention back to Melissa to get his mind off the past and back on the present. He didn't want to ruin her mood by talking about how it had all come to the end. "I know I've said it already today," he began as he reached over to take the woman's hand in his, "but I love you." --- Things were certainly far less romantic for Heinreich and company. As it turns out, Mira hadn't had much in the way of an idea as to what Leo's initiation would be. Thankfully, the eldest of that little group had an idea. It didn't take long to find the local watering hole, and a few uses of the kind of money the son of a wealthy business man had access to later they were pretty well rolling in booze. Some of it was good, some of it was not, but most of it was passable and that was all that was needed. The goal had been to get Leo shítfaced, but Mira had gotten a bit too overzealous in it and had ultimately wound up passing out drunk. She'd since been laid out on one side of a booth, and the boys had gone to sit on the other side to continue their drinking. There wasn't really any question as to the fact that the grown German man was better at holding his than the young Puerto Rican, and really anyone could have figured that out just by looking at them. "So, Probie," Heinreich began with a chuckle, "how do you like your initiation?" --- Michael affixed the young man who had just, likely without meaning any harm, called him old with a look that could probably have killed him if such a thing were possible. Honestly, from how nervous Johnathan had been so far he thought this might give him a heart attack. Of course the look soon passed, and the black-clad man put on a smile as he began chuckling before going back to his tea. "Oh relax," he began, waving off the attempts at redirecting the conversation. "I know I haven't aged well. I'm only forty-two, and I don't have a hair left on my head." Another chuckle commenced as the sniper ran a hand over the perfectly smooth surface of his head. "My name's Michael by the way. How about yours?" He decided not to go with his full name for now, as he offered the hand that had just moments ago been rubbing his head to the young man. He didn't quite know how learning that he'd insulted the single deadliest sniper in Terra Firma's history would go with the poor boy, and right now he didn't feel like killing him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted January 29, 2015 Report Share Posted January 29, 2015 Takeo “I do hope its nothing too pressing, sir.” "We'll tackle that obstacle as it approaches," he said with a chuckle. “I used to play this game often with my younger brother, when we were kids, though i was never very good.” "No worries, dear. If it helps, I don't take it easy on anyone, especially beginners. You learn more through aggressive, tactical decision making than you do through the enemy's pity. And on this chess board, I am your enemy." he joked. She responded with a similar move, mirroring Takeo's own. When she said her name, Takeo was taken slightly aback. She was very polite, and it was refreshing to have someone less high strung in his presence. Shaking Lauren's hand, Takeo smiled. "Please. You may call me Takeo, if you wish." Recalling what pieces of Lauren's file he had read, she was a defector. There were lots of open ended questions behind that one sentence, but Takeo only had a few questions he needed answered. He started small. "So, Lauren," he said with a similar and equally polite tone. "Your file reads you as a defector. I'm not interested as to where you came from," he said immediately. Instead, Takeo leaned back in his chair slightly, as he continued. "I'm more interested as to why you found yourself defecting to Terra Firma. Do you believe yourself to have such a vivid future here that you would betray comrades? I mean, that's a major offense. Or perhaps you were looking to cover your tracks by joining such a prestigious armed force and blending in?" He knew he came off as a bit rude, but he continued anyway. "I don't mean to belittle you, Lauren. However, I'm very curious. Why should I trust you? If you defected once, what's to say you won't abandon ship once more if the time presents itself?" Takeo sighed, finishing up his sudden rant. "That being said, your marks are very impressive. You're obviously very skilled. What could have drove you to leave those unfortunate few behind, I wonder?" Depending on her reaction, Takeo would know exactly how much he could trust Lauren. [hr] Melissa She smiled as Johan told his tale. She was imagining him in a business suit and tie, with a laser pointer in hand and virtual board in which to direct. It was kind of cute. When Johan went silent, Melissa had thought she forced him to mistakenly bring up a painful memory. Fortunately, Johan quickly drew her thoughts again, taking Melissa by the hand. "I know I've said it already today, but I love you." Surprisingly, Melissa didn't blush. But her smile did become more bright. She wasn't unsure or embarrassed anymore. She didn't have to 'admit' her feelings anymore, because Johan already knew them. And she knew his. But, life was not about to let Melissa go un-embarrassed in this moment, as her stomach let out a gurgle, before the words, 'I love you too' could leave her lips. Instead, she ended up muttering something along the lines of, "I--would love to get something to eat right now," laughing as the words were in tune with the grumble in her stomach. "I think that's our cue," she said still giggling, getting to her feet. Interweaving her hand with Johan's she tugged him slightly, inching towards the meeting spot that had been rearranged some hours ago. "Let's hurry. I have a lot of pasta to make." [hr] Zalwara He was busy sharpening his knives in his room, isolating himself and clearing his head. He threw several sharpened knives at a marble and steel plate hanging ominously on his wall. It only had two other marks in it, both of which were several inches deep. The three knives he tossed landed side by side to each other. Because they all landed nearly simultaneously, the plate received a large crack in it's center. It was at it's breaking point. They were sharp enough. He drew the knives from the plate in the wall, and put them in their proper cabinet. Zalwara sighed finally, wondering if Takeo was right. Was he too anxious to draw blood? Was he risking the other lives of others needlessly, simply based on a guess? Taking down the cracked plate, Zalwara finished the job by snapping it in half, and tossing it's broken pieces into a tin disposal can. The clattering rang throughout his room for a few seconds, before he left his room once more. Groaning, he made his way to his storage unit. Inside, a heavy container full of similar marble and steel plates was opened. Six of them were missing, and fourteen remained. Zalwara drew two plates from the box, and began turning back to his room, sealing the unit. As he returned to his room, Zalwara hung both plates on his wall, and prepared to break them in. [hr] Johnathan Was Michael messing with him? He paid it no mind. "Uh, Johnathan, Mr. Michael. My name is Johnathan," he said accepting Michael's handshake. Johnathan laughed as Michael joked about his age. "Come on now. If I can look half as good as you when I gain another twenty years, I'd be okay with it. You from around here, Michael?" Johnathan was wondering if Michael was dressed to impress or waiting for someone important. He was wearing a full assortment of black clothing. Though, not inconspicuous, it was rather neat. And here Johnathan was wearing a t-shirt and khaki work pants. Talk about being shown up on accident. He maintained an honest face and a trust-worthy tone. At least until a glare from the east hit him directly in the face. Raising his left hand to block out the sun a bit, he looked down to his watch. It was getting late. "Oh! Shoot, sorry, I gotta scramble!" he said jumping up suddenly. "It was a pleasure, Michael!" Johnathan said waving backwards and sprinting towards the pre-arranged meeting place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeriberii Haan Posted January 31, 2015 Report Share Posted January 31, 2015 "A traitor from SAF?" It was...just weird hearing the words from Admiral Takeo about the wingman of Drayden Siedrich. Saria was currently eavesdropping on the chess game between Admiral Takeo and said wingman, and while knowing it's not really something nice to do, Saria was just wanting to satisfy his curiosity about the admiral that people often talked about, though, the wingman now caught his attention due to her status as a defector. It's just, Saria had been hearing rumors that "Mr. White", technically his immediate superior and proper employer, used to work as a Terra Firma spy in the SAF military. This woman...Lauren Vega, she probably would know something about him. Saria decided to stay there and continue listening to the two's conversation, trying his best to not be noticed by anyone while doing so. [divider1] "...I have a bad feeling regarding this. It's just...I can't really say why, but I feel like....ugh, no, it's impossible! There's no chance for that to happen!" "Miss-" "Ah, what is it?" "We have finished in installing the solar panel system on your frame. Though-" "Yeah, I'll go down there later and help with the maintenance." "Also...one more thing." "Hm?" "The design you submitted earlier... I'm afraid it's impossible to manufacture now. Even as an Synchro Frame, it's just..." "...I-I see." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted January 31, 2015 Report Share Posted January 31, 2015 Zalwara He couldn't shake it. Zalwara was still trembling with rage. He tossed a knife at one of the new hanging plates he had just replaced. It pierced through the plate like butter, and punctured the wall. Zalwara walked over to retrieve the knife, but stopped as his hand lay on its handle. He punched the wall, fuming over what had transpired some twenty minutes ago. Snatching the knife from the wall, Zalwara backed up, so that he could throw it again. "Rash decision making?" He threw the blade, and shattered the marble plate. The crack rang out into the halls of the Dark Tide, allowing anyone who passed to hear it. "After I've led countless men to victory. After I've been one of the sole deciding factors of a battle, now my decisions are rash?" His voice was calm, but frightening. Then, there came a rapping at his door. "Sir? We heard a noise and were just wondering--" "Do not continue wondering. I you value your lives, keep walking," Zalwara called behind his door. "Sir!" their footsteps trailed into the distance. Zalwara picked up the shattered marble plate, and placed the pieces on his desk. "Takeo," he said to himself. "You've changed. And I don't like it." Zalwara set up a new marble plate, and drew one blade from its cabinet. He gave the blade a powerful toss, but it rang off of the plate, and stabbed into the floor. Zalwara left the blade there, examining the plate. Strangely enough, it had been reinforced twice over. With, not only steel, but a fiberglass coating and diamond dust. Then he remembered where this particular plate came from. It was custom made by himself, for exactly this moment. When he would need to reflect on what had transpired, and allow it to deflect off of him. Picking up the fallen blade, Zalwara sat on his bed, staring at it. "My heart belongs to this ship. My heart belongs to Terra Firma," he said softly to himself. "Yet my will falters." Zalwara did not get up, but drew a heavier blade from his side. This one was just as sharp, but carried twice as much weight as the previous in its grip. He threw it furiously at the plate, cracking it in two. [hr] Takeo He could hear the plates breaking from Lauren's room. They were rather heavy, so when one broke, there was quite a clatter in the immediate area. He frowned slightly, attempting to ignore the noise. But, Takeo knew this only meant he made his point clear. His frown vanished, and turned upwards into a grin. "Do you hear that?" he said only generally. "He must be flustered. Drowning." Takeo made his first mistake. Revealing his true colors. He quickly adapted, and joked about the situation. "Either he's breaking those special plates again, or he's having an intense boxing session. Alone," he joked. Takeo did not take his mind off of the shattering plates however. He even went into detail about them, how they were designed. "Specifically for Zalwara's blades. They were originally the strongest cutting boards that could be crafted. Just for heavy cuts of meat and butchering. But Zalwara uses them for target practice. This is the first time he's broken any of them in ages. Not since--well, that's not important." He silently reflected on when Zalwara broke the first marble plate, some years ago. They had been training together, and Takeo pushed Zalwara's buttons. [hr] Sometime ago . . . He was tired. Takeo had pushed him to his limits, dancing about with that practice blade and suit, without sweating. "You still hesitate," Takeo said. Zalwara did not reply. He was on a knee, panting heavily. He raised his mask, and wiped sweat from his forehead. "You can raise your blade to your enemies, but not to me. You must not be hesitant agains anyone who stands before you, Zalwara." "I am not hesitant." "Then perhaps if you had drawn your blades sooner, your parents would still be here." Zalwara froze. He began to tremble slightly, but gripped tightly at his practice blade. His mask dropped onto his face, and Zalwara darted at Takeo. Their blades clashed, but Zalwara quickly found an advantage. After Takeo parried a thrust, Zalwara slightly stumbled, causing Takeo to perceive an opening. He was incorrect. It was a feint. Zalwara took Takeo's incoming thrust, and kicked him off balance, onto his stomach. Before Takeo could roll onto his feet, Zalwara had the blade at his neck. Takeo dropped his own, clapping slowly in applause for Zalwara. Zalwara grunted in disgust, throwing the blade to the side, and storming off. That was the first time, when he returned to his room, he put all of his strength into tossing a blade into a marble and steel plate, and shattered it in two. [hr] Takeo "He's very hot headed, but for good reason. The boy has been through a great deal. I know I can push him a bit much sometimes, but I feel it best. The most harsh tactics for the most dangerous aboard my ship. Though, with that in mind, I wouldn't want him going on a rampage either," Takeo said chuckling. Replying to Lauren's previous move, Takeo moved up a second pawn, exposing his back line slightly. "Your move, Lauren." