Lemons

The Things We Fight For

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AIS S1's bright red eyes had been averted from everyone else aboard the transport craft for a good long while now.

After the first time she'd been stared at by the blond Constellation, she'd turned them away, hating the expression she saw there. It wasn't hate, exactly; nor was it fear. She wasn't exactly sure what it was called, but it was painful enough that she decided to stare at the planet beneath them and listen to the engine roar instead to try and distract her from it. It was almost beautiful, she thought. It was the first time she'd approached a planet from above like this, and watching all of the details resolve as they grew closer—relatively, of course, since they were still essentially in orbit—was quite an experience.

She tried to imagine what the planet would look like without the hateful gray stain across its surface. She couldn't quite.

There was a clicking, grating sound as her Wingblades, which were jammed somewhat uncomfortably behind her to fit in the chair, scraped and clicked together nervously. A lump was sitting squarely in her throat that she tried to ignore. This was her 'test run,' Jacob had told her plainly. This was what proved whether or not she was worth keeping around. She wasn't sure what the alternative was if she failed, but it was a pretty safe bet that she wouldn't like it. So she had to do it exactly right.

She was in the middle of envisioning what 'doing it right' might look like when the first of the two Constellations with them—the older one that didn't look at her that way—began speaking, and her whole body twitched as she turned back to the rest of the drop area and looked over at him. Bald, open-chested, eyes hidden by some kind of viewfinder? He seemed nice enough, she thought, as he introduced himself followed by a laugh. Rigel. Douglas Eorman. Her eyes were drawn to the way his almost comically huge gauntlet bobbed beside him. AIS S1 blinked. She'd read the briefing, she'd thought, hadn't she? Or maybe Jacob had read it to her when she was doing something else? She didn't recognize the name, and the memory ran together in her head. She frowned. That shouldn't be something she couldn't remember.

But before she could focus on that, the younger one who had looked at her like that started talking. Younger, tall, blond, carrying a slender longsword with an expression like disdain on his face. Antares, he was called. Or Maximus. Solignus. Or, Rigel...Douglas...? said...Max? Like Jacob was sometimes called Jay, she wondered? Sometimes he liked it, sometimes he didn't. But it certainly seemed like Antares did not. With all that having been said, he swung his predator's gaze over to her once more.

Our focus is to develop the talents we've brought along with us, and field test equipment that has just exited the experimental stage of development.

She cringed away just slightly from his renewed gaze, and her blades twitched and rattled again before she could still them. According to Antares, and probably the higher-ups in general, she was experimental equipment to field test. That was why she needed a test run, after all. Equipment... They kept speaking, but at that moment, her focus was shattered by being tapped unexpectedly on the part of her shoulder that was still uncovered flesh, and she jerked with a quiet sound of alarm, her head whipping around to the man who sat beside her.

"You ever notice how they all walk the same?"She blinked. What?

"Legs all the way outstretched, struttin' so long they might fall over any second. Makes their whole upper body jostle around like a, uh, like a rooster. Y'know, bawk bawk." Another moment passed before...oh! Oh, he's making a joke! She was wholly unused to hearing jokes. And so, taken by surprise, even that caused her hand to fly up to her mouth unbidden to clutch back an open laugh, and she found herself a bit less tense. By the time she tuned back into what Antares and Rigel were saying, they were...asking about introductions. She opened her mouth, shut it again, looked around, looked back at the person who'd joked with her.

Then, unsteadily, shakily, she stood, putting her hands behind her back as her blades scraped and rasped again. She was quiet for a moment before her halting and slightly modulated voice emerged: "...Ab...I—I am...Aberrant...Aberrant Integration System. Subject One." She swallowed heavily at the eyes on her, including Antares' again, whose gaze she couldn't seem to look away from while she was standing. "...Aissi."

Then she twitched, then sat, then closed her eyes to the world. Five minutes. Maybe four now. A few moments passed in silence, then she whispered to herself, just loud enough to be heard the next seat over:

"Bawk bawk."

The Things We Fight For

Research Log: AIS S1

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx B A S I C I N F O [Name] Aberrant Integration System, Subject 1 - AIS S1 [Callsign] Aissi [Gender] Female [Age] Early 20s [Rank and Designation] Experimental Constellation, Stardust Rank [Place of Birth] Kepler-195 [Official Statement] "AIS S1—Aissi...I—I was...made—born—built...? Built to fight. Built—made to kill. WIN. KILL." C O M B A T A B I L I T Y [Anti-Barrier Sword] #236 - AB1 (Aberrant-integration Blade One) and #371 - AB2. But since they've been reforged into identical forms and serve as a single unit for Aissi, she refers to them much more personally, simply as her Wingblades. [Anti-Barrier Quotient]21% [Physical Description] It's no wonder the Anti-Barrier Quotient of the Wingblades is so low; after all, they're unreasonably large, and there's only so much AB material to go around. Matte black with gleaming red bevels, these double-edged blades are roughly as long as Aissi is tall (about seven feet), and mounted on winglike struts grafted directly into her nervous system through her back. This unorthodox arrangement allows her to manipulate the Wingblades as though they were a third pair of limbs, leaving her hands free for more typical swords used almost exclusively for defense that are sheathed along the struts. [Attributes] In order to supplement the low AB Quotient caused by their large size, the Wingblades have been retrofitted with laser technology. They can ignite their blades in red light, significantly increasing their cutting force; and, even further, they are able to fire powerful, though short-ranged, laser blasts. [Anomaly] Aberrant Integration System [Origin] Aberrant Research Laboratory A2 [Phenomena] Though it fills the same space as Anomaly typically would, this is quite explicitly very different. To put her on level with actual Constellations with Anomaly, Aissi's body is infested with an expansive suite of Aberrant technologies. From the system that controls her Wingblades, to magnetic clamps in her hands, her limbs more biomechanical than flesh now, antigravity systems in her feet, compact rocket engines in her legs along with stabilizers in her shoulders...and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Finally, it all connects to the most important of her modifications, the most powerful, and the most taboo: her core. A fully-intact Epsilon-tier Aberrant core harvested from a high-caste Bishop has been embedded into her back between where the Wingblades emerge, which powers all of her multifarious augmentations, coordinates them, and normalizes them in her nervous system so they feel as natural as whatever of her original body remains. [Limitation] The same way it doesn't function as Anomaly does, it doesn't have the same kind of cost on usage. What it does have, though, is quite an adverse affect on her mental state. The painful experiments that were done to her over the course of years, as well as the overtaxing of her brain as it attempts to manage far more than it was designed to and the Aberrant instincts that now lurk within her, have led to her being VERY unstable, especially during full-throttle combat where all of her augmentations and implants are working at maximum capacity. Perhaps not a clear-cut cost; but quite a cost nonetheless.

