[IC] NCQuest: Favors for Favors (Taking new players)

[M127]

"Regarding the Paragon mission against a Denver Vegas cruiser, how much do we know about the battlefield? Things like debth of the water, if it is saltwater or freshwater, that kind of information." Joe inquired.

"I'd also like to perform a test on whether or not Swarm's missiles can be repurposed as torpedoes, if dumb-launched, preferably not a virtual simulation.
If that proves impossible, which may likely happen, I would also like to test if some of the missile launchers can be repurposed as torpedo launchers."

"You won't have to worry about depth: By the time you launch and get there they'll be at the open sea. In addition, yes, some of your NC's missile launching racks will be repurposed for torpedoes for that mission."

"Lastly, it would be interesting to know how Swarm behaves underwater, and if it can be fitted for underwater combat with submarines. I don't expect the thrusters to be usable underwater, but maybe it can be fitted with air-tanks to gain buoyancy."

"The Swarm's thrusters, much like any other NC, are a bit too complex for anything like a 'water mode' funtion, and it's a bit too heavy and dense to float, but we'll replace the fuel in some of the fuel tanks for air for the mission as well, in the Swarms' case. You'll be fine using the Swarms' legs to just swim, in all honesty. We could get you some flippers."

Sophia couldn't resist smirking a little at her own joke.

"Flippers might actually be a great choice." Joe thought out loud. "So long as the rest is fairly hydrodynamic."

"I suppose I'll tell the engineers to devise a set of flippers for each NC then, for all aquatic missions later on then. Sort of.. amusing, but if it works, it works. And yes, the Swarm, at least, is decently hydrodynamic. It won't be the fastest thing due to its' sheer bulk, but it'll do fine, I'm sure."

"The lack of a seafloor might pose problems for crashing NCs though, provided any sort of air-tank is damaged, they would sink like blocks of metal, with the water pressure trapping the pilots, possilby even crushing the cockpit."

"Even the Blur is sufficiently armored for that to not pose too great of a risk, but, if required, you could just force the thrusters to go at full blast anyway underwater. They'll need replacements ASAP since they're not meant to do that, but I'll take that over my pilots dying a slow death on the sea floor."

"I also assume any sunken ship is unsalvageable due to the debth?"

"Paragon already said they call dibs on salvaging rights, so that question is pointless. But yes, if they called it, it's doable for them anyway."

"Didn't they say they would give us a bonus, if they could salvage the main cruiser?"

"Ah, I thought you meant for the others. Yeah, if you have to fully trash it, they'd be pissed and wouldn't give us that extra money."

"Well, that gets rid of the easiest way to disable a ship...sinking it, even without damaging any equipment besides its hull."

"You'll just have to go straight for the bridge."

"In that case, I'll probably take care of the submarine from underwater, if nobody else wants to have that position desperatly. Swarms' missiles or torpedoes might do too much damage to the cruiser to keep it afloat in the long run."

"Yeah, submarine hunting is so fun, everyone'll want to do that. Any other questions from you, Joe? About the other missions?"

"None so far, but maybe another comment or question might bring up one more, ma'am."

"Very well. Anyone else?"

[Ladypug]

”You have anything to cough up, Percy?”

”So who else is gonna go MIA, do you think?” Percy couldn’t stop himself from asking. He was thinking about it the whole time she was talking. Each mission just sounded like death or a possibility to go ‘missing’.. to him, at least.

”You, if you keep up this attitude.”

Percy just gawked at her for a minute. Did she really just say that? Is she really-”How do you expect me to NOT worry about this? Unlike the rest of you, I have a kid to take care of!” Percy actually dared to stand up and make a willing spectacle of himself. That’s new.

”I guess that makes you the weakest, then. Do you have any other objections or are your needless naggings done?”. The Captain was obviously letting out something herself. What, only she knew.

Percy looked absolutely shocked and enraged that she DARE make him out to be some kind of nagging asshole. “Do you have a kid? Is your kid having nightmares every fucking night about the shit that went down in Smith’s Rest? How in the FUCK do you think I feel about this, Commander?” The tone he said “commander” in showed that he had absolutely zero respect for the woman behind the title.

”Probably like a pussy. The only thing you can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again, so why don’t you do that? Why let your emotions get in the way of the goal? You don’t want your kid to get hurt again, right?”, Sophia continued the verbal smackdown.

”DO YOU EVEN CARE?” Percy was on the verge of crying. All of the stress, anger, and resentment that’s been building up for MONTHS is just coming out full swing.

”Pfft, you care so much about the kid, but it really looks like you have growing up to do yourself… Hysterical. Go outside and calm down before coming back in. That’s an order!”

“You know what? Fuck you. Fuck you-” he points to the captain, “fuck you-” he points to Jan, “and you three-” he looks at the three, trying to find something to say to hurt them too, but failing. “I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU THREE OUGHTA DO. Just..” He exclaims wordlessly and storms out of the briefing room, making damn sure to slam the door.

”...As I said.. the weakest link, right there. Sorry you had to see that, but he really needed some metaphorical slaps in the face. Hell, literal ones too, I suppose.”, Sophia then glanced over at the door and said in a quieter, somewhat hushed tone. ”I personally wouldn’t care if he needed to be left behind. Try do the opposite of that, if I give the order.”

”Great first impression, am I right? In any case, none of the OP’s are set to be done for a few days. Use your free time to train and tweak, prep for anything that could come up.”

”And knock some sense into that other guy, if you want. I’ll look the other way.””

”In any case… Elizabeth.”. She seemed to pause a few moments, thinking. She quickly stopped herself, continuing. ”A-ahem, Yes, Jackspar. Do you have any questions pertaining to the contracts? Unlike him, that actually pertain to the missions at hand?”

Eli did her best not to give Percy much attention during his outburst. She wasn’t an expert on dealing with angry people in nonviolent ways, but she figured if they didn’t have fuel, the fire would die out. Truth be told, somewhere there was pity for how he was feeling, but that brought her back to Vera, and right now, in the briefing room as with on the battlefield, she was not the focus. Percy would either have to come to terms with that in regards to Ana, or he’d suffer in the long run.

When the Captain called her name, she snapped to attention. The first didn’t concern her, and she was somewhat eager to see how the newer members would hold up on their own. Jan she had no real expectations for, and she supposed with Stein the bar was set the same, but the girl’s focus said a bit more than a dossier could. Eli would have to remember to read them over after the briefing.

”Can we trust the intel we have for the naval mission? Is that the only resistance we should expect to encounter?” she asked.

”Considering the combat zones’ proximity to another nearby naval task force of lesser composition, enemy reinforcements consisting of two older model battlecruisers might show up. Of course, these are being sent to another port for decommissioning, so I highly doubt they’d even be worth mentioning in the after-combat report, in all honesty.”

Eli nodded, that was good enough. Her only real concern for that mission was the possibility of other NC’s showing up. Truth be told, she didn’t expect it to take long for their squad to decimate some hard-tech ships.

Her eyes flicked to Stein momentarily again, then back to the Captain. ”I also agree that the Fairbanks operation reads more like an ambush than a proper mission. I volunteer to accompany Mister Gent along with the others. Do we have permission to reply with appropriate force in that case?”

”Of course, trash the entire facility if it’s really an ambush. If Fairbanks really wants to make an enemy out of us, and by proxy, Volkov, then they’ll damn well have us. That’s horrible to say, considering they started our little operation by giving us NC parts, but if they’re gonna do that, who cares? An enemy’s an enemy.”

”Yes ma’am.” Eli agreed wholeheartedly. They owed Fairbanks nothing that would endanger them or the people of New Anchorage, the same went for every last other settlement, company, or band of mercenaries out there. Fairbanks, Volkov, it didn’t matter, an enemy was an enemy. ”I have no further questions.”

”Good to hear then. I suppose you’re all dismissed, unless you can think up anything else.” Sophia stopped the projector and waited for everyone that would leave to leave.

Bowing her head, Eli briskly made her way out from the briefing room and back into the facility proper.

[Gowi]

---

---

STEIN KALFOX

_{“Greed is so destructive. It destroys everything.”
E A R T H A K I T T}

---

---

BRIEFING ROOM - NEW ANCHORAGE

The whole incident with Percy felt strange, even to someone like Stein. The blonde-haired pilot recalled situations where she had been in a similar situation as Percy, though the last time she had felt so nervous and crippled by her emotions was when she was still an inexperienced child— a memory that was barely one she could recall. Though there was something off about what had just happened between their Commander and Percy, something that Stein couldn’t quite place. Why would their Commander belittle him and rattle him rather than simply dismiss his anxiety and get back to the point?

However odd, Percy’s feelings were not so important to Stein and she had to focus on the rest of what was left of the briefing. Though seeing the man that rattled into such a state made her wonder how emotionally compromised he actually was. Would this risk them their lives at a crucial moment in battle? As Stein thought this her brows narrowed at the possibility of such a thing. She had already almost died due to someone’s emotions and she wouldn’t let that happen again.

She would make a note to talk to him immediately after the briefing had concluded.

As time progressed and the rest of her unit began to make for the exit she approached Sophia, remembering before she’d look for Percy she had to get some additional intelligence… about her own unit.

“I have an inquiry before I return to assigned downtime preluding the missions, Commander.”

“Make it quick.”

“Your assistant forgot to hand me individual dossiers on my squad, I would like to read them over before the missions.”

The information she needed was something she had forgotten to request upon her introduction to the facilities and their operations— having been too distracted by her NC’s own damages and what necessary repairs and analyses she needed to run to get it back to “fighting” shape. Had she been a little less shell shocked and distracted she wouldn’t feel so utterly blind to who her unit was. Going off words from her Commander’s assistant were not enough. It was weird being separated from the only comrades she had known for so many years; a reason the intel of her new unit slipped her mind, after all she had been used to already knowing who her team was beforehand. Switching from Corporate to Independent had a degree of whiplash, no matter who you were. Stein realized that now.

“Did he? Well, that’s a quick fix.”

The request didn’t seem to bother Sophia and with her aggressive retorts earlier, which was good. Because Stein didn’t have reason to argue or debate.

“Thank you, Commander.”

The exchange didn’t take long, as one of Sophia’s other assistants quickly rounded up the files she requested and handed them to her. Stein followed the acquisition with a quick salute to her commanding officer before she left the briefing room— being the last of the group of pilots to do so.

CORRIDORS - NEW ANCHORAGE

As Stein walked through the corridors she began quickly flipping through the files she had been given. Whilst she was mostly concerned about what the particular pages that contained information on Percy at the moment she still glanced over noteworthy mentions about her other teammates.

“Hm. This is sufficient background information for now.” She thought as she closed the file after reading enough to get what she needed to know. It was here that she saw the visage of her comrades making through the corridor.

“I suppose I should find him now, hopefully it does not take up too much of my time.”

Stein made off in search of Percy.

[Natsucooldude]

As soon as the meeting was dismissed, Jan stood up from his seat and left the briefing room. He already had something in mind there was to do. This Percy fellow needed someone to really release his anger at. He was of no use in his current emotional state. Though it would be clear to him that he wasn’t the only individual with the idea as he noticed Stein some moments later as he searched the corridors for Percy, herself looking like she was looking for someone or something— that is until she noticed him as well.

“Van Gent.”

“Yes? I presume you noted Moore’s… outburst earlier too?” He stepped up besides her.

“He seems emotionally compromised. That could endanger field operations. I believe he needs to have words from his comrades.”

“I agree, It’s not in anyone’s favor for him to suffer a similar episode while out in the field.”

“That would be… problematic, I agree.” Stein replied as the two continued their pace as they discussed the task at hand.

She moved her sight for a second down to the file in her hands as she ran over where his specific quarters were located. “His barrack is located this way, close to the hangar entrance.”