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astolfo Posted January 31, 2015 Report Share Posted January 31, 2015 At the pub…As Leo was debating how to answer Heinreich's question, Mira stirred, still very much tipsy. Looking around dazedly, a goofy grin made its way across her face when she found Leo. Stumbling over to him, she half-collapsed on top of the poor new recruit. Snuggling against Leo, she started running her mouth, the alcohol slurring her tone heavily. "Leeeooo, wh' wou'ya juss lee'mee like dat?" It registered somewhere inside her head that Heinreich was next to her, and she turned her head slowly. "Ahhhright, da' innisheeationnn! W' gotsa giva' Leeoo 'ere a fishy ashionnn! Rrright?" Making a comical, over exaggerated motion of thinking, Mira blurted out the first thing that came into her head."'E can make 'im run around lots'a 'en tryna' shud him up! Hehe, hehe. And, an' like if 'e duh good we can rewarr' him! Right?" As she spoke, she remembered somewhere in her memory that she wanted to try shooting at Leo and make him run around for fun. Of course, she wouldn't actually try to hit him, just get close enough to scare him a bit and make his reflexes better. In her current state though, the alcohol pushed away her sense of caution. Of course Mira could shoot him, right? Wait no, she's not supposed to shoot him. Mira had a few ideas for a reward though. She could treat Leo to a meal or something somewhere, or she could try giving him something else…Her newest drunken idea manifested as Mira getting more physical and starting to cuddle and rub herself up against Leo more provocatively. She already more or less forgot about the ideas she said to Heinreich, which were stuffed away somewhere in her alcohol haze. No matter though, she had a fun little boytoy to play with now~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANZAI!!!! Posted February 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 "So, Probie, how do you like your initiation?" Leo suppressed his gag reflex as he forced down half of another shot of liquor. Unlike Mira and Heinrich, who were clearly more accomplished drinkers, Leo had neither the taste nor the stomach for alcohol, and the latter of the two was quite rapidly beginning to bother him. Despite this, he had made a good show of pretending to stomach it, and though he had no chance of keeping up Heinrich’s pace (and even less so that of Mira, who was semi-conscious and sprawled out on the opposite end of the booth), Leo had nonetheless managed to make it through three shots of… something. He couldn't remember what Heinrich had called it. Still, he was enjoying himself. “Imma be honest, this wasn’t whad I hadin mind when you said ‘initiation’, Heinrich.” Leo said, his words beginning to slur. He stopped speaking for a moment to muscle down the other half of his shot, but before he could continue, Mira stirred, stumbling her way across the booth and flopping onto Leo, who was sitting farthest from the wall. "Leeeooo, wh' wou'ya juss lee'mee like dat?" Leo let out a laugh. Maybe it was his drunkenness, or perhaps he was simply getting used to Mira’s… ‘friendliness’, but whatever the reason she wasn’t making him nearly as nervous as she had earlier that day. Mira, meanwhile, leaned over to Heinrich, still sprawled out on Leo’s lap, her feet stretched out into the aisle. "Ahhhright, da' innisheeationnn! W' gotsa giva' Leeoo 'ere a fishy ashionnn! Rrright? "'E can make 'im run around lots'a 'en tryna' shud him up! Hehe, hehe. And, an' like if 'e duh good we can rewarr' him! Right?" “Mira, whad’re you onabout?” Leo said, laughing at her slurred speech through his own. Instead of responding to him though, Mira started moving again. In what was a fairly impressive feat for her state of drunkenness, she rolled and contorted herself out of her sprawl and into a more upright position, causing Leo a fair bit of discomfort as her knees dug into his thigh. That sensation was quickly forgotten however as Mira finished maneuvering herself and, now sitting on Leo’s lap and facing him began to rub herself up against Leo’s chest. Regardless of his drunkenness, Leo froze, staring down at Mira with a rather stupefied look on his reddening face. --- "Please. You may call me Takeo, if you wish." “Thank you, Admiral, but I think it’d be rather unprofessional of me to act so casually around a superior officer, at least until everyone onboard is more comfortable with me. I’m sure my coming here with a new frame has ruffled enough feathers.” Lauren made sure to keep a very pleasant, polite tone with the Admiral while she responded. The last thing she wanted to do was rub Takeo the wrong way, especially if Shark Squad was going to be stationed aboard for the foreseeable future. "Your file reads you as a defector. I'm not interested as to where you came from. I'm more interested as to why you found yourself defecting to Terra Firma. Do you believe yourself to have such a vivid future here that you would betray comrades? I mean, that's a major offense. Or perhaps you were looking to cover your tracks by joining such a prestigious armed force and blending in? I don't mean to belittle you, Lauren. However, I'm very curious. Why should I trust you? If you defected once, what's to say you won't abandon ship once more if the time presents itself? That being said, your marks are very impressive. You're obviously very skilled. What could have drove you to leave those unfortunate few behind, I wonder?" Lauren’s friendly expression faded, replaced by a stern, serious look. The question was pointed, and it would have caught her quite off guard if she hadn't been pressed with similar enquiries since joining Terra Firma. “”I joined Terra Firma because i felt it was the moral thing to do, sir. I wasn’t comfortable fighting for a cause i didn’t agree with anymore, that’s all.” Takeo didn’t respond to her answer, as both of them were distracted by a loud noise coming from another room down the hall. The admiral then turned back to her and proceeded to explain. "Either he's breaking those special plates again, or he's having an intense boxing session. Alone.” Lauren smiled at Takeo’s comment, finding it a bit funny. “Specifically for Zalwara's blades. They were originally the strongest cutting boards that could be crafted. Just for heavy cuts of meat and butchering. But Zalwara uses them for target practice. This is the first time he's broken any of them in ages. Not since--well, that's not important." “Oh really, now…” Lauren pinched her chin in thought. “Your Vice admiral is an odd one…. I wouldn’t like to make him angry, thats certain. Where did you dig a man like that up anyway, if you don't mind me asking you a pointed question as well, sir.” Lauren gave takeo a more smug, but still playful smile, looking back at the chessboard afterward to think of a stratagem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asriel Dreemurr Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 "Well, I live to defy expectations." Heinreich let out a fairly loud chuckle at Leo's response, and polished off the last of his pint before checking the time. His mood visibly dropped as he realized they were coming up on the two hour limit to the time they'd had to go out and generally let themselves relax from the stresses of having been waiting for a proper mission for as long as they had. He didn't have anything to say at first, he just stretched out and got up from the booth to go and take care of the tab they'd worked up while there. He paid for the lot of them, and gave some extra to pay for the first few drinks the next few customers had, before turning about and walking back to the table. Despite having had the most to drink out of all of them, he was hardly even off balance. "I hate to be the fun police, but our time's running out. We gotta get back to the Vizekommondant." He practically spat out Gavin's title while reaching out to grab hold of Mira and pull her off of Leo. Before she could protest, he'd slung one of her arms over his shoulders and set about supporting him. "Probie's gonna have a hard enough time walkin' without you hangin' off him, alright Jumpy?" His grip was firm enough that he was fairly certain she wouldn't be getting away while he made his way to the door. He didn't pay much attention to the looks the locals were giving the group, given the intoxicated state of his compatriots, and just worked on getting the two younger pilots back safely to the rendezvous point. --- Johan had to stop himself from swearing at Melissa's insistence that they get going, but all the same he couldn't deny it either. A quick check of the time revealed that they were running out of it, and it was at that point that he set about getting up. Of course he gave his love a kiss right on the lips before he set about gathering up all the bags, no way he was letting her carry any of that back. "Well, let's get back then." He shot her a smile, even knowing that she couldn't see it he just couldn't help but put that expression on his face as he got everything squared away for the trip back. "The sooner we're back in base the sooner we can get this all put together. I can't imagine Beaumont will be too upset if we use his kitchen either." He hadn't had much interaction with the lieutenant, but he did know that the man had a singular love of food. Honestly he could imagine him jumping at the chance to work with fresh ingredients like what they had. "After you, my lady.~" --- "Don't stress yourself out too much, young man." Michael smiled and waved after Johnathan as he ran off, and sat back down on the bench where he'd been enjoying his tea a moment ago in front of that small local café. His tea was finished off, and he got up to go back into the establishment from which he had gotten it in the first place. A bit of conversation later, and he was served a fresh cup of tea after handing over currency to pay for it as well as the two cups he'd had before. Fresh tea in hand, he went back outside and sat down on that bench to continue enjoying the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeriberii Haan Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 “Gavin, answer me!” Hearing no answers from the other side, Aeolia sighed as she leaned on her brand new comfy chair, irritated that the person she tried to talk with didn’t answer with anything after a while. It was as if he’s really occupied with something at the moment. Which was odd, since for all intents and purposes, the group only came to the town just to escort the supplies back into the base, yet it’s been a while and no signs of them being at least on their way to the base. It really shouldn't take them this long, and the evaluator suspected that they’re messing around currently, which would be completely unacceptable. Aeolia felt that it was as if two or three months had passed since they left, even if obviously they hadn't left for that long. It was then that her communicator rang, and Aeolia hastily answered it, noticing that it was from the communication officer of the base. "Uh, Aeolia, there's a call from the main base, asking where Gavin is currently.” “Who’s from the other side? Tell them I don’t-” “It’s from Captain Renner.” “Ugh, connect him to me if that’s the case.” The voice coming out of the earpice sounded a little choppy, likely due to the long distance connection and the TRAP base’s underground location. “Hello?” “Greetings, Captain Thomas Renner. You are currently speaking with Aeollia Audevie, while Lieutenant Commander Gavin himself is currently out, escorting the supplies to the base. Or so he was ordered.” “That explains why I’m speaking to you I suppose. Let me get right to the point. Command’s launching a naval assault in the Atlantic Ocean and they’ve.. requested… that TRAP be deployed to secure air superiority in the engagement. I’ve wired the mission details to you already. The Albatross is fueled and ready to go, I hope?” There was a very obvious tone of frustration in Thomas’s voice, and it was quite clear that he was very uncomfortable with deploying the unit. “I see. I shall contact Gavin and the rest of the team immediately. And the Albatross’s ready to launch, its maintenance had just been completed this morning.” A sudden mission wasn’t something Aeolia expected the team to get when half of them were still stationed in another place. Still, it’s not something that she should object. “Anything else, Captain?” “Nothing else pressing. I’ll see what I can do about getting Adelheid and at least some of your pilots back to you, but at this rate there’s no way we can send them to you prior to this sortie. How is Leo Vega doing?” “He’s been doing quite nicely during training, and I believe, he’s ready enough for this sortie. That was what I’ve gathered from him and his training data so far.” “That’s a relief. R&D just finished work on the SFS-09X’s new rifle equipment. It should be arriving with the next supply shipment. Make sure he’s ready beforehand.” “I will, don’t worry about that. Alright then, I’ll go now and contact Gavin and the team to get ready.” “Get a move on. The operation commences at 1700 hours, and I’m not sure how long the task force can maintain the assault without TRAP’s air cover. Sorry to rush you all around like this, but the circumstances prevented us from putting together a more organized strategy. Good luck.” With that said, the call was hung up, and Aeolia immediately went back and connected her communicator with Gavin’s. “Gavin dammit, are you there? Answer me!” “Roger that Aeollia. What’s up?” He attempted to sound nonchalant, though he could guess by Aeollia’s tone that something at least somewhat important was going on. Still, best to act casual so as not to tip her off to the fact that he’d just played hookie with all of the unit’s available pilots. “Get your and your squad’s ass on your frames now and be prepared for combat. Your captain has just issued a mission to support the naval assault in the Atlantic. I’ll send the mission details to you and the team soon. Also, this includes Leo.” “God Dammit.” Gavin sighed, keeping his mouth away from his communicator so that Aeollia couldn’t hear it. “You’ve got a brief for me I hope?” “I’ll give a proper briefing later when you all have returned to the base, and we’ll get to the scene using the Albatross. Don’t expect the other half of the team to arrive as a backup. Operation starts at 1700 and I swear, for the love of all things good, if you and your team keeps on loitering around and arrive late…!” Aeolia decided to not finish her threat. It would be more foreboding and ominous that way. “1700? You’re joking, right? We’ll barely have enough time to get back and load up at this rate!” Gavin took off running down the street as he continued talking, looking frantically for any of his subordinates.” Look, just have all the mission details ready for me when we get back and tell the Techs to load up the frames. I’ll brief the kids myself in-flight. God dammit why didn't you tell me about this earlier?” “Ugh, this shouldn’t happen if you didn’t take so damn long to