Profile Surface-level Impression [Surface-level Impression] As mentioned, the experiments have left Aissi not quite in full control of herself at all times. Twitchy, relentlessly high-strung, and never overly far from fits of violent hysteria, Aissi's personality alone is proof positive that making a large amount of Constellations in the same way she was made isn't necessarily a good idea. Still, she's not always obviously unstable, clearly. Though during combat she veers way into the erratic, outside of it, she's a notably sensitive and anxious individual. Keenly aware that she looks very strange, and even more keenly aware that the reason she looks strange is that she's essentially half-Aberrant—the thing that's trying to kill everyone and everything—she's constantly fretting over the image that she has. When people look at her, do they see a Constellation? Or a monster? And really, even she doesn't quite know. Paradoxically to her appearance and her position, Aissi knows very little about the world. All she really remembers is being in the lab. Granted, she was told something like what to expect when she went into the field. But being told what the world is like and actually living in the world are two very different things. She only has experience with the first of those two. She knows plenty about Aberrants and how to kill Aberrants...but that's mostly ALL she knows. Personal History [Personal History] The first thing Aberrant Integration System, Subject One remembers is waking up in the lab. What age was she? Teenaged? She isn't sure, and she doesn't remember. What was her name before? Did she even have a name? She's not sure of that either. Only A.I.S-S1. That's it. Well...she remembered how to speak, and how to listen. She remembers language. That's something, right? The second thing A.I.S-S1 remembers is pain. Her first implantation was almost immediately after she awoke. She doesn't even remember what it is anymore; all of it has blurred together in her mind by now. Was it her leg engines? Her neuralware? Perhaps the magnetic clamps in her hands? it all feels so far away. Time went on. Every so often, the procedure would repeat: she would be given an implant though a painful procedure. Then the technicians and scientists that handled her would monitor it. Sometimes, her body would reject the implant, and the pain would come back. The doctors would remove it, put it aside, and try and give it again later. They never gave up. If her body didn't reject it—if it accepted the Aberrant technology as a part of her now—then she'd have another few days, just to make sure. And then another implant would be brought to her, and the wheel would turn again. But it was fine. She'd volunteered for this, according to the doctors. This was what she'd wanted. To let herself be turned into something greater, even at sacrifice to herself. So she simply clung on. But there was one great mercy. Because during all of this, she wasn't alone in the lab. There was another girl undergoing a similar—if much lesser—augmentation, and the two became something like friends. Hope, her name was. And that got A.I.S-S1 thinking about names. Every time she saw that designation emblazed near her, she would look at it, and think of names. And then one day, when she was still woozy from sedation, she saw it with blurry eyes, and she misread it. Not A.I.S-S1. AISSI. Aissi. She would be Aissi. Time went on more. Further. Hope left, and she was once again alone. More implants. More connections. And then the most prominent: the Bladewings. She rejected them three times before her body finally let them settle, and each rejection was more painful than the last, resulted in a longer wait. And then, after all that was done...she'd been in the lab for how long now? She didn't know, and she still doesn't quite; several years, at least. But now that all of the implants, all of the cybernetics, all of the prosthetics, were in place, it was time for the piece de resistance. The Core. There is nothing Aissi can remember, before or since, that hurts as much as suddenly having every one of her augmentations fire into her nerves all at once. Sheer, gut-wrenching, mind-warping AGONY. And the pain, the nerves, all of it firing at once...it changed something in her. Turned from a sweet, sensitive girl to something where...well, sometimes you can see that underneath her. But not often. Not anymore. And once it was finally over...she was finished. More machine now than woman. And, really, more Aberrant than woman. Perhaps not even human at all anymore. Another year went by. She had to acclimate, of course. Not only did she have so many new modifications and augmentations working all at once, but she had an entirely new set of limbs to figure out. It was around this time that she started running sims, to get her used to what combat might be like on a world being invaded b the Aberrant. But then, recently and finally...it was done. She was prepared. And now, the test runs begin. Home World Kepler-195 [Planet Description] Kepler-195 was a dry, arid moon, largely desert and scrubland broken by salt seas and crisscossing braided streams. One of—and the smallest of, in fact—numerous inhabited moons orbiting the gas giant Pele on the far frontier, it wasn't exactly well known, especially compared to its larger and more outgoing neighbors. Small and inconspicuous, the people enjoyed a fairly peaceful existence; though a select few eked out a nomadic lifestyle on the surface, most people lived in vast cities deep underground instead, so they felt quite insulated and far from any issues that might plague topside. ...And then the Aberrants came. The multifarious moons of Pele were in possession of a great deal of resources, and many different varieties. They were hungry. And Kepler-195 was the first they came across. And they glassed the entire moon. Though the Constellations came, only a scant few refugees escaped and fled far away from their desolated once-home as it was consumed. Many of the other moons around Pele were also ground to dust and ash. Only two escaped the grisly fate, and afterwards, they were so desolate that they could no longer support life. In the span of barely six months, the entire moon system of Pele was wiped clean of all human life. [Culture] While Kepler-195 still existed, it had two 'factions' of people. A very few lived nomadic lives on the surface. Because water on the surface was a precious resource, they wore stillsuits, and traveled with their lives on their back to set up around any temporary watering hole that may emerge. The grand majority of the populace—which, mind you, wasn't large to begin with, only about 500 million people across the entire moon—lived in vast underground cities, tunneled out of the bedrock. Water was much more prevalent due to the presence of deep aquifers, and the native plant life grew readily. They lived a comfortable existence; though they were held in contempt by the surface nomads, they were largely happy to simply live in comfort underground. But, of course, this moon no longer exists, and Aissi has no memories from before the lab, regardless. Notable Contacts Doctor Jacob Tobias Brake, Medical Coordinator [Name] Jacob "Jay" Tobias Brake [Relation to Subject] Aissi's "Medical Coordinator and Caretaker" (In so many words, her handler) - Checks for malfunctions in and maintains systems, performs routine psychiatric checks and monitors her sanity, serves as a point of stability for her, practiced at talking her down and reigning her in if she's starting to go sideways. [Analysis] Jay is tired. So very, very tired. Essentially badgered into his position through only having the lowest standing at the laboratory that modified her, Jay is grumpy and world-weary middle aged man who firmly believes that he's not paid NEARLY enough to manage someone as unstable and chaotic as Aissi is. While it's obvious that he does have at least some measure of care for her—if he didn't, then he probably wouldn't still be doing this job—it tends to get drowned out in how overworked and overwhelmed he is, having to keep Aissi on as short a leash as she demands alongside everything else. Theodore Howser [Name] Theo Howser [Relation to Subject] Older and sympathetic 'safe' person. [Analysis] As Aissi's freakishness tends to put off those around her and she knows it does, she finds great value in those who aren't put off, or at least don't let how off-putting she is stop them from relating to her. Granted, she's met very few people outside of the lab at this pint; but of them Theo happens to fill a similar place to Jay. As an older, stabilizing influence that can help calm her down, at least up to a point, she tends to stick nearish to him when he's around, ESPECIALLY if she's already feeling unstable. Theme [Theme]

