Caasicam

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

OH GOD HALIM NO

MY BABY BOY

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

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Volana felt the impact of her strike even through the inertial gel that filled her cockpit, a sudden halt of momentum that threw her body to the side as the semisolid medium struggled to adjust in time to prevent it. Her head rung, palm burning from where the jolt had shot up from the controls in her grip, even through the glove. The Cytherean pilot had watched intently as her blade struck her intended target, a clean, nearly effortless strike that felt all to easy for the intimidating presence which the alien mechanoids displayed. That was, until the prismatic sword halted in it's travel into the gleaming metallic armor of the aggressor. The armor did not crack and fold like she expected it to, rather it divided almost like clay, simultaneously malleable and yet incredibly dense at the same time. The damage looked significant, though the small part of her mind that was able to think in the brief moment of calm that followed her getting tossed to the side desperately hoped that looks weren't deceiving in this case.

The moment didn't last.

A beat after the strike the alien entity had regained its footing, a massive clawed appendage enveloping the Aurora's shoulder moving faster than what such a large mechanoid should have been able to. Damage readouts flared before her augmented view from within the Aurora's cockpit, the rest of it completely filled by the green photoceptors that gazed with what could only be assumed to be malice into her. Almost immediately the alien's grip surpassed nominal operating pressures for her armor, which was no mean feat given that nominal was the overpressured surface of her home.

Volana could feel her hand shaking... though it might have been just the low reverberations that resonated through her body as soon as the mechanoid had made contact.

Fine, she wasn't moving.

The Cytherean pilot released Gram from the grasp of her entrapped limb as the alien's attention was momentarily drawn by the barrage of fire from Halim, the glimmering blade solidly stuck within the groove she had carved into the creature's flank. The same cold yellow glow Volana had seen before raced up its back, before lancing out towards what she could only assume was Halim's mech, just as she reached out with her other arm towards her blade's protruding hilt.

An arc of power shot from the Aurora to the weapon as soon as it returned to her grip, and the sword flared to life with a flash of brilliant violet energy, fingers of electricity dancing across the surface of the mechanoid and her own mech that quickly snapped into focus along the blade as the color coalesced into a sharp blue. With a wrenching motion Volana made to drag the now powered blade out from the wound she had caused, being none too careful about its path of travel further along the alien mechanoid's form.

Through the constant hum that now filled her head a familiar voice came over the comm, one that she identified as belonging to the now slightly less frozen Artimie.

<<Aurora, I've got lock for a real big shock if you can break free. It's gonna be real close if you can't.>>

Given her current situation there wasn't much Volana could do to visually identify what she could only assume was an approaching Starlight, though the battlenet's combat map gave her a pretty clear view of a blip rocketing towards her position.

Breaking free is exactly what Volana wished she could do, but the steadily rising pressure warning coming from her mech's trapped shoulder wasn't looking promising in that regard.

Volana cursed, and then activated her own comm in reply.

<<Going to have to be real close, not moving!>> She hoped that her voice carried over the vibrations that filled her cockpit and rattled her skull.

Another surge of energy burst from the Aurora's Oberth reactor, routing outward and raising effective output to near maximum safe operational levels. Gram's energized edge dimmed slightly as power was redirected from the weapon in response to the command, and her visual interface shifted hues to indication the activation of the Aurora's defensive systems.

From within the grasp of the mechanoid the Aurora's sleek armored frame began to shimmer, the edges of the plates blurring as a thin film of air around them superheated. The shimmer turned into a glow that increased in brightness to form an irregular net of energy that wove its way outwards along the entire surface of her orbital, tightly hugging the sleek contours of it.

<<Go for it, danger close!>>

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

edit: IM NOT DEAD WHAT

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

have guns but gotta draw aggro first

main tank life

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

oh god im actually just so scared rn

lads what is volana doing

oh man oh jeez oh no

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

omfg child noooooooooooooo

swear2g if these alien bastards lay a finger on halim

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

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Volana watched, with growing apprehension, as the mass of sand and dust being kicked up by whatever was approaching rushed closer and closer to their location. Vaguely, she could comm traffic from the science team as they made their way back onto the landing craft, though their words weren't entirely registering at the moment. No, her focus was on the phenomenon ahead.

<<As of this second I am confirming a Case Siberia, and your RoE changes with it. Don’t start anything if you can help it but you are not, I repeat not, expected to let them take the first shot. If they look nasty you are cleared to engage.>>

Those last few words resonated as the COO's orders came over the comm. Giving voice to what they were probably all thinking at that moment. In terms of welcomes go, the billowing cloud of dust was-

At that the two forms burst to the surface, and froze in place. Volana felt her heart jump and her breath catch as the two gleaming alien forms caught the yellow-orange glow from the unfamiliar star above. They were massive, nearly reptilian in their basic forms. Sleek and seamless, though unmistakably metallic in construction. If such things were even constructed, their hunched posture and clawed limbs sowing doubt that these were machines like the one she had just unearthed.