return to the base. And I just got the mission call a minute ago so it’s not my damn fault. Just get back ASAP and don’t waste any further time.” And with that, Aeollia turned the call off, still looking completely irritated, before she left her office towards the communication room, presumably to brief everyone on the base to prepare for the mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Takeo He was pleased. More so than he expected. She was up front and honest, much like his wife, or Zalwara even. A smile escaped him, as he listened to Lauren give her side of the story. ”I joined Terra Firma because i felt it was the moral thing to do, sir. I wasn’t comfortable fighting for a cause I didn't agree with anymore, that’s all.” "Hmph," he remarked simply. If morals didn't make a pilot, it was often madness. This was a reasonable, but frightening answer. It said a lot about Lauren, more than Takeo suspected even she knew. After being in this line of duty for so long, Takeo understood what made good pilots, great pilots, and scary pilots. Lauren was one of the scariest he had met. This of course, was by his own assumption. A good pilot could operate and go on duty without reason other than an order from the top. A great pilot looked into their mission, but would act regardless of what they believed, because it would be 'by the book' or 'for the greater good'. But the scariest pilots were the ones who could evaluate a situation from point to point, and decide if the cause was just or wrong. The scariest pilots turned every mission, no matter how small and frugal, into a battle of life or death, because they lived the life of one of the most dangerous persons in their universe. And every moment not weighed by their own morals was a moment they could die. With all of this in mind, Takeo knew that, though he now really liked Lauren as a pilot and a temporary member of his crew, that she could not be trusted. She was not naive. She was not Zalwara. And so he began to weigh his options. Of course he could use her. That was more of an acceptance than an option. However, with her being side by side to Drayden made her even more dangerous. Maybe not as dangerous as Drayden himself, but she was more than a formidable threat. It was this same tactical decision making that got Takeo this far. He wouldn't misplay in the big game. Not now. Then, Lauren showed her true colors, asking the one thing Takeo had never, in his entire career, ever been asked. "Where did you dig a man like that up anyway, if you don't mind me asking you a pointed question as well, sir.” Takeo kept his cool, smiling and rubbing his head as the question pierced his soul. "That, my dear Lauren, is a question you may only ask me on my death bed. You know the saying, I'm sure," he jested. "A good magician never reveals his tricks. But the best magicians give them away, in their dying breaths." [hr] Morals. How stupid. How strategic. How scary. Yet, what were morals? Justification of right and wrong? According to whom? Who makes these labels? What being has placed this waning statement to hover over the lives of men and women in battle? How dare they bring their own worldly selfishness into a situation such as this. How dare they present their moral of morals to justify any action. Yet, what were morals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANZAI!!!! Posted February 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 The drive back to base had been mostly silent, Gavin’s unusually sour expression not helping to ease the uncomfortable, tense mood. Unfortunately for everyone involved, he’d run into Leo, Heinrich, and Mira first, the latter of whom was so drunk that she was barely conscious. Normally something like this would have only caused some minor annoyance (and likely a few laughs), but in light of the impending mission and inevitable chewing out he was to receive from Aeolia, Gavin found no humor in the inebriation of three of his 5 pilots. There was no disciplinary outburst this time, but the fearful, angry look that appeared on Gavin’s face when he’d seen the three was enough to telegraph that something was very amiss. Next he’d hunted down Melissa and Johan, who mercifully were not inebriated and/or incapacitated in any way, and had actually managed to procure most if not all of the needed supplies for the unit’s planned pasta dinner. Johnathan had shown up on his own, and after a small struggle getting everyone safely into the jeep, they were off uphill back toward TRAP HQ. “What’s gotcha in such a mood, Vizekommondant Decker?” Heinreich asked, his voice betraying none of the apprehension he felt. After all, this whole thing was supposed to be a simple trip down to the town so they could all let out some steam. It didn’t bode well to see their second-in-command so...disturbed. “We’re being deployed.” was all Gavin managed to reply with, being simultaneously worried and focused intently on the unpaved road in front of them, as moving the jeep at well over 50 miles per hour uphill was no safe course of action. “Deployed?” Leo chimed in, slurring his way through the word. “I thoughtchusaid we were supposed to be out escorting the sssuuupplies to the base. Did something come up?” “On top of that,” Johan chimed in this time, somewhat less outwardly composed than his brother, “weren’t we taken off the active units list after Lauren…” his words trailed off. Even now he hadn’t quite come to terms with the loss of their comrade in arms. The mention of his sister prompted a look from Leo, who was sitting on the other side of the back seat. He’d been doing his best to keep his mind off of it for the past two weeks, and having the subject brought up again made him rather uncomfortable. It showed in his face, too. “I thought so too, but i guess command had other ideas.” Gavin responded from the driver’s seat. “They want us for some sort of air support mission in the Atlantic… I don’t know all the details right now myself.” Melissa remained silent at first. The mention of Lauren was still a difficult topic to cover. How she managed to continuously pop up in the midst of her former comrades was remarkable, especially considering she was likely dead. Melissa didn’t have much opinion on the subject. It was a black matter, and she didn’t like it, period. Thankfully, the matter drifted into the distance rather ominously. “I guess we won’t be eating any time soon then,” she jest. “I don’t wanna fight on an empty stomach though, either.” Being deployed again, so soon, was strange. What did the top have in mind? As the van passed over a particularly gravelly pit, sending a jolt through the vehicle, the mostly unconscious Mira got jostled, and her head landed in Leo’s lap. Making unintelligible sounds as she blearily wiped her eyes, her first sight was the less than enthusiastic expression on the Puerto Rican’s face. Her brain taking a few seconds to register who it was, a giant woozy smile made its way across her face. “Iss Llleeeoo! Yoouu’re juraaii bing me home, how gentle-manly of you~ hehe” Remembering what she had been doing just a few minutes ago (in her mind), she started trying to grope Leo again. As she did so, she began to giggle for absolutely no reason other than the fact she had a large amount of alcohol in her veins. Leo, for his part, kept his eyes on Johan, though the look now looked more like a plea for help than anything. This resulted in Mira reaching towards Leo’s face clumsily, trying to make him look at her again. “Look o’er ‘eere,” at which point she started trying to pull off her jacket. “You just had to go and get her drunk, didn’t you?” Gavin groaned, addressing Heinrich behind him. In response, the German youth rolled his eyes in an over dramatic fashion. “It’s not my fault Jumpy didn’t wanna take it easy on the beer.” Of course, given the fact that he smelled the most strongly of the stuff of anyone in the jeep, it was likely she’d just been trying to keep up with him. A dangerous mistake to make. “Jesus Christ Aeolia’s gonna hang me for this.” Gavin let out another groan. “Better hope you three sober up before we launch, you hear me?” “So you know, Vizekommondant Decker,” it was Johan chiming in this time, as could be determined by the calmer and generally more respectful tone of voice, “even at peak levels of efficiency, it still takes the crews an hour and a half to get all the frames ready to sortie. We have time to sober up our intoxicated friends.” “I called in to the hangar about 15 minutes before we left town. The Albatross will be ready to take off before we get there, so you guys’ll just have to get some coffee in flight or something.” Of course the twins didn’t hear that, as Johan’s comment had resulted in Heinreich throwing a punch. The two were now engaged in something resembling a brawl, or at least as much of one as they could manage while sitting on opposite sides of the jeep. “Hey cut that s*** out!” Gavin called back, sounding an awful lot like an overworked parent. --- A little over an hour later, the Jeep had arrived back in the HQ and the pilots had been dismissed to handle their various rituals to prepare for what was to come. They had since lined up in the hangar, wearing flight suits and helmets in hand, as they waited for either the briefing to begin or to be ordered up onto the Albatross. No one was breaking protocol this time. After a few moments of waiting, Gavin appeared dressed in his flight suit from the other end of the hangar, a large manilla folder under his arm. “Ok everyone load up! We’ve got no time to lose lets go!” He ran past the unit, beckoning with his free arm for the rest of the pilots to follow him on board up the ramp. Acting for the first time as a cohesive unit since that fateful day, the team followed, the Albatross’ ramp retracting behind them as the massive plane began to roll forward, maneuvering its way toward the base’s rising runway for takeoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Melissa Melissa had managed to sneak the supplies from their trip into town, aboard the Albatross. She moved quietly to the kitchen, and began to prepare a meal. It would be a few hours before they reached their destination, so she would have time to at least fill the bellies of the crew. Sneaking off, she made her way to the kitchen. Finding an apron, Melissa took the time to learn the placement of things in the kitchen. And it was a beautiful kitchen. She could tell by the very clean smell. The stove tops were stainless steel, and the knives were perfectly sharp. The countertops were cool, and very smooth. It was likely marble. Beneath the stoves, she managed to find several large pots and pans, also stainless steel. She filled one pot with water and set it to boil. Now, working her way around the pantry, she found what smelled like virgin olive oil. A dab in the water, and a bit more to cover the bottom of another pan. She washed her hands thoroughly and began to prepare some meatballs. She seasoned the meat well, molded the meatballs, and inserted a small portion of mozzarella into the center of each individual meatball. Melissa stuck them down in the fresh, hot oil, searing them around and cooking them through. While the meatballs finished, she started a saucepan with a bit of water, margarine, oil, and tomato sauce. The sauce would take a bit longer than anything else, and so Melissa turned her attention to the boiling water, finally ready for contents. Cracking her bundles of spaghetti, she split them and dropped the pasta into the water. She sighed, wiping her forehead of sweat, then washing her hands. The meatballs were done, and so she drew them from the oil and set them on a baking sheet to keep warm. The sauce had begun to thicken, so she added the proper ingredients. A bit of basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar to take off the bite. The spaghetti was nearly finished, as she took a large cooking fork to check it. Lastly, the sauce was simmering, and provided the kitchen with a wonderful aroma. "I almost forgot!" she said checking the oven. She quickly turned it up high, and sliced open the loaves of bread that were gathered. While it baked, Melissa took the remaining garlic cloves, some margarine, virgin olive oil, and a handful of spices, and made a homemade garlic butter for the bread. All in all, the meal was complete. The bread was fresh, and piping hot out of the oven. Melissa drew some plates from a cupboard, gathered some cups and silverware, and took everything to the dining area. She sneaked away from the kitchen with a large cooking spoon and an empty bot, and made her way to the hallways of the bedrooms for the crew. As loud as she could, she went banging down the hall with the cooking spoon to the pot. "There's not time to explain!" she yelled. "Everyone get to the kitchen!" She was trying her best not to laugh, but surely enough she was giggling as she went up and down the hall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeriberii Haan Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 [hr] “I’m expecting a proper explanation regarding everything at the end of the day if both of us survived.” Staring at Gavin as he entered the plane was Aeollia, which gave the vice-leader of the team a very stern look. Strangely for her, the tone of her voice was less of her usual annoyed, irritated voice, but it was simply flat, as if she was merely stating something. For all intents and purposes, Gavin and the team loafing around and almost being late to a mission would’ve made her explode with anger and spite normally, but aside from the stern look, there was nothing. No outbursts, no scathing remark, no threats, nothing. “I believe you have gotten hold every single one of the details for the mission from me, right?” Another thing that was completely odd about her now was that how she’s wearing a flight suit instead of her usual red coat. Her long, red hair was now firmly combed to not run loose freely. At that point, the woman standing before Gavin was not the overly strict Aeollia the scientist, but simply another pilot. Aeollia was going to say something else to him when a familiar voice echoed. “There’s no time to explain! Everyone gets to the kitchen!” “I think I should check her out. I wonder what she’s up to this time.” And with that, without even saying anything else, Aeollia walked away from Gavin and went into the kitchen to see what Melissa currently is doing there. [divider1] To tell the truth, Aeollia was completely anxious. Earlier, not long after Renner called her, she received another call, and from it, she had no choice but to sortie as an additional manpower. Despite her having her frame stored on TRAP’s hangar since forever, her experience on handling frames was completely limited. In fact, this would be the first time she’d actually be flying in proper combat instead of test flights and