Five of the Sky (A Portal Fantasy Adventure)

@Izurich Oh yo my man

Five of the Sky

Oh, no worries at all, I getcha. I'm still in, never fear!

A Stellar Tomb

Ooooohooohoooooohoo

Pariah Online

d a t a b a s e
a s
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a maxx b
b a
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s a
e s a b a t a d

Lem's Stash

Bubble Gum and Rocket Fuel

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx B A S I C I N F O [Name] Cherri Cade [Callsign] Cherry Bomb [Gender] Femme [Age] 24 [Rank and Designation] E-6 - Petty Officer, First Class [Place of Birth] Vianno, Willowit [Official Statement] "Like, come ONnnnn! What'sa girl gotta do ta get her hands on some composite ceramo-metallic armor and heavy ordnance cannons?"Sound of bubble gum popping C O M B A T A B I L I T Y [Mech Model] HMP-XVI Ablaze Custom: <DEATH IN PINK!> [Type] Heavy Bombardment Platform [Size] 50 ft tall. 45 tons; 60 tons fully loaded. [Core] Epsilon. [Armaments] The GHOST System is the core of what Cherri's combat revolves around. While her enormous array of explosives are very useful dumb-fired, blanketing huge swaths of the battlefield in disarray, they're just as likely to fly back on her allies than to annihilate her enemies. Enter the Guided Heavy Ordnance Selective Targeting System, which allows her to designate not just specific targets, but specific [i]areas[/i] as well, upon which the AI in her mech will compensate for movement patterns and tagged allies to ensure that even when she's using devastating firepower, she hits dead on, every time. Back: The SHPM-XX: 'Harpoons' is by far Cherri's most devastating weapon. Fueled by a beta core, each salvo needs plenty of time to charge; but when the canister is primed, activating it launches a barrage of twenty high-energy guided plasma spears that fully interface with the GHOST System, allowing her to call in either precision strikes of devastating power or a rain of plasma across hundreds of feet. Right Hand: The Harpoons may be the most powerful weapon Cherri can bring to bear, but it's got far too long a downtime to be anything approaching a primary weapon. No, her workhorse weapon is the downright terrifying PHOS-CCC: 'Dragon's Breath.' Nominally a chaingun but with a modest fire rate of only 300rpm, the 'Dragon's Breath' wouldn't seem strong. However, it dodges that allegation quite neatly with the simple fact that every one of those 300 rounds per minute is a shell loaded with enough high explosives to level a small building. Integrated fully into the GHOST System, this is her primary vector of raining hell. To put it succinctly: right, down, down, left, down, right, down, down. Left Arm: The MECS-VIII 'Javelin,' while it [i]is[/i] linked into the GHOST System, is the only one of Cherri's weapons that's designed to be dumbfired. Taking the form of a row of slots along her left forearm filled with canisters, they are designed in such as way as to face directly forward when Cherri is hefting 'Dragon's Breath,' and meant to be used in tandem with it. Though there are only eight, and they must be manually reloaded when expended, they're nonetheless a powerful tool, largely because of their versatility. While the HE canister is a common one, equally as common is an airburst canister filled with reflective chaff that baffles laser fire in a large area for a not-inconsiderable period of time. And there are several others as well: napalm for area denial, fragmentation for scattering shrapnel, EMP for disabling electronics, airburst flak for fast-moving targets. Twenty-four spare canisters are kept in a reinforced container on <DEATH IN PINK!>'s hip. Right Thigh: Cherri LOVES her explosives. But that doesn't mean she wants to use one right next to her. In the case that 'Dragon's Breath' isn't viable to use for whatever reason, Cherri employs the ASA-C 'Adjudicator.' A compact SMG-style mech weapon with a 100-round magazine, this portable weapon, unlike most that pilots employ, fire 20mm rounds instead of 30mm, allowing for easier control, higher ammunition capacity, and a faster fire rate at the cost of damage inflicted. But as this is a sidearm for her, control and rapidity are far more important.