---

As for Percy, he had made his way to his barrack located near the hangar so he could just be alone. He really didn’t MEAN to get worked up like that, but he did. His heart was still pounding and his thoughts were a scattered mess of wondering why he even signed up for this shit if all it’s gonna do is hurt his kid. She didn’t want him to leave today, even. That should’ve been a sign to just quit, but he didn’t. He’s doing the best he can, and nobody is ever satisfied with that.. At least, that’s what he thinks.

His moping was interrupted by the slam of the door being thrown open. Jan entered the room, flanked by Stein. “I thought we should have a word about your… feelings.”

Percy had nearly jumped through the ceiling when the door slammed open. Before that, he WAS actually starting to calm down. “...Did you have to slam the damn door?”

“Well, it isn’t much less rude than the way you handled the briefing just now,” Jan simply retorted.

“If you’re just here to fuck with me, then get the hell out of here.”

“Officer Van Gent is only concerned about the precedent that the briefing revealed.”

“He seems more worried about money to me,”

“He is worried about his life. As I am concerned with my own.” Stein commented before she shot a glance to Jan; why was he so aggressive over a matter that needed to be discussed?

“Son, if you have an episode like that in the middle of a mission, the enemy is going to tear you apart like a school of piranhas.” Jan said rather more calmly.

“Don’t ‘son’ me,” Percy snapped. If it wasn’t obvious by now, talking to him like he’s a child having a tantrum probably wasn’t helping.

“He’s not incorrect. Emotional instability can cause serious injury or worse to not only yourself but to the entire unit during combat.”

Percy actually paused to let that sink in, even if for just a second.

“Well, Percy, I’ll just pose you a simple question. I gathered you have someone to take care of? Well, imagine if some go-getting opponent decides to blow a hole through your cockpit while you’re distracted by your worries… who’s gonna take care of the home-front then?”

“It is likely the child would be abandoned and left to the devices of the environment.”

“I KNOW. I KNOW that! God damn it, why do you think I’m scared? I-I’ve been dealing with this shit for months! The one guy I could talk to is a fucking idiot that doesn’t even remember the shit that happened.” Percy had tears in his eyes again. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I don’t know what possessed me to think I was even cut out for this shit!”

“It is impractical to be afraid.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, I KNOW THAT.” Percy exclaimed, “BEING SCARED JUST MAKES IT WORSE! I KNOW. B-but just cause I KNOW it’s stupid doesn’t mean I can STOP IT.”

“Tch. I do not know how you want your unit to handle your emotional breaks, but I will tell you this. Emotions will make you crack, they will make you bleed, and you will be nothing but a skeleton in a mech’s graveyard.”

“So, what, I should become an unfeeling robot like you?” Percy couldn’t stop that train of thought from coming out.. and the slight blush along with the ashamed expression showed he really didn’t mean for that to come out that way.

Stein’s voice cracked a little at Percy’s irritation-caused remark, “Are you content with being foolish? You can be concerned about this person you care about, I am not saying otherwise, but you need to be focused and clear. I do not want to be calculating if you are going to risk the unit. Do you really care about that individual you care for? or do you fear death more than your desire to protect them? Are you a coward or a pilot?”

”Are you seriously implying I don’t love my daughter? She’s the whole reason I haven’t just quit living!”

“I’m implying you fear more than you love. Otherwise this conversation would be not occurring.” Stein spat as she moved a strand of her blonde hair out of her face.

“You’ve already said that if I die, she’s fucked! Even with Zach taking care of her-”

“Then don’t DIE, you cowardly piece of civilian rubbish! If you are focused and have your team behind you, you won’t have to worry about any of this! Are you so insanely idiotic you can think only like a twelve year old? I’m done. My words are spent.” Stein turned to Jan, “I have concluded my thoughts, I will be in the hangar. Working. Like a pilot.”

Stein turned and made for the hangar as she left the two to their thoughts.

“She’s right you know, your languishing in your own worry isn’t serving anyone but yourself.”

“Just leave me alone. I don’t need you hounding on me too.” Percy sniffled, trying - and failing - to hide that he was definitely losing any semblance of maturity he might’ve had before this exchange.

“Sure… I’ll be in the training room, running scenarios. I find it to be quite a calming exercise… you should come sometime too. Release some more of that deep-seated anger in a more productive manner.”

With that said, Jan turned to leave too. He had done enough to at least claim to have done his part, though he wasn’t going to pretend Stein’s polite tirade hadn’t caused quite a bit more impact.

It didn’t take too long for Jan to hear Percy’s footsteps behind him - lagging behind a little, but nonetheless. Maybe it’s the start of something, maybe not.

[M127]

After the briefing was over, Joe slowly, but determined, made his way to the armory. He wasn't in a haste, as several days were left until he would have to have finished his preparations.
He could find the way extremely easily, his brain was quite good at mapping out environments, and soon there would be no need to look at any sort of map of the inside of this base.

The Armory had another slided security door, and a small keypad, guarded by two perssonel. "Joe Verona?"

"Correct. I would like to know where to file requests for some of the armory's equipment; specifically smoke grenades."

"Smoke grenades? Well, can I ask why?"

"To fool an enemy into thinking an NC took engine damage."

"Ah, I see. Can you give us a moment" - "Of course."

The guards turned to the door and whispered to eachother. "He's one of the NC Pilots, Sophia'd probably be pissed if we screwed up anything for him, right?"

"Yeah, she'd probably make sure we had 'accidents' or something. Let him in."

The right guard hovered in front of the keypad as the other re-assumed his position, typing eleven numbers into the keypad. "Talk to the Quartermaster, he'll set you up."

"Thank you very much." Joe responded with a smile, as he entered.

The room had two walls lined with gun cabinets, ammo boxes, spare parts, and armament maintenance equipment, alongside things such as body armor and person-sized equipment.
"Joe Verona? Why are you here, aren't you an NC pilot?", the clean-shaven, buzz-cutted quartermaster asked, an inquisitve look in his eyes.

"That is indeed the case, Mr..." Joe looked for any sort of name-tag on the uniform.

"Robert."

"Mr Robert. I came to the armory to request a smoke grenade. The purpose is fooling an enemy into thinking an NC took engine damage."

"Well what's the actual game-plan on that? Going to work with the engineers to think-up a little mechanism you can fit in near the engine that'll set off smoke? How's the smoke gonna get out?"

"Through the exhaust, quite obviously."

"Well, it'd be more convincing if it came out somewhere where it isn't supposed to and all."

"While true, the winds and turbulences created by a jet-turbine would drag any smoke towards the exhaust. At least in the first few seconds after the damage, which should be enough for the purpose."

"Eh, true that. Well, how many do you think you'll need? I only got four right now."

"A single one should suffice, the engineers can create a test-dummy-grenade off of it for testing purposes, unless you have one of those too."

"I got two of those."

"Well, I don't want to borrow half of your stock of dummy grenades just for this, so the single smoke grenade should do fine."

"Hah. Alright, go get it then, they're in that box to your left."

"Thank you, good sir."
Joe opened the box to find the small stack of grenades, as expected. He took one out and headed towards the door, after closing the box carefully again.

"You're not gonna just set them off, jackass. You don't need to be that careful."

"Well, one can never be too careful with rare goods. Better safe than sorry. And thanks again."
Joe left the armory, 'saying' goodbye to its guards with a nod and a smile. He was heading for the main NC hangar, to see where on Swarm's jetpack he could fit it best.
A bit of duct-tape, a small magnet and a small coil should do the trick of pulling the pin, if set up right. Using a rope for this would be too risky, considering the rope might get stuck in moving parts.
Verona connected one contact of the coil directly to the metal of the exhaust; it should be connected to the rest of the NC, so he wouldn't have to worry about one additional wire. However, there was no way around using at least one wire. He placed the tiny wire from the other contact of the coil so that it would likely never come into contact with any moving part.
He moved it through some gaskets into the cockpit, so in the end all he would have to do to set off the mechanism was connecting a battery to the wire and another metal piece on the inside of the cockpit.
Obviously it would fail to activate underwater, but at that point he planned to already have used it.
After quite some time of crawling through the NC's insides to run the wire, Joe was finished, and Swarm ready for his mission against the Denver-Vegas cruiser.

[Gowi]

---

---

STEIN KALFOX

_{“Greed is so destructive. It destroys everything.”
E A R T H A K I T T}

---

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MECH HANGAR - NEW ANCHORAGE

The conversation that had occurred with Percy Moore was one that Stein wasn’t particularly happy with the result of. Whilst his incessant whining and excuses was mildly annoying, it wasn’t until he had called her a robot did her emotions come a little bit unhinged. Stein wasn’t sure why she let it bother her as she finally made back to the hangar, stopping in front of her own mech— The Little Dragon. The sound of plasma cutters, welding tools, and spinning gears in the hangar seemed to have calmed her down for the moment or at least a slight amount.

The blonde-haired pilot took a heavy breath as she centered herself. “Hm. Well, the repairs seem to be adequate on the exterior.” She muttered underneath her breath.

A higher-pitched sound rose above the whirring and burning, and while it might have at first come off as some asinine shout, when Vera rounded up beside Stein it became apparent it was her voice.

”Heya--whoo!” she said, and nearly dropped the two stacked sandwich boxes in her hands. ”Heya Stein! How was mission talk?”

Stein nearly chuckled, this place was much more social than her previous assignment. She still had to get used to that. She turned toward Vera’s direction and gave a reply.

“Adequate. Though there were some issues, but they are dealt with.”

”Was it someone? Do I gotta yell at someone? Was it Lizzy, I’ll double yell at her.” she asked, and just as quickly her attention turned to the sandwich boxes, as if she’d forgotten they were there. ”Oh! You want something to eat?”

“I have not had issues with Officer Jackspar, no.” Stein stated, matter-of-factly.

Stein thought back to her entire day here and realized she hadn’t gone off to the mess hall yet, so the suggestion wasn’t an off one. “I haven’t visited the mess hall yet, so the option is favorable. Is it not someone else's?”

Vera shook her head. Despite the fact that she had originally gotten them for Eli and herself, she couldn’t find the other girl. And besides, she was making new friends, no harm in that. ”Here!” she beamed, and held out one of the boxes. ”Whatcha up to? Mind if I hang out?”

Stein shrugged after she retrieved the box offered to her. “I was going to commit to maintenance on my NC, but it seems it is ready for field use. Though I could still do diagnostics on internal systems or… retire for the night?”

Stein blinked, she didn’t really have any options or additional activities she could fall back on. For the last ten years it had been pretty formula for non-mission: personal barracks, mess hall, hangar, briefing, hangar, mess hall, personal barracks. It hadn’t really occurred to her considering the concept of “hanging out” was so alien to her.

”Sleep? Already?” Vera didn’t bother trying to hide the confusion in her voice.

“Not really many options that I can see. But as such can be delayed due to social encounters.”

The smaller girl smiled. ”Yeah, hanging out! Come on you guys had to have done that, right? What do you do for fun in Volkov?”

There was more sincerity to the last bit, even if it might not have come across. Vera had never voiced her desire to know a bit more about her family’s homeland. Her real family, anyway.

Fun? Stein tried to think on that. Some of the other soldiers, engineers, and pilots had activities they engaged in but Stein didn’t really have anything to carry over from childhood… because being a combat pilot was her childhood.

“Fitness Regiments and Obstacle Course engagement, I suppose? There was also simulation.”

”Really?” Vera’s head cocked to the side. ”You never like, made snow forts, or told stories, or...wrestled bears?”

Stein laughed at that last one. “No, I have not.”

Vera laughed with her, shuffling onward to find a place to sit. ”Well we’ll think of something. Maybe after your missions I’ll have some fun stuff for you to try.”

Finding a small stack of boxes as a good enough place, she sat down and started to work on her own sandwich. ”But hey, there’s always stories. Best part about them is everyone knows some. I bet you’ve got some super rad stories!”

“I suppose I do.” Stein stated as she leaned against a industrial scaffolding before getting to her sandwich as well.

”Like--like-- Vera’s excitement refused to let her decide between chewing and speaking. ”Like you said you were a pilot when you were a kid. I bet that was super cool, when did you actually get to be in the robot for the first time?”