simulator session. This could be the first time she had to kill an opponent, and the thought of it somewhat made her sick. She knew that she’d be able to stomach that fact as time passed if she’s assuming that she’s going to be like the others when it came to this, but the thought itself still somewhat scared her. She knew that she needed to be able to handle piloting before it was finished, but knowing about that didn’t really make the pressure she’s currently feeling lessened. In fact, it just made her more and more anxious regarding the next mission. Even with her having all the intent and desire to lash out at Gavin regarding him slacking off earlier, her worries regarding to what’s going to happen shifted it away from her. Despite of that though, for the sake of what she had in mind, she must survive this and the upcoming ordeals. Otherwise anything that she’d been working on until now would be for naught. Still, this time, it was like the great wall of indomitableness that was Head Evaluator Aeollia had crumbled. At least though, she wouldn’t let the others know regarding what she’s feeling now. It’s better to be seen as if she was getting softer to the other pilots rather than being caught breaking down due to not being able to handle the pressure, after all. [hr] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asriel Dreemurr Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 The twins, instead of separating the moment they entered the Albatross, made their way to the small room in the crew quarters which they had been assigned. They had separate rooms back at HQ, but the 'Tross didn't have the space to manage that. Of course this had proved beneficial to the two of them. It gave them a place where they could privately prepare to pilot the Drachenrand. "Well, shall we get started?" Johan was the one to ask. The two were seated on the floor of the room a short distance apart, and directly facing one another. Their helmets were rested in their laps with their hands atop them. Both stared directly ahead, their gazes locked while they waited. "Funny, I thought we already had." Heinreich replied, cracking a bit of a smile. It wasn't noticeable to most, but the two of them intentionally did a number of little things to differentiate themselves. Beyond one being more withdrawn and the other being more sociable, the two intentionally breathed at differing rates. They intentionally altered the tones of their voice, and they even went so far as to keep their heart rates out of sync with one another. Now, however, they reversed the process. Everything they did to make themselves appear different was undone. Their facial expressions slowly shifted until it was as if one were looking into a mirror, their breathing and heart rates synced, and before long they were even blinking at the same time. All the things that they did to make themselves distinct melted away, and the two were now all but indistinguishable from one another. "There's no time to explain! Everyone get to the kitchen!" The sounds of Melissa's shouting, giggling, and banging upon a pot broke their concentration on their "meditation." Still, they had prepared and now they rose in unison from the ground and opened the door out into the hallway of the plane. Side by side the two made their way to the Kitchen, and happened to catch Melissa just as she was returning from rousing the rest of the crew. "Is something wrong, Schneke?" The two asked in unison, their voices identical. --- Just as a particular black-coated man was making his way along the street from his preferred tea shop in that small Italian town, he felt a vibration within one of his pockets. A hand quickly dove in to retrieve the source of the vibration, a fairly old cell phone that had so far proved durable and workable enough for the Lieutenant Commander to use. It was quite fortunate that the Shells weren't using that particular form of outdated communication as it gave Terra Firma a reliable way to get in touch with those they needed to who were out in the field. At least when they weren't in their frames where they could use their long-range communicators. "Hallo," he answered, not having taken the time to see who was calling yet. "You have reached Korvettenkapitän Wittman." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Takeo "Excuse me, Lauren. It's just occurred to me that I've forgotten to check in with a comrade. I'm hoping he has some information for me," Take said getting to his feet. Excusing himself from the room once more, Takeo closed the door behind him and dialed several numbers into his personal cell phone. You could tell he was smiling over the phone. Takeo, that is. "Michael," he said quickly. "I trust my old comrade is doing well?" he said happily. Their days on the battlefield together were some time ago, but as far as Takeo was concerned, both himself and Michael were in their prime. "I won't tarry. I need a status report from you. What have you got for--oh, seems I'm receiving another call. Just a moment," he said before Michael had the chance to reply. "Takeo speaking." "I'd like to apologize," he said immediately. Takeo said nothing, trying not to laugh. "Zalwara, it's nothing. I understand--" "Wait, let me finish," Zalwara said interrupting Takeo. As Zalwara began to go on apologizing, Takeo sneakily turned the separated lines into a 3-way call. Michael could now hear everything between Zalwara and Takeo. " . . and I was out of line. There was no reason for me to snap at you, and I am sorry, Admiral." At last, Takeo burst out laughing. "Do you hear this Michael?" Zalwara was stunned. "Michael? Wha--what's going on? Is he on the line?" "That he is Zalwara," Takeo said chuckling. "And your attempt to be sorry, while genuine, was impossibly terrible. Oh dear, I think I'm crying with laughter." "Typical," Zalwara snapped. "I come to you with respect and you spit in my face. Not to mention embarrassing me in front of your former running buddy. What are two old men doing chatting anyway? On about your prunes? Maybe you're fascinated with the weather? Or are you trying to relive your glory days pretending to be under forty again?" Takeo would have been angry, but he couldn't take Zalwara seriously. He continued laughing, stopping only to tell Zalwara what was going on. "Zalwara, you can be angry at another time," Takeo said wiping tears from his eyes. "Right now--ehem," he said clearing his throat. "Right now, I've contacted Michael for some news. And since you're here, you may as well listen in." On the other end of the phone, Zalwara scoffed. "Fine. Spit it out, old man." "Michael. What have you recovered?" [hr] Melissa She turned around as someone called her name. "Is something wrong, Schneke?" It was the twins. But now, somehow, Melissa couldn't immediately tell them apart. When she heard their voices, she was slightly taken aback. This was still something she was getting used to. She laughed a little, before remembering why she had disturbed everyone. "I managed to prepare the food anyway, despite our last minute upheaval," she said at last with a big grin. Walking over and separating the twins, she managed to take them both by the arm and have them walk her to the dining area. The food was still hot, and Mel waited for their opinions. "I hope you're hungry," she said blushing ever so slightly. "Oh but, before we eat . . .which of you--?" Melissa turned to the twins and ran her hands on either side of the twin's faces. Still, she couldn't tell them apart. She put a finger to her lips, still at a loss. "Hmm." Then, Melissa got an idea. Cautiously, but passionately, she kissed one twin at a time. Starting with who she didn't know was Heinreich. When she got to Johan, she could tell it was him. It wasn't the way he breathed, it wasn't the way he smelled. There was just a distinct difference between Johan and Heinreich that, with a kiss, Melissa could feel. She snatched him by the arm away from his twin. "No more confusing me," she said giggling. "I'm already blind," she said as she continued to laugh at herself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asriel Dreemurr Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Michael had been about to speak, before he was put on hold by the admiral. He planned to wait patiently, but what came next put a nice smile on his face. That Okinawan Butcher Takeo had taken in as his second in command did his best to appear apologetic. Really, it was a touching attempt. However, it was just so fake that the sniper nearly burst out laughing. Even when it was revealed that he had been listening in on the conversation, he remained silent to let the two admirals fight it out. It gave him time to reminisce about the good old days, back when he and Takeo had first been part of the rebellion. When they'd both been younger and bolder, the two had often fought side by side in the thick of it. There was one particular moment he remembered, when the two of them were in their Long-Arms and had faced down a pair of SAF pilots that were using newer frames. Of course they'd had to deal with a few more SAF soldiers before then as well, it had been part of a larger battle to claim a city. The two of them had lost the smaller caliber rifles they'd originally used early on when their opponents had disarmed them with shots from Gauss Rifles, a new technology at the time. It had been a pain after that, but it was also the battle when Michael first used the weapon that would become his signature piece of equipment. He'd found the massive HRASR beside the scorched carcass of a fire support unit, and had used it to blow one of the enemy pilots out of the sky. That had also convinced his friend to close with them and enter melee, where Takeo had beaten him handily. That was a moment that had catapulted the two of them into the Rebellion's spotlight, and their service afterwards had kept them in it. Of course that was before- "Michael. What have you recovered?" The admiral's voice shook him out of his reminiscence, and brought him back to the present. That's right, he did have something he could share with his friend. "Well, to start with, the mission was completed without any major setbacks. Siegfried did take a bit of a tumble, but he'll be back up as soon as his frame's repaired at the Dublin base. Speaking of, we managed to recover one of those new Gatling Gauss Cannons that've been popping up in the SAF." He took a moment to pause and recall the way the fight had gone. "The ones that don't have to worry about overcharging or overheating. It's pretty much completely intact, and with any luck the techs back in Dublin will be able to share with you." Another momentary pause was given as he considered whether or not Takeo had the clearance to hear what he was going to share next. He decided fairly quickly that even if he didn't, he could share the intel with his friend. The two of them were influential enough that even if there was a discrepancy in clearance they could "persuade" anyone upset with it to let it go. "We also spotted two enemy frames, one black and one white, arriving just after we completed our mission. They arrived too quickly to have come from any of the known SAF bases in the area, though given their highly custom appearance they were probably Synchro Frames so there's no real way to be sure, especially since they were just decelerating from supersonic speed as they got within visual range. Another thing you ought to know is they didn't show up on any of our sensors, even though both obviously had active plasma weaponry. I do mean any of them. Radar, Infrared, Ultraviolet, hell they didn't even show up when I tried comm pinging. Just came in, stayed for about 130 seconds, and then left just as suddenly as they arrived. Half the team thought they were seeing ghosts. Just be aware, your teams might encounter frames that don't show up on sensors. On top of that, based on the maneuvering they pulled the pilots were exceptionally skilled. Might even be a match for my old second." He chuckled quietly, half-suspecting that Drayden was listening in even as they spoke. "By the way, contact me when you're an hour out from landfall. I'll meet you in the port." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Takeo He remained silent when Michael had finished. He waited to hear from Zalwara, who was surely disgruntled at this news. However, what he could hear, was a frightening smile crossing the Vice Admiral's face. "Thank you Michael," Takeo said immediately. "Your services are appreciated. I'll contact you when we reach the port." Takeo forced a smile on the other end of the receiver, hanging up softly. Then, when the line was clear, Takeo could hear Zalwara's phone slam, likely crack, and disconnect. He took a deep breath, and let out a long, overdrawn sigh. Scratching his chin, Takeo began to develop a strategy. Though information was sketchy at best, he knew enough that he could begin to plan ahead. And in the brief time he was on the phone, Takeo had almost forgotten about Lauren. He hated to cut games short, but in this instance, he didn't have a choice. He opened the door behind him, and began to apologize as he entered the room again. "I am sorry, Lauren, but we must delay our game." He walked past her, over to the port side window. Folding his arms behind his back, and grasping his right wrist, Takeo went on. "Just over the horizon there," he said softly. "An enemy lies in wait for us. We don't know much, but there are expected to be a minimum of two Synchro Frames. One black, one white." He paused, to let that sink in. To think, they would be seeing battle so soon. Apparently, both HQ and Zalwara both saw it coming. "You should prepare yourself," he said turning his head over his shoulder, before turning back to Lauren completely. He began to walk towards her door, leaving the chess game undisturbed. "We can pick this up when you return," he said with his back to her now. Opening the door, Takeo stopped in the entrance way. "I'm curious to see where you stand in this, Miss Vega. Shall I judge you by your past? Or will you put on a display for your new, proud home of Terra Firma?" Disappearing behind her door, Takeo vanished into the halls, with his next destination unknown. [hr] Zalwara He had snapped it in half, his cell phone. He tossed the fragments against the wall, sighing, angry and frustrated. He balled a fist, leaning against the wall. Even though he had seen this coming, Takeo doubted and even reprimanded Zalwara. This infuriated him further, and so he went to cool off by taking a shower. He took off his shirt, and tossed at the foot of his bed. Going to his bathroom, he turned on the hot water, and simply let it run. Before removing the rest of his clothes, Zalwara closed his bathroom door to let the room fill with steam. While the bathroom slowly met his requirements, he examined himself in the mirror. His scars had healed badly across his chest, but he expected this because of the way he had received the injuries. Not wanting to dwell on it, he washed his face in the sink, and prepared to get in the shower. Then, there came a knock at his door. He remained silent, wondering if the sound of the shower running would dispel the intruders. However, the knocking continued twice more. With a dark look on his face, he left his bathroom and went to his door. "What is i--Ms. Black!" he said surprised. "Forgive me, I thought you were someone else," he said taking a step back. "What can I do for you?" Though Zalwara was admittedly angry with Takeo, he had still had a great amount of respect for him, and his fiance. And she was gorgeous. She was American, and at least ten years younger than Takeo, with beautiful red-orange hair, and silver eyes. Her smile could calm a raging lion, and her voice was that of a siren's. She was wearing a red and white silk robe, with pink glass heels and white leggings. She smiled at Zalwara, before apologizing. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Vice Admiral." Zalwara shook his head. "Not at all Ms. Black. Is, uh--is something wrong?" Zalwara asked nervously. She was still smiling. "May I come in, Zalwara? I'll be brief, I assure you." Zalwara nodded. "Of course!" he said standing slightly to the side. The door closed behind them, and Zalwara placed his back to the wall furthest from Ms. Black. She remained standing, and went on with what she had come for. "I understand Takeo has wronged you," she said softly. Zalwara did not reply. Rather, he ran his fingers through his hair. This was an odd position to be put in by the Admiral's fiance. Finally, he acknowledged it. "Really, it was more of a misunderstanding, Ms. Black," he said quickly. She wouldn't hear any of it. "Well, on behalf of the Admiral, I would like to apologize for his behavior. He had no right to disregard his Vice Admiral in such a manner. And I am terribly sorry that you were disrespected in such a manner," she said placing her hands together at the tie of her robe. Zalwara backed further into the wall behind him, almost trying to break through it. "Ms. Black, it's nothing you need to concern yourself with. A lady such as yourself need only be concerned with finer things. Not trivial matters between the Admiral and someone like me," he said humbly. Ms. Black placed a finger through one loop of her robe tie, and began to tug at it. "But Zalwara," she said softly. "That's all I am ever concerned with. The finer things." Zalwara suddenly grew angry. He was more insulted now than he was before. This wasn't an apology. This was an attempt to win him over with desire. But that wasn't something Zalwara would buy. But even so, Ms. Black dropped her robe, revealing nothing but her leggings and heels. She continued smiling, but Zalwara was not pleased. He turned his head abruptly, and calmly asked, "Ms. Black, why are you doing this?" However, she did not reply back to him. Instead, she began walking towards Zalwara, slowly. But she was suddenly taken aback when Zalwara raised his hand, and pointed to the door. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said without raising his head. Ms. Black's smile quickly vanished, when she stopped in place. "But Zalwara--" "Please! Ms. Black. You need to leave. Now," he said with anger in his voice. Ms. Black did not press the subject any further. She turned around, and slowly picked up her robe from the floor. After turning her head over her shoulder to eye Zalwara again, she tied her robe up, and left as quickly as she had arrived. Zalwara locked the door behind her, and went into his bathroom. Leaning over the sink, he ran his hands over his head in frustration. Dropping the rest of his clothes, he stepped into the shower, hoping to clear his head. [hr] Takeo Standing just down the hall out of earshot, he leaned against the wall, waiting for his fiance. As she approached, they embraced, whispering in one another's ears. "Did he take the bait?" Takeo asked first. Kassandra smiled, biting at Takeo's ear, and then whispering to him. "Do I look bitten to you?" She ran a hand over Takeo's chest, and disappeared behind him, going towards their shared bedroom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANZAI!!!! Posted February 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 The smell of marinara sauce had since flooded out of the kitchen and into the rest of the, admittedly quite spacious, transport plane. This, combined with Melissa’s calling and beating of a pot, proved to be quite effective at drawing the others in. As for the twins, who were already present, their fellow pilot’s actions had a somewhat disarming effect. “Um, Melissa?” Johan spoke apart from his brother for the moment. “You… do remember how Heinreich and I get ready to fly the Drachenrand, right?” He cocked his head to the side, looking at the older woman. Sure, the two of them were together now, but this was not the first time the twins had done this to make the process of syncing easier on them. She pouted, just a little bit. “Well, of course I do. I was only teasing,” she said taking a seat. “Help yourselves boys.” There was a tinge of pride in her voice. Not all too common coming from Melissa. “Who are we missing?” “I have to admit, this smells quite nice.” The voice of a certain redhead could be heard, before the woman herself arrived at the kitchen. “What are you currently cooking?” While she was busy making her way in, the twins proceeded to gather up plates which they filled with pasta, sauce, and meatballs before sitting down at the table. They made sure to flank Melissa, and once they’d settled down she found the two of them kissing both her cheeks at once. “Payback.” They said in something of a teasing tone, before digging into their respective plates of pasta. Seeing the antics of the twins, Aeolia only shook her head, before she also took her share of pasta and meatballs and sat at the table, somewhat distancing herself from the twins. Melissa could only sit, slightly embarrassed, blushing when the twins kissed her cheeks. In reply, she stuffed her cheeks with pasta not having anything sassy to say. “Did I miss something?” Gavin said with a vaguely surprised look on his face as he walked into the room. At the sound of his voice, the twins looked up from their food. They stared at their commanding officer down for a moment, and then went back to eating. Gavin shrugged. “I guess not. You guys left some for me I hope?” he continued as he made his way over to the stove, grabbing a plate and filling it with his meal. He sat down at a corner seat, leaving room for anyone else to come and join them, and began eating. “Anyone saw Mira?” With a mouth half-full, Aeolia asked. She honestly tried to sound as cold as always, but with the half-chewed pasta on her mouth, she ended up just sounding funny instead. “If I had to guess she’s probably asleep somewhere. Best to let her rest up a bit while we have a little downtime.” Gavin suppressed a laugh, seeing rather noticeable sauce stains on the sides of Aeolia’s mouth. “I see. Just make sure she’s around when you do the mission briefing later.” After saying that, she finally swallowed the food lingering on her mouth, and wiped the sauce stains from her mouth with her handkerchief. “Speaking of, you should start it as soon as possible so we can have the opportunity to prepare ourselves first.” At that moment, Mira poked her head through the door, giggling slightly. “Heya, heya~! Wha’dd’I miss? I heard my name, ooh, ooh, who wants me?!” Strolling through the doorway with only slight hints of her previous drunkenness still visible, she sat herself down promptly next to Aeolia with a large platter of pasta. “Don’t get too excited, Mira. Don’t eat too much else you’ll get stomach cramp during the mission. And...is that the stench of alcohol coming from you?” Aeolia was apparently less than pleased with Mira’s appearance. At Aeolia’s accusation, Mira involuntarily flinched slightly, trying to consider whether it would be safer to answer with an affirmative and get reprimanded or deny it and get punished when Aeolia figures out she’s lying, and given the perceptiveness of the scientist, that probably wouldn’t take any long. “Ehehe, uh… M-Maybe…?” Awkwardly laughing with a half-grimace, she braced herself internally for the slew of verbal barrage that would inevitably come sooner or later. Despite how good the pasta tasted, she felt like it was a bad idea to have come to eat right now, or at the very least, sit right next to the scientist. “Tch, just don’t hinder the others later.” That was all Aeolia replied with before she placed her fork on Mira’s bowl of pasta, and continued her merry feasting from there, not seemingly caring about Mira’s approval first. “Just enjoy the dinner for now, I guess. The food’s pretty nice.” Once again, Aeolia said it while her mouth was almost full. Watching as Aeolia ate her food, Mira went to go get another plate before sitting back down, and this time, out of Aeolia’s reach. As she devoured the food hungrily, a curious expression appeared over her face. “Where’s Leooo, I want to tease him more.” Pouting, another thought came to her mind too. “Atel-run isn’t here either, this is boring~” Melissa interjected at Mira, out of pure curiosity. “Mira,” she said as she took a napkin to wipe marinara sauce from the edge of her lips. “Where do you get your nicknames from? It’s always come across as a bit odd to me, but it really shows in your readings that you’re most happy when you use them.” Naturally, checking the mental status of the crew was Melissa’s job, but learning more about quirks, mannerisms, and hobbies was something she enjoyed doing. Anything to further a connection. “I’m pretty sure Mira just comes up with them off of the top of her head, Mel. I’m still waiting on mine though.” Gavin said, half jokingly. “And its probably better if we don’t bother Leo. He’ll come in if he wants to eat, but I think he could use some alone time.” “I have to admit, the food’s quite nice this time.” This time, Aeolia bothered to finish what was on her mouth, and on her bowl first before she talked. Since giving honest compliment was not what she would ever do, despite Melissa really deserving it for the delicious food she made, Aeolia resorted to simply complimenting the food and only the food instead. Looking around, she noticed that there was no bowl of food that she could take advantage of nearby. Visibly pouting for a bit, Aeolia rose up from her chair and went on to take another full bowl of pasta. “I believe it’s fine right if I take this much?” She asked Melissa regarding how much of what’s left of the pasta that she took into her bowl. Melissa giggled, wondering just how hungry Aeolia was. “Take what you like, I’ve had my fill.” Melissa could feel heavy scoops of pasta being dumped into Aeolia’s bowl. It was especially funny because of how strict and closed off Aeolia made herself. Still, since Lauren had been gone, Aeolia had become Melissa’s favorite person, besides Johan of course. “I think I’ll come up with a nickname of my own for you, Aeolia.” “Uh...if that is what you want, then go ahead.” Aeolia was not exactly in the mood to be reject that or just ignore her right now. After all, she did cook the food, which was, once again, really nice. Thinking about the delicious food instead of any other horrible things was something that Aeolia kept on trying to do from earlier, and for once, with only that in her mind at the moment, she could feel somewhat relaxed for once. Then again, she couldn’t exactly maintain her cold and harsh attitude when it comes to Melissa. She just didn’t really have the heart to do so. Still, at least she should maintain her dignity and position right there, and being soft would only ruin her image. In order to avoid others to start thinking about her getting softer, she finished everything on her bowl rapidly, and, with sauce stains all over her hand, face, and clothes, she immediately left the place without saying anything. If she realized that she was only looking like a child by doing that instead of solidifying her dignity like she intended, she would’ve gotten really frustrated, but thankfully she didn’t know. Melissa took Aeolia’s sudden leave as a sign that dinner was wrapping up. Raising a glass, she stood to her feet. “I’ll keep it short,” she said with a smile. “We haven’t gone on any major assignments since . . .well, you all know the incident,” she said referring to Lauren’s disappearance. “But I’m thankful that we’re able to be here like this, like a family. I don’t know what’s coming, but I do know I’ll be giving my all out there, and I know you will too. Let’s everyone come back safe, okay?” [divider1] Some two hours after takeoff, the team was assembled in a large room overlooking the hangar. The large, rounded table dominating it supported a projector aimed at the front of the room where there was a rather large and imposing screen, flanked by a podium, at which Gavin stood, going over his folder of mission details and the plan of attack that he had drawn up with Aeolia earlier. Speaking in an authoritative, loud tone that he was quite obviously not used to, Gavin addressed the assembled pilots. “Alright everyone, listen up. You especially Leo, since this is your first real combat.” This was met by a grudging nod from Leo, who was seated farther back than most of the team. Gavin cleared his throat. “Some background first. A few hours ago, one of our Recon frame squads made contact with Terra Firma’s Atlantic Forward Fleet. For those of you not in the know, the AFF is TF’s first and best line of defense on the western front. They’ve done a damn good job of preventing us from getting anywhere close to the western hemisphere and are a big part of the reason why Terra Firma’s got a foothold in europe. They’re pros at what they do and they’ve got a lot of firepower. Right now they’re hauling ass eastward, and while we don’t know exactly where all of those boats are headed, we do know that we don’t want them getting anywhere close to Europe.” Gavin paused for a moment, reading over his notes quickly before pulling up the first slide on the presentation: the radar readings from Scarface 1’s frame. “Now, this was transmitted roughly six hours ago from one of our recon guys.” Gavin quickly grabbed a laser pointer from inside the podium, clicking it on and pointing out individual radar blips. ”Before they were intercepted by the enemy, they managed to positively identify at least 30 vessels. We know from previous engagements and various sources that the AFF is usually comprised of over twice that number at any given time, and so we can assume that there is at least one more similarly sized battlegroup present. These larger