Profile [Surface-level Impression] Suspect's Psychiatric Profile, Dr. Wraul While of course the suspect Ms. Cade is upset about the entire situation, she still agreed to a session to gauge her psychiatric state. Arranged in no particular order: Cheerful - Despite everything, Ms. Cade finds it difficult to not be chipper, and more than once, I found her catching herself smiling, and forcing it back down. Talkative - It certainly wasn't difficult to have this session. I can't say from one brief session whether or not it's a compulsion or simply a personality trait, but Ms. Cade is EXTREMELY chatty. I expected to be prodding her for much of the time, but after the first few minutes of frosty silence, she started talking my ear off almost immediately. Teasing - I was quite taken aback at some points, where she said something that made me raise my eyebrows in some way, at which point she chuckled--the fact she's laughing through this entire thing is frankly admirable--and revealed that she'd been teasing me the entire time. After I interrogated that for a bit with her, I came to the conclusion that she doesn't enjoy malicious teasing; she simply likes watching the looks on peoples' faces when she says something harmless but questionable. Earnest - I find myself wondering through her PAINFUL sincerity--though it's not my job, of course--if my experience as a criminal psychologist gives me any level of credence when I say that I'm slowly becoming convinced that Ms. Cade may be innocent, and perhaps other leads should be explored. I simply cannot understand her as a domestic terrorist and killer. [Personal History] 3rd District, Vianno, Planet Willowit - Warrant for Cherri Lily Cade's Arrest WARRANT OF ARREST FOR DOMESTIC TERRORISM, VANDALISM, ARSON, CRIMINAL USE OF EXPLOSIVES AND FIRST-DEGREE MANSLAUGHTER To: Vianno 3rd District Arresting Officer Zhiti Ayajjai, ID MLE4136, 423rd VLE Unit YOU ARE COMMANDED to serve the herein Warrant of Arrest to seize and take into custody the accused person named below: Cherri Lily Cade, ID GZM4442, U88 Olympus Building And bring forth said person before this court before the next day following his or her arrest. A handwritten note is scrawled at the bottom of the document in meticulous red pen: I swear to all that is holy, Zhiti. You have ONE JOB. You'd better actually stick this one, I don't like being embarrassed. Police Report - The Telluride Building Incident Case No: 18462 Date: 12.04.382 Reporting Officer: Ewelyn Tyvee Incident: Massive property damage and loss of life via explosion on floor 233 of the Telluride Building Detail of Events: At 22:23 of 12.04.379, there was a sudden explosion near the support beam on floor 233 of 240 of the Telluride Building. According to witness reports, there was the smell of smoke prior; that, as well as the presence of scorch marks near the damaged area, shows that the explosion was likely set off using fire. My unit was dispatched to assist those in danger and investigate the scene of the crime. The top five floors of the Telluride Building are used exclusively for press conferences, of which there were none; however, the 234th floor had several people working in it. Luckily, the building didn't collapse; however, the explosion itself killed two people in the floor immediately above it. Directly beside the damaged support beam, we found an unconscious Ms. Cherri Cade. Upon regaining consciousness, she seemed confused, asked why we were there. Likely concussed. However, there is explosive reside on her fingers, and a damaged, now-nonfunctional pink lighter bearing her fingerprints was found near her on the scene. She is currently being medically assessed before questioning. Excerpt of Police Log - Cherri Cade's Questioning Case No: 18462 Date: 12.06.379 Present Officer: Ewelyn Tyvee ET: Do you know why you're here, miss Cade? CC: I have no idea! I know I've been accused of something really bad, but I don't know what! ET: On December fourth, you were found unconscious next to a heavily-damaged support strut on the 233rd floor of the Telluride Building with explosive residue on your fingers immediately after an explosion that killed two people. CC: WHAT? But...but that...I would never! ET: I'm sure. Do you have an alibi? CC: Huh? I...no, but of course I was there, maintenance of floor 233 is my job! I just--I would never--I couldn't-- ET: Please state for the record that you do not have an alibi, miss Cade. CC: What? That's not fair! ET: Will you or will you not state it for the record? ET: Is this your personal datapad, miss Cade? CC: ...Yeah. Why? ET: Do you know what your search history is? CC: Yes. ET: Could you explain why your search history includes information about explosives? CC: My sister Apricot was a pyrotechnician for a few years. I got interested in explosives through that. I swear, I never hurt anyone! CC: ...By the way, what explosive residue did they say they found on my fingers? You keep saying that, but you won't go into any detail. ET: I'm not at liberty to say. CC: *Sigh* Mayoral Resolution Draft, Never Published Fellow citizens of Vianno, of Willowit: I know you're all afraid. An attack has been waged against the very heart of our city, our very soul. Who wouldn't be afraid? I know I was. But thanks to the tireless efforts of the VLE, the culprit has been apprehended and convicted. The Telluride Building coming under attack is a grievous blow to our city and planetary pride, and that will never be forgotten or forgiven. The criminal charged with the crime used homemade explosives that she created at home following instructions that she found on the 'net. And that's not all; in fact, it's just the beginning. Preliminary research has shown that a huge amount of people have begun searching for information on building such devices recently. I hate to do this, I truly do; but the safety of our people is paramount. Because the lives of those in our city are at clear and obvious risk, I mean to implement ways to keep people from accessing such information, and tracking down those that already have. Never let it be said that the people of Vianno aren't always at the forefront of my mind. Remember: we fight for you! Handwritten Note We're probably pretty good. She doesn't have any good excuses. But for appearances' sake, give her a plea deal. Just find something nobody would ever agree to. Public'll eat it up. Plea Deal, Cherri Cade Case No: 18462 CITY OF VIANNO V. CHERRI LILY CADE Plea Deal The defendant and the defendant's counsel, Cherri Lily Cade and Atty. Mia Tyler, and the prosecution, Jerring Vesslain, have entered into an agreement outside of court, pursuant to Rule 11 of the ICC. The terms of the agreement are as follows: The prosecution agrees to waive prosecution and accept a plea of not guilty from the defendant for the crimes of Domestic Terrorism, Arson, Vandalism, Unlawful Use of Explosives, and First-Degree Manslaughter. All charges will be dropped, and they will not receive a major mark on their criminal record. In exchange, the defendant agrees to report for