Stein thought back for a minute. “There was a medical examination, it was discovered I had the affinity required to be a NC pilot. Few weeks after that I was thrown into orientation and training.”

“I was ten.”

”Ten?! Vera covered her mouth to stop any more crumbs from flying out. ”How’d you do?”

“First mission? or First simulation?”

”You went on a mission when you were ten?”

“Yeah, a bunch of soldiers and engineers made a independent company; much like this one. I was assigned to a squad to deal with them under Commander Vox after they decided attacking company holdings was a good idea.”

Stein laughed, “I was utterly terrified. I completely shut down after my first kill.”

And as quickly as Stein finished speaking, the excitement drained from Vera’s face. She stared at the older girl, and tried to imagine herself in the cockpit after…

”You...killed someone when you were ten…” despite its phrasing, it was not a question.

“He had cornered me against a mountainside, and I think my instincts just took over— tore through his cockpit with anti-armor machine gun fire. Like swiss cheese, as the expression goes.” Stein recalled, not comprehending Vera’s reaction.

Vera didn’t weigh much, there wasn’t much strength to her, and so it might have taken a bit for Stein to realize that the girl had her arms wrapped around her in a hug.

”I’m sorry you had t’do that.”

Stein blinked, utterly confused by the reaction. Normally she would’ve reacted instinctively to someone breaching her personal space like this but for some reason… she didn’t.

“W-Why are you apologizing? It has nothing to do with you.”

Vera just held tight. ”I know what the pilots here do. Lizzy tries not to bring it up, but you guys...you fight a lot, you have to kill people. But you’re grown up, that’s what happens.”

She gave Stein a gentle pat on the back. ”But not back then.”

Stein coughed as she let Vera try to comfort her, as naive as it was… it felt nice for what it was. She hadn’t ever had real affection in her life or at least not in many many years. “I wasn’t the only child soldier, so you know; even ‘back then’. It was pretty common.”

”Just cause a bunch’a people do it doesn’t make it okay,” Vera said, her voice still soft. ”Ms. Jackspar told me that about drugs too.”

“It’s a reality of the world we live in.” Stein cleared her throat as she put her hands on Vera’s shoulders, indicating it was okay to halt her intrusion of her personal space now. “But that was the last time I was ‘scared’ as they call it. I became really good because of that experience; I was already the best rookie in the simulations.”

Stein not sure if she was lying right there to Vera or to herself. She had been frightened on other missions though by the time she was fourteen it had all been shot out of her system. But that was due to her conditioning rather than her own will. Perhaps she had forgotten or perhaps she had been made to forget.

Vera took the hint and let Stein go, bringing herself to smile again. ”Yeah...I guess if it made you brave, that’s good. Gotta be brave to be a pilot.” she took up her sandwich again, but ate much more slowly. “I’m glad you’re a good guy.”

“...I don’t really see things like you do, I think.” Stein nervously chuckled before taking another bite from the sandwich. “Thank you for the sentiment, though, I guess.”

“Mhm!” Vera looked off towards the NCs, and she couldn’t help but let her curiosity run wild.

[Mcmolly]

Eli liked to think of herself as a fairly attentive person, and so when she bumped into the unfamiliar form of a new mechanic, the surprise made her drop her datapad to the ground.

Out of instinct she gave the other girl a hard look, but what actually accompanied it was a genuine: “Apologies..”

The response from the raven-haired mechanic was hardly so simple as she immediately stepped back before she replied, with a volume that may have seen as a bit too loud.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry! I should have really seen where I was going, I really have this bad habit of not paying attention and I really should remedy that— oh! You dropped your datapad! Let me get that for you!” The girl replied as she quickly knelt down to pick up Eli’s datapad before standing back up to hand it back with a wide yet nervous smile, her tone chirpy and speed of words fast like that of an energetic child.

It wasn’t the reaction Eli had expected, to say the least. She took the datapad back from the other girl with a thankful nod, and suddenly she felt as though she might have to tone back the harshness, even if it was unintentional.

“It’s...uhm, fine,” she said. “Accidents happen.” These were not words she was used to using, which might have come across in the almost awkward tone they were conveyed with.

She nodded, “I suppose so… I guess I’m still getting used to everything and everyone, even though I’ve been here for a good while! You definitely don’t look familiar. Are you a new transfer yourself? or one of the pilots? That would be pretty cool.”

The girl spoke quickly, almost too quickly for Eli to keep up with her. It took a moment after she’d stopped speaking to give a proper reply.

“Elizabeth Jackspar, I pilot the NC ‘Blur’. You said you’ve been here a while?”

“Katarina Poux, though most call me Kat.” She paused for a minute before replying to the second part of Eli’s inquiry. “Yeah, give or take a few weeks. I came in and started looking for work and got pointed towards this operation. Guess they liked my repair and development skills enough to accept me in. Which is good because I was starving.”

“Starving?” she asked, and the edge came back to her voice. She looked to Kat intently. “Were you from Smith’s Rest?”

“Nah, I’m from a bit further east, maybe southeast? Last job kind of fell through after some disagreements and the like.”

“Understandable. Was it mercenary work?” she asked, and still couldn’t quite leash her standoffish tone. In truth, Eli wasn’t sure what sort of people made up the NA crew, and if admittedly unsettled her to think there might be some previously checkered individuals caring after their weapons.

“Nah, I was a corporate belle. Fairbanks. For a little while anyway.”

“Hm,” Eli mused, and folded her arms. Well, Kat wasn’t a mercenary, but a prior allegiance to Fairbanks didn’t strike her as too much higher above the bar. She thought back to the third contract. “You know, it’s not impossible that we might end up crossing with them.”

“Wouldn’t concern me, they kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I spent five years of my life at that company and all they did was ignore me, argue with me, dismiss my concerns, and tell me I should do the bare minimum of what I was required. They didn’t think I was good enough to pitch new weapon designs. You know? I think they were sexist. Good riddance, if you ask me.”

“Right…” Eli mumbled, though she couldn’t help but agree with most of Kat’s concerns. “And what if your life here in New Anchorage becomes unsatisfactory? Being an engineer here affords you a lot of vital information.”

“If? That’s pretty pessimistic of you, Liz. Can I call you Liz? Right, well if it becomes bad or something I don’t think I’ll be divulging super war secrets or anything; if I’m allowed to my job nothing bad will ever happen.”

Eli bristled in the same way she did to nicknames like “Liz”. It got her in the same way --though to a stronger degree-- that non-superiors using her full name did. She was “Eli” to everyone but her mother and the captain as far as she was concerned.

“Eli,” she replied, a tad sharp, once Kat was finished. “It’s not pessimism, it’s caution. I want what’s best for New Anchorage, and if that’s you, then good, you’ll hear no complaints from me.”

“Righto.” Kat nodded.

“Blur’s pretty impressive, at any rate. Pretty dangerous to go in relying on speed alone even with that plasma blade. You must be pretty scary to go into that and come out looking as pretty as you are.”

It’d been a lie to say that didn’t feed her ego just a bit. She glanced up at Blur, a slight smile spreading behind her scarf, if only for a moment, though that was more due to how Kat’s compliment ended than to any self control she had. For perhaps the first time, Eli’s chalk skin betrayed her, and took on a rosier hue.

“Uhm--sorr--what?” she asked, fumbling her recovery. “Thank you. Blur’s speed is...uhm…”

Kat laughed, “It’s fast! Though it could be faster or at least more agile with enough tweaks to the systems.”

“Faster?” that seemed like enough to snap Eli back to reality. Blur’s speed and mobility were already optimal she’d been told, however given the light of their last missions she wasn’t sure she believed it as wholeheartedly as she did before. “And you could do that?”

“I could try, but I think so, yeah.”

Eli thought for a moment. She didn’t know if she trusted Kat to work on her NC on her word alone, but then again, she didn’t know any of the mechanics leading the work on Blur as it was anyway. “Fine,” she said at last. “If it won’t take Blur out of operation for the upcoming mission, I...would greatly appreciate any enhancing work you could do on it.” That was right, wasn’t it? The proper way of requesting help from someone else, without an iron fist anyway. She supposed she could have made it a direct order, but somehow that didn’t feel necessary.

“Puts me a bit on a deadline—” A giggle escaped Kat’s lips as she smirked, “—but I like a challenge.”

[LHG100]

Jan stepped through the halls, smirking when he heard the hurried steps behind him. “Decided to take me up on that offer then.” he said as he continued walking. He didn’t need to look back to see who was following him, he could already make an educated guess.

”Uh.. Yeah. Guesso.” Percy replied. He wasn’t even totally sure why he was doing this. But he was.

“So, have you ever used training pods before?” Jan inquired, it was rather likely Percy hadn’t what with his rather run-down origins.

“...Training pods?” Percy’s response probably made it obvious he was absolutely clueless. “I.. don’t think so.”

Jan smirked, he was gonna see the spectacle of someone going ‘in the pod’ for the first time. He briefly reminisced of his own first time. It had involved vomiting and headaches “Well, it’s a good thing the base has a specialist present. Trust me, you’re gonna be happy he’s here.”

When the duo reached the simulator room, they were greeted by the constantly annoyed Neural-Engineer working on the room’s fifth pod. He looked up at the two that entered, “Going to duel? 1 and 2 are fine.. Percy, you never did this before, right?”

The redhead took a moment to look at the pod the engineer was working on, trying to remember if he’d even seen something that looked similar to it.. and his mind was coming up with absolutely nothing. “Don’t think I have- Uh, I’m not dueling.. Am I?” Percy looked at Jan for a response.

“It’s an option.”, the ‘engineer’ noted, “Before you go in, allow me to say-”

Jan interjected. “Well doc, I’d say run him through a basic scenario first, let him adjust to the pods… forcing him into a high intensity situation is just gonna make his first time a disaster waiting to happen.”

“True that. In any case, don’t interrupt me again. Moore, if you puke in the pod, you better swallow that crap, or I’m going to make your spine explode, do you hear me? I’m sick of cleaning up after you people.”

Percy looked horrified that he even said that. “You’re.. Haha, you’re just kidding, right?” He wanted so badly to just not even do this now, but.. he’s here, why back out?

“God, do you even think that’s actually possible? Just get in the pod and do whatever the hell you want to do. A little training scenario is already in, get yourself warmed back up. If you puke due to ‘first-time sickness’, I expect you to clean up after yourself. It better be sterile enough to eat off of, if you need to do it in the first place.”

“Got it.” Percy mumbled. He cleared his throat, then spoke again at normal volume, “You said it’s all ready?”

“Yeah, dumbass.”

“No need in insulting me.” Percy said as he got into the pod. It didn’t feel totally foreign, because it had a resemblance to the NC’s cockpit, but nonetheless.

“I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. The first time is almost always the worst as far as I know. Some people can handle it quite well, but I wouldn’t bet on it.” Jan tried to assuage Percy’s fears, he was quite unsure whether or not his words would help though.

”Let’s get this over with, then.”

“...Then actually plug in, stupid.”, the Neural scientist was overheard saying.

Percy’s face reddened slightly - he didn’t know that’s what that plug in there was for.. Thinking more on it briefly, what ELSE would it be there for? Decoration? He plugs in the same way he would in his NC.. and there’s that fucking feeling again - like he’s getting bigger and taller, but at the same time still feeling like himself. if that’s part of the simulation, they captured that feeling almost too well. He lets out a sound of disgust and discomfort - he is never going to get used to that sensation for as long as he lives.

Percy could ‘see’ a simple, desert battlefield all around him, the same strange way he could see things with an NC’s eyes. He surveyed the area, looking for any signs of possible hostiles or enemies - that’s what this whole training this was for, right? Practicing fighting against some bots? ..Well, more accurately, against AI.