signatures are carriers.” Gavin made a motion with the pointer, circling a few of the largest blips located near the center of the radar reading. “TF usually employs smaller old type turbine powered vessels to carry fighter aircraft, as opposed to these larger ones, which are equipped to carry combat frames and are powered by ST drives. What this means for us, is that we’ll likely be up against large groups of carrier-borne Frames as opposed to the fighter jets you’ve seen before out on the ocean. The fact that they’re this far forward means TF means business-” “Forgive our interruption,” it was the twins speaking up this time, in unison as was their habit when preparing to fly. “If Terra Firma means business, why are there no Motherwill-class signatures among the fleet? If they were making a move, surely they would bring their heaviest available weaponry.” “We haven’t sighted any, and in all likelihood TF has the ten of them deployed somewhere else, but that doesn’t mean one isn’t present. You should keep your guard up.” Gavin leafed through his notes again, having lost his place. “Now, as I was saying, the frame carriers have been sighted in the lead battlegroup, which means that the smaller aircraft carriers are likely bringing up the rear. According to my intel here our Taskforce has confirmed the presence of a number of flights of old American F-35s, which means there’s a good chance you’ll have to deal with those as well. As for these smaller contacts, most of them are lighter vessels like Aegis ships and older destroyers. They’ve got SAMs and AA guns, so while they’re not your primary targets, you shouldn’t ignore them.” Gavin changed the slide again, this time to a larger image showing schematics for various Terra Firma CFs. “The ships are large enough for our Solstices to take care of, and so its going to be our job to make sure the skies are clear enough for them to move in close and strafe. As such, these things will be your primary targets. I know most of you have seen them before, but lets go over them briefly so you know what to watch out for.” Gavin moved his laser pointer to the leftmost image: a Myrmidon. “This is a Myrmidon. They’re older models designed primarily to go up against our Peacemakers and Nimbuses. They’re slower than both of our models, but they’re tougher to take down. They’re generally armed with assault rifles, missiles, and bazookas, so they shouldn’t pose too much of a threat to us unless a lot of them have a beat on you. Now these,” said Gavin, pointing to the next frame. “are Argonauts. They’re bigger, badder, faster Myrmidons. They’re harder to take down and they have heavier weapons. Most of them have Gauss assault rifles, but TF tends to give their better pilots plasma guns, so make sure you keep your distance and don’t go off half cocked. “ Gavin sent a look at the Twins before moving on to the third frame. “Now these are what we’re here to take out. They’re fire support frames called Catapults. Usually they’re armed with heavy Railcannons, but they’re able to swap their arms out for other guns as well. The railcannons will cause some heavy damage to your Synchro Frames, but they’re made for bombardment and fire support so you shouldn’t have much of a problem avoiding them. The real problem here is that these things can come equipped with heavy Plasma Blade emitters. Those large arms suck at melee combat, but if you let one get close to one of our fortresses, it can take it down in one swipe. Since its our job to maintain air superiority and keep the skies safe, I want you guys to prioritize taking out the Catapults first. You can worry about the other frames and the ships afterward.” Gavin flipped a page in his notes and changed the slide again, this time to the blurry, grainy image of Scarface 1’s last transmission. “More importantly, our recon flight managed to photograph what appears to be a new TF weapon of some kind. Intel’s sketchy at best, but from what we’ve been told its a large, fast moving naval weapons platform armed with multiple missile launchers. Data analysis indicates that its able to hit the speed of sound while on the surface, and is likely submersible. We have orders to engage and destroy it if we come in contact with it, but our primary objective is still to provide air support and take out the enemy frames first. I don’t want any of you playing hero out there, understand? If you spot this thing, radio it in and don’t engage until we’re all in range.” Gavin paused a moment, leafing through his notes again before moving to the next slide, this one a large map of the Task Force’s battle plan. On the intercom, one of the men on the Albatross’s bridge broke in “ETA 20 minutes guys.” Gavin clicked the talk button on the wall near him. “Roger that, we’ll be ready. Now, our Atlantic Task Force entered combat roughly 45 minutes ago. Like the chart here says, the Naval and Air units broke into two prongs and attacked from the south, with group A attacking from the east and group B moving in from the west. At present, group A is holding strong, but group B has come under attack from a second TF battlegroup to the northwest.” Gavin moved the laser pointer to a blank piece of ocean in the top right corner of the map. “We will be moving in and launching from here. Our plan is to fly southwest from our launch point, making our way through the enemy air units until we reach group B’s engagement site. Once there, we’ll break formation into two teams and regain air superiority in group B’s sector. Team 1 will consist of myself, Leo, and Melissa, while team 2 will be composed of The Drachenrand and Mira, and will be under the command of Miss Aeolia, though she will be deferring to my judgement while we’re out in the field, is that understood?” Gavin looked at Aeolia this time. “Understood.” It was all Aeolia said. This time, she couldn’t even hide the fact that she was getting nervous due to this being her first actual deployment. Gavin nodded. “Once that’s been accomplished, we will come under the direct command of taskforce HQ, and I will be relaying their orders to you as they come. Expect to be split up to cover different engagement zones and attack alternative targets, but if you can avoid separating too far from each other then do so. With a little luck we’ll all be home before bedtime tonight. Dismissed!” Gavin shut down the projector and flipped the lights back on. “Alright guys, 15 minutes ‘till we launch. Lets move.” “One last question before we leave. I might not need to ask about this, but since others didn’t seem to try asking, I guess I’ll be the one that do it. Any informations from our intels regarding enemy Synchro Frames?” Like she said, there was no actual need for Aeolia to ask about the question, since after all, she had read the intel reports alongside Gavin earlier, but she was still really worried about the prospect of having to actually face a Synchro Frame in direct combat. “None that I’ve been made aware of.” Gavin replied. “But, with any luck we won’t run into any today, but like I said before, keep your guard up.” Gavin paused for a moment. “You alright Aeolia?” “Why do you ask?” This time, Aeolia managed to return to her usual cold tone. No way in hell she would let Gavin or anyone else saw her being vulnerable and anxious. “Of course I’m fine. Worry about yourself more instead, Gavin.” After saying that, she went up from her position and left for the hangar without even looking back or saying anything else, presumably to immediately prepare herself for the upcoming deployment. Ahead of her, the twins had already reached the Drachenrand. They inspected their frame for a moment, to make sure that the crew had done a satisfactory job preparing it for the coming fight. They found it so, their missile pods filled with 6 heavy and 9 standard missiles, just high explosive this time around, apiece. Furthermore, the crew had locked two of the Gatling Gauss Cannons to the Drach, one on each arm. Satisfied with the armament, the two found their way up into the cockpit and synced up in preparation for the battle to come. “Drachenrand, ready for launch.” They said over the comms once they had moved their frame into position, and locked it down to the launch catapult. Melissa had appeared just as the twins were strapping in. Saviour stood tall just down the other end of the hangar, and Melissa bolted over to it. Climbing up slowly, she examined the frame as she moved. Once inside the cockpit, she went over her readings, strapping into her visual simulator. “Everything points to green,” she said with a smile. Saviour greeted her with a mellow whine, and lit up brightly. Her shield in place, Melissa prepared herself mentally. “Saviour is a go,” she called over communications. Meanwhile, Aeolia was still looking at her frame, occasionally gruntling with displeasure, presumably due to some small mistakes the crews made in the preparation of the frame. For her first sortie ever, Aeolia decided that she was only going with the two anti-air plasma cannon as the optional equipment she’s going to use this time. While she had every desire to use the external boosters, those were not ready to be deployed this time, and it was also one of her current main source of irritation. The shield and plasma rifle were ready and had no problems though, which was a relief. After having enough of the inspection, Aeolia went inside of her frame and turned the system on. “This is Aeolia Audevie, Messiah is ready to launch.” She said to the operator via the comm system as she positioned her frame to be hooked into the catapult. Aeolia hoped that all of those simulator sessions would pay off in this mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeriberii Haan Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 [hr] "I am honestly wondering why neither of you two have noticed my presence. Age-old covert assassination methods might be somewhat dying in popularity, but hey, you'll never know when an enemy will strike, right?" Putting up his best smile, Nisaria made his presence be known to Lauren as he emerged from his hiding place. With Takeo leaving the room, he decided that it's the best time for him to move out of his current position. He gazed over Lauren, as if he was analyzing her while still keeping his smile. It was a forced smile just made as a courtesy, but when it came to him, it's never really clear which was an actual smile and which one was the fabricated one anyway. "You're Lauren, right? My name is Nisaria Black, so I guess nice to meet ya! I might be young, but I'm a proud pilot too!" The more he looked at her, the more she reminded him of his late sister. They definitely have the same air of authoritative compassion coming from them, but he might be just wrong in this regard. After all, when it came to people, Saria often jumped to conclusion way too easily. "Though, may I ask a question? This might be a bit too personal, but... How can you make the decision to defect that easily? I mean, you should still have people related to you there, right? Family members that waited for you to return? Friends that fought together with you, that would've lived and died alongside you? People that you looked up to, and people that looked up towards you? Yeah, I've been eavesdropping earlier. Sorry about that, I was simply being curious. But, I just find it hard to believe that from how you said it, it sounded like you're having the ability to decide things like this so easily." People said that the last person you wanted to cover your back or be your ally was someone that could decide to change sides easily. Nisaria couldn't buy ideological reasoning as simply a reason why Lauren defected. After all, despite him fighting for Terra Firma, he had little to no regard when it came to what people say regarding what Terra Firma itself believed in. Whatever it was, no matter how many times they tried to drill it into his mind, he couldn't care about it even for a bit. "Once again, I'm sorry for asking too much. I just hope that we can get along, miss Lauren~!" Morals. There is no room for it in a battlefield. A soldier that cared for their enemies to the point of being able to fight for them is an ineffective soldier, and they have no reason to be trusted. If Lauren here could that easily sell her comrades, families, and others for the sake of silly things like what she believed in, then why should Saria trust her? [hr] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted February 25, 2015 Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 Zalwara He was clean, but he still felt filthy. He dried his hair as he stepped out onto his shower mat. He brushed his teeth and got into uniform quickly. He didn't wear it much, except when he was in a bad mood. His uniform was decorated, neatly pressed and clean. He tied his boots tightly after dusting them off, then reached for his sword. Sheathing it at his left side, Zalwara began to make his way to the main deck. He locked the door to his room, and proceeded north on the ship. Through the halls, he passed the hangar with technicians hard at work. His frame of course remained covered, untouched per his request. Shizu was Zalwara's pride and joy. Though he didn't act like it, he was most comfortable in his frame. Deciding to delay his trip to the main deck, Zalwara went over to his machine. As he did, several of the technicians stopped to gawk at him. They were surprised to see Zalwara in uniform, and grew a bit worried of what was coming. Taking three of the mouth-wide technicians, Zalwara called them over. The four of them removed Shizu's cover, and unveiled its magnificent design. One of the technicians whistled. "Great frame, sir." Zalwara did not reply. He had the technicians remain where they were and went to give Shizu a once over, front to back. He walked around the frame slowly, carefully noting any scuffs, obscurities, or anything that he considered a bother. After looping around once, he began to instruct the technicians he had hand picked. "Your job, unless otherwise instructed, is to prepare this frame. Cleaning and maintenance, ammunition and sharpening blades, you name it. I won't tell you how to do your job," he said glaring at each of them individually. "You should know what to do by now. And be sure to check for anything that doesn't belong. By that, I mean additions to the frame. I haven't approved any. If you're unsure, ask me about it. I'll be--yes?" he said as a technician raised a hand. "Uh, sir, I thought you didn't want anyone to pester you or you would cut off--" "I'm not going to cut off your pinkie if I'm requesting that you take care of something for me. If I ask you to contact me, and you do, it isn't an issue. Now then," he said turning his attention back to the Shizu. "I would greatly appreciate it if you could remove the dent in the back left leg. About six inches from the left edge. It's very small, but it bothers me." The technicians all nodded, with a resounding, "sir!" and a salute. Zalwara began to walk away, when he was stopped by a familiar voice. "We need to talk," called Admiral Takeo who was just approaching the hangar. Zalwara did not reply. Instead, he walked in the direction from which Takeo had shown up. They both walked toe in toe to the Admiral's office. "Let's make this quick," Zalwara said as they went on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asriel Dreemurr Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 The waiting was always the worst part. Sitting, practically motionless, while the techs and command took their sweet time waiting for the exact right moment to give the order to launch. The twins knew that in combat, the moment you entered was of utmost importance. That didn't change the fact that waiting around was annoyingly boring. They had nothing but their thoughts, and the two of them could not take their minds off of the innumerable ways this mission could go wrong. A single shot from a rail cannon could turn any of their frames to scrap, or at least cripple it to the point that the pilot was stuck in a smoldering wreck destined to become intimately acquainted with the Atlantic Ocean. On the other hand, there was the considerations of that black frame showing up again. That they actually yearned for, the opportunity to split the bastard that had taken Lau-Lau from them was one they practically salivated at. It was that hope they chose to focus on while they waited, and that only made them more restless as they waited. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they were given the green light. "Sensor disruption system engaged. Drachenrand launching!" Those few words preceded their activation of the launch catapult, and the black frame shot out into the Atlantic Airspace. They were still a ways out from the conflict itself, and that gave the twins the chance to do what they did best. They stuck to the plan, for now, and flew straight on course at full speed. It would not be long until they closed with the enemy, and so they drew and ignited the ECB in preparation. Ahead of them was chaos, the SAF forces beset by superior numbers from Terra Firma's second battlegroup. The uninitiated might have had trouble identifying the frames involved in the conflict and determining who was who, but the twins could recognize Terra Firma's forces by the unique, unified style of their frames. They kept at full speed, the rest of the team still a ways behind them. It was their standard tactic to let the twins hit first, ahead of the frames that could be detected by the enemy's sensors. Truth be told, the only warning anyone was going to get that the Drachenrand was coming was a single signal they broadcast for a few seconds before they hit the battle lines. A simple IFF code, to let the rest of the SAF forces know the big scary black frame with the glowing sword was on their side. Tearing through the SAF's lines, shooting straight up the middle and dodging through friendly forces, they pushed themselves to the front of the formation and dove directly into Terra Firma's forces. The first victim of the day was an unfortunate pilot in a Catapult equipped with plasma blades, who had been making a rush for the flying fortresses. Sad day for that man, thinking he was going to become a hero when instead the last thing he saw was a rapidly approaching black frame. The Catapult was cleaved in half, and the twins shot off to find their next target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Zalwara & Takeo They had reached the Admiral's private quarters, and Takeo walked in first. There was a luxurious leather chair at the edge of the room, tucked neatly under a large wooden desk. Takeo pulled the chair out from under the desk, and sat. He ushered Zalwara in with a motion of his hand. "Come on in," he said plainly. Zalwara did so, closing the door behind him. Pointing to a similar leather chair just behind the doorway, Takeo muttered, "Sit," as he put a Cuban Cigar from a wooden carton behind him. He put the cigar in his mouth, and began peering around for a Cigar cutter. Clipping the end of the cigar, he drew a lighter from his pocket. "I'll get right to--" Takeo held up a hand. Lighting his cigar, he puffed it properly, then took a long drag from it. Zalwara gave Takeo a dirty look, and Takeo stared back. Suddenly, Takeo's eyes got big. "I am so sorry, Zalwara, that was entirely rude," he said immediately. "I didn't offer you a cigar," he said taking the wooden box again. He opened the carton towards Zalwara, who was now peering through Takeo's skull with a sharp glare. "I don't smoke," he said flatly. Takeo nodded, closing the carton and setting it aside. Folding one leg over the other, Takeo opened his palm to Zalwara. "Proceed," he said nonchalantly. Zalwara calmed himself, and went on. "So. Mind telling me what the hell that was all about?" he directed to the Admiral. His words were sharp, but Takeo did not dodge the question. "I think you understand what the point of that exercise was," he said bluntly. "Exercise? That wasn't an exercise!" Zalwara said pointing at the door. "Your fiance--let me reiterate, fiance--threw herself at me! She was half naked for God's sake, and you call that an exercise!?" "I had to know, Zalwara," Takeo said till admiring his cigar. "After the uh, recent events, I had to know that, in light of the situation, I could still trust you." Takeo finally looked Zalwara in the face, removing the cigar from his face. He let out a long exhale, blowing smoke from his mouth. Just then, there was a knock at the door. They knocked twice, and waited for Takeo to speak. "Come in," he said as if he knew who it was. And he did. Kassandra walked in, still in her skimpy robe and leggings from earlier. She closed the door behind her, and began walking towards the large bathroom, just in eye sight of both Takeo and Zalwara. Walking over, she blew a kiss to Takeo, who caught it with a big smile and a snatching movement of his wrist. Then, she turned to Zalwara, and winked at him. He turned his head, balling his fist, and paying no attention. Then, she dropped her robe as she stood in the bathroom doorway. Kassandra leaned over, her back to Takeo and Zalwara, and removed her leggings, slowly. Then, she stood up, and eyed both men, who both ended up staring. She closed the door to the bathroom, and the shower began to run. "She's beautiful isn't she?" Takeo said taking another long drag from his cigar, as he caught Zalwara unintentionally staring at his fiance. Zalwara shook his head out of the trance, but said nothing, as he put his face in his hands. "What are you--" "Do you know what it takes to get your arms around a beautiful woman like that, Zalwara?" Takeo asked suddenly. He uncrossed his legs and leaned back just a bit in his large leather chair. Zalwara remained silent, staring at Takeo, still angry. "Well?" "No, Admiral. But I'm sure you're going to tell me." Takeo chuckled, nodding at Zalwara. "I kind of expected that answer from you," he said as he grabbed a large golden flask from his desk. Takeo took a quick swig from the flask, and capped it back off. "Technique, Zalwara. It takes technique," Takeo said simply. Zalwara was even more irritated now. He got to his feet, as angry as he could be. "And what the hell does that have to do with anything!? You've been badgering at me since Drayden and his crew got here! You've belittled me, undermined my authority, and disregarded me as your Vice Admiral as a whole!" he yelled. "So what--grr," Zalwara said balling his fists tighter now. He wiped his forehead, and took a deep breath. "So, what does your fiance and this previous incident, have to do with you trusting me?" Takeo leaned forward in his chair, placing a hand on his knee. "Everything," he said softly. "Sit," he said with a bit more attitude now. "I think I'll st--" "Sit." Begrudgingly, Zalwara took a seat back in the leather chair behind him. Takeo continued, putting out his cigar in the process. "You and I have the most history aboard this vessel," Takeo said still speaking softly. "When we had that spat, I'm sure Lauren got bits and pieces of it. I'm almost certain the rest of this crew will hear about it," Takeo said sitting up again. "But you and I both know, you're my best man," Takeo said now smiling. "I've got to keep you on your toes, Zalwara. I threw a little uh, fun at you, and instead of having a good time, you turned it down and got pissy." "That is your fiance," Zalwara said again. "And do you know why, she became my fiance?" Zalwara looked puzzled. "No, Admiral. Why? Does it have anything to do with honest love?" Takeo chuckled again. "Maybe. Twenty percent, maybe. But the rest of it is because I reacted like the man that I am. You're overcome with emotions, Zalwara. That's a woman's technique," Takeo said standing up. "You've got to stop reacting to every event as someone out to get you. Simply put, stop being an asshole, and start enjoying life. Because if you're always angry on the battlefield, you'll only make mistakes. And then, how could you take your rightful place?" Takeo said. "Shit," he thought to himself. "My rightful place?" Zalwara asked standing up as well now. "As what?" Takeo acted as quickly as he could. "As the Admiral of course," he said with a reassuring smile. "I'm getting old, Zalwara. I should be stepping down soon. And you should be stepping up." Takeo reached out a hand, to the still puzzled Zalwara. Shaking his head, Zalwara accepted the handshake. "You're still as odd as I recall, Admiral." Still, Zalwara did not smile. "You'll never get to know everything about me, Zalwara. Not until I'm on my deathbed," he said smiling again. Opening the door, Takeo let Zalwara out. "Go and prepare yourself. I could see that look on your face." Takeo said as Zalwara walked off. "And, even though you despise him, try and cooperate with Drayden," he requested. Zalwara raised a hand, assuring Takeo he would "try his best". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeriberii Haan Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Of course, Drachenrand took the first chance it got to sortie and get into the action. Aeolia would definitely have yelled at him for doing so, but right now, she was more concerned on familiarizing herself with her unit. She had taken the unit for several test flights, and she had definitely tried using its weapons, but never in a battlefield. It's completely different here, everything. For once, she felt that she had lost any air of superiority from her, and at that moment, it could be said that she was the lowest of low from all the pilots currently present, including Leo. For a while, she forgot that she was supposed to lead Mira and the twins on the battlefield. It was silly, really. She for once was in a place where she couldn't hide from her weaknesses using her strong points. Brilliant mind wouldn't matter that much in a real battlefield. That time, she was just a little bit more than a cannon fodder. "Messiah, you're ready to launch now." The sign from the crew that she was ready for launch snapped her from her thoughts, and with her facing the upcoming battle again, Aeolia decided to just ignore whatever she was thinking that time and focus on surviving the battle now. "Alright then. S-field barrier, status OK. External thrusters, set. SFS-211-2 Messiah, launching!" With that, the catapult launched her frame outside, straight into the battlefield. With the data sent earlier regarding the Atlantic Task Force, Aeolia tried to contact one of the commander of the so-called Group B of the operation to assess the current status of the battle. The result was, of course, far from good. Right now, the group was being decimated by Terra Firma's superior number, and TRAP once again became their last hope to have any chance of gaining any advantage in this losing battle. Aeolia sighed as she turned off her communicator from the commander, before connecting herself with the twins and Mira. "You three, hear me out. Don't forget that we should fly southwest as soon as possible before our allies there got too overwhelmed. Don't waste too much time before then. Once you arrive there and we officially split in two groups, you can do whatever you want. But now, just focus on covering Group B's asses first." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted March 5, 2015 Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 Melissa The twins were out first. The Drachenrand took to the skies, announcing its prowess in an uproarious manner. Next, Aeolia and Messiah followed close behind, with a graceful exit. Now it was Saviour's turn. Her shield was practically new, and her cloak was just light enough. All blades and ammunition had been replaced, diagnostics were green, and Melissa was as ready as she was going to be. She tried her best to imagine just how thick this fight was going to be, but even so, Melissa knew she had to find out the hard way. Pressing forward on her thrusters, Melissa launched with few words compared to the others. A simple, "launch!" escaped her lips, and then she found herself surrounded in dead silence. As she exited the shadow of the Albatross, Melissa's peace and quiet came to an end. She was greeted by a loud stream of gunfire, projectile explosions, and the outcries of falling comrades. And she hadn't even reached her destination yet. Knowing that she couldn't go quiet, Melissa adjusted her movements and aligned herself with her eastern coordinates. Though group A wasn't having as much trouble as their alternate squad, the outcries could not be ignored. Still, she had her orders. Melissa went in the direction where less screams were coming from, to assist as necessary. There was a surrounded team of three, cornered by six simultaneous Terra Firma units close by. Moving in, Melissa did her best to analyze the situation. "Four plasma cannons, two Gauss cannons. I can put four of them out of commission with only the Wilson Cloak, " she thought to herself. "But, the enemy is too scattered. If I attempt to absorb the plasma cannon rounds, the Gauss cannons will make quick work of my armor. If I try to drop the Gauss cannons, the plasma cannons will annihilate the others." She racked her brain as Saviour drew close to the engagement. Then, she had an idea. Diving faster now, Melissa went directly for the center of the battle, and threw her cloak over Saviour's free arm. As she moved, the cloak temporarily blinded three of four plasma cannon frames. In that same instant, Melissa swung Saviour's opposite arm around, bashing the Gauss cannon frames into each other with her shield. Quickly, she wrapped her still free arm back around, and pulled as hard as she could. She grabbed the opposite end of her shield, and dragged the Gauss cannon frames with her shield, into one of the plasma cannon frames, totaling three frames in one blow. And before the other three could react, she dropped her Wilson Cloak over herself, and absorbed the plasma rounds without a problem. Her allies reacted, swooping around and dumping full clips into the remaining three enemy frames, sinking them into the Atlantic. They each thanked Melissa, and swooped in towards the rest of group A. Melissa shrugged it off, and followed closely behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astolfo Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 When Melissa interjected after Mira made her latest remark at dinner, the question took a moment to get through the slight drunken haze before she understood. "Oh, well like you know, I juss' like'a, think of something that sounds nice in my head and dat's what I use. And using those nicknames makes me feel happy, I guess, ehehe~" Upon Gavin's remark though, Mira made an almost comical thinking posture, humming for a few moments, before shouting out with joy. "What about Gavi-chin?" Without waiting for his response, she twirled around, carrying her now-empty tray and setting it down at the appropriate location before half-skipping back to where she had sat originally.