seventeen years of service into the Aberrant War, arranged into training and combat as necessary but not to include fewer than ten years of active service. As of now, the defendant has not been enlisted; so they are still considered liable. She has one month to arrange her affairs on Willowit before she is required to be off-planet. As long as she has been enlisted before the designated time period has expired, the defendant will not be prosecuted upon their return to Willowit given that one of the following requirements has been met: 1) The defendant has served seventeen full years in the military and all other terms have been met; 2) The Aberrant war has concluded and all other terms have been met. The defendant has also asked that a note be added to the record along with her signature: 'Oh my GOD, this is TOO FUNNY! I was planning to enlist soon anyway if I could find an excuse to get me away from my job! And now I get to spit in your stupid corrupt faces too! Like, how could this get any better?' Frustrated Memo Dellan, don't you dare try and blame this shit on me. I did my job, I got her right into the palm of your hand for god's sake. Why the fuck did you try to give her a plea deal? For appearance's sake? The appearance was FINE, do you have any idea how long this took to organize? Fuck right off. Certification to Pilot This document serves to certify that that the pilot trainee Petty Officer Third Class Cherri 'Cherry Bomb' Cade, has undergone the requisite five years of training necessary, and been authorized to pilot a mech in the war against the Aberrants. Per Audacia ad Astra. Home World [Planet Description] A technological utopia. A metropolitan marvel. The jewel of the Soha Binary System. Willowit has many names, and most of them are flattering. And, at least to appearance, it lives up to them. From space, it seems almost more like an enormous space station than a planet at first glance; the entire planet is covered in vast cities, right up to the coasts. Powered almost exclusively by solar, they take advantage of the fact they orbit a binary star to harvest massive amounts of power from it, fueling their grand dreams. From the air, the enormous superstructure skyscrapers of Willowit come into focus. The tallest of them, the Telluride Building, has 240 floors, containing everything one could require. The skyscrapers of Willowit are, for all intents and purposes, microcities in themselves, and there are thousands across the planet. Thus, Willowit can comfortably support a population larger than one would think for a planet its size; 25 billion people live in these great spires. Finally, we droop to ground level, to the 'undercity.' Those unfortunate enough to be kicked out of their building--one typically has to commit a crime, though the severity of the crime can vary depending on the district they live in--typically are required to live for a certain amount of time outside of the superstructures. While there's food to eat, it's certainly not a comfortable existence. The skyscrapers block almost all of the light, and unlike the buildings, the surface isn't climate controlled; so it's incredibly cold down below. Typically, ganglike organizations form, as there's little to no oversight outside of the skyscrapers. Once their tenure on the surface is finished--as long as they survived--they are once more allowed to reenter their building, or any other building that might catch their fancy; after ten years, property is repossessed, so they won't have any place to go back to if more time than that passes. One might wonder how Willowit is able to maintain this strange living structure. The answer is simple: owing to the particular resources that can be found underground and some closely guarded industry secrets, they are historically one of the known universe's greatest purveyors of holographic technology. Many resort worlds find themselves with Willowit-made holograph projectors; many military training sims have a Willowit stamp on them as well. Useful both in peacetime and in war, Willowit's holographic and simulation technology will ALWAYS be useful. [Culture] Remember that bit about the 'technological utopia?' Well, the people of Willowit are completely convinced. Living in relative luxury from even the less fortunate upwards, purely in terms of quality of living, Willowit is a very nice place to live. However, not everything about Willowit is so utopian. They bill themselves as a utopia with a firm rule of law that keeps things running smoothly. And they do have a very powerful law system. HOWEVER: their legal system, while very powerful, has very little oversight. As a result, the thing that plagues Willowit more than anything else isn't wealth disparity, or war, discontent of the populace. No, Willowit has a MASSIVE problem with corruption in governance. Because the legal system has so much power and so little oversight, the people who pay them the most money can effectively pick and choose which laws apply to them, and furthermore, which laws apply to other people. A great deal of propaganda keeps the general populace from realizing the extent of this corruption. But a lawyer, a police officer, a judge...they have to put forth EFFORT to NOT be hilariously corrupt, as bribes and quid-pro-quo are more the rule than the exception from even modestly well-off individuals. Notable Contacts Mia Tyler, Criminal Defense Atty. and Engineer [Name] Mia Tyler [Relation to Subject] Cherri's defense attorney, close friend, engineer, and post-op specialist. [Analysis] Mia was Cherri's lawyer during the extended and corrupt trial that threatened to put her either behind bars for the rest of her life, or put her in the ground. The two of them grew quite close over the years, and when it was decided that Cherri would enter the service (and specifically, would become a pilot), Mia immediately entered an intensive training course to get certified in engineering and maintenance of mechs. Possessed of a truly unreasonable level of willpower, she, well, succeeded, and now serves as the primary maintenance worker for <DEATH IN PINK!> As you may be able to glean, Mia does not like giving up. Filled with willpower and SPITE, she managed to become a dedicated attorney, despite participating in the corrupt games of her planet's legal system as little as possible. She is possessed of a wide streak of wry humor; appearing deadpan while cracking strange jokes is second nature to her, and Cherri seems to have a sixth sense for when she's not being serious. Speaking of Cherri, if you watch the two of them interact for more than a minute, it becomes blatantly obvious how much they care for each other. Yes, Mia is permanently exhausted and lives off caffeine; she picked up a habit of reading case law online in the middle of the night in law school, and somehow it stuck even when she genuinely has no time for it. But the two of them are pretty much inseparable. She won't maintain anybody else's mechs; and Cherri refuses to let anybody else maintain hers, unless there's no other choice.