Percy could then realize he seemed to have access to a ‘list’ of possible enemies and situations. It was hard to describe, but there were various options. There was a short-looking ‘Anti-Tank’ scenario, one with helicopters, a 1v1 against another NC, a 1v2, and various ‘Pilot versus Pilot’ situations, among others.

Oh Lord. I thought he said it was already set up? Percy looked at the numerous options, not sure what in the world he’d want to go with.. All of it sounded kind of daunting. Maybe it was just having so many choices, maybe it was him being a wuss by nature, he wasn’t sure.. But it took him a full minute to decide a 1v1 would do.

He was then blasted by a list of possible enemies. Three sub-groups were present, “High-Accuracy”, “Mid-Accuracy” and “Low-Accuracy”. The first was just his fellow Pilots. It was soon apparent that ‘Accuracy’ meant how accurate the specifications actually were to the ‘real-life’ version. A strange-looking NC in ‘Mid’ caught Moore’s attention, it appeared to be a nearly skeletal model with proportionately oversized boosters, and wielding two strange gauntlets with pike-like instruments sticking out of them.

The enemy data was titled ‘Smile!’ and had a notification saying that approximate voice-data was also provided.

Percy was honestly tempted to maybe try that one out, but.. Again, it seemed like maybe that was too much. He stared at it for a moment, then decided whatever, this is just a simulation anyway. I’m not in any danger. He picks Smile! to fight against.

Percy’s virtual equivalent of his NC then saw the rest of the world move and twist, until it was in a nice, circular imprint in the limitless dune. It was plopped on the south-western end, while another NC, just like the one he selected, materialized at the north-eastern.

The ‘Smile!’ then began communications, base off of the actual ‘Smile!’s’ known quotes. It was literally all screaming, punctuated by vitriolic, and honestly ‘imaginative’ curses.

“NGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAARH! C’mere you iron-dildo, I’m going to BEND you until you can LICK YOUR OWN ASSHOLE!”. The gunmetal gray NC then initiated maneuvers, going straight towards the Papa-Mike.

Percy immediately regret this decision. ”Shit. Shit.” He backed up as soon as he noticed Smile! coming for him, even using the new boosters. The speed at which he went back actually shocked him - these felt way better than the old ones, too.

Percy’s heart nearly leapt out of his mouth when he felt his back against the invisible wall separating the arena from the rest of the virtual map. Smile! continued to encroach, ranting and raving.

“When I’m through with you, an AMOEBA IS GOING TO HAVE LESS ASSHOLES THEN YOU WILL!”. It was in range.

The poor redhead was shaking - what in the hell had possessed him to go up against this lunatic? He jumped, then boosted above his head - pure instinct was driving him now, and his instincts were screaming at him to FLEE. The Smile! quickly turned, using its’ thrusters’ improved gimballing to rotate 180 in half of a second. “GET OVER HERE YOU FUCKING CUNT, I’M GONNA RIP OPEN ANOTHER ONE FOR YA!!”

Percy was trying to think of what in the fuck to do as fast as he could - he had a rail-gun, a melee, and a missile launcher- MISSILES. Missiles, yes, use the missiles! He went to turn around so he could more accurately aim the projectiles, then hurriedly fired them as soon as the crosshairs on his HUD lit up in red. They all missed because of how Smile was moving - erratically and unpredictably. Just like the pilot.

While Percy was being scared of an enemy that couldn’t actually hurt him, the Neural Engineer was laughing at him. “Hehah… aaah… Yes, Jan. Can we talk for a moment while Percy gets ‘brutally murdered’?”

Jan had been following the external feed with a similar amusement as well. “uh… yeah, what is it?”

“Has Sophia mentioned anything about your NC’s combat data? We were relayed an.. interesting offer, in addition to the Fairbanks contract, that pertains to you.”

“What, me personally?” Jan inquired

“Yeah. Try to feign ignorance when Sophia tells you, please? Some independent wants a cut of your NC’s combat data in specific. We have no idea why, and it’s… relatively harmless compared to the other thing, but we still won’t decide on it without your input. Reasonable reward associated though, they’ll trade the data with a nice shipment of Neural-Computer and sensor upgrades.”, he revealed a flask from his coat and took a sip, as Percy continued to get splattered.

“What do you think you’re going to decide on?”

“What part of the combat data do they want specifically?”

“They specifically want your NC’s history. You know, information dumps, video and audio record archives, power usage charts, fuel consumption averages. Not too harmful, in all honesty. Just.. strange. I’d personally ask for modification history, but they don’t want that at all.”

“Eh, if they’re paying us for this, I’d say give them what they want. We’re lucky they’re bothering to ask politely.” Jan was rather cynical about these offers, getting paid at all was often a bonus the way he saw things.

“Mm, you’d do anything for money, wouldn’t you? Go help Percy with ‘Smile!’, I’m getting tired of seeing him get skewered.” Percy was obviously on his last leg.

But then he did something that neither of them expected. Percy finally realized that trying to keep the NC away just wasn’t the way to deal with this. He went straight for Smile!, his plasma sword at the ready, aimed right for what could be considered the stomach on the NC. When the sword pierced through the metal, he jerked his arm up, towards the chest, then proceeded to go absolutely ham, stabbing him quickly and with a ferocity that he didn’t even know he had in him. He kind of liked it.

The length of the heated-blade quickly hit something it couldn’t immediately slash through, just as the ‘Smile!’ counter-attacked. Pained, but no less angry, “OPEN WIDE YOU SNIVELLING LITTLE SHIT!”, the virtual ‘pilot’ slammed the Smile!’s fist right towards the PM’s head, that spear-like contraption revealing its’ true nature. Explosively.

The Papa-Mike’s head exploded, taking out a notable portion of the upper armor, alongside disabling the Papa-Mike’s rifle-wielding arm. In addition, the Smile!’s offending hand broke off, careening through the air and hitting the virtual sand with a soft thump.

Percy shrieked when his head got blown off, panicking and making sure he wasn’t actually decapitated - giving Smile! a chance to hit him again for just a second. After he realized his head was firmly attached to his body, he switched the cameras from the decimated head cameras, to the cameras located on the chest, close to the neck. He then aimed his missiles at Smile! - he was too close to not get hit by at least some the shrapnel of his own projectiles, but in that moment he didn’t care - and fired. All of them hit in roughly the same area, doing enough damage to force the skeletal NC to lose its’ other arm.

“Hah… NRGRAAAAARHAHAHAAHAHA!!! Who needs arms… WITH LEGS LIKE THESE?!! GET OVER HERE!”

The Smile! did a backflip, augmented by its’ own boosters. It took a moment to reposition itself before boosting straight towards the PM again, one leg ready to pierce the PM’s cockpit.

Percy’s reflexes were on point, so he easily dodged the kick that Smile! was trying to land. He even had the idea to use his plasma sword to slice through the metal of his leg to chop it off. The sword cut into the Smile’s foot, making it hold on to the leg itself by a few wires. The Smile! quickly rotated once more, and it went for another lunge. This one was different though. The Smile!’s torso portion began glowing red hot.

Percy fired another volley of missiles as he boosted backwards, hoping to slow Smile!’s advance - he had a rough idea of what he was planning, and wasn’t looking forward to having to recover from getting blown up in the slightest.

As the last missile impacted, the Smile! was obviously slowed. “I’LL… I’LL...BITE YOUR LEGS OFFFF!!!-”. The Smile!’s own self destruct sequence finished it off, turning it into a nice debris field of smouldering slag.

Percy boosted backwards again just before the NC blew up. “Damn,” was all Percy could say.

Percy could hear the engineer knocking on his pod. “Good fight, keep in mind, it really is just a fucking simulation though. You can go crazy. It’s not like they can actually hurt you, retard.”

The redhead jumped when he heard the knocking, and he looked totally confused when he heard the engineer’s voice. It took him a minute to notice that he wasn’t looking at the sand anymore - he was looking at the engineer and Jan. His heart was racing and he was still shaking from the adrenaline in his system, and his head was pounding.

“So, how did it feel?” Jan asked

“I feel like my head’s about to explode,” Percy mumbled.. he laughed a little bit when he realized how funny it is that his head is aching like it is and his NC got it’s head blown off.

“Well, take a break if you need one, I’ll be running a scenario on the NCs I’ll be meeting in the field tomorrow.

”Have fun with that..” Percy gingerly unplugged himself from the pod, then got up shakily. He sat down in a chair, occasionally watching the screen that showed what Jan was seeing, until he felt more like himself.

[LHG100]

The rest of the day’s events merged into each other as it turned night, and all the pilots likely soon found themselves at rest in their personal barracks. Their rest was short-lived, as they soon found out their quarters had intercoms. They were alerted at 0430 hours, military time. Regular people would know that was simply “4:30 am.” The pre-mission secondary briefing and NC diagnostics would begin in 30 minutes, giving them a rude awakening.

The pilots’ jobs just got a bit harder. “Miss Sophia, are you absolutely certain this isn’t a joke?”, Matthew would ask.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Sophia quickly replied, “It’s surreal how quickly those Red-Star grease monkeys work.

Sophia read the message in her hand again, ”Ahem.. ‘The pre-war strategic weapon Red-Star is operating on, and the target of your contract, is now confirmed to be fully operational. To match the new dangers, we shall pay twice the amount previously stated in the physical contract. Please launch immediately, many innocent lives could be at stake here.’ Ain’t it grand?”

“Well, from his file, Percy’s going to have another fit of hysterics. …Was berating him really necessary yesterday?”

”Are you seriously questioning me?”

“Well, yes. I can understand your reasoning, Miss Sophia, but that was quite harsh. You can’t just beat-down someone, you know?”

”Don’t preach to me.”

“I only do it when it’s necessary, Sophia. Savagery doesn’t get through thicker skulls that quickly.”

“I’d prefer that over a bullet, wouldn’t you?”

“I swear, if you’re implying what I think you are…”

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, on a massive island in ages past known as ‘Australia’, two NCs were patrolling around an archeological dig site. Guarding a massive rail-cannon of some sort, they were.

The one in front, the NC Fubuki initiated conversation. “Oni… Is… is the fucking cape really necessary?”

The massively armored quad-legged NC trailing behind responded quickly, a majestic, asbestos-lined cape flowing behind him. “YES!” the pilot cried dramatically, “I, Red-Oni, decree that all NCs worthy of note must wear capes! It’s simply a matter of honor.”

“...I swear to god,” Fubuki snickered at her companion’s extroversion. “You do know you don’t have to be in character all the goddamn time, right?”

“It wouldn’t be any fun, then, would it?” Oni retorted, “Stop being so serious. Life isn’t that precious, Captain Buzzkill.” The Red-Oni flicked its cape, allowing it to look like something out of a cheesy superhero movie for a few more seconds before resuming its less fabulous series of motions. “Hell, if I’m going to die on the field, I might as well look great while doing it, right? —and believe me when I tell you that nobody looks as good as I do.”

“Augh! Just can it!”

“You can’t contain the majesty that is my cape, Fubuki.”

“Anata wa baka!” She cursed, her grasp on English slipping back to her native tongue for a moment, before pausing for a moment to gather her composure. “Can we just get back to work? Please?”

“Ha! You act like I have deviated from our objective! Your faith is lacking, friend!”

“Urgh… can you at least be silent?”

“I, Red-Oni, shall only be completely silent when I feel the sweet embrace of death!”

“Looking forward to it.”

[Natsucooldude]

Jan had a tendency to plan out when he went to bed and when he would come out. It was a rather rude awakening then when this schedule was thrown on its head. “Oh bloody hell, what is it now…” He answered the beeping intercom.

“The mission has been rescheduled due to unforeseen circumstances. Report to the briefing room in 0500 hours.” The commanding voice of Sophia resounded. Jan fell back in his bed for a moment, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and searched around the room for his clothes. By 0440 hours, he was fully dressed and buzzing through the hallways, in the other direction, technicians and engineers made their way to the hangar to get started on the pre-mission diagnostics.