[divider1]After the meal, Mira joined the others to hear the combat plans. Upon hearing of the Catapults that would be in the upcoming battle, a small grin made its way across her face. They were the prime targets and biggest threats to TRAP's side at the moment. The other two mech types were irrelevant to her, although mowing down the stronger of the weaker pair wouldn't be too much of an issue either. Flashing Heinreich a brief teasing smile when she heard she'd be fighting alongside them, she quickly reset herself to her all-serious state. Despite the fact that there probably wouldn't be too much of an issue for her, especially considering she was a sniper, being complacent was never an affordable risk.As the briefing drew to a close however, she began to feel the nervous excitement from the prospect of taking down actually somewhat dangerous enemies. Almost running to her Synchro Frame, she strapped in instantly. Itching with the anticipation for the launch order to be given, she blasted off at rocketspeed the moment the OK was given. After a quick IFF code broadcast to let her allies know that she was on their side, she engaged the sensor disruption to become nigh undetectable while she scouted for a position. The fact she was over the Atlantic Ocean meant she would have to manually keep herself steady. Not too much of an issue, but a slight annoyance needless. After positioning herself at a suitable distance, she scanned the opposing force who was rapidly coming in. Recognizing several figures as the Catapults she had been briefed about, she trained her Skyblaze Cannon upon their general direction, waiting for at least a few of them to line up while the cannon charged. Pouting when the Drachenrand went ahead and took out one of them and caused the rest of them to scatter briefly, Mira took a deep breath, feeling that a good chance was about to come, her instincts tingling.As three Catapults grouped up in a spear-head formation to rush ahead, Mira flew over to the right slightly, aiming diagonally down the forerunner and the right-back Catapults. A soft whirring sound grew increasingly louder as the Skyblaze Cannon gained more energy. Despite the seriousness of this mission, Mira couldn't help but relish the feeling of superiority she had in that moment, a power over life and death itself. The Catapults and their soon-to-be-incinerated pilots wouldn't even recognize the threat until it was far too late, and the rush made Mira take slightly longer to be able to take a better shot. Licking her lips, her finger brushed over the controls."You're mine!" Pulling the control trigger from inside her mech, a whitish ball of energy formed momentarily, glowing electric-blue, before tearing through the air towards the Catapult trio. Mira felt at that very moment inside her core that it was a good shot, and she knew then she didn't even have to look twice, although she did it anyways so she could enjoy the utter annihilation that would result.A brilliant electric-blue spear of energy pierced through the skies, enveloping and devouring the two initial targets in its path instantly. The third and final Catapult who was unable to stop its momentum at such a close range launched ahead straight into the path of the beam, getting vaporized as well. The smell of ozone filled the air as the attack faded out. "Just dropping these trash hunks into the ocean is so unhealthy," Mira frowned. "The oceans never hurt us, no reason to dump more shit into them, when we can just get rid of the crap altogether." Speeding away to a new position, Mira took a moment to reflect."It's such a nice, sunny day today, hm." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANZAI!!!! Posted March 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 Leo wished he could eat. He could smell the faint scent of sauce wafting up through the Albatross’s thin, cramped halls, and normally this would have sent him scurrying to the kitchen to get a bite. However, as he stared out at the cloudless blue sky and the endless ocean below, he felt sick to his stomach. He was trembling a little and he had goosebumps, too. Two weeks ago he’d been much too distracted to truly feel the fear that comes before a sortie. This time, however, it was nearly paralyzing, exhausting him with thoughts of the innumerable ways he might die in the next few hours. Trying to reassure himself, Leo spoke aloud. ”Just relax Leo… You’re gonna be alright. Lauren, Gavin, Mira… they do this s*** all the time, and so can you. It’ll be easy...” Leo took a deep breath. He hadn't boosted his own confidence any, but hearing his own voice aloud brought him some comfort. The quiet of the observation deck wasn’t helping and the sound brought Leo back to the now. He pinched his brow and stood up, deciding a walk would do him better than the endless quiet and blue scenery outside. --- "I'm curious to see where you stand in this, Miss Vega. Shall I judge you by your past? Or will you put on a display for your new, proud home of Terra Firma?" Lauren sat in silence as Takeo left the room, evidently to attend to a more pressing matter than their as yet unfinished chess game. He was a tough man to read, no doubt. Personable, sure, but his friendliness was almost certainly a facade, in fact she was fairly certain that he was making no effort to conceal the fact that it was so. And yet, despite the fact that she could clearly see the mask, Lauren was unable to pierce it in order to reveal what kind of man was actually beneath it. Pondering this for a moment, she slowly came to the realization that the actual game she’d been unwittingly playing was not taking place on the board before her, but rather was an entirely mental struggle; one that she’d certainly come out on the losing end of. Lauren had been entirely truthful with him about her motivations, a decision that was, admittedly, not unwise at first glance. She was well aware of where she stood, and now so was her superior. And therein lay the crux of the problem: He had her pegged, and she had no inkling as to his personality or motivation. What this meant for her was that, in one way or another, she was now another one of the Admiral’s pawns. He knew at the very least on a basic level (and judging by her epiphany, deeper than that) how she operated, and in knowing this information he would now be able to make use of her in whatever way he saw fit, knowing that, as a defector, she would have something to prove, yet at the same time also now being aware that her motivation for allying herself with Terra Firma was in fact genuine, and that she would need to perform exceptionally to not only gain the trust of her new comrades, but also because, should she not perform exceptionally, her statements to the admiral would seem like hastily crafted lies rather than truth, and despite the fact that he likely knew they were truth, he would be able to use the apparent falsehood of her convictions as leverage. In short, this singular, seemingly friendly conversation had put Takeo personally (rather than professionally, as he had cleverly made the effort to acquaint himself with her on a first name basis) in a position to coerce her, regardless of her actions. Lauren’s brow furrowed at the thought of this. The Admiral was dangerous, and she now knew that she’d need to be on her guard in every subsequent interaction with him. Suddenly Drayden didn’t seem so bad. Before she had time to think on this further, however, a voice startled her. "I am honestly wondering why neither of you two have noticed my presence. Age-old covert assassination methods might be somewhat dying in popularity, but hey, you'll never know when an enemy will strike, right?" Lauren turned to see a young girl-no, he was definitely a boy, smiling at her. As he spoke her first immediate thought was “Oh my god was he watching me get changed earlier?!”, though she quickly dismissed it, remembering that her quarters were locked before she entered and she’d locked the door after she walked in. He must have snuck in during the game or when she looked away. "You're Lauren, right? My name is Nisaria Black, so I guess nice to meet ya! I might be young, but I'm a proud pilot too!" “What the hell is he on about?” Lauren began listening again. "Though, may I ask a question? This might be a bit too personal, but... How can you make the decision to defect that easily? I mean, you should still have people related to you there, right? Family members that waited for you to return? Friends that fought together with you, that would've lived and died alongside you? People that you looked up to, and people that looked up towards you? Yeah, I've been eavesdropping earlier. Sorry about that, I was simply being curious. But, I just find it hard to believe that from how you said it, it sounded like you're having the ability to decide things like this so easily. Once again, I'm sorry for asking too much. I just hope that we can get along, miss Lauren~!" This was enough to make her forget the Admiral for the moment. She wasn’t used to someone so young being so forward, especially compared to her brother, who had a way of dancing around a conversation and could sometimes be few of words. Even more odd was that he said he was a pilot. Surely kids this young weren’t being drafted, right? Finally, in a warm tone, she replied. “I didn’t make the decision to come here easily. I’ve got friends in SAF and a younger brother about your age back home in the Shells. Like I told the Admiral, I came here because I knew it was the right thing to do. The people living down here on the surface… they don’t have all the things that I had growing up in the Shells like shelter and food and good jobs, and they have a right to have all of those things regardless of where they live. I couldn’t fight for SAF knowing that I was fighting to prevent that from happening, so I came here. I’m fighting so that when we win this war everyone will have the same rights and opportunities as I did, regardless of where they’re born.” She paused a moment, the friendly looks disappearing from her face to be replaced by a more stern expression. “That being said, you should know it’s impolite to eavesdrop, and even worse sneak into a girl’s room. I have things i have to be doing, so I’m going to leave. I better not catch you in here again, understand? I may be new around here but that doesn't mean you should disrespect me.” With that, Lauren made her way for the door, holding it open for Nisaria to leave before she herself left and locked it. --- Leo found himself, of all places, outside on the Albatross’s flight deck, though safely protected from the high winds by virtue of being inside one of the alcoves in the plane’s superstructure that served as a hangar bay. The one in which Leo currently stood housed the Canis, as well as a few spare components for TRAP’s frames stored on the wall, among which were the Canis’s strike shield and fang rifles. Despite the walls to his sides and behind him and the closed shutter separating the hangar alcove from the elements outside, Leo could still feel the drop in temperature when compared to the innards of the Albatross. He shivered a bit as he walked toward his sister’s frame. Despite its thinner construction and sleek silhouette, Canis still managed to seem so very large when viewed from below. Then again even smaller frames were towering giants when compared to the pilots who flew them. Still, despite the size and cold metallic stillness of the thing, being in its presence brought Leo some comfort. Though he had a few pictures stashed away with his things back at TRAP’s base, the timing of Leo’s drafting had left him without anything of his sister’s (her belongings having arrived at their home days after Leo had already left it for his basic training). In a way, the giant weapon he now found himself leaning against was all he had left of his family; the last physical connection to his only remaining relative. Lauren had helped design it, creating it to suit her own piloting style and giving it its name once it was complete. She’d flown it through the same skies he was now in, fighting against the same people Leo knew he’d be pointing a gun at in a few short hours. Lauren had touched this Frame, and right now, leaning against its leg was as close as he could come to seeing his sibling again. Leo felt himself smiling, remembering a passage from a letter Lauren had written to him about eight months prior. “-Command finally delivered my Synchro Frame today! I wish you could have seen the look on Mendoz’s face when they wheeled it into the hangar bay, he’s never seen anything like it before and now he’s fawning all over it like a kid with a new toy! Can't really blame him though... It looks so cool! The blueprints I got from R&D didn’t do it justice. I’m sorry I can't send you a picture of it like I did with my Stallion. Canis is a prototype and its specs are classified, so I’d be breaching protocol if I sent a civilian anything that Terra Firma could see and learn from (I’m not really even supposed to tell you it exists, but Captain Bartlett knows I write to you and he said he’ll cover for me and make sure it doesn't get redacted if it becomes a problem). They had me take it out for a test flight today after all the particulars got settled. I've never gone so fast in my life! And it was so easy to control too! Synchro frames really are amazing machines.-” “Amazing machines…” And this one was going to bring him home safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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