The Things We Fight For

YES HELLO IT'S ME HERE TO BREAK THE KHOLOMICA

Research Log: AIS S1

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx B A S I C I N F O [Name] Aberrant Integration System, Subject 1 - AIS S1 [Callsign] Aissi [Gender] Female [Age] Early 20s [Rank and Designation] Experimental Constellation, Stardust Rank [Place of Birth] Kepler-195 [Official Statement] "AIS S1—Aissi...I—I was...made—born—built...? Built to fight. Built—made to kill. WIN. KILL." C O M B A T A B I L I T Y [Anti-Barrier Sword] #236 - AB1 (Aberrant-integration Blade One) and #371 - AB2. But since they've been reforged into identical forms and serve as a single unit for Aissi, she refers to them much more personally, simply as her Wingblades. [Anti-Barrier Quotient]21% [Physical Description] It's no wonder the Anti-Barrier Quotient of the Wingblades is so low; after all, they're unreasonably large, and there's only so much AB material to go around. Matte black with gleaming red bevels, these double-edged blades are roughly as long as Aissi is tall (about seven feet), and mounted on winglike struts grafted directly into her nervous system through her back. This unorthodox arrangement allows her to manipulate the Wingblades as though they were a third pair of limbs, leaving her hands free for more typical swords used almost exclusively for defense that are sheathed along the struts. [Attributes] In order to supplement the low AB Quotient caused by their large size, the Wingblades have been retrofitted with laser technology. They can ignite their blades in red light, significantly increasing their cutting force; and, even further, they are able to fire powerful, though short-ranged, laser blasts. [Anomaly] Aberrant Integration System [Origin] Aberrant Research Laboratory A2 [Phenomena] Though it fills the same space as Anomaly typically would, this is quite explicitly very different. To put her on level with actual Constellations with Anomaly, Aissi's body is infested with an expansive suite of Aberrant technologies. From the system that controls her Wingblades, to magnetic clamps in her hands, her limbs more biomechanical than flesh now, antigravity systems in her feet, compact rocket engines in her legs along with stabilizers in her shoulders...and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Finally, it all connects to the most important of her modifications, the most powerful, and the most taboo: her core. A fully-intact Epsilon-tier Aberrant core harvested from a high-caste Bishop has been embedded into her back between where the Wingblades emerge, which powers all of her multifarious augmentations, coordinates them, and normalizes them in her nervous system so they feel as natural as whatever of her original body remains. [Limitation] The same way it doesn't function as Anomaly does, it doesn't have the same kind of cost on usage. What it does have, though, is quite an adverse affect on her mental state. The painful experiments that were done to her over the course of years, as well as the overtaxing of her brain as it attempts to manage far more than it was designed to and the Aberrant instincts that now lurk within her, have led to her being VERY unstable, especially during full-throttle combat where all of her augmentations and implants are working at maximum capacity. Perhaps not a clear-cut cost; but quite a cost nonetheless.

Profile Surface-level Impression [Surface-level Impression] As mentioned, the experiments have left Aissi not quite in full control of herself at all times. Twitchy, relentlessly high-strung, and never overly far from fits of violent hysteria, Aissi's personality alone is proof positive that making a large amount of Constellations in the same way she was made isn't necessarily a good idea. Still, she's not always obviously unstable, clearly. Though during combat she veers way into the erratic, outside of it, she's a notably sensitive and anxious individual. Keenly aware that she looks very strange, and even more keenly aware that the reason she looks strange is that she's essentially half-Aberrant—the thing that's trying to kill everyone and everything—she's constantly fretting over the image that she has. When people look at her, do they see a Constellation? Or a monster? And really, even she doesn't quite know. Paradoxically to her appearance and her position, Aissi knows very little about the world. All she really remembers is being in the lab. Granted, she was told something like what to expect when she went into the field. But being told what the world is like and actually living in the world are two very different things. She only has experience with the first of those two. She knows plenty about Aberrants and how to kill Aberrants...but that's mostly ALL she knows. Personal History [Personal History] The first thing Aberrant Integration System, Subject One remembers is waking up in the lab. What age was she? Teenaged? She isn't sure, and she doesn't remember. What was her name before? Did she even have a name? She's not sure of that either. Only A.I.S-S1. That's it. Well...she remembered how to speak, and how to listen. She remembers language. That's something, right? The second thing A.I.S-S1 remembers is pain. Her first implantation was almost immediately after she awoke. She doesn't even remember what it is anymore; all of it has blurred together in her mind by now. Was it her leg engines? Her neuralware? Perhaps the magnetic clamps in her hands? it all feels so far away. Time went on. Every so often, the procedure would repeat: she would be given an implant though a painful procedure. Then the technicians and scientists that handled her would monitor it. Sometimes, her body would reject the implant, and the pain would come back. The doctors would remove it, put it aside, and try and give it again later. They never gave up. If her body didn't reject it—if it accepted the Aberrant technology as a part of her now—then she'd have another few days, just to make sure. And then another implant would be brought to her, and the wheel would turn again. But it was fine. She'd volunteered for this, according to the doctors. This was what she'd wanted. To let herself be turned into something greater, even at sacrifice to herself. So she simply clung on. But there was one great mercy. Because during all of this, she wasn't alone in the lab. There was another girl undergoing a similar—if much lesser—augmentation, and the two became something like friends. Hope, her name was. And that got A.I.S-S1 thinking about names. Every time she saw that designation emblazed near her, she would look at it, and think of names. And then one day, when she was still woozy from sedation, she saw it with blurry eyes, and she misread it. Not A.I.S-S1. AISSI. Aissi. She would be Aissi. Time went on more. Further. Hope left, and she was once again alone. More implants. More connections. And then the most prominent: the Bladewings. She rejected them three times before her body finally let them settle, and each rejection was more painful than the last, resulted in a longer wait. And then, after all that was done...she'd been in the lab for how long now? She didn't know, and she still doesn't quite; several years, at least. But now that all of the implants, all of the cybernetics, all of the prosthetics, were in place, it was time for the piece de resistance. The Core. There is nothing Aissi can remember, before or since, that hurts as much as suddenly having every one of her augmentations fire into her nerves all at once. Sheer, gut-wrenching, mind-warping AGONY. And the pain, the nerves, all of it firing at once...it changed something in her. Turned from a sweet, sensitive girl to something where...well, sometimes you can see that underneath her. But not often. Not anymore. And once it was finally over...she was finished. More machine now than woman. And, really, more Aberrant than woman. Perhaps not even human at all anymore. Another year went by. She had to acclimate, of course. Not only did she have so many new modifications and augmentations working all at once, but she had an entirely new set of limbs to figure out. It was around this time that she started running sims, to get her used to what combat might be like on a world being invaded b the Aberrant. But then, recently and finally...it was done. She was prepared. And now, the test runs begin. Home World Kepler-195 [Planet Description] Kepler-195 was a dry, arid moon, largely desert and scrubland broken by salt seas and crisscossing braided streams. One of—and the smallest of, in fact—numerous inhabited moons orbiting the gas giant Pele on the far frontier, it wasn't exactly well known, especially compared to its larger and more outgoing neighbors. Small and inconspicuous, the people enjoyed a fairly peaceful existence; though a select few eked out a nomadic lifestyle on the surface, most people lived in vast cities deep underground instead, so they felt quite insulated and far from any issues that might plague topside. ...And then the Aberrants came. The multifarious moons of Pele were in possession of a great deal of resources, and many different varieties. They were hungry. And Kepler-195 was the first they came across. And they glassed the entire moon. Though the Constellations came, only a scant few refugees escaped and fled far away from their desolated once-home as it was consumed. Many of the other moons around Pele were also ground to dust and ash. Only two escaped the grisly fate, and afterwards, they were so desolate that they could no longer support life. In the span of barely six months, the entire moon system of Pele was wiped clean of all human life. [Culture] While Kepler-195 still existed, it had two 'factions' of people. A very few lived nomadic lives on the surface. Because water on the surface was a precious resource, they wore stillsuits, and traveled with their lives on their back to set up around any temporary watering hole that may emerge. The grand majority of the populace—which, mind you, wasn't large to begin with, only about 500 million people across the entire moon—lived in vast underground cities, tunneled out of the bedrock. Water was much more prevalent due to the presence of deep aquifers, and the native plant life grew readily. They lived a comfortable existence; though they were held in contempt by the surface nomads, they were largely happy to simply live in comfort underground. But, of course, this moon no longer exists, and Aissi has no memories from before the lab, regardless. Notable Contacts Doctor Jacob Tobias Brake, Medical Coordinator [Name] Jacob "Jay" Tobias Brake [Relation to Subject] Aissi's "Medical Coordinator and Caretaker" (In so many words, her handler) - Checks for malfunctions in and maintains systems, performs routine psychiatric checks and monitors her sanity, serves as a point of stability for her, practiced at talking her down and reigning her in if she's starting to go sideways. [Analysis] Jay is tired. So very, very tired. Essentially badgered into his position through only having the lowest standing at the laboratory that modified her, Jay is grumpy and world-weary middle aged man who firmly believes that he's not paid NEARLY enough to manage someone as unstable and chaotic as Aissi is. While it's obvious that he does have at least some measure of care for her—if he didn't, then he probably wouldn't still be doing this job—it tends to get drowned out in how overworked and overwhelmed he is, having to keep Aissi on as short a leash as she demands alongside everything else. Theme [Theme]