Utterly alien.

The was a moment, the only motion visible was that of the pair of... entities scanning their surroundings with an unnerving precision. Volana didn't breath, scarcely blinking as she stared at the identical pair of towering things before her.

She watched with growing confusion as their search snapped upward, towards what Volana could only assume was one of the Orbitals currently patrolling the airspace above. What was-

A wave of sound hit her square in the chest, broadcasting over the Aurora's internal speakers as much as it was seeping into the cockpit itself. A high pitched, metallic tone that made her jaw ache. Her proximity to the two screaming alien contacts only intensifying the auditory assault. Through narrowed eyes Volana watched as a pair of brilliant golden beams of light lanced out from them, tracing a path that followed whatever had disturbed them in the sky.

Things happened quickly after that.

Volana dropped low as instinct overrode conscious thought, a wave of dust and sand rising up from the Aurora's armored feet as the Orbital mirrored the tensed crouch. She was almost entirely certain this counted as looking nasty as the COO had put it. That, and the fact that one of the pair had suddenly shot forward directly towards her, propelled by some unseen force and gaining ground at an alarming rate.

No time for thought.

As far as she knew the shuttle had yet to clear the AO, and the hostile contact charging towards her was on no uncertain terms not to get any closer. It made Volana's next course of action clear, as she pushed off the sandy ground to lunge forward to meet the gleaming alien form. Sparks whipped in an arc around the Cytherean Orbital as Volana ripped her blade from its sheathed position in a single motion that accompanied the Aurora's next bounding step.

<<Aurora, engaging!>>

Thirty meters.

Twenty...

The gap between them was closing faster than Volana truly felt prepared for, but that thing couldn't be allowed to get any closer. Even as its looming form grew even larger in her panoramic view.

And they met.

Gram's prismatic edge refracted a kaleidoscope of color that danced across the surface of her Orbital's armor as she pivoted hard into an arcing swing. The final step that the Aurora took throwing as much force behind the strike as Volana could leverage as if attempting to completely cleave the metallic alien in two.

Above the roar of automatic explosive weaponry rained down in waves, though the majority of her view was occupied by the bulk of the entity before her, so their target wasn't entirely visible.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

post tomorrow probably, i wanna start chopping up aliens

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

HOSTILES OH GOD

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

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Volana cursed under her breath, extending the last syllable out as she forced air from between her teeth. At the realization that she had been doing so, the Cytherean pilot unclenched her jaw. It had taken her a few moments to snap back to reality, from her vantage point within the Aurora's cockpit she had been the first to get a look at the piece of alien technology which they had encountered, though the similarities between it and the machine which she had used to excavate it were not lost on her. Not in the slightest.

It was beautiful, in an eerily haunting way. Like discovering the skeleton to some previously unknown entity. All sleek lines, tapering forms. Impossibly delicate compared to the Orbital which held it aloft, and yet undeniably created with lethal intent.

Almost entranced by the visage, Volana reached out with her flesh and blood hand, the Aurora's own mirroring the motion, running it down the length of the armor. Tactile sensors transmitted basic material properties of the sleek metallic coverings, though she paid the stream of information little mind. Her focus shifted, and she wrapped her grip around the slender weapon which hung from the alien mechine's surviving apendage. The weapon, for she assumed it could be nothing but, came free with little effort. Her gaze drifted across the surface of it.

And then she was pulled back to reality.

<<Look alive. Science team, back on the bird. Right now. Pilots I need to know if that was natural or something’s moving out there!>>

Volana tore her gaze away from the corpse of a machine, placing it down next to the hole which she had dug it out from only a few moments before. The battlenet connection was already streaming a visual feed of the approaching cloud of obscuring dust to a small corner of her panoramic view, courtesy of the arial units. She may have been many things, but naïve was not one of them.

<<Aurora purging SRBs, moving to defensive position,>> On her command, the extra boosters were dropped from the sides and back of the Orbital into the soft sand, significantly freeing movement for the time being. She'd need them later to get off this ball of dust and back to the ship, but for now she had the sinking feeling that she'd be better served without them.

Mobility returned to normal, Volana moved forward towards the front of their assembly of Orbitals, under no illusion as to her role among the team.

<<We are engaging, no? Or perhaps waiting until something ah, bad happens?>>

The question, while directed at the whole, was more towards command than anyone else.

<<I am no expert, however I would not say that looks natural...>>