Jan wasn’t alone by the time he reached the corridor leading up to the briefing room as he noticed Stein turn from a corner. Perhaps it was a bit ironic, crossing paths in the same corridor as they did after his simulation the other day, but it wasn’t like it was improbable either. Stein seemed more alert than Jan though, indicating she had been awake for sometime now.

“Would it have killed anyone to make the alarm clock on the intercom a less grating sound?” Jan opened conversation with his partner for the day.

“Perhaps you should have been awake already, Officer Van Gent.” Stein responded, her tone as flat as ever.

“Heh… good morning to you too.” Evidently, Jan’s sharp tongue hadn’t been dulled by the rude awakening.

Stein nodded as she held her hands behind her back in a military posture. “I hope Officer Moore shapes up. I won’t be accountable for his behavior on-field.”

“Well, I say we should worry about our own hides for now. Moore won’t be flying with us today, so why worry about him?” Before there was anything else to add, they rounded the last corner before the briefing room.

“It is only a matter of time.” Stein replied as she took a light breath before leaning against one of the walls of the briefing room. “But you are right, I should be worried about you— considering how ‘unpredictable’ people seem to think you are.”

“Yeah, that’s the sort of reputation you get when your basic strategy is charging forward and unleashing plasma-beam hell on people.” Jan smiled as he sat down on one of the chairs, awaiting what the commander would have to add on yesterday’s general briefing.

”So, are you two done flirting? Here’s the updated info, then.”. Their C.O. had a quick once-over with the documents in her hand, then hit the projector.

”Volkov’s ‘Archeological Capture’ mission and its parameters have been changed. The pay has been increased 100%, but now it appears that the weapon is already operating and is simply being tweaked at this stage of redevelopment. You’ll be launching in a few minutes, and now, if it’s necessary to blow it all to kingdom come, Volkov wouldn’t give a damn.”

She motioned over to the screen, showing a picture of two NC’s, a dull red quadruped and a light-blue ‘chicken-legged’ design. ”Red-Oni and Fubuki are still guarding the target, and it appears they have MP-NC’s as well. If you aren’t familiar, they’re a new concept that many of the Ruling Companies are trying out. Dumbed-down, simplified, and mass-produced NC analogues. Ain’t worth a shit in comparison to the real deal, but nice and cheap.”

Stein nodded, though she felt the cheap mechs were a waste on decent pilots. Unless they were somehow unmanned? Something to think on for later.

She finished the little ‘updated briefing’, ”Really, that’s all that seemed to have been changed. The plan is that at 50 klicks away, you’ll separate in-flight and go clockwise and counterclockwise respectively. Pincer-attack. The Little Dragon will focus on the MP-NC’s and the weapon itself, while the Goldenspur will keep the NC’s proper and the standard defenders busy.”

“Noted, Commander.”

“I look forward to meeting those guys… haven’t fought them before, but I have heard Red-Oni is rather… a flamboyant character.”

“They do have a bit of a reputation. Fubuki doesn’t like to talk, and Red Oni talks too much. Don’t let it distract you.” Stein nodded, agreeing with Jan’s comment.

”Yeah, neither is Red-Oni a complete idiot. Fubuki’s the higher ranking one, but considering what I heard, Red-Oni’s the one who’s actually getting stuff done. If you treat him how he acts, you’re going to be sent straight to hell.”

”if you believe in that sort of thing.”

“Heh, Well, let’s not dwell on that, lest we end up like Moore.”

“If this is all, Commander, I request dismissal so I can prepare for launch.”

”Dismissed, the two of you. Don’t fuck up so soon, you hear?”

“Affirmative.” Stein moved her hands from behind her back into a salute before going off to prepare for launch.

“Right, I’ll be getting a quick breakfast before we set off… I’d rather not risk my life on an empty stomach.” And with that said, Jan also left the room, moving toward the mess hall.

”...He does realize there probably isn’t going to be enough time for that, right?”

[M127]

Joe was woken up by the alert over the intercom; he knew this mission wasn't really intended for him, so he wasn't in a hurry for getting up.
Sleep however, was not an option anymore, he knew, that if he tried, his brain would wind up attempting to figure out what it was about and just keep him awake. He had planned to arrive at the meeting exactly 0500, but due to his tiredness he arrived at the door of the briefing room a littlebit late. He swung open the doors.

"You're late. You're not going on this operation either. Unless you won't have it any other way?", Sophia rattled off as soon as she noticed Verona enter the room. She was turning the projector off.

"I was thinking about maybe being in the CIC during the OP, to maybe give some advice or analysis?"

"Hmm... Fair enough. Not a bad idea, by any stretch.

"Thank you"

"Go train CQC or something in the sim-pods until combat starts, I'll get Matt to tell you when.", Sophia paused. "...Really, do an exciting simulation. That's an order."

"Ok."

Seeing that he got what he wanted, Joe did as he was ordered, and went to the simulation room.

"Joe Verona?", the Neural Engineer noticed his arrival. "#3's already tuned to you."

"Correct. I was...Thank you." As the engineer continued talking, Joe interrupted his sentence, and entered pod #3. He plugged in, as the inside of the pod resembled a cockpit, it was his first real simulation using hardware connected to the plug, even though that hardware was used to simulate NC hardware.
As Sophia suggested, he chose a medium to weak CQC enemy NC for the first simulation, baby steps.

The simulator selected a random enemy that fit Joe's criteria, and it materialized before his eyes on the other side of the virtual 'arena'. IFF read it as 'Standard Denver-Vegas Mook'. It was a bulky, simple bipedal of the mid-weight category, featuring an NC sized shotgun and an SMG.

It quickly started combat by closing the distance between it and Verona, revealing its' back-mounted rifle, using it to shoot off some covering fire.

Joe responded by unleashing Swarm's missile-swarm, directly aimed at his enemy. He also boosted towards his enemy, using Swarm's 'feet' as brakes by sliding over the ground. He prepared the railgun for fire, although he tried to conceal the railgun itself. The exhaust fumes of the missiles might also act as a little cover, if they didn't dissapate too quickly.

The generic, entry-level NC dodged as soon as the missiles were fired, but couldn't cover enough ground to go unscathed. Its' right-arm exploded, and it lost its' balance. It took a moment to regain it, before resuming its' now faster charge.

Joe attempted to still follow the missile's trail, as to not easily be locked onto, if the enemy had some such mechanism, he also continued his charge, but accelerated as much as he could, flying a short distance above the ground. As he got close enough, that a miss with a hip-fire of his railgun was unlikely, he quickly uncovered and fired it. He was confident, that the enemy's weapons couldn't do enough damage to disable the railgun or his NC while he approached at this speed.

The nameless NC fired its remaining weapons, its shoulder-slung cannon and its submachine gun, at the Swarms' legs. The heavier armor of the Swarm offered too much resistance for its attacks to be worthwhile, and the railgun blast in retaliation finished off the low-level NC. Its corpse, now with a large hole where its cockpit was, landed roughly face-first into the virtual sand before dematerializing.

Verona recieved a prompt. 'Continue simulation?'

'[yes] no' Joe's selection was clear.

On the opposite side of where the Swarm was, a Red-Star NC took shape. Similar to a samurai, it had a pair of two swords, one smaller then the other. Its' head had a large, singular horn, which soon divided into two antennae. Joe's emulated targeting computer then began malfunctioning. The NC, meanwhile, began maneuvering.

Joe fired the missiles, again, this time aiming the laser manually, as best as he could. He also attempted to take off into safety from close quarter combat at the same time. He obviously couldn't perform both tasks to perfection simultaniously.

The Samurai like NC simply boosted and jumped over the horde of missiles, doing a 180 in the air to keep its' eyes on the volley of munitions. When they began turning, its' height increased as its' torso revealed a compartment. Blasts of presumably plasma or some other particle were seen, exiting from the NC and going on to destroy a good portion of the rockets before it turned back towards the Swarm and began a proper close-range fight.

Joe used the time his enemy was facing away from him, to prepare his railgun. At point blank, even a manual shot was pretty much a guaranteed hit, with almost guaranteed damage, likely even lethal damage. Joe hovered at about the height the samurai like Nc had jumped before, awaiting its next move.

The generic Red-Star NC boosted towards the Swarm, its blades began glowing red-hot and vibrated in place intensely, it attacked with its' proper 'Katana' first. As the enemy moved in closer and started to jump at him again, Joe fired the railgun at it, after taking a little time to aim beforehand, directly after seeing it continuing to move in on him. Even if its armor was strong enough to negate ANY damage from the railgun, the momentum would definetly drive both NCs apart, hopefully giving Joe enough time for the next volley of missiles, or to prepare another railgun shot, or to even ascend further, depending on his choice. A miss would of course be the worst possible outcome in this situation.

The NC's head was blasted off by the railgun shot, the force making it spin and fly under and right past the Swarm. It regained control shortly thereafter, and proceeded to stab the Swarm in the back with both of its' swords, slicing off the Swarms' arms when it pulled them away.

"Have you ever seen a jet engine explode due to physical trauma? The turbine blades go all over the place at very high speeds, and they are razor sharp." Joe mumbled into some virtual comms channel, not really expecting a response. Having lost both arms also meant a loss of the railgun, the probably most effective tool against this particular NC he had. Thus, he boosted upwards as fast as he could, firing his missiles back down when he could. He spread them out by spinning, like he did before in some missions, so the enemy wouldn't be able to take them out in one shot, or dodge them easily.

The NC followed suit, gaining quite quickly, and firing its torso-mounted plasma cannon all the while. One of the Swarms' fuel tanks, located in its right leg, exploded when it was hit by the NC's plasma gun.
Considering Joe's missiles had pretty much no realistic hit-chance, unless at point-blank, and his only other weapon, the railgun, being gone, Joe decided to bet all on one card. He turned around and charged the enemy directly, overriding his jetpack's safety, to overload its turbines. He wanted to ram the samurai with much force, regardless of the damage on his end, preferably with his back, where the jetpack was located. If he missed, that would also not be too bad, as he could simply charge again, and again, and again, and again, until his jetpack exploded due to the centrifugal force on the turbine-blades.
Joe saw no other option.

The 'Samurai's' A.I, not expecting that to happen, was slammed by the massive weight of the Swarm. The two NC's hit the ground after a futile struggle by the Samurai to get seperated. When the Swarm got back up, it could see its' test target was nothing but a small crater and a debris field, which was promptly deleted.

Joe looked at the damage report. The impact had caused the turbines to break, although the blades didn't really do too much damage outside of Swarm's internals; a few blades had pierced his cockpit, if this hadn't been a simulation, he would likely be either dead or had taken some irrepearable damage to his body. Joe decided to pause the simulation, to not only get his virtual NC fully repaired, but to also request a review of his actions from the engineer, even if that engineer was unqualified to do so, in which case he'd later request someone idling in CIC to do so too.

"I'm sorry, what?", he could hear the Neural Engineer asking from outside the pod.

"What would you have done different in fight 2, if you were in my position, assuming you had my knowledge of the NC and how to pilot it?" Joe asked.

"...Well, I would still do an improvised ramming, but really? You would've turned into a slushi, if this wasn't a simulation."

"Exactly why I asked. Do I value my own life enough, if I would do this in a real scenario?" Joe left the pod, he had enough simulation for the week, the enemies just couldn't really be surprised by one's equipment.

"...Should you really be asking me this?"

"Probably not, but you are also providing an 'outside view' on the situation, without too many tactics and such involved."

"Well, yeah. You don't need to be suicidal, I suppose?"

"I guess so. So giving up at that point would be the better option, I guess, unless the enemy doesn't accept it. Thank you." Joe left the simulation room behind, heading for the CIC, even though Sophia hadn't called him yet.

[Mcmolly]

Early mornings were not a new thing for Eli. Back in Smith’s Rest her mother began training just around the crack of dawn, so by the time she was a young woman her internal clock had been wound tight and sharp. She had no problems rising, and the grogginess she felt vanished by the time she’d gotten dressed.