The Things We Fight For, A Science Fantasy Space Opera

Oh somehow I didn't put myself here.
I'm here!

Lem's Stash

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx B A S I C I N F O [Name] Aberrant Integration System, Subject 1 - AIS S1 [Callsign] Aissi [Gender] Female [Age] Early 20s [Rank and Designation] Experimental Constellation, Stardust Rank [Place of Birth] Kepler-195 C O M B A T A B I L I T Y [Anti-Barrier Sword] #236 - AB1 (Aberrant-integration Blade One) and #371 - AB2. But since they've been reforged into identical forms and serve as a single unit for Aissi, she refers to them much more personally, simply as her Wingblades. [Anti-Barrier Quotient]21% [Physical Description] It's no wonder the Anti-Barrier Quotient of the Wingblades is so low; after all, they're unreasonably large, and there's only so much AB material to go around. Matte black with gleaming red bevels, these double-edged blades are roughly as long as Aissi is tall (about seven feet), and mounted on winglike struts grafted directly into her nervous system through her back. This unorthodox arrangement allows her to manipulate the Wingblades as though they were a third pair of limbs, leaving her hands free for more typical swords used almost exclusively for defense that are sheathed along the struts. [Attributes] In order to supplement the low AB Quotient caused by their large size, the Wingblades have been retrofitted with laser technology. They can ignite their blades in red light, significantly increasing their cutting force; and, even further, they are able to fire powerful, though short-ranged, laser blasts. [Anomaly] Aberrant Integration System [Origin] Aberrant Research Laboratory A2 [Phenomena] Though it fills the same space as Anomaly typically would, this is quite explicitly very different. To put her on level with actual Constellations with Anomaly, Aissi's body is infested with an expansive suite of Aberrant technologies. From the system that controls her Wingblades, to magnetic clamps in her hands, her limbs more biomechanical than flesh now, compact jet engines in her feet and legs along with stabilizers in her shoulders...and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Finally, it all connects to the most important of her modifications, the most powerful, and the most taboo: her core. A fully-intact Epsilon-tier Aberrant core harvested from a high-caste Bishop has been embedded into her back between where the Wingblades emerge, which powers all of her multifarious augmentations, coordinates them, and normalizes them in her nervous system so they feel as natural as whatever of her original body remains. [Limitation] The same way it doesn't function as Anomaly does, it doesn't have the same kind of cost on usage. What it does have, though, is quite an adverse affect on her mental state. The painful experiments that were done to her over the course of years, as well as the overtaxing of her brain as it attempts to manage far more than it was designed to, has led to her being VERY unstable, especially during full-throttle combat where all of her augmentations and implants are working at maximum capacity. Perhaps not a clear-cut cost; but quite a cost nonetheless.