To be honest, she felt conflicted about attending that morning’s briefing. As far as she knew the only people involved in the mission were Van Gent and Stein, and she was sure the captain would have her hands full with explanations. Besides, she could bring little to the table in regards to tactical information regarding NC’s she knew nothing about. Blur was her second skin, but these other shells, “Little Dragon” and “Goldenspur” were newer to her than the Swarm or the P.M.

Alas, the sense of duty got the better of her, and she resigned to attend anyway. At the very least she would get an idea of how her new teammates handled a change in plans.

But then she saw, or rather didn’t see Vera. The other girl’s spot on the bed was empty, and had it been any other time of day Eli might have written it off. But Vera wasn’t one to rise and shine before the sun, in fact she put up a protest whenever she was woken up in the mornings. Eli checked her clock again, as if to make sure, and when she saw the static “4:30” she knew she would not be attending the meeting that day.

Instead when she left her room she went searching in vain for any trace of the girl. As she went on, the worry must have come through in her gait, or in what people could see of her face, because around every corner seemed to be someone waiting to ask what was wrong or what the hurry was or what she was looking for. She ignored them as long as she could, until at last she came to the hanger and swallowed her pride long enough to ask one of the engineers if they’d seen the little girl anywhere.

He pointed to Blur, Eli’s gaze hardened.

“What?” the engineer asked. “Kid scared the shit out of me earlier when she opened the damn cockpit—”

She didn’t stick around to hear the rest. Eli was up the lift opening Blur’s pilot-door within the minute, and sure enough there splayed out in the seat, asleep, was Vera.

“Chirst…” it was more exhaled than spoken, and her relief easily overpowered any frustration she might have felt. Gently she hefted Vera up, and the girl instinctually wrapped her arms around Eli’s neck amidst a few tired mumbles.

The lift’s noise caused the girl to stir, and Eli held her tight. “Lizzy?” came the quiet inquiry.

“Yeah Vi. Was lookin’ all over for you y’know.”

She felt Vera shake her head. “Nuh, tol’ y’I was gon’go…”

“And was I asleep when you told me this?”

Eli got only a noncommittal noise in response, but it was enough to make her smile. When at last they returned to the room, she laid Vera down on the bed and the girl instantly curled up.

“Comfier than the cockpit, huh?” she asked, setting Vera’s ushanka aside and running gentle fingers through her hair.

“S’comfy…”

The clock read: 5:10, and Eli pulled the sheets up to Vera’s shoulders before standing up to go. But tiny digits closed around her wrist, not nearly enough to stop her but more than enough to bring her to a stop.

“Ay Lizzy…Im’be…a pilot n’kay?”

It would have been a lie to say the words didn’t trouble her, but Vera was tired and Eli wrote it off as groggy rambling. She didn’t feel the need to reply, the girl was out like a light within a few moments anyway, and by the time Eli turned out the light to leave she could hear the soft sounds of slumber from behind.

That done, she more or less jogged to the briefing room. By then she wasn’t sure if anyone would even be there, but the fear of bad-form drove her to at least check.

[Ladypug]

Percy groaned when he heard the obnoxious beeping alarm go off on the intercom. He looked at the clock - showing 4:30 am - and silently cursed whoever decided that four in the morning was a decent time to get up. It's not that he couldn't wake his ass up this early - he could - it's just his sleep schedule has been fucked up since he got there. He didn't hear Sophia or anyone say anything informing them that they needed to go to the meeting room, so he didn't - happily, actually. He didn't wanna go to a damn meeting with that asshole anyway.

Don't start the day like that, you're better than that.

Percy put on his usual clothes - the only set of clothes he brought to base, actually - and he decided he'd just go to home base. His home base, at least.

Percy left his quarters and got himself fully awake after a quick trip to the mess hall for coffee. The lead-engineer, for the first time out of his suit and sporting his mane of graying hair, turned towards Percy in the hallway to outside. The lead-engineer, outside the suit, was a somewhat stockier middle-aged fellow, an oddly wild look in his gaze. He was wearing a more standard mechanic's jumpsuit.

"I see you're awake? Heh, pretty crazy getting up so early, huh?"

Percy rubbed the leftover sleep from his eyes, then nodded. "Not used to it yet."

"Eh, you will," he said with a small shrug, "Don't worry about it. Going out the base, it seems? Going to visit family? Don't let anyone else notice or anything. Sophia'd probably be mad if you just up and left without even giving a memo. I won't tattle, of course!"

"I would've given her a notice if I knew she needed one," Percy said, a tinge of hostility in his voice. "But I'm only told the bare minimum around here." Percy left before the engineer could say anything, if he wanted to say anything at all.

---

When Percy finally got to his home, he noticed that it smelled like someone was cooking - Zach, probably. Ana then ran out from her bedroom to greet him, leaping into his arms - she was smiling wide. Still not talking much, though, Percy noted. Usually she'd say "hey dad!" or something like it. Running up and greeting him is a good development, though. She wouldn't even do that for a while.

"Hey Pierce. Is somethin' wrong?" Zach chimed in as he stepped out of the kitchen.

"No, I just wanted to see my kid." Percy stated matter-of-factly, gently setting Ana down on her two feet. "Why? You doin' something I need to know about, Zach?" Percy's gaze on the guy was icy yet burning into his skin at the same time.

Zach sighed, aggravation heavy in his voice. "Percy, come on," he begged, "I'm not gonna do it again, ok? Promise."

Percy just scoffed, then directed his attention to his daughter that was obviously distressed. His tone changed immediately, "Ana? Ana, hey, what's up?"

She just pouted. Percy tried to read anything that could give him a hint on what's the matter, but he just couldn't. Ana then looked down to the ground, arms crossed loosely.

"Don't make Ana listen to our bullshit."

Percy's eyes widened slightly when Zach cursed, and spoke before he could get the rest of his statement out, "Don't curse-"

"She's going to be around people that cuss, Percy," Zach interrupted, just like Percy did him, "This isn't 2051. It's 2677. Get over it."

Percy paused only briefly - he had a point, but at the same time, "She doesn't need to hear it," Percy insisted.

"Shit. Fuck. Ass." Zach challenged.

"Zach!" Percy cried.

"Dick. Cunt. Tits.." Zach just kept listing curse words off the top of his head, keeping count on his fingers as Percy continued to get more and more panicked and flustered.

"Guys..!" Ana's strained voice stopped the arguement from going any further, even if it was soft. "Stop it."

"See? Even Ana wants you to-"

"I said guys," Ana corrected gently, "with an s."

"She's known cuss words all her life - learned it from the one around her most, actually," Zach said, gesturing to Percy.

The redhead's face showed his offense and his shock, "I've never cursed in front of her!"

"Even when you.. I dunno, stubbed your toe on a chair leg? Couldn't find house keys? Water didn't work? I could go on. "

Percy's face burned a bright pinkish-red when he brought those specific situations up - yes, he's cursed in those situations, but.. he didn't think Ana heard.

"I win," Zach said simply, turning around to go back to the kitchen to make sure he wasn't burning the food he had cooking - rabbit.

"...You know that you can't say those words." Percy's tone of voice was more questioning than stating firmly.

Ana simply nodded.

OOC

I felt like I needed to post so bewm. here's a post.

[Natsucooldude]

Jan walked into the hangar, a sandwich in hand, it dripped with mayonnaise and other condiments, but that was to be expected from something slapped together in about two minutes. Like this, he walked over to the Goldenspur, and the engineers standing around it.

One alerted him, "Fueled up and ready to go, sir!".

Jan swallowed the chunk of food he was chewing on. "Right, I'll be climbing in and linking up, I take it we depart in a few minutes?"

"Yessir, should. Make sure everything is good on your side, too. Diagnostics.", the Goldenspurs' liutenant engineer finished with a, "Tell us if we fucked up, basically! Hahehe.. Doubt we did, of course."

"I'll know where to find you if you did though." Jan smiled, the man seemed competent enough, and he seemed to share his sense of humor. He clambered over to the cockpit's entrance in the back of the goldenspur and lowered himself inside. The seat seemed to be the same as always, he started clicking into his safety harness. Sighing briefly at the amount of belts he had to click together.

After he secured himself, he took a deep breath in preparation for the startup sequence. He took the neural plug, braced himself for a moment, and plugged in. Electricity shot through his nerves, there was the familiar moment of confusion as to what was his body and what was the machine. He breathed again, he was plugged in.

"This is Sophia, Goldenspur, you fully operational?"

"This is Van Gent, I am plugged in and ready for transport, all systems nominal.

"...Are you really not familiar with that little bit of NC-culture?", Sophia asked, after a short sigh, and nearly audible rolling of the eyes.

"No commander, I just thought I'd finally show a bit of proffesionalism now that I'm in the seat. Can't have you thinking I clown around on the job."

"Eh. You can fuck around a little, who gives a damn as long as the job gets done? ... Plus, it's just strange... Of course, normal people would call that little quirk of NC pilots strange, I suppose."

"Heh yeah, I do suppose it's rather confusing to refer to people as if they're machines... But really, it's rather understandable once you've been in the seat. anyways, if you will, I'll finish my sandwich while I wait.

"We'll launch as soon as both your and Little Dragons' diagnostics are done. If you think you'll need to shit, mention it now."

"Heh yeah, as attractive a lavatory module would sound, I doubt it'd be responsible use of funds. But no, I'm good on that end."

"... Hey, Goldenspur. I have a question for you, from a veteran to another?". Sophia actually asked a question. This was either going to be good, or really bad.

"Ask away commander"

" ... You ever see things that aren't there in the cockpit? I keep on hearing tales. I want to know if they're true or not. Inside or outside, if anything?"

"I... don't know, I don't usually pay attention to my... 'actual eyes' while I'm piloting... never really paid attention to such things"

"Well, can you start? Tell me if you do, one day."

"I will sir... Though I'm not losing sight of the battlefield for doing that."

"Don't call me sir. Do I still apparently look like I have a penis?"

"Eh, then waht do I call you? Haven't bothered to keep track of your 'preferred title'"

"Commander, Miss, Captain, Boss. Boss is only when you want to get slapped, though.

"Heh, alright, I'll try to remember it boss." Jan chuckled, as if to challenge the commander to come over and make good on her threat.

"You're lucky I'm not up to it now, Mook."

[Gowi]

---

---

STEIN KALFOX

_{“Greed is so destructive. It destroys everything.”
E A R T H A K I T T}

---

---

MECH HANGAR - NEW ANCHORAGE

Stein had went immediately to the hangar as she had said, and had been ready for sometime. But one of the engineers, Katarina Poux, had decided to do a once over on the NC’s that were launching pre-mission; her analyses done before Jan Van Gent had returned from the Mess Hall to prepare for launch. Stein decided to not engage in conversation giving only a short dialogue to the engineer as she headed up to the cockpit.

“Get it done before launch.”

Stein had no time for dwaddling or small talk when a mission was about to be launched and she’d return to what she knew best: being a pilot.

The repairs and system analysis seemed all up to expectations, which was a little surprising to Stein. She had always been told independent operations were a mess of inadequacy and incompetence; operations with no sense of urgency or professionalism. Whilst some of it ringed with some truth, she found herself pleasantly surprised with the results. It did all feel different though despite that. She missed the order and strict organization of Volkov and she missed being on the same page as her commander, field leader, and engineering captain.

Stein always had the statistics and few people felt the need to lie to her or give her false information. It was still a tick that was lying at the back of her head from the other day… the implausibility of the statistic she was given for the Fairbanks job. Three percent. Given all the factors Stein had done in her head and her own calculations that was nowhere near a good estimated calculation but a downright fabrication.

But why? Why would they go to fabricate information? Where was the logic in it?

Stein didn’t understand and it frustrated her.

As Van Gent returned and chimed in to his commander Stein did as well.

“This is Little Dragon, I am plugged in and ready for transport. All systems are nominal, All systems are operational— no errors detected on my end.”

[LHG100]

Jan Van Gent and Stein could hear a faint 'tap tap tap' in their ears. Alex, the driver-lady from before, soon began speaking"Hey, this thing on? This is the... uhm... Freighter One, crewed by Bill and Alex. Little Dragon, Goldenspur, prepare for transport.".

The elevator-pads each NC was on began their startup sequence, allowing 30 seconds for the engineers to stop what they were doing and get off. The elevators began their movement, slowly rising as their respective doors in the ceiling opened. The NC's were now top-side, and a particularly large and long helicopter was hovering over-head. It was effectively two spines connecting a front and back end together, and each 'spine' had three mounting hooks, and enough space to comfortably fit your average NC. The front end had a large, angular canopy, while the backside featured fins and two small jet engines for lateral movement.

The sides of each 'pod' had landing gears, and various pieces of equipment, including cameras and chaff launchers, among others. Bill had to ruin it. "Damn, I'm still geeking about piloting this thing. 'Mirin hard. I'm not gay, but if I had to fuck a manly vehicle.."

Alex rolled her eyes, "Are you serious? Eaurgh... that's one of the few things I don't miss from those 'glory' days."

Two magnetic hooks lowered themselves from the chopper, attaching to the backs of the NC's, and reeling them in. When they were fully retraced, additional clamps connected themselves to the NC's, to make sure they didn't jostle around during flight.

"Strap on to your butts, I'm still getting used to handling this thing."

Quickly, the massive helicopter went full-throttle, moving through the air with surprising speed and elegance for something so brutish and bulky looking. Minutes of travel turned to hours, as Bill and Alex talked to each other about the stupidest things during transit. "No, that's not possible. How could snakes even take down a moose?"

"I don't fucking know, I'm not a snake. Maybe they have snake-spears? Or snake-guns? They kill moose with snake-guns and turn their moose-hides into snake-clothes. It's the only solution I have, man!"

"Or, Gee, maybe the meese-... moose just migrated?"

"You're no fun."

Before they knew it, they were flying over the water with land on the horizon. A few hours have passed.

"Combat's approaching, if you have any anguished declarations of love, I'd say em now."

[LHG100]

Joe stood before the door leading into the command center, it was open. Accessed from the same 'hub' as the briefing room, but the next door counterclockwise, the CIC was just like any other room in the underground facility. Surprisingly spacious, well-lit, and with mostly clean air. Sophia looked behind her, she was standing in the middle of the room, flanked on each side by occupied desks. The computers on each were dedicated to one NC, and the info being sent from it. Only two were being fully used, with the other three being used for analyzing more detailed information from their transport helicopter.

"Joe.", Sophia plainly noted.

"Hello. Am I too early?", Joe incquired.

"Naah. They're nearly at the combat area. The last few hours have been boring as hell, huh?"

"Indeed they have been. Simulations aren't my thing. Is there any unoccupied computer available here?"

"...Well, technically. But no, not for you. I'm a bitch, but it'd be rude if I told one of these jockeys here to get up just for your highness."

"True, which is why I asked if there is an unoccupied one, but there seems to be none. Do we have any new data on the enemy?"

"Not really, no.".She watched one of her little 'minions' screen, noting that they were due for an 'operation start'

"Ok then, I have no more questions or other remarks right now." Joe looked at a few images of the railgun, attempting to determine its capabilities. The large, deceptively simple railgun was a beast. The only two uses it'd actually be efficient for Joe could think of was for either anti-orbital work, or for laying waste to entire military bases in single, powerful shots. The modificaions made by Red-Star were hard to notice, making it difficult to discern their nature.
It was very hard or maybe impossible to discern the exact capabilities from the images, however, it was definetly possible to discern the maximum possible speed and size of one of its shots, scaled by the size of the railgun. It wouldn't represent an actual shot, but the maximum possible without destroying the railgun with the shot. By his estimations, this thing had enough power in each shell to be a smaller-scale 'weapon of mass destruction', easily enough to kill an NC with a single shell, and blow one hell of a noticeable crater into the roof of a Burrow, easily enough to collapse several blocks, if not more. Its' range was theoretically worldwide, as well.

Sophia activated her earpiece. "This is the Captain. Initiate undocking, mission is a go. Little Dragon, counterclockwise. Goldenspur, Clockwise..

Alex had her orders, "Roger, Captain. Good luck, you two.". The helicopter disengaged its' hooks and grabbers, making the two NC's fall gently to the ground, thanks to their thrusters. The Little Dragon and the Goldenspur, while they fell, each had two radio requests. Before even looking at the senders, it was obvious they were from the two enemy NC's.

[Natsucooldude]

Red-Oni and Fubuki made themselves known on sensors as well, activating thrusters and going into ‘combat mode’, four MP-NC’s guarding the dig’s perimeter stood their ground. Red-Oni waited patiently to speak to this newcomer, first. He may be devious, but he has ‘honor’. That’s what he told himself, at any rate.

When the NCs disconnected, Jan had a brief moment of confusion, had he fallen asleep during the trip? He wasn’t quite sure, but there were more pressing matters, such as the actual mission. He quite quickly noticed the open radio wavelength, great, it seemed he would have to endure some madman’s japping again. He opened both channels but didn’t say anything, He always liked to pretend he was listening. Gave his enemies one more thing to lose focus about.

Red-Oni blurted out nonsense almost immediately on the comms when it was obvious Jan was listening. On the horizon was the NC itself, and for some strange reason, Jan felt like the Red-Oni was locking eyes with his own NC’s visage. “WHAT FINE SHEEP YOU ARE, The BOTH of you! Coming straight to this wolf’s den for SLAAAUGHTER!”.

Well, that was subtle.

“Yeah! What he said!”, Fubuki sarcastically backed her friend up.

Jan sighed. “Great, another set of nutcases” he whispered to himself. Those tended to be dangerously unpredictable. He didn’t dwell on the thought too long, standing still was an invitation to get wrecked.

“I… RED-ONI, one-half of the scourge of the east, shall defeat you! I hope you’re ready, for I’m about to crank up the heat! Don’t sweat it, you’ll be slag in no-time! I’m very good at striking while the iron’s hot!”. Seems like he certainly wasn’t taking this seriously.

Jan thought back to the mission briefing. Oni was acting particularly obnoxious, even for the typical nutcase… Hadn’t Sophia mentioned his specialty was something to do with false-flags… And then he realized he had been fixated on what was standing right in front of him and had forgotten about his back. “Heh… making noise so your friend can leisurely snipe my back while I’m distracted?” He finally responded.

“I, Red-Oni, am above petty tricks such as that! Now, face the might of my… NAAAAPAAAALM!”. The red-oni was in combat range, and Jan could make out its’ specific armaments. A two-handed napalm-thrower, a back-mounted incendiary rocket launcher, and another back-mounted grenade cannon. It seemed he had a sword, likely a plasma blade or some other heat-based melee weapon, on his NC’s hip.

Jan soon detected another sig, higher in the sky. Fubuki was ‘close’ behind her ally. Almost immediately, a high-velocity sniper shell descended from the sky and hit the Goldenspur right in the left knee, making it lose some stability.

Fubuki could be heard whispering, “...see a shot, damn well take it...”

“You act like I wouldn’t.” Jan retorted… And here he was, getting carried away just like they wanted. Well, it was time to get right up in their grill… and in the current situation, it seemed best to focus on Fubuki. With a whine, Goldenspur’s thrusters revved up, and with a whir, the autocannons showered the skirmisher with hot lead.

Fubuki’s light frame tried to dodge out of the way, but a good majority of the bullets still hit, shredding many of her outer layers of armor near instantly. She quick-boosted backwards in the air, losing height and moving closer to her compatriot. “Th-that hurts! You can’t just shoot girls...”. Red-Oni moved in closer himself, using his four spider-like legs instead of his boosters to conserve energy for something else, apparently. In the mean-time, he fired two incendiary dumbfire rockets, paying no heed that they may hit Fubuki. One flew straight past the two mingling in the atmosphere, while the second impacted the Goldenspur, but deflected, spraying its’ gaseous fuel in the air before igniting it, making a short-lived yet intense fireball.

“Bloody hell the nutcase bit ain’t an act!” Jan shouted to no one in particular.

“I’m not insane!”, Red-Oni ‘reassured’, “I’M MERELY ALIGHT WITH THE PASSION FOR BATTLE!”

Jan didn’t need any more reassurance than that. “Listen up princess, nothing personal, but you’re going between a rock and a hard place.”.

“Look who’s talking!”, she responded, immediately disengaging thrusters as another three rockets were fired by Red, aimed dead-on for the Goldenspur. The reverse-jointed NC began plummeting towards the earth quite quickly, before resuming control straight after impact.

Disengaged thrusters… that meant heat seeking missiles. Goldenspur rolled around and disengaged autoguns, diverting power to the engines. He blasted off with missiles hot on his tail… Adrenaline shot through Jan, The repetitive beeping warning him of the missiles, Red-oni’s ranting and taunting.. It all became nothing more than background noise. Experience and muscle memory took the wheel, backseating his mind. Jink to the side, pitch downwards to the ground. Roll around all the way to keep the missiles from getting a straight path. Disengage thrusters at just the right moment. Reorient back to his target. And finally blast the thrusters full-force just before hitting the ground. Jan vaguely heard the sound of missiles uselessly burning the ground, but he was already moving to re-engage Fubuki.

Red-Oni was snapped ‘out of character’, muttering a ‘holy fuck’. Fubuki went silent as well, apparently equally as worried. She put her heavy sniper-rifle on her NC’s back, and took out an SMG and a shotgun from her NC’s hips. The duo then mutually began taking this a bit more sincerely.

[Gowi]

---

---

STEIN KALFOX

_{“Greed is so destructive. It destroys everything.”
E A R T H A K I T T}

---

---

EXTERIOR APPROACH - ENEMY BASE

“The Little Dragon will focus on the MP-NC’s and the weapon itself, while the Goldenspur will keep the NC’s proper and the standard defenders busy.”

For the encounter, Stein’s reactions were as to be expected— calm, collected, and quiet. She had no use of taunts from enemies; especially when said taunting was so pointless to the point of idle chatter. The fact Jan decided it’d be best to “play along” irritated her a bit but she decided not to dwell on the thought. After all, when she was in the mech she was there for work. Had you looked on through a monitoring camera one would catch one instance of Stein smiling; earnestly, and organically. She was home and after only a slight vacation, too. It felt good to be back in the cold steel of the Little Dragon’s cockpit as Stein piloted the NC.

The objective never left Stein’s head, even with the adrenaline of being back on the field in her NC. Defeat the MP-NC’s and focus on the weapon they were after.

{“Keep their attention, Goldenspur. Also try not to die, I’d hate for you to lose your little competition so soon.”} Stein stated through private communications between her NC and Jan Van Gent’s own.

{“You think these jokers scare me? I’ve swatted flies more menacing than them! They’re basically free points!”}

{“Copy that, Goldenspur. Watch your radar, sending out a flare.”} Stein responded with a low chuckle before tuning out for the moment to focus on the mission.

Stein flipped the switch of her top weapon— a loadout of EMP flares. This would be useful against mass AI-operated NC’s or NC’s operated by inexperienced and unskilled pilots given its utility to jam radar systems with a slight EMP wave emitted by flare-equipped missiles. Had Stein not relocated power to her electronic shielding she would’ve been affected by it as well. A simple effort on her part; she had done it many times before.

Following the attack she would prepare her anti-armor machine gun system for some work output; firing when she found the right moment with the targeting system the Little Dragon had installed.

The flares seemed successful at surprising her enemies, though it seemed these were not unmanned NC’s but the other option. Still, it clouded their radar and additional targeting systems so it would give Stein some relief in dealing with the number of them that she had to deal with. Her barrage of shells annihilated one, blowing up its’ ammo or fuel storage and making its left arm vault through the air. Another MP-NC closeby was damaged by the shrapnel, but not taken out in any sense. The three remaining MP’s formed a line and began to counter-attack, firing NC-grade ‘Submachine gun’ rounds and large-caliber NC- sized handguns.