Profile Surface-level Impression [Surface-level Impression] As mentioned, the experiments have left Aissi not quite in full control of herself at all times. Twitchy, relentlessly high-strung, and never overly far from fits of violent hysteria, Aissi's personality alone is proof positive that making a large amount of Constellations in the same way she was made isn't necessarily a good idea. Still, she's not always obviously unstable, clearly. Though during combat she veers way into the erratic, outside of it, she's a notably sensitive and anxious individual. Keenly aware that she looks very strange, and even more keenly aware that the reason she looks strange is that she's essentially half-Aberrant--the thing that's trying to kill everyone and everything--she's constantly fretting over the image that she has. When people look at her, do they see a Constellation? Or a monster? And really, even she doesn't quite know. Paradoxically to her appearance and her position, Aissi knows very little about the world. All she really remembers is being in the lab. Granted, she was told something like what to expect when she went into the field. But being told what the world is like and actually living in the world are two very different things. She only has experience with the first of those two. She knows plenty about Aberrants and how to kill Aberrants...but that's mostly ALL she knows. Personal History [Personal History] The first thing Aberrant Integration System, Subject One remembers is waking up in the lab. What age was she? Teenaged? She isn't sure, and she doesn't remember. What was her name before? Did she even have a name? She's not sure of that either. Only A.I.S-S1. That's it. Well...she remembered how to speak, and how to listen. She remembers language. That's something, right? The second thing A.I.S-S1 remembers is pain. Her first implantation was almost immediately after she awoke. She doesn't even remember what it is anymore; all of it has blurred together in her mind by now. Was it her leg engines? Her neuralware? Perhaps the magnetic clamps in her hands? it all feels so far away. Time went on. Every so often, the procedure would repeat: she would be given an implant though a painful procedure. Then the technicians and scientists that handled her would monitor it. Sometimes, her body would reject the implant, and the pain would come back. The doctors would remove it, put it aside, and try and give it again later. They never gave up. If her body didn't reject it--if it accepted the Aberrant technology as a part of her now--then she'd have another few days, just to make sure. And then another implant would be brought to her, and the wheel would turn again. But it was fine. She'd volunteered for this, according to the doctors. This was what she'd wanted. To let herself be turned into something greater, even at sacrifice to herself. So she simply clung on. But there was one great mercy. Because during all of this, she wasn't alone in the lab. There was another girl undergoing a similar--if much lesser--augmentation, and the two became something like friends. Hope, her name was. And that got A.I.S-S1 thinking about names. Every time she saw that designation emblazed near her, she would look at it, and think of names. And then one day, when she was still woozy from sedation, she saw it with blurry eyes, and she misread it. Not A.I.S-S1. AISSI. Aissi. She would be Aissi. Time went on more. Further. Hope left, and she was alone. More implants. More connections. And then the most prominent: the Bladewings. She rejected them three times before her body finally let them settle. And then, after all that was done...she'd been in the lab for how long now? She didn't know, and she still doesn't quite; several years, at least. But now that all of the implants, all of the cybernetics, all of the prosthetics, were in place, it was time for the piece de resistance. The Core. There is nothing Aissi can remember, before or since, that hurts as much as suddenly having every one of her augmentations fire into her nerves all at once. Sheer, gut-wrenching, mind-warping AGONY. And the pain, the nerves, all of it firing at once...it changed something in her. Turned from a sweet, sensitive girl to something where...well, sometimes you can see that underneath her. But not often. Not anymore. And once it was finally over...she was finished. More machine now than woman. And, really, more Aberrant than woman. Perhaps not even human at all anymore. Another year went by. She had to acclimate, of course. Not only did she have so many new modifications and augmentations working all at once, but she had an entirely new set of limbs to figure out. But then, recently and finally...it was done. She was prepared. And now, the test runs begin. Home World Kepler-195 [Planet Description] Kepler-195 was a dry, arid moon, largely desert and scrubland broken by salt seas and crisscossing braided streams. One of several moons orbiting a gas giant on the far frontier, it wasn't exactly well known. Small and inconspicuous, the people enjoyed a fairly peaceful existence; though a select few eked out a nomadic lifestyle on the surface, most people lived in vast cities deep underground instead, so they felt quite insulated and far from any issues that might plague topside. ...And then the Aberrants came, and they glassed the entire moon. Though the Constellations came, only a scant few refugees escaped, and fled far away from their desolated once-home. [Culture] While Kepler-195 still existed, it had two 'factions' of people. A very few lived nomadic lives on the surface. Because water on the surface was a precious resource, they wore stillsuits, and traveled with their lives on their back to set up around any temporary watering hole that may emerge. The grand majority of the populace--which, mind you, wasn't large to begin with, only about 500 million people across the entire moon--lived in vast underground cities, tunneled out of the bedrock. Water was much more prevalent due to the presence of deep aquifers, and the native plant life grew readily. They lived a comfortable existence; though they were held in contempt by the surface nomads, they were largely happy to simply live in comfort underground. But, of course, this moon no longer exists, and Aissi has no memories from before the lab, regardless. Notable Contacts Doctor Jacob Tobias Brake, Medical Coordinator [Name] Jacob "Jay" Tobias Brake [Relation to Subject] Aissi's "Medical Coordinator and Caretaker" (In so many words, her handler) - Checks for malfunctions in and maintains systems, performs routine psychiatric checks and monitors her sanity, serves as a point of stability for her, practiced at talking her down and reigning her in if she's starting to go sideways. [Analysis] Jay is tired. So very, very tired. Essentially badgered into his position through only having the lowest standing at the laboratory that modified her, Jay is grumpy and world-weary middle aged man who firmly believes that he's not paid NEARLY enough to manage someone as unstable and chaotic as Aissi is. While it's obvious that he does have at least some measure of care for her--if he didn't, then he probably wouldn't still be doing this job--it tends to get drowned out in how overworked and overwhelmed he is, having to keep Aissi on as short a leash as she demands alongside everything else. Theme [Theme]