The ‘conventional’ weapons surrounding the slowly activating WMD began turning on themselves, smoothbore anti-tank cannons activating first, but not having the time to fire quickly enough. The giant weapon seemed.. off, both Stein’s and Jan’s instincts told them to not move in too close too often. There was just something fishy about the lost piece of pre-war technology that said ‘too vulnerable’. Was it rigged to go off?

Stein remained calm despite the fact that her attack didn’t come out as clean as she expected. On reflex she activated her missile deployment system— aiming for the ground in front of her before kicking up her thrusters as debris and smoke created a screen that would aid with visual confirmation of the Little Dragon from its ‘lesser’ enemies. As she did so she aimed the NC-sized rifle that she had assigned to the Little Dragon as a central loadout before mission launch; intending to use it as a supplement to her built in anti-armor machine gun system that she had just utilized only moments prior.

Another MP-NC bit the dust due to the heavier shells, it’s head being annihilated in a few well-placed shots, hydraulic fluid and electricity seeping out through the ‘wound’. The two remaining MP’s bum-rushed the Little Dragon, heat-blades deploying from their forearms and ready to tear into the proper NC. The first one used its relatively primitive boosters to jump at her, aiming a claw right for the ‘neck’, but due to its ungainliness not even comparable to the heaviest of NC’s, this would’ve likely missed anyway.

“I see.” Stein muttered under her breath as she diverted power temporarily to her thrusters to give her dexterity and agility in combat a bit of an edge.

As the Little Dragon darted left fast and hard she let out some shots with her loadout weapon and her infernal machine gun system. The dumb, brutish mech that lounged at her missed utterly, smacking hard into the sand before slowly getting up. His buddy, shot at by a proper NC’s rifle and machine-guns, actually managed to survive the barrage.

It threw away the sole visible weapon, an SMG, at the Little Dragon, and the pilot seemed to take a moment to barely audibly yell a battlecry before the Little Dragon simply dodged the toss. Just afterwards, he regained composure enough to grab at his MP-NC’s back, revealing a three-tube missile launcher!

{“Surrender and you will be given relief. Do not and you will be destroyed. This is your only warning.”} Stein communicated over public channels.

The pilot of the mass-produced walker actually responded, and it was quite obvious he was sad, but even more pissed.

{“You fuckers! Those men were good men! Honourable! One of them was a loving father! And you expect me to lay down and surrender, die to you? I’m— ”}

Stein cut him off, {“Yes. It is illogical for you to continue. Fubuki is about to be destroyed.”}

{“You Pluggers with your neural nets, and your ‘superiority’ make me sick! You use your powers to break the weak and sow misery in your ‘lessers’... I’m going to etch my image into your memory permanently!”}

{”I see.”} Stein left the channel open as her own missile load out shot out in mid-conversation, striking for the inferior NC’s missile loadout. Stein focused on her targeting system to ensure that even if the enemy unit dodged the missile would not miss and strike the ground.

The MP-NC, miraculously dodged a direct collision with the missiles, and actually used the momentum of the explosion to enhance its own speed.

“If I still had my light sword loadout this would be a simple end. He’s lucky.” Stein thought, disappointed that she wasn’t still with Volkov and that a lot of her equipment had gotten fried during the battle with her former comrade when she was relieved of service.

It boosted forwards with its thruster-jets and fired one of its armor-piercing missiles in a very short range. That was effectively self friendly-fire, he was that suicidally angry, it seemed.

“Enough time playing..” Stein thought as she put full force on her thrusters to shift her backwards at max velocity, firing her machine gun system as she reloaded her NC’s rifle.

The simple Mech sacrificed its left arm to survive the barrage, before setting its own thrusters to afterburner one more time to try and catch up. As the pilot realized he couldn’t, he fired his two remaining missiles and then went to wield his missile launcher as a club, right after stowing it for a second to rip off some of its own armor plating.

Two quick and accurate shots at the missiles as she continued pressure on her thrusters to keep her distance.

Even with ripping off now-dead weight, the mass-produced mech simply couldn’t catch up, the pilot, realizing this, then stood there for a moment, the mech’s sole sensor eye staring at the Little Dragon. For the man inside, it was likely an eternity before he did the only thing he could think of, a simple, single ‘Bring it on’ motion with his NC’s hand. Like that’d really do anything.

The Little Dragon steadied the rifle more as it stopped pressure on its thrusters since the distance was preferable. Lining up shots aimed at the cockpit before firing in quick precise bursts.

Just as expected, the mecha’s cockpit went up in flames, disabling the MP-NC. Now her responsibility was the weapon itself.

{“All enemies eliminated. About to proceed.”}

[LHG100]

While Jan and Stein fought, Sophia relinquished effective command for a few moments to her aide, before quietly leaving the command room and going to the NC pilots quarters. She stopped at the entrance to Elizabeth's and knocked.

"I got it!" came a happy voice from the other end, but when the door opened up it was Eli standing before Sophia. The girl instantly shot up to attention, saluting the Captain.

Behind her, Vera peered from the bed, evidentally told to stay.

"Captain, I apologize for my absence at this morning's briefing. I was late, and by the time I arrived, it had concluded." she said.

"In all honesty, it's fine. Not your mission, not your problem.", Sophia nonchalantly commented, giving a half-hearted, sarcastic salute back to Eli.

"I'd prefer if we talked in private, Elizabeth. It's not particularly important, but I would like to discuss something not necessarilly objective related with you."

Eli nodded without hesitation and started out of the room. She turned to Vera, but the smaller girl was already smiling and waving goodbye.

"Have fun Lizzy! Bye Cap'n Sophie!"

With the door shut, Eli deferred to Sophia to lead the way. Sophia lead her to the Captain's quarters on the other side of the facility. It was quite similar to Eli's own, except just a bit larger and it having a nice, well-made table in the middle. It seemed to be made out of authentic wood, even. Everything else was relatively fancy, considering that this was a militaristic facility.

Sophia sat at the table after closing the door behind the two, and rest her head on her hand.

"Elizabeth... How do people like us even exist?". She seemed authentically sorrowful, even saying this.

It was not the topic of conversation Eli had expected, even if she wasn't entirely sure what it was she did expect. She remained standing and at attention, but the Captain's demeanor, even her tone, leant a bit of a hunch to Eli's form.

"Captain? I'm afraid I don't understand."

"How could everything have turned into this? Every time I look outside, I see remnants of things that aren't supposed to be possible. The world wasn't always like this, was it? Where people like myself have to exist? And help in making people like you exist? Why? What sort of sins did we commit, or are we being punished instead of the people who committed those sins?"

Sophia had a thousand-yard-stare begin to form."I don't remember ever doing something so horrible that this is the only punishment... How can we be so sure that reality is supposed to be so... disgustingly horrible? Did God... did He give up? Is that why I exist? Is that why you exist?"

Eli didn't know what to say, the worry that was merely a hint now took hold of her eyes and she looked at the Captain as though she'd been wounded. For a few moments she was silent, thinking, but it didn't take long for her to realize that this was not a skill she'd learned. Contemplating her purpose, why she was who she was, why the world was as it was, in a manner of speaking they were above her mental paygrade. Give her a target to slice apart, give her an obstacle to blow to smithereens, but philosophy...her mother might have even laughed.

At last she replied, her voice unsure. "Things...change. The world changes. With or without the aid of a...higher power...nothing is stable. If the world really was as good as the stories say it once was, then eventually it was destined to collapse. It could be that people like...us, are here to prevent it from changing for the worse, again, she said, and a moment later tacked on: "Captain."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right about the world changing. But why do other people have to pay for sins they didn't commit? Why do you... why does your team have to pay for our town's failure? Why did I have to pay for my father's failure? Why do people like you have to pay for the failures of people like me? Why don't people just carry the weight they make? I can't believe the world is so diseased like that."

"Did humanity have its chance and blew it? Is that why this world is so hellish? Is this even 'Earth', or is this just the afterlife? I find it hard to believe that things can even work like this. It seems so surreal, does it not?"

"It...I..." Eli could no longer find the words. The things Sophia was saying were troubling on multiple levels past the horrorific context of their meaning. She'd never thought of her superiors as 'people' per say, with pasts outside of their professions, just as she'd never expect anyone to think of her as anything but an NC pilot. It was shaking in every sense.

"Captain...do you re...do you need psychological counseling?" she asked.

"I know this sounds dark, but... I think I need a bullet. Is that evil? The desire to 'leave' this, in that way?

A sudden, intense fear overtook Eli, and as if a switch had been flipped she felt as though she understood. Out of pure instinct she checked to see if Sophia was armed, then around the room for any weapons. She knew well that it didn't need to be a gun, or a knife, to be effective.

Sophia scoffed, noticing Elizabeth's panic. "Pfft... I don't want to be the one to pull that trigger. If I die, I'd prefer it to for something I can die for, on a battlefield. How strange, huh? If this is Hell, maybe I'm just a demon that caught up in it all? Probably not, considering."

"Captain...none of us are demons. We're humans. If you...you seem to believe, and then you should know that we're evil by definition," she said, and searched for anything that sounded as though it might help, though it was getting increasingly difficult to combat Sophia's logic, if only because, well, she had no idea how to. "I think perhaps we're evil in varying degrees, and our actions determine how close those get to 'good'. I think what we're doing is undoubtedly good. We're helping people who need it."

Sophia... laughed. Coming from her, it was oddly disturbing. "Bullshit. 'We're' just doing all this for the highest bidder, and now because Volkov wants us to. Good-will my ass."

Sophia then resumed her contemplations.

"God, Elizabeth... Do you realize how closely your past aligns with mine? Do you even know me? Hell, does anybody know me? What about you? Is there a single shred of 'humanity' underneath that soldier? I can't tell. I can't tell if I have anything too. How hilarious is that?"

The jab at inhumanity didn't faze her much, Eli wasn't raised to be humanitarian. That said, the idea of Sophia being little else as well came as a surprise, and she was curious just how much the Captain knew about her. Not that there was any way the ordeal could have been disclosed, at least if her mother was to be believed.

"I know you're an effective Captain. And...I know what we're doing right now is helping New Anchorage. If our work really was only about the money, we wouldn't have allowed so many people to inhabit the settlement. We wouldn't accept refugees. We wouldn't be having conversations like this if all we cared about was our pay."

"Well.... That was a good one, I suppose. The simple fact we're having this conversation is an indicator."

"... Jackspar, is it strange at all that I do see you.. the entire force as sort of kids I've never got to have? I used to be on that track, a long time ago. Then things started to happen, you know? It's strange, how much life can change in a year or two."

Eli tried not to dwell on the implications for too long, though it was hard to surpress the grimness that overcame her. She had a creeping suspicion that the analytical approach would not work forever, though she kept trying nonetheless. "You care about our wellbeings, I think that's a defining characteristic of parenting, required even. If you commanded us with distance, I suppose we'd have ended up largely like the NC's we defeat."

"You're more thoughtful then you first seemed. ... 'dismissed', but... one last thing I want to say."

"Yes, Captain?"

"If I 'go missing', don't feel too bad either way. Every passing day, I want to just leave all this more and more. Don't say anything if I do, alright?"

"A-are you--" Eli lowered her voice. "Are you suggesting you'll desert?"

"Yes."

Eli froze, but the look she gave Sophia was without fear, or sympathy. "And the people who need you?"

"I'm sure they already have a replacement lined up for me. I'll return, either way. One day. I'm an old bitch, but I didn't get this old by being easy to kill."

Again the girl was silent. Everything in her mind screamed at her to find the nearest official to report to, but all the same her feet would not take her, and her tongue would never betray the Captain. She nodded to Sophia. "Yes, ma'am," and started for the door. Perhaps if she'd been raised differently, she might have been able to form a better way to tell Sophia she hoped she would be okay, but it was all Eli could muster.